What's new for the week of April 23rd 2013

Not much this week just the one book.
 Kennesaw Mountain: Sherman, Johnston, and the Atlanta Campaign By Earl J. Hess looks like this could be an interesting study on a key part of the campaign

The Slaves’ Choice: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 by Gene Allen Smith

In my experience books on the War of 1812 follow the same narrative of American naval success and British/Canadian success on land, the level of emphasis placed upon these two things is usually based on the author’s nationality. So it is unusual to come across a book that deals with the topic in a new and different way. A book like this is: The Slaves' Gamble: Choosing Sides in the War of 1812 which looks at the relationship of the US with its slave and free black population. The book starts out with the American revolution discussing how manpower concerns soon led to the acknowledgement that some African Americans would be needed to fight either as free men or as slaves who were rented out to the army with their salary going to their owners.

The core of the book is taken up with the War of 1812 discussing at length the British reaction to this and attempts on the part of the British forces to encourage slaves to desert, hopefully undermining American manpower. Along the way anecdotes of those who decided to stay and fight for the Americans as well as those who signed up with the British are discussed. The campaign in Florida against the Spanish is also touched upon. With books like this it is often difficult to do it without either dealing with disjointed anecdotes or simply to provide a narrative history of the events and occasionally reference the topic. Fortunately, this book manages a happy mix of the two. I wouldn’t recommend this as a first book on the war, but there is enough here to understand what is going on.

The book concludes by arguing that seeing the success of black troops, the antebellum South became more fearful of the possibility of slave revolts. So, ironically, those free men who fought for the Americans made things worse, at least until the American Civil War. I think he may be underestimating the effect that the slave revolt on Haiti had.

Recommended for those who want a different look at the War of 1812 and the issue of African Americans in combat prior to the American Civil War.

Book was provided for review.

What's new for the week of April 16th 2013

 Here are the books that look interesting that were released in the last week. Not much this time.
Grant at Vicksburg: The General and the Siege by Michael B. Ballard I've read quite a bit on this campaign so I'll be interested to see what's new here. There's also supposedly a debunking of the famous "Grant goes on a bender" story.
Hitler's Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss by Laurence Rees I know what you're asking do we need another book on Hitler? I have to say I'm a bit skeptical considering the title which screams late-night documentary but this thing is blurbed by some big names so I'm willing to consider it.

First World War Memory and the Next Few Years

I was all prepared to write several thousand words about the closest thing to a historical debate we have had in Canada for a very long time.  Mainly the blog post put forward by a current NDP, member of parliament suggesting that the First World War was something that Canada should not have been involved in and only Communists had stood up against it.  On rereading the original article I realized that the post in question was from 2007 which does blow up my thesis that this is the beginning of a historical debate that should encompass the next few years, filled as it is with the centennial of the various military actions.

I also found the original piece rather odd. After all, the war support in French speaking Canada was never as high as it was in English Canada. This is true of both world wars. I am not exactly sure why the Communists specifically are being put forward here. As for Vimy Ridge, I have actually most seen it described as the coming together of English Canada, specifically separate from French Canada.

That being said, I do think the next few years will be very interesting. I can only see more debates like this popping up. I only hope that Canadian media, both in book publishing as well as TV and perhaps even film are able to produce suitable material. I have already heard stories out of the UK about jockeying for position as far as the publishing schedule goes.  I am worried that since the Canadian industry is so much smaller and we have comparatively fewer experts that there won’t be much. Also our anemic film and TV industry, trapped as it is by reproducing American reality TV shows and occasional quirky comedies, may not have the chops to produce our own Saving Private Ryan.  It is, perhaps, an unfortunate bell weather that the recent Canadian film to deal with the First World War Passchendaele seems to have been more as an excuse for Paul Gross an aging leading man to bed a nurse during an artillery barrage. I will be optimistic and try on this blog to point out things as they happen going forward.

For the record I was also gratified to see  Thomas Mulcair of as well as the veterans affairs critic strongly condemn the statements.  Stupid and insulting as they were.

What's new for the week of April 9th 2013

Here are the books that looked interesting when I scanned through Amazon's new releases list in military history.
Bolivar: American Liberator . By Marie Arana I'm weak on South American history particularly 19th century so I'm very interested in this book. It's a biography but hopefully the military campaigns will have decent coverage it's over 600 pages.
Mussolini's Death March: Eyewitness Accounts of Italian Soldiers on the Eastern Front by Nuto Revelli translated series of interviews with Italian veterans. Originally published back in the 60s. As the back copy mentions the soviets and Germans get most of the coverage so this is an important book.
Tragedy at Dieppe: Operation Jubilee, August 19, 1942 by Mark Zuehlke I've been reading his Canadian battles books on World War II for years. They're always excellent and include lots of eyewitness accounts. So I'm looking forward to this.
The Biafran War: The Struggle for Modern Nigeria by Michael Gould finishing off this week with another book on an obscure conflict. I always say that we don't need another book on Normandy we need books on the other conflicts so I should practice what I preach and take a closer look at this one.

Let's try this again

Yes I been gone for quite a while. Things came up including a death in the family. Now I'm back willing to try to take a stab at things. At least considering my traffic numbers it's not like I'm been disappointing any of you. A new  books list up shortly. With a review in the next few days..

What's new for the week of January 8th 2013

I'm back after a hectic Christmas season hopefully I'll be able to do this weekly from now on. I guess we'll see. These are new releases that looked interesting I haven't had a chance to read any of them yet though.

My Share of the Task: A Memoir by General Stanley McChrystal this is easily the sexiest new release. Mentioning it more for completeness than anything else the reviews I've seen so far aren't exactly glowing.

Fighting the Mau Mau: The British Army and Counter-Insurgency in the Kenya Emergency by Dr Huw Bennett often held up as a model counterinsurgency this takes a revisionist view. I looked quite a bit at this when doing my MA. Interested to see how his argument holds up.

The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War by Fred Kaplan look at the rise and I suspect fall of the "COIN mafia". This goes straight to the top as far as a purchase list for me.

Jefferson Davis and the Civil War Era by William J. Cooper my interest in the American civil War comes and goes but the dysfunction of the CSA particularly it's chain of command is always worth a look. Davis of course being responsible for much of it.