Book Reviews

The obvious, reviews of books I have read

Book Review: The Armored Fist: The 712th Tank Battalion in the Second World War by Aaron Elson

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] The Armored Fist: The 712th Tank Battalion in the Second World War is one of the best unit histories I have read from WWII.  It is not a traditional unit history in that it is not simply a list of engagements fought, enemy killed, and casualties suffered.  It is a compilation of the recollections of the unit’s members put into chronological order from their first combat to the end of the war.  This is not traditional battle history, instead it is the story … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Verdun – The Longest Battle of the Great War by Paul Jankowski

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the publisher. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War is one of the flood of new works coming out about World War I this year in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the world’s first truly mechanized war.  This book explores the ten month (or eleven, depending on how you count it) battle of Verdun between the Germans and French from February to November 1916. It consists of eleven chapters arranged thematically that examine different aspects of the battle from the operational … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Power Games by Richard Peters

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] I get 5-10 requests a month from publishers and authors to review their books here on B&BR and usually accept 3-4 of them because I don’t have as much time to read as I would like.  When Richard Peters, the author of Power Games: Operation Enduring Unity I contacted me and inquired about reviewing his book I had a stack of 5 other books I was working through and initially almost turned him down for lack of time.  Man, am I glad I did … More after the Jump…

Book Review: A Mad Catastrophe by Geoffrey Wawro

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire by Dr. Geoffrey Wawro is the first book I have read about WWI that does not treat Austro-Hungary as an afterthought after the outbreak of the fighting in August 1914.  In fact, Austria-Hungary and the course of the fighting in Serbia and Galicia in the first year of the war is the central theme of the book.  Dr. Wawro applies his usual exhaustive research methods to exploring … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Westmoreland’s War – Reassessing American Strategy in Vietnam by Gregory Daddis

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Westmoreland’s War: Reassessing American Strategy in Vietnam is one of those increasingly rare history books that seeks to explain the why of history instead of assigning blame for past events.  Specifically, this book looks at the situation in Vietnam prior to and during William Westmoreland’s tenure as Commander, Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV).  In the process, it illuminates how complex were the strategic and tactical problems faced by Ameria in Vietnam and how the situation was not amenable to a decentralized, mostly military … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Churchill’s Bomb by Graham Farmelo

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Have you ever wondered why Winston Churchill does not get more opprobrium for failing to capitalize on the talent pool (particularly the Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany) in Britain and doing more to support the development of the atomic bomb? Neither have I. Then I received this book for review. Churchill’s Bomb: How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race purports to explain why and how Winston Churchill failed to support nuclear research into a bomb despite being … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Come and Take Them by Tom Kratman

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I will make no secret that I am a fan of Tom Kratman’s work and would be thrilled to see more authors of his caliber and outlook writing in Sci-Fi.   Come and Take Them is the next installment in the Carrera series and I have waited almost 2 1/2 years for it to come out.  I hope the wait for the next installment is not that long in coming.  I do have to admit that COL Kratman had another book from a different series come out in that time. At 512 pages of story it is a respectable sized book.  A few people on Amazon complained about the amount of space in the book devoted … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Earth Unaware by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

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Earth Unaware is the first book of the Formic War trilogy, which is the prequel to the The Ender Quartet that first appeared in the 1980’s.  It essentially tells the story of how earth and humanity got into the position of developing Battle School and the fleets that Ender uses to wipe out the Formics in Ender’s Game. This book starts off with rather a whimper but quickly picks up speed and keeps you glues to the pages.  I got the distinct impression that my wife was annoyed because I would not put the book down in the evenings while I was reading it.  Anyone who has read the Ender Quartet will … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Hundred Days – The Campaign that Ended World War I by Nick Lloyd

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Hundred Days: The Campaign That Ended World War I by Nick Lloyd is one of those rare books that should start a trend.  His topic is one that has been, if not ignored, then glossed over in virtually every history of World War I.  There have been literally hundreds of books written about the origins of World War I but the end of the war has been ignored.  In fact, most histories seem to end right about the time the Second Battle of … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Slow Apocalypse by John Varley

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Slow Apocalypse by John Varley is one of those books that only come along once every few years.  It is a book that makes you think without even realizing it.  The first Varley book I ever read was Steel Beach and Slow Apocalypse is on a par with that book.  It is an absorbing read and somewhat of a morality tale. The book itself 438 pages long and I would guess it runs about 60,000 words. The premise is interesting and plausible.  Imagine some mad scientist developing a bacteria that breaks the hydrogen bonds in petroleum turning oil into worthless sludge.  That is what happens in this book.  The story itself follows the … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The True German: The Diary of a World War II Military Judge

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] The True German: The Diary of a World War II Military Judge by Werner Otto Müller-Hill is one of those rare books that come out of war.  A diary written by someone to satisfy themselves with no expectation that it will ever get published.  As such, it provides an almost unique view into the mind of the person writing it.  The vast majority of war memoirs are self-serving and written to make a point.  Diaries tend to be less so, and this one … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection edited by Neil Kagan & Stephen Hyslop

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection is an amazing look at the Civil War Era holdings of what many people call America’s Attic. The book itself is a large coffee-table glossy format and is 368 pages long with an object list and index.  Each section starts with an explanatory note about the objects chosen to illuminate the theme.  This is essentially a museum in a book. The sheer variety of items presented in this volume is amazing.  What makes it especially interesting … More after the Jump…

Book Review: Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East by Christian Hartmann

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[FULL DISCLOSURE: I received my copy of this book free from the author. I was not paid for this review and the opinion expressed is purely my own] Operation Barbarossa: Nazi Germany’s War in the East, 1941-1945 is one of those rare books about WWII written by a German historian and translated into English.  That is not to say that there are not plenty of books in German about WWII and examining its myriad aspects, there are, it is just that most are never translated into English.  There is generally a flood of new WWII histories every year and almost of all of them are written by English speakers.  That … More after the Jump…

A rebuttal to “Killology”

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In the past 100 years man has gone from a man, to a killer ape, to a man again. I find it hard to believe that he ever was a killer or lover of mankind, but more like a hungry creature who needed a reason to do anything other than satiate himself. First of all, we don’t have evidence to prove that the Battle of Gaugamela was “a giant shoving match.” We do have evidence that modern soldiers have misfired their rifles on purpose in order to avoid shooting the enemy, but many conclusions can be drawn from this. I would argue that Europeans have gone through four stages in … More after the Jump…

Book Review: The Medieval Fortress by J.E. & H.W. Kaufmann

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The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts, And Walled Cities Of The Middle Ages is a good study of the art and methods of fortifications and castles built in Eastern and Western Europe during the Middle Ages from the fall of Rome to the early modern period. The book is right around 300 pages long and includes many illustrations.  It also includes a glossary, which is very helpful to those that are not familiar with the technical terms for elements of castles and fortifications. It is separated into 5 chapters, the first deals with the elements of fortification, the next three are chronological about the development of castles and the final chapter covers … More after the Jump…

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