WW1 Books for 2013/14 (1 Viewer)

[Rob]

Whilst browsing through the plethora of books on the Great War already announced for 2014 on Amazon tonight, I came across this title;

'Catastrophe 1914' (Max Hastings) released on the 26th September this year, he has written some fine books so this should be good.

Rob

 

[jazzeum]

Any book by Hastings is worth picking up. I can't recall that he's written about WW I before.

 

[Rob]

Any book by Hastings is worth picking up. I can't recall that he's written about WW I before.

That's what I was thinking Brad, can't think of one, so will look forward to this.

So many WW1 books coming in 2014 and many ACW titles too by the look of Amazon UK.

Rob

 

[lancer]

-So this is to be published Sept. 2013? It is something to look forward to as Hastings is excellent. His book 'Overlord' completely changed the way I looked at D-Day/Normandy. -- Al

 

[Rob]

-So this is to be published Sept. 2013? It is something to look forward to as Hastings is excellent. His book 'Overlord' completely changed the way I looked at D-Day/Normandy. -- Al

Yes thats right Al , I was looking for books coming next year snd stumbled on this for this September. I agree with you and Brad about his books and as you say his Normandy book was superb.

Rob

 

[graycap]

Hastings' book will be followed in October 2013 by Jeremy Paxman's "Great Britain's Great War".

 

[jazzeum]

I'm starting to read Hastings' book and so far not overly thrilled. It doesn't seem to take into account or dismisses some recent interpretations and seems quite prejudiced against Germany.

 

[jazzeum]

After several interruptions, I managed to finish Hastings' book. Hastings is at his strongest when he is writing about the battles and using the writings of various participants, both military and civilian, to depict what went on. His chapter on First Ypres is outstanding and very well written. It reads like a thriller and is one of the best chapters in the book. He also doesn't ignore the Eastern Front, devoting a chapter to the Battle of Tannenberg and another to the pathetic Austrian participation. He also has a good chapter on the sea war.

However, he is not at his strongest when discussing the politics, preferring to adopt wholeheartedly the war was all of Germany's fault (and displaying a strong Germano-phobia in the process) and dismissing recent scholarship such as Christopher Clark's Sleepwalkers that takes a more nuanced view.

 

[lancer]

After several interruptions, I managed to finish Hastings' book. Hastings is at his strongest when he is writing about the battles and using the writings of various participants, both military and civilian, to depict what went on. His chapter on First Ypres is outstanding and very well written. It reads like a thriller and is one of the best chapters in the book. He also doesn't ignore the Eastern Front, devoting a chapter to the Battle of Tannenberg and another to the pathetic Austrian participation. He also has a good chapter on the sea war.

However, he is not at his strongest when discussing the politics, preferring to adopt wholeheartedly the war was all of Germany's fault (and displaying a strong Germano-phobia in the process) and dismissing recent scholarship such as Christopher Clark's Sleepwalkers that takes a more nuanced view.

Brad, that is a very interesting review. To be honest, I burned out on reading WW1 'Cause' books and haven't yet read Hastings, beyond the intro and a bit. I will get to it eventually as I enjoy Hastings. The massive explosion of WW1 publications has left me with a growing backlog of books that I haven't yet had time to read. An embarrassment of riches, as it were.:wink2: -- Al

 

[jazzeum]

Al,

I have Albertini by my bedside. I'm going to tackle that soon!

I just picked up a book that got some great reviews, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East by Eugene Rogan. The author's great uncle died at Gallipoli and his death so devastated his parents that they moved to the United States.

As I don't that much about the War in the Middle East I'm looking forward to reading it. The book also discussed the Armenian Genocide, which the Turks (or many of them) still deny. My first boss when I started working as an attorney was Armenian and he would tell me stories about Armenians in America and the Genocide. He had little love for Turks.

Brad

 

[lancer]

Al,

I have Albertini by my bedside. I'm going to tackle that soon!

I just picked up a book that got some great reviews, The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East by Eugene Rogan. The author's great uncle died at Gallipoli and his death so devastated his parents that they moved to the United States.

As I don't that much about the War in the Middle East I'm looking forward to reading it. The book also discussed the Armenian Genocide, which the Turks (or many of them) still deny. My first boss when I started working as an attorney was Armenian and he would tell me stories about Armenians in America and the Genocide. He had little love for Turks.

Brad

The Albertini is absolutely essential, widely regarded as the best work on the subject. Gordon Prange swore by it. It is a massive work that takes some getting through. Having been in Prange's course he taught on WW1, (at UMd in the early 70's), I naturally tried to find a set of it. In pre-internet days and before the PB edition was published, finding it was no easy matter and it was expensive. It took me years to find it. Finally nailed a set in the mid-80's. Currently own the PB version, having sold the HB set when I needed money. Albertini's depth of research is staggering. It is time for me to go through it again as I have not read it completely or since my college days when I had to check it out of the UMd library, one volume at a time. It requires more dedication to read completely than I had when I was 20.:redface2:
Fall of the Ottomans sounds like another book I will have to add to my pile. As much reading as I have done on WW1, most of it is Western Front and Air War and some Naval War. I have to add Mid-East and Eastern Front to my must read lists. Even need to brush up on T.E. Lawrence. So many books, so little time... --Al

 

[jazzeum]

Here's another book that might be interesting. It's by Diana Preston, who, I understand, wrote the best book surrounding the sinking of the Lusitania. Here new book is called A Higher Form of Killing: Six Weeks in World War I That Forever Changed the Nature of Warfare.

This is from the blurb in Amazon, which, I assume, comes from the jacket cover:

"In six weeks during April and May 1915, as World War I escalated, Germany forever altered the way war would be fought. On April 22, at Ypres, German canisters spewed poison gas at French and Canadian soldiers in their trenches; on May 7, the German submarine U-20, without warning, torpedoed the passenger liner Lusitania, killing 1,198 civilians; and on May 31, a German Zeppelin began the first aerial bombardment of London and its inhabitants. Each of these actions violated rules of war carefully agreed at the Hague Conventions of 1898 and 1907. Though Germany's attempts to quickly win the war failed, the psychological damage caused by these attacks far outweighed the casualties. The era of weapons of mass destruction had dawned."