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Still reading Erick Flint's "Ring of Fire" novels (alternative history of the 30 Year's War period. I was delighted to see AGEOD's announcement of a new game on the topic!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1632_series

If not for these novels, I wouldn't have given it a second thought, but now it's a "must have" for me. [:)]

The British Pacific Fleet: the Royal Navy's most powerful strike force, by David Hobbs

ORIGINAL: George Patton

The British Pacific Fleet: the Royal Navy's most powerful strike force, by David Hobbs

warspite1

Please let me know what you think. I have this waiting to be read and am interested to know if it will be worth the wait [;)]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Finally finished Volume 1 of Clay Blair's Hitler U-Boat War.

700 pages + more stats than you can shake a stick at. There were a few niggles - like when he got off his subject (to recap where the war was at various points) he was guilty of hyperbole in some cases, and also he seemed to have a bit of a hang up about the British and a love affair with Admiral King.

However, these are minor niggles; the work gone into this book is staggering and the result is hugely interesting book and really easy to read piece of work.

I would thoroughly recommend this book - and am angry with myself that I have not read it sooner. Having finished it I have dived straight into volume II. [:)]

Between the two, I found the second more interesting personally. Coastal Command gives 'em the what for, I'll tell you what! [X(]

Before reading both of these books, I hadn't realized the scale and scope of the futility that was the German U-boat effort post mid-1942. When compounded with questionable leadership from the top, it made an abattoir for the Kreigsmarine in 1943 and 1944.

I also hadn't realized how many "heavies" (Sunderlands, B-24s, B-17s and the lot) were used in an ASW role by the British and other commonwealth players in Coastal Command. Putting the jackboot on the U-boat throat required an enormous effort.

Just finished up Napoleon: The End of Glory (Oxford University Press, 2014) by Munro Price.

It's a worthwhile new study of the political moves & military campaigns of 1813-14, which sealed the doom of the First French Empire. Price sheds some interesting light on Austria's convoluted strategy (via recently discovered documents & diaries), and postulates that Napoleon had much more serious health problems than previously believed.

He also opines that Napoleon's near-death at Arcis-sur-Aube (20 March 1814) was likely a battlefield suicide attempt. (An enemy howitzer shell landed in front of troops Napoleon was attempting to rally. He spurred his horse over the sputtering shell, which then exploded, blowing the horse completely apart. When the smoke & dust cleared, Napoleon was revealed miraculously unscathed -- although probably coated in horse guts!)

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

Finished Churchill and the Admirals by Stephen Roskill, a pretty damning book about Churchill and how he treated the Admirals of the Royal Navy. Covered are all his actions, errors, mistakes, intrigues, brainwaves and whatever, from the Great War onwards through WWII. Fascinating read.

Now reading Churchill's Anchor: The Biography of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound OM, GCB, GCVO by Robin Brodhurst.

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Finished Churchill and the Admirals by Stephen Roskill, a pretty damning book about Churchill and how he treated the Admirals of the Royal Navy. Covered are all his actions, errors, mistakes, intrigues, brainwaves and whatever, from the Great War onwards through WWII. Fascinating read.

Now reading Churchill's Anchor: The Biography of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound OM, GCB, GCVO by Robin Brodhurst.

A interesting rebuttal to Roskill is in 'Churchill and Sea Power' by Christopher Bell. Bell tries to show (with limited success) that Winston wasn't so bad.

Thank you, on my list. It's always good to see both sides of the coin - that's what I always try to achieve, to get more than just one opinion (or book) about the same issue. No author is in the sole possession of the truth.

ORIGINAL: Hotschi

Thank you, on my list. It's always good to see both sides of the coin - that's what I always try to achieve, to get more than just one opinion (or book) about the same issue. No author is in the sole possession of the truth.

I entirely agree.
I haven't read Roskill, but mean to.

Kiev 1941 by David Stahel

Anybody here read 'Land Battles in 5th Century BC Greece: A History and Analysis of 173 Engagements' by Fred Eugene Ray ?
It looks interesting.

Kiev 1941 by David Stahel

Any good?
Looks interesting.

Vichy France Old Guard and New Order 1940-1944

A couple of chapters in and really enjoying this one [:)]

Rereading "Somme" by Lyn Macdonald (again). A bit of self-indulgence as my grandfather had an interview in the book.

Barbarossa Unleashed by C Luther is superb. I can't recommend it enough. Great value for money aswell..with fold out maps etc, quality paper and a superb read.

LINK

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Vichy France Old Guard and New Order 1940-1944

A couple of chapters in and really enjoying this one [:)]

warspite1

Finished the book. Bit of a strange one actually. At its best it is very good - but too much of the book is written in a language that I completely fail to understand [&:]

Wordy and, to me, largely incomprehensible Sentences like the one below abound. If not entirely incomprehensible, they do make the book feel like one is wading through treacle:

At stake was a dim groping toward another conception of representation to replace the Third Republic's equal and atomized voters.

As an introduction to Vichy, I suspect I could have picked an easier to read tome, but this book did at least leave me with a much better understanding of where Vichy fitted in to the bigger picture of WWII.

Since the last book mentioned here, I have read like 10 books (history and political economy basically).

Currently reading Rome by Mikhail Ivanovich Rostovtzeff

Taking a break from war books.

Currently enjoying Centennial, by James H. Michener.

A Quick and Dirty Guide to War -- Dunnigan & Bay