What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)

France,Soldiers and Africa. A history of French colonial African soldiers.
Mark

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Just purchased a 1st edition of 'Scott's Last Expedition' (2 vol., 1913) at a very good price and a reprint of Scott's 'Voyage of the Discovery', also 2 volumes. Have read the Last Expedition before, but not the Discovery books. Looking forward to it as I love the South Pole stuff, especially the 1912 race. -- Al
 
Picked this up from the library.

Robert Kirchubel’s Operation Barbarossa

I was looking forward to delving into this hefty and promising looking book. It appears to be well-illustrated and includes maps.

However, the book covers only the period from the German invasion in June 1941 up to just outside of Moscow, less than 6 months out of the total 4 years of Germany’s war against Russia. The main thrust of the book highlights that the German offensive, although startlingly successful in the field, was already losing the strategic initiatives within the first few months of this campaign.

The book is a compilation of three previous Osprey books by the same author, edited and with additional text and material. This is where it gets a little difficult to read through for me. The format of the book breaks it down into various subheadings – strategic, tactical, main leaders, main sub-leaders, various armies before delving into the campaign itself. This creates a lot of duplication of the same points within the text and does not make for an interesting read. The campaign details are not necessarily well-served by the colourful maps. These are printed with very nice clear strategic arrows but with very tiny unit names and places as to be almost unreadable. As the places are of unfamiliar Russian towns and locations, it is very hard to follow the details.

The author appears to be very familiar with this campaign. Probably overly familiar as he occasionally drops in names of unit commanders by merely stating their surnames without any previous mention. The context can eventually be gleaned within the text, but it happens quite often. There are anecdotal events and incidents which are highlighted but how they contribute to the overall campaign is not clearly explained.

The summary at the end of each campaign phase gives some lucidity but curiously contains boxed texts. It is unclear how they link to the rest of the summary text. The author does give a useful short summary on how the literature surround the great Patriotic War has evolved from the post war, thru the Cold War to the new academic era and some books for further reading.

Overall, the book format is the problem for me, despite the numerous colourful maps and supporting illustrations.
 
lancer said:
Just purchased a 1st edition of 'Scott's Last Expedition' (2 vol., 1913) at a very good price and a reprint of Scott's 'Voyage of the Discovery', also 2 volumes. Have read the Last Expedition before, but not the Discovery books. Looking forward to it as I love the South Pole stuff, especially the 1912 race. -- Al
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Just got the new Folio Society publication "Shackleton's Antarctica". It is a massive 3 volume set that includes "South" and the 2 vol "Heart of the Antarctic", both works by Shackleton. They are superbly done HB's in a slipcase and constitute an affordable option for these titles that are extremely expensive in their original printings. -- Al
 
Re-reading - Normandy: The British Breakout - JJ How. Just finished 64 Days of a Normandy Summer: With a Tank Unit After D-Day By Jones and A Short History of 21 Army Group by Darby & Cunliffe.
Plus
The new Stephen Leather Thriller - Standing Alone
 
Currently reading "The Templars" by Dan Jones- not as good as his recent book on the Crusades but a very in depth dive in the Order. He is a fabulous author. My daughter got me his latest 633 page tome "Powers and Thrones" which I will jump into next.
 
I just read Craig Symonds' "Battle of Midway", after seeing him in a video chat on YouTube. Symonds covers the first half of 1942, starting with Nimitz' arrival on December 31, 1941, to take over the Pacific command. From there, he looks at Japanese and American operations in the winter and spring, providing background for Midway itself. Much of the content is already familiar, but he goes into more depth about the cryptoanalysts, their background, and their role. For example, most authors, old and new, refer to the Hawaii intelligence station as "Nimitz' codebreakers", which leads the reader to assume that it was part of his command. But it wasn't; it was part of the 14th Naval district and actually reported to Washington. The direct collaboration between the station and Nimitz' staff caused some conflict with the commander in Washington, and ultimately, Admiral King.

Symonds also goes into detail about the Hornet's airgroup and its operations on the day of the battle, and Mitscher's role. This topic has been clarified by research done by a private citizen, a friend of a Hornet fighter pilot who died when he had to ditch on that day. That research explains what really happened-command misjudgments, and ultimately, mutiny by junior officers.

I'm very interested in the subject, so I ripped through the book over two nights, then read it again. I recommend it to anyone interested in the battle.

Meanwhile, I'm reading Victor Davis Hanson's "The Dying Citizen".

Prost!
Brad
 
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Now reading this one. Roberts is a noted historian who claims George III's reputation is a product of American Revolutionary War propaganda and not such a bad monarch after all. Just misjudged by history. Thought it would be an interesting read from a different perspective. Looking fwd to an explanation as to why George would not receive the Peace Petition from Continental Congress who were trying to avoid a full scale war and an inevitable break with Britain. Chris
 
Terp152 said:
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Now reading this one. Roberts is a noted historian who claims George III's reputation is a product of American Revolutionary War propaganda and not such a bad monarch after all. Just misjudged by history. Thought it would be an interesting read from a different perspective. Looking fwd to an explanation as to why George would not receive the Peace Petition from Continental Congress who were trying to avoid a full scale war and an inevitable break with Britain. Chris
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I really enjoyed this book. With HM The Queen giving scholars, such as Roberts and Atkinson access to the Georgian papers, we can get a much better understanding of King George III than was previously possible.

Cheers,

Brendan
 
BHogan said:
I really enjoyed this book. With HM The Queen giving scholars, such as Roberts and Atkinson access to the Georgian papers, we can get a much better understanding of King George III than was previously possible.

Cheers,

Brendan
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Atkinson is one of my favorite living authors. Unfortunately, the second volume of his American Revolution trilogy will probably not be released for at least two more yrs. Chris
 
Andrew Roberts, who wrote The Last King of America, will be speaking at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia at Friday, Feb 25th at 6:00pm. You can get more information or RSVP through bhovell@amrevmuseum.org
 
Anyone read Allen Guelzo’s new book (relatively) on Lee? I’ve heard him speak about the book on a number of podcasts. Deciding whether I should buy now or wait for the softcover version.
 
Getting ready to read this book on the Volta-Bani War (1915-17) in the Volta region in West Africa.It was the largest colonial war during the WWI period but hardly anyone has heard of it.
Mark


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Defending the Arteries of Rebellion, Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River, Valley, 1861-1865 ,buy Neil P. Chatelain.

Mr. Chatelain was the quest speaker at the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Round Table that I attend. It is located in the Chicago area.
 
The Fringes of Power, Vol 2 by John Colville. He was private secretary to W Churchill for 16 yrs and thus witnessed many crucial moments during and after the war. He also did a short stint flying P-51 recon acft with the RAF and taking several flak hits. Chris
 
Deitz said:
Defending the Arteries of Rebellion, Confederate Naval Operations in the Mississippi River, Valley, 1861-1865 ,buy Neil P. Chatelain.

Mr. Chatelain was the quest speaker at the Lincoln-Davis Civil War Round Table that I attend. It is located in the Chicago area.
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Regarding Confederate naval operations, though not in the Mississippi valley. Visited Columbus, GA some yrs ago for my oldest son's graduation from army Ranger school. There's a museum in town that has a large (largest?) display of US and CSA naval/ship and fort flags. These flags are huge, much larger than army regimental flags. There's a large wooden frame of the CSS Jackson that was raised from a nearby river and placed in the museum. Interestingly, the Confederates worked on the ship for four yrs only to be burned to the waterline when Union cavalry approached.


https://www.portcolumbus.org/exhibits-events


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