I read a book or two... when I get to it.
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The remarkable story of Josef Hartinger, the German prosecutor who risked everything to bring to …
This is largely the story of a number of murders in the Dachau concentration camp in the period of time before the SS ran the place, and the failure of the Bavarian judiciary to prosecute the nazis for those murders. That failure emboldened them and led to further atrocities. Lesson observed, courts won’t save you from the nazis.
The remarkable story of Josef Hartinger, the German prosecutor who risked everything to bring to justice the first killers of …
Spanning the years 1940 to 1965, The Last Lion: Defender of the Realm begins shortly …
So, Manchester wrote two volumes of this work and had completed research for the third and final volume when death caught up to him. Paul Reid picked up the pen and completed this magnificent document. I listened to all 50+ hours of the unabridged audio version of this book and didn't want to put it down. The first two volumes set up Winston for greatness and the final one sees him achieve it.
So, Manchester wrote two volumes of this work and had completed research for the third and final volume when death caught up to him. Paul Reid picked up the pen and completed this magnificent document. I listened to all 50+ hours of the unabridged audio version of this book and didn't want to put it down. The first two volumes set up Winston for greatness and the final one sees him achieve it.
Narrative style pop history covering Winston’s years not in cabinet as a backbench MP. WSC lived by his pen in those years and literally laid a lot of bricks at his home in Kent. He made predictions about the rise of H and the Nah Zeees. It’s all very engaging but there is a bit of overlap with VOL 1 which serves as context necessary if you’re only reading Vol 2.
The formation of a British original. This #book deals with Winston’s formative years through the first half of the interwar period. Manchester’s prose is smooth and compelling.
Had just read "Strategy for Defeat" by Sharp and wondered if Taylor had also written a bio. He sure as hell did. It's a beast at 400+ pages, but he surely lived in interesting times. As his story wended through the Johnson admin's attempt to seize some kind of victory out of the war in Vietnam I couldn't help but think that this person also jumped out of a plane to invade Europe ahead of Normandy. He knew war...
Anyway, his story was more revealing than Sharp's. Sharp... while a high ranking officer was in the middle tier of command during Vietnam and also was only there for a narrow window. Taylor was there from 61 and had a vantage point to see and point out the why of every major call. I found his closing chapter difficult to get through as it was written before the close of …
Had just read "Strategy for Defeat" by Sharp and wondered if Taylor had also written a bio. He sure as hell did. It's a beast at 400+ pages, but he surely lived in interesting times. As his story wended through the Johnson admin's attempt to seize some kind of victory out of the war in Vietnam I couldn't help but think that this person also jumped out of a plane to invade Europe ahead of Normandy. He knew war...
Anyway, his story was more revealing than Sharp's. Sharp... while a high ranking officer was in the middle tier of command during Vietnam and also was only there for a narrow window. Taylor was there from 61 and had a vantage point to see and point out the why of every major call. I found his closing chapter difficult to get through as it was written before the close of the Vietnam war and could not prognosticate it's end, but I found his final analysis instructive and enduring. Anyone interested in the application of national power could benefit from Taylor's summation of the fundamentals. Unsaid in so many words in all this text, but alluded to is Taylor's clear opinion that JFK was far superior an executive than LBJ and that his early death led to a ship of state not well steered. It's a bit of a passing of the buck, but I can see why he thinks it. He also does some work in here with introspection... a bit of "if they had followed my advice" comes out.
All in all a good auto-bio/history. Not 5 stars, but 4 for sure.
Good stuff... in 1971 the "new left" united to bring the government to a halt. Tricky Dick arrested 12,000 citizens protesting the Vietnam War!!! This pop history book by Lawrence Roberts tells a well researched story of its impacts then and the legacy that leads up to our own day.
Good stuff... in 1971 the "new left" united to bring the government to a halt. Tricky Dick arrested 12,000 citizens protesting the Vietnam War!!! This pop history book by Lawrence Roberts tells a well researched story of its impacts then and the legacy that leads up to our own day.
The first science fiction written by a black woman, Kindred has become a cornerstone of …
It should be on the top 10 list of Science Fiction for all time. This book does what all great sci-fi does it bends your world and makes you look at it in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise have need to and in the end, you’re better off for it.
