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I have nearly the entire collection of Kessler which is for the unknowing the alter ego of the well established historian Charles Whiting.

Depending on your location I would suggest used book stores.

They were a great action series written in the usual mannner of a gungho US unit ala Sgt Rock style of incredible heroics.
Based on a German unit named Wotan. They fought here and they fought there and always they kicked ***.

My copies are fairly well previously enjoyed:D

Currently reading David Hackworth's "About Face". Just finished a good Civil War fiction book "Jacob's Ladder" by Donald McCaig.

Originally posted by wulfir
Churchill’s Desert Rats
Operation Iceberg
In Deadly Combat
Company Commander
Burma Victory

and

Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom

And here are the reviews!

Churchill's Desert Rats -
Ok book. British 7th Arm Div 44-45. They had some problems.


Operation Iceberg -
Invasion of Okinawa. Oral history mostly. Very good.


In Deadly Combat -
German PAK commander, later infantry officer in Russia. Ok but pretty standard.


Company Commander -
American infantry officer, the Bulge to the end in Germany. Not bad at all.


Burma Victory -
The war in Burma. Much too short to give any in depth cover.


Motivational Strategies in the Language Classroom -
Don't ask.

Originally posted by okke
I've just finished:

'Een andere kijk op de slag om Arnhem - De snelle Duitse reactie" (A different view on the battle for Arnhem - The swift German reaction) by Peter Berends

This one sounds interesting. Is it on the German perspective of the battle? Is it also published in English? Is it any good?

Regards,

Peter

Been a long time since I posted here and I've been reading some.

Panzer Battles, von Mellenthin. The author was a staff officer in the German Army and served under Rommel among others. Very interesting info from the German POV.

Hyperion, Simmons. Sci fi and pretty good. Won the Hugo or Nebula award. I'm picking up more of his books.

I'm Just Here for the Food, Alton Brown. If you haven't caught this guy's show on cable you should. He brings a quasi scientific approach to cooking and has a wicked dry sense of humor. The book is a good primer about why stuff works the way it does. Take it from me guys, learn to cook at least one semi fancy "gourmet" meal. The ladies love that;)

Hyperion, Simmons. Sci fi and pretty good. Won the Hugo or Nebula award. I'm picking up more of his books.

Simmons is great, I loved Hyperion and its three sequels.

If you like Hyperion, you'll also like Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" books. Great space opera with a supernatural/horror twist.

Originally posted by Kraut
Hyperion, Simmons. Sci fi and pretty good. Won the Hugo or Nebula award. I'm picking up more of his books.

Simmons is great, I loved Hyperion and its three sequels.

If you like Hyperion, you'll also like Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" books. Great space opera with a supernatural/horror twist.

Thanks for the tip. I'll put them on my ever growing reading list:D

Originally posted by msaario
Reading, browsing, depending on how much time I've got...

1) IJN Aces 1937-45, Henry Sakaida, Osprey #22
2) Meine Flugberichte 1935-1945, J Kaufmann
3) Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units in WW2, Hata/Izawa
4) Caesar, T.A. Dodge
5) My daily newspaper

--Mikko

I'm quoting myself - I must be getting old...?

Don't touch that Kaufmann book if you see it somewhere! It is pure CRAP! The guy wrote it like 50 years after the war from his flight book (or whatever?):

"Today we flew 6 missions, total flight time 2H50Mins..."
"Today we flew against the Russians... Tough day... had some losses..."

Oh, what a waste of money!

--Mikko

Currently re-reading Ilja Ehrenburg: Voina

The Blond Knight of Germany. Chronicles Erich Hartmann's career. Worthwhile.

I'd like to recommend Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson.

It's a novel about a RAF squadron in the begining of WWII.

Very good IMHO.

I have just started "Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire", by Dmitriy Volkoganov.
Through the biographies of the 6 Soviet leaders (from Lenin to Gorbatchev), the author (a former Colonel-General in charge of the Red Army's archives, who at the beginning of the 1990's headed the commission put in place for the declassification of the USSR's archives), analyzes the Soviet Empire's history. A lot of secrets unfolded. Chilling.... Not to be missed. The insight of a Russian who had access to so many secrets...Finely translated in English...


I have just finished "the Mitrokhin Archives", an history of KGB's foreign espionnage department (First Chief Directorate) through the information provided by Mitrokhin, a defector (defected to Britain in 1992) who, during 20 years, was FCD's head archivist. Many questions answered about the USSR's attitude toward the West. A must read.

Originally posted by Zoltar DEXTER
I have just started "Rise and Fall of the Soviet Empire", by Dmitriy Volkoganov.

