What are you currently reading ?

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

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Ace of Spades

Just finished 'The guns of August' by Barbara Tuchmann... I would not recommend it I must say.
She seems very biassed towards the Germans, the way the tekst is edited is very confusing and the military content is messy (although that may have something to do with the Dutch translation) with the term/title of 'regiment', 'brigade', 'division' and 'batallion' being used in a random fashion it seems. I wonder if somebody who read the original version had the same experience?
Let's see what Lyn Macdonald's '1914, Days of Hope' makes of it...

Cheers,
Rob
2014 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

FierceKitty

That's a shame. Her The March of Folly is extremely readable.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

Ace of Spades

I'll try and pick up an English version second hand to compare it with the translation I have and see where things went wrong.
I find it hard to believe that she got a Pulitzer Prize for such a mediocre book really...

Cheers,
Rob
2014 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

NTM

Quote from: FierceKitty on 25 December 2015, 06:35:11 AM
That's a shame. Her The March of Folly is extremely readable.

Unfortunately readable does not always mean a good accurate historical text just look at Ambrose. His Pegasus Bridge is a great read but packed with historical inaccuracy.

Ithoriel

I got a copy of Guns of August as a school history prize, I found it readable and informative and it must presumably have got some things right as I used the information I remembered from it to answer a question in my "Higher" History exam and got an A grade pass!
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

Duke Speedy of Leighton

Osprey 191 Henry VIII's Army...
English Flodden forces are go (or Early Henrician if you play FogR)! :)
Nice pressie to myself via Mrs Lemmey? ;)
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Leman

Looks like we could be painting the same type of stuff again Lem. My first project will be a c1512 Spanish army.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Duke Speedy of Leighton

I need to get mine done by April!!!
Poles to do as well!
You may refer to me as: Your Grace, Duke Speedy of Leighton.
2016 Pendraken Painting Competion Participation Prize  (Lucky Dip Catagory) Winner

Roy

Just read Kydd, by Julian Stockwin.
£1 book from a charity shop. Enjoyed it enough, but I can't help but think that the true outcome of events (from the last part of the book) would have been a court martial followed by a hanging for the pair. But, there may have been historical precedent?
princeps Roy , prince de Monacorra, (ascended in February 2023)
His Serene Highness the Sovereign Prince of (the imaginary sovereign microstate of) Monacorra

All Hail the Principality of Monacorra!  8-}

kipt

Finished Volume 10 of "Wargaming in History; the Shenandoah Valley 1862".  I am more and more impressed with these volumes.  this one in particular is "a staff ride with miniatures" (not an accurate quote).  Great history, great conclusions and well written.  Next is the Volume 10 Supplement (along with two other books I am reading).

Steve J

Just finished Svensden's book on the 1st Schleswig-Holstein War. Not a bad read but could have done with better maps (from a wargaming point of view) and will benefit from a re-read in the future. Not many big actions but plenty of ideas for 'what if?' games, campaigns etc.

Now on 'Troop Leader' by Bill Bellamy. So far a good read about his time as a troop leader in NWE '44-'45.

kipt

Finished the Supplement to Volume 10 "Wargaming in History; The Shenandoah Valley 1862".  Good explanations and good logistic data.  (Amateurs discuss tactics, professionals discuss logistics).  Liked it as backup to Volume 10.

Werthor

I'm reading "Manituana" by Wu Ming, an interesting and unconventional view of AWI facts

kipt

Finished "The Naval Flank of the Western Front: The German MarineKorps Flandern 1914-1918" by Mark Karau.

When the Germans took Belgium they got the undestroyed ports (the British thought they would need them when they returned, which did not happen until November 1918). 
Submarines and destroyers were based there, and the submarines accounted for 25% or so of all sinkings (using torpedoes and mines).

The British were concerned that the Germans would have used their destroyers aggressively, causing a reaction by the British that could have attritted their light forces.  It would have also given the High Seas Fleet opportunities to intervene and perhaps score points.  But due to caution or lack of understanding, the German High command did not do so.

The MarineKorps eventually had 3 divisions (used for coastal defence for attacks that only came once - the attack on Zeebruge) plus numerous shore batteries as well as an air component.

An interesting look at a portion of WWI I knew nothing about.  Could make for some great mini naval campaigns.

holdfast

glad that Kipt found the Supplement to Wargaming in History The Shenandoah Campaign worthwhile. We - Adam Poole and I - wanted to make the whole thing into one book but that would have made it more than 200 pages and it was deemed too big by the Publisher, and it didnt fit the format of five games, some orbats and the battlefield today that the series has evolved into. Hence we took the bits that were surplus to the 'core' of the book and put the supplement together. We were actually astonished that 'The Shenandoah Day by Day' had not been done before.
The other two ACW books are Gettysburg and First Bull Run. First Bull Run is still in print and Richard Brown of Ken Trotman is planning a limited reprint of Gettysburg in the course of 2016. Meanwhile, Andrew Brentnall and I are getting to grips with writing Volume 12 of Wargaming in History which is about the Battle of Koniggratz in 1866.