What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)

Currently reading books dealing with the period of ‘the Great War’…..especially as we continue to remember the events each day from a 100yrs ago….

Firstly fiction, written by ‘Sapper’….the pen-name for the then serving R.E. officer, H.C. McNeile…..this book, titled ‘Sapper’s War Stories’ was printed in 1930…..a collection (spread over 1054pgs) of wonderfully engaging narratives that were mostly written during the war…..which can in turns be amusing and then poignant when relating to the soldiers who died whilst ‘playing the game’……very good reading….

…and now with another 1930 printed book, this time a history of the war by (B.H.) Liddell Hart, also someone who served as an officer during the events, titled ‘The Real War’…..which was later re-printed many times as a ‘History of the First World War’…..another very good book…

….what really stands-out for me from both books is that for the time they were printed, in 1930,…..is the mention of the ‘next war’…..how strongly people felt at the time that things had been left unresolved…..that it was bound to happen again…..

…if only they knew….
 
With K&C launching into Vietnam, I decided to start reading up on the war. Right now, I'm reading Mark Bowden's Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. I'm only at the beginning of part 2, but I'm loving it.

Brendan
 
BHogan said:
With K&C launching into Vietnam, I decided to start reading up on the war. Right now, I'm reading Mark Bowden's Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. I'm only at the beginning of part 2, but I'm loving it.

Brendan
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Brendan, I highly recommend Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam." It won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and is an excellent account of US policy and the fighting in VN. A bit long at almost 900 pages, but a very readable account. Chris
 
jazzeum said:
You have my admiration Chris. I read his book, cover to cover, on Rockefeller (which wasn't quite as long, I recall) and thought it was quite good.
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"The House of Morgan" by Chernow is a great read and Grant is one of his better biographies. In my opinion Chernow is a great biographer but he is not a story teller.
As a historian he is sometimes deficient in expanding the context of the times in which his subjects lived.
If you enjoy details and exhaustive research Chernow is one of the best.
 
Terp152 said:
Brendan, I highly recommend Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam." It won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and is an excellent account of US policy and the fighting in VN. A bit long at almost 900 pages, but a very readable account. Chris
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Thanks for your suggestion. I've ordered it from my library and will start it after I finish Bowden's Hue 1968.

Brendan
 
Terp152 said:
Brendan, I highly recommend Neil Sheehan's "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam." It won the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction and is an excellent account of US policy and the fighting in VN. A bit long at almost 900 pages, but a very readable account. Chris
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My dad was one of the military personnel who would join shortly after this movie ends.
 
BHogan said:
With K&C launching into Vietnam, I decided to start reading up on the war. Right now, I'm reading Mark Bowden's Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. I'm only at the beginning of part 2, but I'm loving it.

Brendan
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In my Vietnam thread in the Historical section, I posted a reading list. There is a lot to choose from.
 
I don’t know if you read fiction but Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is one of the most celebrated books of the War, fiction or non fiction. Highly recommended.
 
jazzeum said:
I don’t know if you read fiction but Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried is one of the most celebrated books of the War, fiction or non fiction. Highly recommended.
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Generally not; however, I did enjoy Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn.

Brendan
 
I just finished Stuart Reid's, "The Battle of Minden 1759 (The Impossible Victory of the Seven Years War)", and Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews (How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels)". I'm in progress on Cahill's, "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Why the Greeks Matter)". Those two are part of a series Cahill wrote and is writing on the intellectual roots of the West.

As an aside, remember when not every book had to have a subtitle?

Prost!
Brad
 
theBaron said:
I just finished Stuart Reid's, "The Battle of Minden 1759 (The Impossible Victory of the Seven Years War)", and Thomas Cahill's "The Gifts of the Jews (How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels)". I'm in progress on Cahill's, "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea (Why the Greeks Matter)". Those two are part of a series Cahill wrote and is writing on the intellectual roots of the West.

As an aside, remember when not every book had to have a subtitle?

Prost!
Brad
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"Run Between The Raindrops" Dale Dye
 
Re-reading William Manchester's 'Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War'. It is a superb book and one of the best memoirs I have ever read. -- Al
 
Elizabeth Crowned Queen With a Pictorial Record of the Coronation, Odhams Press Limited

This is reprint that was originally printed just after the Coronation with over 130 photos. It is not a picture book rather, as it covers the complexity of staging such an event with the parade route, pretesting the logistics of the parade route, replacing the royal cipher with the new ER II cypher, and covering the many military units parading including Commonwealth Units. I find this goes well with toy soldier collections of the many Britains Coronation sets issued from this event, the Coronation Coach and attendants being several of many. I might suggest that this book is probably the best reference book for recreating a scale Coronation Parade due to the many pictures of the route and the units participating. Also not to put a dark spin on such a regal regime however it will be a certainty that Her Majesty will "shuffle off this mortal coil" so I do enjoy appreciating her life and reign while she still rules Britannia!

An added bonus was my copy came from the Blenheim Palace Gift Shop for the reduced price of 4.99 English pounds and given as a gift from a visiting relative so I do treasure my volume as more than a reference.

Cheers Y'all
 
I have begun The Ottoman Centuries by Kinross.
Lot's of information on the military.
MikeNick
 
Boning up on the Punic Wars (Osprey Zama and Cannae) in anticipation of JJD's new range.
 
I am reading the book The German A7V Tank and captured British Mark IV Tanks of World War I by Maxwell Hundleby and Rainer Strasheim. I finally found a copy that was priced reasonably. Very detailed work on the A7V. Out of print for a long time

Dave
 
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