What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)

[lancer]

Just added a new bio to my Midway library called 'Air Group Commander Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway' by David Rigby, published by Osprey in 2019. It is 384 pages with a section of photos. This is the first bio of McClusky and the key role he played in the US victory at Midway. -- Al

 

[Combat]

I traveled to S. Africa recently and thought I would read up on the Boer War. Had a difficult time trying to find a decent book and ended up picking one at random. Usually a bad decision but this one turned out to be fantastic: "The Great Boer War" by Byron Farwell. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GS8A3T6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0



The miracle of Google tells me has written several other military histories including one on the WWI fighting in Africa which might be interesting: "The Great War in Africa."

 

[jazzeum]

I traveled to S. Africa recently and thought I would read up on the Boer War. Had a difficult time trying to find a decent book and ended up picking one at random. Usually a bad decision but this one turned out to be fantastic: "The Great Boer War" by Byron Farwell. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GS8A3T6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0



The miracle of Google tells me has written several other military histories including one on the WWI fighting in Africa which might be interesting: "The Great War in Africa."

If you like Bryan Farwell, you might like Queen Victoria’s Little Wars.

An interesting book on WWI from the German side in Africa is African Kaiser.

 

[lancer]

I traveled to S. Africa recently and thought I would read up on the Boer War. Had a difficult time trying to find a decent book and ended up picking one at random. Usually a bad decision but this one turned out to be fantastic: "The Great Boer War" by Byron Farwell. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GS8A3T6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0



The miracle of Google tells me has written several other military histories including one on the WWI fighting in Africa which might be interesting: "The Great War in Africa."

The Farwell book is good, as are all his books. Also really liked Thomas Pakenham's book 'The Boer War', and if you like Winston Churchill's style, his book is good, too. Joseph Lehmann did a good book called 'The First Boer War'. There are a couple of more, Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Great Boer War', and Rayne Kruger's 'Good-bye Dolly Gray', that are worth reading.
For WW1, in addition to 'African Kaiser', give Charles Miller's 'Battle for the Bundu' a read, and Brian Gardner's 'On to Kilimanjaro' is good, as well. Of course there is von Lettow-Vorbeck's 'My Reminiscences of East-Africa: The German East Africa Campaign in World War One, A General's Memoir'. Hard to beat that one. -- Al

 

[Terp152]

The Farwell book is good, as are all his books. Also really liked Thomas Pakenham's book 'The Boer War', and if you like Winston Churchill's style, his book is good, too. Joseph Lehmann did a good book called 'The First Boer War'. There are a couple of more, Arthur Conan Doyle's 'The Great Boer War', and Rayne Kruger's 'Good-bye Dolly Gray', that are worth reading.
For WW1, in addition to 'African Kaiser', give Charles Miller's 'Battle for the Bundu' a read, and Brian Gardner's 'On to Kilimanjaro' is good, as well. Of course there is von Lettow-Vorbeck's 'My Reminiscences of East-Africa: The German East Africa Campaign in World War One, A General's Memoir'. Hard to beat that one. -- Al

Hi Al
Have you read Martin Bossenbroek's The Boer War? I'm reading it now and seems good but haven't read anything to compare it.
Chris

 

[lancer]

Hi Al
Have you read Martin Bossenbroek's The Boer War? I'm reading it now and seems good but haven't read anything to compare it.
Chris

Hi Chris. No, I haven't read Bossenbroek's book. I read the ones I mentioned, all many years ago when I was into the Victorian era, but it has been many years since I have read any Boer War titles. Used to have quite a large collection of Victorian era military books but I moved them on years ago, except for several Zulu War titles. -- Al

 

[marco55]

I traveled to S. Africa recently and thought I would read up on the Boer War. Had a difficult time trying to find a decent book and ended up picking one at random. Usually a bad decision but this one turned out to be fantastic: "The Great Boer War" by Byron Farwell. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GS8A3T6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0



The miracle of Google tells me has written several other military histories including one on the WWI fighting in Africa which might be interesting: "The Great War in Africa."

I had both books.Both very good.
Mark

 

[marco55]

If you like Bryan Farwell, you might like Queen Victoria’s Little Wars.

I had that one too.^&grin
Mark

 

[marco55]

Also had Pakenham's too.
Mark

 

[breslau]

About to start two new books which have just arrived from Amazon:

The First Day on the Eastern Front: Germany Invades the Soviet Union, June 22, 1941 (2018)

Operation Hannibal: The World War II Evacuation of East Prussia and the Disaster at Sea (2018)

 

[Hazebrouck]

I traveled to S. Africa recently and thought I would read up on the Boer War. Had a difficult time trying to find a decent book and ended up picking one at random. Usually a bad decision but this one turned out to be fantastic: "The Great Boer War" by Byron Farwell. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GS8A3T6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0



The miracle of Google tells me has written several other military histories including one on the WWI fighting in Africa which might be interesting: "The Great War in Africa."

"The Great War in Africa" by Farwell is a great introduction to the African theatre of war in the First World War. He had a pacy and easy to read writing style.

