What are you currently reading ?

Started by goat major, 03 November 2012, 06:40:05 PM

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steve_holmes_11

Spartans and Successors - new wargame rules (mentioned elsewhere).


Good clear writing, manageable page count, a good supply of historic scenarios.
Quite dense information, so will benefit from a full reading and a couple of repeat passes.
I shall be shuffling through the lead pile for Greeks and Macedonians.

kipt

And finished the last Atlas in the series, "The Maps Of The Cavalry In The Gettysburg Campaign: An Atlas of Mounted Operations from Brandy Station Through Falling waters, June 9-July14, 1863" by Bradley M. Gottfried.

I believe another is in process of being completed and printed about the actions after the Wilderness.  Hope to see more on the Western Theater.

Good books.

T13A

Hi

Just finished James Holland's 'Brothers in Arms', the story of the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry from D day to the end of the war. Excellent read but harrowing and very sad in places (not surprisingly), recommended for anyone interested in what it was like to be in an armoured regiment in europe 1944-45.

Cheers Paul
T13A Out!

Steve J

I saw this Paul and have added it too my list of books to buy. The maps look particularly useful to recreate actions etc.

Steve J

The Williamite Wars in Ireland by John Childs. An excellent book and still in the opening stages of the siege of Derry. Plenty of petit guerre actions that would make for some modest sized games.

fred.

A couple of good suggestions there. Add the James Holland one to my Christmas list, need to check if I already have the Williamite wars one
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kipt

Finished an interesting little book I found in an antique shop "Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War: The New Mexico Campaign 1862", by William Clarke Whitford, D.D.  First printed in 1906 and reprinted in 1963.  Whitford visited the area and then learned about the happenings in New Mexico.  He was able to speak to veterans of the campaign and endeavored to list all the killed and wounded.  However he dies before he could accomplish that and so the booklet was published posthumously.

Talks about the fights at Valverde, Apache Canyon and Glorieta Pass.  The Valverde fight is covered as a scenario in the Regimental Fire and Fury Volume 2 scenario book.

fsn

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8893273713/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Austrian Army during the Napoleonic wars 1813-1818: K.K.Oesterreichischen Armee (Soldiers, Weapons & Uniforms NAP)

Oh dear.

If you want to know about the Austrian army 1813-1818, I'd go elsewhere. If you want examples of prints by Joseph Trentsensky, this may be the book for you. No real explanation of the Austrian army in 1813, but an intro to the army in 1800 (which was a very different proposition). Then lots of pages explaining ranks in the army ... which is odd, before we finally get into the plates.

Lots of plates 50 by Trentsensky, plus 30 by other artists. Full colour, and IMHO a bit dark ; some relating to 1800 which was a different army. The biggest disappointment is that there are no notes on the plates. Page 64 "Austrian Naval Infantry" ... who were they? How many? When? What did they do? No clues in this book.

Expensive for what you get.

Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

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mmcv

Picked up in a charity shop today "Great Military Blunders" and "Great Commanders of the Medieval World" (though really from late Rome to late renaissance) to perhaps provide some inspiration for future projects.

Also picked up the rather oddly named The Qin Dynasty Terra-Cotta Army Of DREAMS.

Tad hyperbolic but some interesting information and pictures.

kipt

Finished "Mounted Archers of the Steppe 600 BC-AD1300" by Anthony Karasulas and illustrated by Angus McBride.  A typical Osprey in the Elite series.  Not my area of interest but is was given to me.  Still informative and the drawings are always good.

kipt

Finished "the Journal of Military History" Vol. 85, No.3.
Articles include:
The Battle of Fariskur (29 August 1219) and the Fifth Crusade: Causes, Course, and Consequences.
Notre Cher Ami: The Enduring Myth and Memory of a Humble Pigeon,
The early Military History of the Second Indochina War and the Moyer Thesis.

And 92 pages of books and magazine articles reviews.

Published 4 times per year and well worth the cost ($70.00 per year regular membership).

kipt

Finished my 3rd Eugen book "Prince Eugen of Savoy" by Nicholas Henderson, 1964.  The bibliography lists the two books I discussed prior.

This one does not have much about the battles; a high view of not even a page, but does have very interesting discussions about Eugen and his interactions.  Henderson makes a good case for the view of "perfidious Albion" and how jaundiced Eugen became dealing with the government after Marlborough.


Techno II

Over the past few weeks have listened to....

A Murder Too Soon, by Michael Jecks.

Set in June 1554....An assassin is sent to kill 'a spy' in the palace of Woodstock where Princess Elizabeth is being kept under close guard. He arrives just too late. Someone else has beaten him too it.
From then on a murder mystery, with so many twists and turns at the end, I was half expecting Hercule Poirot (or Miss Marple) to turn up. Pretty good, though ! :)

A Lawless Place, by David Donachie.

Set in the time William Pitt is PM.
Slightly irritating, as I reached the final CD thinking.....Coo they're going to have to go some to tie this all together...and then the main character is shot and apparently killed.
Had to find out from reviews on Amazon, that this was the second book in (at least) a trilogy, with the end of each book ending on a 'cliffhanger'. =)

Elementary Murder by A J Wright.

Set in Wigan in 1894.
Murder mystery set in an Elementary School.
Not bad, at all. :)

Airborne, by Robert Radcliffe.

Starts off in September 1944......But whizzes backwards and forwards in time.
Really well structured story...Very enjoyable. :)

The Skin Collector, by Jeffery Deaver.

Basically a murder thriller..(Someone is killing folk by tattooing them with poison 'ink'.)
Lots of twists and turns, at the end...again, very enjoyable. :)

Viper's Blood, by David Gillman.

Best of the bunch. :-bd
To quote the back of the 'book'..."...gives a true taste of the Hundred Years War. A gripping chronicle of pitched battle, treachery and cruelty. The stench and harshness of medieval life is ever present."

Cheers - Phil  :)




Steve J

The Secret War by Max Hastings. About half way through and so far superb.

John Cook

Just finished Marengo by Terry Crowdy.  Comprehensive research in the Austrian and French archives, as well as use of multiple sources both primary and secondary, including regimental histories, coupled with sensible analysis which is well explained and written.  This is what all military history should be like - original research rather than the recycling of what has gone before.