Matrix Games Forums

Posted: **Mon Sep 12, 2016 2:41 pm**

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak

So I finished up Pacific Crucible: War At Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942 by Ian Toll yesterday. It was a good read. Had some refreshing things in it such as getting to know the major players in high command and in combat commands for both the Japanese and American sides. Toll gives back ground on these people in a way that is not dry or overly complex.

When he gets into the specific battles he re-tells them in a way that covers the operational part of it, but also the human part of it that I feel is left out a lot of times in these types of books. He pulls quotes from veterans and from war diaries to make the battles feel more personable, as if you are, in a sense, there instead of way on the outside looking in. It was an easy read with a good flow and his writing style makes you want to keep reading. Getting through chapters isn't a chore.

So with that said, I will starting the second book The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 tomorrow.

Here is a link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-con ... 0393080643

Excellent critique! [:)] Ian Toll has won some literary awards...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_W._Toll

Posted: **Mon Sep 12, 2016 5:49 pm**

The Harper encyclopedia of military history. Bought it for a dollar, up to page 319/1736 "Western Europe" 1000-1200. I don't think I would have liked to live in Germany in the 11th century!

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 12:05 pm**

ORIGINAL: loki100

its not a biography of Atlee as such but Peter Hennessy's Never Again is probably the definitive account of British politics from 1945-51. So obv, Atlee tends to dominate and there is a lot of good background material on the evolution of his ideas and so on.

Thank you for this, loki - I also got me Hennessys's The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders Since 1945 which I've found second-hand for just 6 Euros!

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:17 pm**

glad to help - he is an excellent blend of contemporary historian and journalist.

Another good book by him is the The Secret State on the development and evolution of the UK's nuclear weapons policy. The discussion on how Whitehall developed its rules around when/if their use could be ordered is fascinating.

Its now dated but his book on the British Civil Service Whitehall is a good counterpart to the one on Prime Ministers. Only problem is its now very much a work of historical record as it is badly out of the date compared to the current (and constantly) shifting architecture of the Civil Service (combination of Blair's taste for re-organisations and the impact of devolution dismantled many of the older verities).

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 1:22 pm**

Just heard this is coming out at the end of the year. I can't wait already....

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 3:44 pm**

Also in December, John Roberts has 'British Battlecruisers 1905-1920' a revision of his 1997 book.

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 4:27 pm**

Reading this thread costs me a lot of money - pre-ordered Friedman's book shown by Warspite, and while I was busy with that, also ordered Friedman's British Destroyers: From Earliest Days to the Second World War.

Now I only need a good explanation for my Secretary of Finance aka wife! [:D]

Posted: **Sun Sep 18, 2016 7:15 pm**

We added a review of 'Antiochus The Great' to the blog.

http://www.awargamersneedfulthings.co.u ... aylor.html

Thanks

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:07 am**

i will hopefully be reading Das Boot soon - loved the film/series but never read teh book and only just getting back into sub games all over again an

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 8:47 pm**

I am currently reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:29 pm**

Just finished "Fear" by Gabriel Chevalier.

An admirable, courageous and poignant book about the horrors and futility of war (in this case WW1) as seen by the soldiers that have to endure it - and live and die in fear.

The short introduction by John Berger is one of the most admirable and scathing anti-war texts I've read so far.

Not for everyone, but I am glad to have read it.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 9:38 pm**

Reading Retribution by Max Hastings. Picked this up for $1 when the local bookstore went under about 4 years ago but it's been sitting on my shelf until now. Some fascinating stuff in what I've read so far.

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:37 pm**

Warspite1,

You led me astray with your last book recommendation. The Cat in the Hat, while entertaining, was neither erudite nor sophisticated in its treatment of the 1920s European bourgeois. Based upon that total miss, I shall have to pass on your recommendations for Red Fish, Blue Fish and Hop on Pop. Honestly, man. You must expand your circle a bit. [:-]

Posted: **Mon Sep 19, 2016 11:38 pm**

"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Furguson. What an enjoyable author! I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen or heard much of him until recently.

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:55 am**

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Furguson. What an enjoyable author! I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen or heard much of him until recently.

warspite1

Another very, very good book. I know that he's not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't agree with everything he writes, but having read four of his books - Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, Colossus and Empire, War of the World and The Ascent of Money - I do find Ferguson to be never less than an enjoyable read.

I still have The Pity of War too on my shelf but that is near the back of a long queue.....

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2016 11:38 am**

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Furguson. What an enjoyable author! I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen or heard much of him until recently.
warspite1

Another very, very good book. I know that he's not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't agree with everything he writes, but having read four of his books - Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, Colossus and Empire, War of the World and The Ascent of Money - I do find Ferguson to be never less than an enjoyable read.

I still have The Pity of War too on my shelf but that is near the back of a long queue.....

Of those books you mentioned, which do you recommend most?

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2016 2:24 pm**

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: warspite1

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

"The Ascent of Money" by Niall Furguson. What an enjoyable author! I'm disappointed that I hadn't seen or heard much of him until recently.
warspite1

Another very, very good book. I know that he's not everyone's cup of tea, and I don't agree with everything he writes, but having read four of his books - Virtual History: Alternatives and Counterfactuals, Colossus and Empire, War of the World and The Ascent of Money - I do find Ferguson to be never less than an enjoyable read.

I still have The Pity of War too on my shelf but that is near the back of a long queue.....

Of those books you mentioned, which do you recommend most?

warspite1

Apologies it was not War of the World I read - I saw a TV series based on that book. It was Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World

I would chose Empire: How Britain made the Modern World and The Ascent of Money. As you are reading the latter I would go with Empire next followed by Colossus and Empire

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2016 3:20 pm**

Ugh. Do I really have to read a book written by a Scotsman extolling the virtues of Pax Brittania? [;)]

Posted: **Tue Sep 20, 2016 7:13 pm**

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

Ugh. Do I really have to read a book written by a Scotsman extolling the virtues of Pax Brittania? [;)]

warspite1

Well its up to you. You could always try The Gruffalo if Ferguson no longer floats your boat. The Gruffalo isn't as big a book in size, but in depth and breadth of subject matter its at least on a par. A searing indictment of the social conditions of those born with a big purple wart on the end of their nose, as well as a much needed delve into the realpolitik of the Deep Dark Wood.

Posted: **Wed Sep 21, 2016 3:13 pm**

"Clash of Carriers" by Barrett Tillman

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