The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today
We Got Him!: A Memoir of the Hunt and Capture of Saddam Hussein
Border Crossings: Coming of Age in the Czech Resistance
The Army Isn't All Work: Physical Culture and the Evolution of the British Army, 1860-1920
Yamashita's Ghost: War Crimes, MacArthur's Justice, and Command Accountability
The Persian Invasions of Greece
Tuesday 30 October 2012
What's new for the week of October 30 2012?
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons for starting this blog was to keep a handle on interesting new military history releases. So I have looked at the last week or so of Amazon books and will here list those that I find interesting. Just to be clear, I haven’t read any of these books. So I have no idea whether or not they are any good. Given an infinite amount of time and resources these would be the books that I would be reading.
Monday 29 October 2012
Fun with captchas
I've been adding the blog to some directories. New rule is after two attempts I can't read your captcha I don't care how wonderful it is I'm hitting the back button. Well it didn't take me long to start complaining did it?
Sunday 28 October 2012
Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars by Jonathan F. Vance
Maple Leaf Empire: Canada, Britain, and Two World Wars
by Jonathan F. Vance
For the first review here on the new site perhaps something a bit out of the ordinary where military history is concerned. This book attempts to look at the influence that the military has had on the relationship between Canada and Great Britain. It is done primarily by looking at the views of participants on both sides as portrayed in newspaper editorials, letters, diaries, et cetera. The book opens with New France being conquered by the British. Canada in the 19th century is shown to be influenced by the British regulars stationed there. I will have to admit I found this section not as convincing as the later ones, for the simple reason that when saying, for instance, that the soldiers were the first to play certain sports in Canada he doesn't seem to take into account that there were large groups of British settlers in the country who some even to this day do their best to hold on to their Britishness.
That aside, the heart of this book is a discussion of the two world wars. There are plenty of anecdotes about the Canadians from the British perspective and the Canadians talking about the British. For the most part the British seem to be dismissive of the Canadians in the beginning until they learn how well they fight. Then they are supportive. While the Canadians are much more guarded in their views of the British, often considering them to be stiff necked and inflexible.
If you have read a lot of Canadian military history there isn't necessarily anything shocking here, but it is nice to have it all in one place and he has found sources that aren’t usually used. Clearly he spent a lot of time in the archives. Unfortunately there are times when the background narratives of the military campaigns do overwhelm the text, specifically in the latter part of the section on World War II. The book concludes by pointing out that even though Canada is a multi cultural society today we still often look to the British for instance the royals and British media.
I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in the relationship between the two nations. This does make me curious about the relationship between Australia and the UK which I understand has been much more rocky. If anyone can suggest a good book on that, please do so in the comments.
by Jonathan F. Vance
For the first review here on the new site perhaps something a bit out of the ordinary where military history is concerned. This book attempts to look at the influence that the military has had on the relationship between Canada and Great Britain. It is done primarily by looking at the views of participants on both sides as portrayed in newspaper editorials, letters, diaries, et cetera. The book opens with New France being conquered by the British. Canada in the 19th century is shown to be influenced by the British regulars stationed there. I will have to admit I found this section not as convincing as the later ones, for the simple reason that when saying, for instance, that the soldiers were the first to play certain sports in Canada he doesn't seem to take into account that there were large groups of British settlers in the country who some even to this day do their best to hold on to their Britishness.
That aside, the heart of this book is a discussion of the two world wars. There are plenty of anecdotes about the Canadians from the British perspective and the Canadians talking about the British. For the most part the British seem to be dismissive of the Canadians in the beginning until they learn how well they fight. Then they are supportive. While the Canadians are much more guarded in their views of the British, often considering them to be stiff necked and inflexible.
If you have read a lot of Canadian military history there isn't necessarily anything shocking here, but it is nice to have it all in one place and he has found sources that aren’t usually used. Clearly he spent a lot of time in the archives. Unfortunately there are times when the background narratives of the military campaigns do overwhelm the text, specifically in the latter part of the section on World War II. The book concludes by pointing out that even though Canada is a multi cultural society today we still often look to the British for instance the royals and British media.
I would recommend this book for someone who is interested in the relationship between the two nations. This does make me curious about the relationship between Australia and the UK which I understand has been much more rocky. If anyone can suggest a good book on that, please do so in the comments.
Saturday 27 October 2012
Welcome
Welcome to the new blog. First, an explanation about the name. When I moved into the new house just over a year ago one of the features I was most excited about was the 800 linear feet of bookshelves contained in bookcases. My collection of books, around 2500 titles, fills about a third of it. I am sure at some point there will be pictures, but that gives you some idea.
So why this blog? Well, if there is one thing from reading blogs for the last dozen years or so has taught me, ideas in the beginning rarely work out long term. But here is my idea at the moment. I mostly read military history, but, unfortunately, the places where I get information on new titles have become dormant lately, so I figured I should start digging through the list of newly released books from the major book sellers. Well, if I am going to do that, I might as well share the information with other people. I'll post book reviews which is something I have done on a previous blog which begs the question why not just continue on the existing blog. Simple enough. I tended to have large gaps in my posting which, after a while, means that the search engines will stop sending traffic your way, logically enough. Instead of trying to rebuild that one, I figured it was time to start afresh, although I probably will still post to the other blog at times.
Another reason was that my reviews on the other blog tended to be short, pithy and more rants than anything else. I am hoping with this one to be more analytical, although, if the book Men Against Fire
is in the news, I may forget myself.
Well, anyway, I think that is about it for now. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. My address is over in the sidebar.
So why this blog? Well, if there is one thing from reading blogs for the last dozen years or so has taught me, ideas in the beginning rarely work out long term. But here is my idea at the moment. I mostly read military history, but, unfortunately, the places where I get information on new titles have become dormant lately, so I figured I should start digging through the list of newly released books from the major book sellers. Well, if I am going to do that, I might as well share the information with other people. I'll post book reviews which is something I have done on a previous blog which begs the question why not just continue on the existing blog. Simple enough. I tended to have large gaps in my posting which, after a while, means that the search engines will stop sending traffic your way, logically enough. Instead of trying to rebuild that one, I figured it was time to start afresh, although I probably will still post to the other blog at times.
Another reason was that my reviews on the other blog tended to be short, pithy and more rants than anything else. I am hoping with this one to be more analytical, although, if the book Men Against Fire
is in the news, I may forget myself. Well, anyway, I think that is about it for now. Feel free to leave a comment or send me an email. My address is over in the sidebar.
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