What are the Forum members reading (6 Viewers)

[bromhead]

Just received a book on Midway that I have wanted for years but just got around to purchasing. It is titled "No Right to Win: A Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of The Battle of Midway" by Ronald Russell. Published in 2006, it is a 330 page, 4 illustration paperback. It is mainly all first-person accounts by Midway vets drawn from the Midway Roundtable. It covers many aspects of the action, from codebreaking, strategy, tactics, personal, and other facts and myths. It has a full Order of Battle for both sides and also includes such interesting things like a ranking of books about the battle in order of what the members consider the most accurate and important. Can't wait to get into it. -- Al

Most of the Midway books and studies as with a great deal these days,,,,utilize the same generic 20 photos .Much the same as anything about Pearl Harbor,or WW2 in general,,example,How many times have you seen the 60 year old Victory at sea ..Dauntless dive bombers dropping on pearl Harbor,,? there are a few books and sources of photos not showing the usual,,Essex class CVs burning at Midway,,Coral sea, Twin engine bombers attacking pearl,,etc
Having a great deal of preserved VHS types from the 80s its always incredible to see the near perfect film editing for the time periods covered,,,The Valiant years,,Air Power,,20th century,,World At war,,Crusade in the pacific etc etc,,perhaps todays generation of film editors are 20 something public school grads,,or interns busy looking at their phones,

 

[Terp152]

Just finished a second coast watchers book, Alone On Guadalcanal by Martin Clemens. Starting The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign. An account of the air war during the critical August to November period. Chris

 

[Terp152]

Just ordered a few The Daily Telegraph Military and Naval Obituaries books. These have obits of prominent soldiers and naval combatants, not just flag rank. Very nice brief vignettes of mostly WWII action. Have read many of these online.

Anyone else read these? Chris

 

[bromhead]

the civil war remembered

 

[Cairnbeg]

.....finished reading “Saratoga – Turning Point of America’s Revolutionary War” by Richard M. Ketchum (and the third of his books that I have read relating to this period).....an enjoyable read, which brings me to the end of the books relating to the Northern Campaigns of the AWI.....two year's worth of reading covering these events....which had started with "A Few Bloody Noses" by Robert Harvey....

....and now it is time to start with the Southern Campaigns....and the first of the three 'general histories' that I have lined up will be the colourfully illustrated "From Savannah to Yorktown - The American Revolution in the South" by Henry Lumpkin.....really looking forward to developing an understanding of the events in this part of the AWI.....

...more great reading for the next year ahead....

 

[Robert Way]

I just read and then reread "Grant" by Ron Chernow. I found it very informative.

 

[jazzeum]

I just finished this. It's a book both about Homer's Odyssey and the author's relationship with his father, who takes his course on the Odyssey; Daniel Mendelsohn is a Classics Professor at Bard.

If you've never read the Odyssey this will whet your appetite.

 

[LTC PaulN]

I'm re-reading Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy... started An Army At Dawn last night.

 

[jazzeum]

 

[thanasis67]

I got it from Daunt Books in London last summer, but I finished it recently. Now I proceed to J. Opie's latest book about Britain's Toy Soldiers.

 

[lancer]

I'm re-reading Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy... started An Army At Dawn last night.

Same here. Almost done with Vol.2. I must say it gives me a whole new respect for what the Italian Campaign was, a brutally hard slog in all aspects. -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

I thought volume 1 of the Trilogy was very good, the second volume a little less so and I wasn’t enamored with volume 3.

 

[LTC PaulN]

I thought volume 1 of the Trilogy was very good, the second volume a little less so and I wasn’t enamored with volume 3.

I read them previously as they came out, and remember that I was a bit disappointed as well that certain aspects were not touched, but they do maintain an alignment and perspective on events that's very powerful.

 

[Miloman]

I am reading Swords around a Throne by John R. Elting while the snow keeps falling outside the window.

 

[Terp152]

Same here. Almost done with Vol.2. I must say it gives me a whole new respect for what the Italian Campaign was, a brutally hard slog in all aspects. -- Al

As Brad mentioned, vol 1 was the best. But I thoroughly enjoyed all three volumes.

I highly recommend Ian Tull's trilogy of the war in the Pacific, beginning with Pacific Crucible. Only the first two vols have been published. It parallels Atkinson's US Army in Africa and Europe series. Chris

 

[Combat]

Reading the new biography of Grant by Ron Chernow which is pretty good but very sympathetic to its subject. The man could do no wrong! Did he drink to excess? Sometimes, but often exaggerated by his enemies and rivals. Was he a butcher with disregard for human life? No, he had a strategy for winning the war unlike Lee. Was his presidency corrupt? No, he was naïve and taken advantage of by unscrupulous types. And the south is eviscerated including old Bobby Lee and Andrew Johnson. One interesting part of the book was how much effort the federal government made under Grant to promote civil rights in the aftermath of the Civil War. Something that could have led to enormous progress and saved a whole lot of grief had it been sustained.

 

[jazzeum]

I'm not a huge fan of Chernow's. His Hamilton book was dense although his Rockefeller book was pretty good. At 1,100 pages, the Grant book is just a tad too long.

I've read Ronald White's book on Grant and if I was going to recommend a Grant book, that would be the one. He's knowledgeable about the Civil War (having written three top books on Lincoln).

One of the top experts on Grant is Brooks Simpson and his book is very good too although not a complete history of his life.

 

[bradleyl30]

I am reading “The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones” by Thomas Asbridge.

A little bit of history about the development of knights/chivalry, what we know about Marshal’s life and some of his analysis to fill in some blanks. Enjoyable read so far.

 

[lancer]

Re-reading Mike Snook's outstanding books on the Zulu War, 'How Can Man Die Better' (Isandlwana) and 'Like Wolves On The Fold' (Rorke's Drift). Not the first time I have re-read them but they are just so entertaining that I keep going back to them. Snook uses a lot of deduction combined with time-line possibilities to flesh out the battle at Isandlwana but it works really well and makes the desperate battle a lot more understandable than it has been in the past. If you are a AZW fan and haven't read these books, you really need to even if you don't agree with some of his conclusions. -- Al

 

[Currahee Chris]

Currently reading "Lawrence in Arabia"- I cannot seem to put this book down- if anyone out there is looking for a terrific read on the man and a very comprehensive over view of the circumstances surrounding his "War", this is your book!!!