What Books Are You Reading?

[Mickel]

Re-reading Castles of Steel.

I've just ordered:
- French Armoured Cruisers: 1887-1932, Jordan & Caresse &
- British Cruisers of the Victorian Era, Friedman

They're reference more than for 'reading' but I tend to read those sorts of books anyway. Must be something wrong with me...

[Donald M Scheef]

'Blazing Star, Setting Sun,' The Guadalc*n*l-Solomons Campaign, November 1942-March 1943, by Jeffrey R. Cox.
This author provides a good outline of the military actions but has a number of axes to grind. He is very much pro-US Navy, anti-US Army and anti-Japan. He repeatedly points out why naval personnel disliked General Douglas MacArthur. Japanese Colonel Ichiki is first mentioned on page 24 in reference to the attack led by him that resulted in the death of 96% of his troops and then at least a dozen more times in comparison to other Japanese leaders who made serious errors of judgment.
I'm enjoying the read but it would be better without the multiple snide references.
Don S.

[foxbat]

the latest 2 history books I read.



Ton upon ton of details in Jellicoe's book, you can but learn something about Jutland even if you've already read tons about it. The author, Jellicoe's grandson, tries to remain objective, but he puts more blame on Beatty nonetheless. Not that I disagree with him in this regard...

Stille's book about Leyte is, IMO, essential to get a good understanding of the battle. The author, here too, goes into the minutiae of the 4 engagements, gives a good tech readout of the capacities of the most important combat systems but also gives e lot of explanations about each side's strategic options, doctrine, commanders and how these factors came into play in the various mistakes each side committed at the time.

[Cav Dog]

I just finished the second volume of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy, "The Fate of the Day." It is a fascinating read primarily covering the major battles of the Revolutionary War. It amazes me how close the colonies came to losing the war and it seems that the biggest reason they won was because the British didn't realize how dedicated the American were to the cause and most of the British generals, admirals, MPs etc really didn't want anything to do with it.

Of course like all good wargamers, I now have $200 worth of Pendraken 10 mm AWI miniatures sitting in their shopping cart...

I just can't bring myself to push the buy now button because deep down, I know I don't have enough years left to finish painting my GHQ lead pile, let alone start a new period/scale.

[panzergator]

Cavdog, buy what you want. You don't have to justify ANYTHING at our age. It matters not if you get it painted. We will all leave things undone.

I look forward to Atkinson's volume II.

I just started The Yellowlegs, The History of the United States Cavalry. The writing style is appropriate to the rollicking spirit of the mounted arm. A great read!

[mluther]

Just picked up the latest from Tim Saunders---The Advance on Caen Great source for early Normandy games with Brits and Germans including 21st Pz D All his books are good because he really gets down to the details of the battlefields with pleanty of nice maps https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Adv ... ck/p/52515

[Mickel]

I have just finished British Cruisers of the Victorian Era. This covers the period of the transition from sail to just before Fisher's battlecruisers (so strictly past Victoria's reign, but made no sense to stop there). Next off the rank is French Warships in the Age of Steam, so a similar period to the other book.

[Donald M Scheef]

"The Second World War Tank Crisis (The Fall & Rise of British Armour 1919-1945)" by Dick Taylor. In particular, I like the way this book compares the design, manufacture, and employment of tanks in the British Army with that of the German Army, the US Army and (as applied to aircraft) the British RAF.
Don S.

[redleg]

I have a couple books going on right now. I picked up the book by Normal Stone in Paris. There wasn’t anything in particular that piqued my interest, I just found a cool English bookstore, and I have issues with leaving a bookstore empty handed. It’s a little dry for my tastes, though I did find one section interesting where he talked about intelligence organizations being able to tell when Russia was gearing up for war by the length of the train station platforms there. The platforms increased in size to accommodate troop embarkation in key locations.


I’m also having fun with this M109 book that my wife got me for Christmas. I think I have some new micro armor projects coming up now!

[Mickel]

I re-read Castles of Steel, WWI naval. What a debacle...

Osprey published three books by Steven Zaloga over the last few months:
- German Tanks in France 1940
- Soviet Tanks in Barbarossa 1941
- German Tanks in Barbarossa 1941

The first one has been helping out a current project, Hannut (there will be pics), and the current project will easily evolve into the second pair of books with the addition of some slightly later model PzIIIs and a horde of BT-7s and T-26s.

I also have French Warships in the Age of Steam 1859–1914 (Roberts) on the go, for yet another planned project. Mostly technical, not exactly a ripping yarn.

Edit: missed one: The Battle of the Atlantic, Jonathan Dimbleby. I found it a bit hard to get into, but then got to the point of wanting to get to the end.


Mike

[Donald M Scheef]

I just purchased 'With the Old Breed' by E. B. Sledge.

[redleg]

I just purchased 'With the Old Breed' by E. B. Sledge.

That is an amazing book. I felt like I got kicked in the gut at several different parts. Blows your mind what those guys went through.

[chrisswim]

With the Old Breed, I may need to pull it out….

[mluther]

just received another good looking one from the team of Jack Didden and Maarten Swarts Quest for Freedom A History of the 1st Polish Armoured Division 400 plus pages with tons of new photos and nice maps of their operations in NW Europe Tons of material and inspiration for scenarios Available through RZM

[redleg]

Not a book, but I just picked up the winter edition of Strategy and Tactics Quarterly at the book store. I've only glanced through it but it looks pretty interesting. Might be of use to some of you guys working on the Arab Israeli Wars. I'm trying to stay strong, but this has got me thinking about another side project!