What are you currently reading ?

[fsn]

I'm re-reading A Brief History of the Amazons by Lyn Webster Wilde.



Just in case, y'know, something happens in the Middle Borough. 

[paulr]

Well played sir

[kipt]

Finished "War At The End Of The World: Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight for New Guinea, 1942-1945" by James P. Duffy.  Good book showing how MacArthur built up his area and leapfrogged around many Japanese strong points.  A bit touch and go in the beginning but eventually it seemed to be a well oiled machine.

Enjoyed it.

[Chris Pringle]

Finished "War At The End Of The World: Douglas MacArthur and the Forgotten Fight for New Guinea, 1942-1945" by James P. Duffy.  Good book showing how MacArthur built up his area and leapfrogged around many Japanese strong points.

Do you think he'd picked up any useful tips from his dad's ACW experiences? (I visited the Franklin battlefield last month. My tour guide's punchline was to tell me about Arthur MacArthur Jr: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_MacArthur_Jr. )

[kipt]

Other than probably trying to emulate his dad, and imbibing the Duty, Honor, Country theme, the book doesn't mention any of it.

[paulr]

Perhaps he picked up arguing with Presidents from his father's Philippines experiences

[T13A]

Hi

Just finished 'Bristol and the Civil War' by John Lynch. Excellent book covering 'what it says on the tin'. Really good on the 'sinews' of the war (recruiting, finances, powder and arms production etc.) and how it affected the people of Bristol. I didn't know that several hundreds of Scots prisoners were moved to Bristol to be shipped to the West Indies after the battle of Worcester.

Cheers Paul

[Steve J]

The Blue Bowl pub in Hanham was reputedly used by Cromwell for his HQ when he re-took Bristol. Sounds like a good book Paul and will check it out, as a bit of local history won't go amiss .

[kipt]

Finished the "Gettysburg Magazine" issue 71.

Articles include:

Overlooked and Underappreciated: Dan Butterfield in the Gettysburg Campaign,
Defending the Cumberland valley,
A Grim Determination to Do or Die: Brigadier General William Barksdale & His Mississippi Brigade at Gettysburg,
The Most Destructive Artillery Impact of the Battle of Gettysburg,

and several others.  The most destructive artillery round apparently was spherical case which caused 29 casualties in a company of 33 men (Company B of the 16th Georgia).  The battery that fired the round was not discovered.

A good magazine published two times per year.

[fsn]

Didn't think it worth a new thread, but I've just ordered a new volume from Helion - they have it discounted at the moment. I hope it will answer some long pondered questions for me. However, I am bedecked in hope rather than expectation.


I like logistics!

https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/supplying-the-new-model-army-logistics-arms-ammunition-clothing-victuals-and-the-materiel-of-war-1645-1646.php

[steve_holmes_11]

Why was Northamptonshire packed with boot factories?

[Gwydion]

Don't know why boots (and later shoes) in Northamptonshire (sure we did it in geography in the lower fourth or something but that is nearly as far back as the seventeenth century and my brain appears to have been pillaged at some stage).
I too though am interested in logistics and am tempted by this volume - thanks fsn.

[fsn]

Sorry, the link for the book should be ...
https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/supplying-the-new-model-army-logistics-arms-ammunition-clothing-victuals-and-the-materiel-of-war-1645-1646.php

Thanks Gwydion.

[Gwydion]

Welcome.

[Last Hussar]

From

https://www.northamptonmuseums.com/info/3/collections/54/shoes-1

Why Northampton? Well the town had the advantage of possessing three crucial raw materials. Cattle for the leather and oak bark and water from the Rive Nene to use in the tanning process. Northampton was also within easy reach of London and other large towns where many people needed shoes. It was also a stopping off place on the drove road from Wales to London.