Is the English title "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/ ... 55-2170307) or is that a different book? (Improbable but just to be sure.)

His Lenin biography seems to be very interesting too BTW.



Dave

P.S. Is there also a great late summer at the Black Sea (like it is in central Europe) or has the autumn begun already?

Hello Davewolf,

Originally posted by davewolf

Is the English title "Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" or is that a different book? (Improbable but just to be sure.)

His Lenin biography seems to be very interesting too BTW.

P.S. Is there also a great late summer at the Black Sea (like it is in central Europe) or has the autumn begun already?

"Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" (publisher: Free Press) is the American version of the book (sorry, I forgot Tchernenko, so, there is 7 bio.). But it was edited in 1998.

The European version, "The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union" (publisher: Harper-Collins), has been reedited in 1999 (first edition in 1995).

"The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union" is the last book of Volkoganov, who died in 1995 (cancer). He wrote in the foreword that the short Lenin biography present in this book was more accurate than the complete one he published separately a few years before, as he sourced new data. His final opinion was much darker.

Vokoganov's book is the closest to the human reality of the Soviet tragedy (in fact, the closest to Truth):
=> it has been written by a Russian historian (only a Russian could truely understand),
=> who had access to the most secret Russian archives,
=> who had just converted to christianism (orthodoxy),
=> and who knew he was about to face his creator (he had cancer).


Still summertime on this side of the Black Sea. Sunny (except today), 25°C. Water temperature = 23°C. We hope to swim till mid-October.

BTW, in August 2001, we got +43°C, and in December.....-29°C (a 50-year record).

Cheers,:)

Originally posted by Zoltar DEXTER
"Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime" (publisher: Free Press) is the American version of the book (sorry, I forgot Tchernenko, so, there is 7 bio.). But it was edited in 1998.

The European version, "The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union" (publisher: Harper-Collins), has been reedited in 1999 (first edition in 1995).

"The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union" is the last book of Volkoganov, who died in 1995 (cancer). He wrote in the foreword that the short Lenin biography present in this book was more accurate than the complete one he published separately a few years before, as he sourced new data. His final opinion was much darker.

Vokoganov's book is the closest to the human reality of the Soviet tragedy (in fact, the closest to Truth):
=> it has been written by a Russian historian (only a Russian could truely understand),
=> who had access to the most secret Russian archives,
=> who had just converted to christianism (orthodoxy),
=> and who knew he was about to face his creator (he had cancer).

Thanks a lot for the input. I guess I'm gonna have to buy that book.

Still summertime on this side of the Black Sea. Sunny (except today), 25°C. Water temperature = 23°C. We hope to swim till mid-October.

BTW, in August 2001, we got +43°C, and in December.....-29°C (a 50-year record).

Ouch!


Regards,
Dave

Just finished Gerald Astor's Crisis in the Pacific, Philippines/MacArthur 1941-1945.

Reading Donald Burgett's Beyond the Rhine; A Screaming Eagle in Germany right now. Its the fourth book about his service in the 101st Airborne Division. The other three were about DDay, Market-Garden, and the Bulge.

Panzer Battles, von Mellenthin. The author was a staff officer in the German Army and served under Rommel among others. Very interesting info from the German POV.



Just bought the book.
It's next nr 3 or 4, when i've finished the last 100 days by J.Toland (seems incredibly good when you realize he wrote it 40 years ago).

Is it good ? real good w< kjhd


huho, my 10 months old daughter is reaching the keyboard...

bye guys.

Finally got book i was waiting for...Berlin 1945 by Anthony Beevor

Finally got book i was waiting for...Berlin 1945 by Anthony Beevor

I found it rather disapointing........ I waited for what seemed like ages for this book but I was soon to find its mainly about the fighting on the outskirts than in the city, as a matter of fact I found it rather boring in many places + you can only read so many rape stories in one sitting.

But dont let my views colour what I hope should be a good book for you.

Well, maybe I`m not the only one, I haven`t checked entire million of posts, but I`ll add some of mine:)
Tom Clancy`s Red Storm Rising from my classmate;
Tom Clancy`s Bear and Dragon, Debt of Honor and Without Remorse from the public library;
Kenneth Macksey`s ... Hitler`s posibilities? (Don`t know the correct original name, translating from Czech. Sorry )
and much more - I can read very fast, for example I had the Executive Orders (Clancy, some 700 pages) in three days (3-4hrs a day, it was during holiday. Now... about 1-2hrs a day)
I want to get some Calncy in English (is it somewhere on net?), I have already read in original The Icon and Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth and the Lord of the Rings.
Bye bye
Tuccy