Scott

 

[breslau]

An excellent read on the opening campaign in East Africa is the Battle of Tanga 1914 by Ross Anderson (2002). Though small in comparison with other WWI battles, Tanga was one of the great military defeats ever inflicted on the British Empire.

Also a couple of fiction books An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd and the The Ghosts of Africa by William Stevenson are great reads. My fascination with von Lettow-Vorbeck and his campaign was born when I first read Stevenson's book back in the early '80s.

 

[lancer]

An excellent read on the opening campaign in East Africa is the Battle of Tanga 1914 by Ross Anderson (2002). Though small in comparison with other WWI battles, Tanga was one of the great military defeats ever inflicted on the British Empire.

Also a couple of fiction books An Ice-Cream War by William Boyd and the The Ghosts of Africa by William Stevenson are great reads. My fascination with von Lettow-Vorbeck and his campaign was born when I first read Stevenson's book back in the early '80s.

Also read and enjoyed the Stevenson book. The disaster that was Tanga is rather unbelievable. Classic case of everything that could go wrong, going wrong. -- Al

 

[Combat]

I saw in the press today that Andrea Camilleri has passed away at 93. He is a famous Italian author best known for his Montalbano series. Anyone who likes lighter detective fiction with a lot of subtle humor will enjoy it. He apparently didn't start writing them until after he was 70. Many have been translated into English and are available. The first is called "The Shape of Water." Interesting that he apparently wrote a finale to the series which his publisher has held back according to this article: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...-creator-of-inspector-montalbano-dies-aged-93

 

[bromhead]

"panic in the pacific",,a weak attempt to do a literary 1941,,somehow japan extends supply lines 18K miles across the pacific ,,attacks and defeats the U S on the west coast w carrier planes etc,,a time waster

 

[Mirof]

The Riftwar cycle, by Raymnd Feist, I 'm actualy reading vol 23

 

[Cairnbeg]

"The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: Churchill's Mavericks: Plotting Hitler's Defeat" by Giles Milton

…this has been a joy to read…real Boys’ Own stuff….full of eccentric ‘boffins’ who invented many clever and deadly devices, to be used by well-educated chaps with double-barrelled surnames who wanted to play the game at having a go at the Nazis…..trained by a mixture of school-masterly, but very tough men & gruff prickly Scotsmen in remote highland training camps….all of which sounds like the stereotypical characters that you would expect to see in any number of classic Bk & Wht British war films…..except that these were all real people….men & women who trained & supported the many commando units and saboteurs that were active throughout Europe and beyond so they were more able to fight a very dirty but necessary campaign, examples of which are in the book…..a fascinating story with very colourful characters…..

 

[theBaron]

"panic in the pacific",,a weak attempt to do a literary 1941,,somehow japan extends supply lines 18K miles across the pacific ,,attacks and defeats the U S on the west coast w carrier planes etc,,a time waster

What a coincidence-I was thinking about that very topic on my way in to work this morning. I don't remember what triggered it, but I was thinking about the scenarios under which Germany could have won the war in Europe, and that there was no way the Japanese were going to win the war in the Pacific. Their own geopolitical thinking was based on a hope that, in a war against us, having had time to build their defensive perimeter across the central Pacific, we would grind ourselves down trying to pass through it and give up. A grave miscalculation, and more realistic heads in their leadership understood this. Now, if they had not attacked us, but merely seized the Europeans' possessions, then you can make a case that they might have achieved their goal of dominance in eastern Asia. We probably would not have gone to war, if they had not attacked any American territories.

And I reflected on Philip K Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", and the Amazon TV series, and how few people even think about how unlikely a scenario it is.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Combat]

What a coincidence-I was thinking about that very topic on my way in to work this morning. I don't remember what triggered it, but I was thinking about the scenarios under which Germany could have won the war in Europe, and that there was no way the Japanese were going to win the war in the Pacific. Their own geopolitical thinking was based on a hope that, in a war against us, having had time to build their defensive perimeter across the central Pacific, we would grind ourselves down trying to pass through it and give up. A grave miscalculation, and more realistic heads in their leadership understood this. Now, if they had not attacked us, but merely seized the Europeans' possessions, then you can make a case that they might have achieved their goal of dominance in eastern Asia. We probably would not have gone to war, if they had not attacked any American territories.

And I reflected on Philip K Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", and the Amazon TV series, and how few people even think about how unlikely a scenario it is.

Prost!
Brad

Turning off the oil supply forced Japan's hand. They either had to attack us or give up their territorial objectives in Asia. FDR knew that would most likely result in war. It is somewhat amazing how quickly the Japanese were put on the defensive and defeated given the vast distances of the Pacific. They bomb Pearl on Dec. 7, 1941 and by mid-1942 are generally contained. After that it is one defeat after another. Both the Germans and Japanese were highly dependent on external sources of natural resources that could be cut off. Whereas the allies had an almost unlimited supply. That was an advantage that could not be overcome.

 

[marco55]

I am reading French and Indian Wars in Maine. https://www.amazon.com/French-India...rench+and+indian+wars+in+maine,aps,130&sr=8-1
Mark