It should be on the top 10 list of Science Fiction for all time. This book does what all great sci-fi does it bends your world and makes you look at it in a way that you wouldn’t otherwise have need to and in the end, you’re better off for it.
Established in 2025, the purpose of the new organization was simple: To advocate for the …
I waded 50 or so chapters into this book. Great start, honestly one of the most compelling starts I've every read, some good early chapters with plot and character development and then they just disappeared. I really wanted it to succeed on the basis of it's beginning alone so I got 10 hours of sleep caffeinated myself fully and read three chapters straight that did not include any specific advances in plot or even mention of a single character. I passed out twice. This book goes on my permanent pause shelf. If I'm wide awake and need to be asleep... I'll come find it again. Two stars for the first chapter being fantastic.
I waded 50 or so chapters into this book. Great start, honestly one of the most compelling starts I've every read, some good early chapters with plot and character development and then they just disappeared. I really wanted it to succeed on the basis of it's beginning alone so I got 10 hours of sleep caffeinated myself fully and read three chapters straight that did not include any specific advances in plot or even mention of a single character. I passed out twice. This book goes on my permanent pause shelf. If I'm wide awake and need to be asleep... I'll come find it again. Two stars for the first chapter being fantastic.
I loved Mike’s History of Rome podcast but it focuses heavily on the Imperial period. This text zooms in on the turbulent final centuries of the Republic and is a lovely treatment of it. It is a swirl of names and events all threaded expertly by the author.
Great fundamentals here from Stephens, who was living in Dublin during the rising and gives you a day for day account of what the ordinary person knew and didn’t. He then goes on to speak about what it was to be Irish in those days from his perspective. #book #BookReview.
When Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and Vice-President Andrew Johnson became “the Accidental President,” it was …
A good pop history of the personalities and events surrounding the impeachment of Andy "The Accident" Johnson and his ultimate acquittal at the first ever presidential impeachment trial. I definitely learned things I did not know regarding the reasons why he was impeached in the first place. His behavior was worse than I knew (and I knew a lot previously) but they impeached on a technicality. Like putting Capone up for tax evasion. Lesson observed... don't nominate a Veep just for votes if they're a sociopath.
A good pop history of the personalities and events surrounding the impeachment of Andy "The Accident" Johnson and his ultimate acquittal at the first ever presidential impeachment trial. I definitely learned things I did not know regarding the reasons why he was impeached in the first place. His behavior was worse than I knew (and I knew a lot previously) but they impeached on a technicality. Like putting Capone up for tax evasion. Lesson observed... don't nominate a Veep just for votes if they're a sociopath.
A former Commander in Chief during the Vietnam War examines official documents, dispatches, and high-level …
An easy read, only 271 pages of actual narrative. I recommend it to folks interested in Vietnam war history, and history of air power in war in general.
Always interesting to hear "from the horse's mouth" so to speak. Admiral Ulysses Simpson Grant Sharp Jr. (grand-nephew of his namesake the President and Civil War General) brings forward a first person tale about how the civilian and military leadership of the US fought the war in Vietnam. He was the Commander in Chief of all US forces in the Pacific and served from 64-68 in that role.
Most history I've encountered of this period focuses on the life of the fighting men (mostly men then) and less on the strategic context. The Admiral puts you in the chain of command between Secretary McNamara and the combat forces in theater and discusses his view as the conflict progressed. The crux …
An easy read, only 271 pages of actual narrative. I recommend it to folks interested in Vietnam war history, and history of air power in war in general.
Always interesting to hear "from the horse's mouth" so to speak. Admiral Ulysses Simpson Grant Sharp Jr. (grand-nephew of his namesake the President and Civil War General) brings forward a first person tale about how the civilian and military leadership of the US fought the war in Vietnam. He was the Commander in Chief of all US forces in the Pacific and served from 64-68 in that role.
Most history I've encountered of this period focuses on the life of the fighting men (mostly men then) and less on the strategic context. The Admiral puts you in the chain of command between Secretary McNamara and the combat forces in theater and discusses his view as the conflict progressed. The crux of his message is that the US political leadership did not process well the lessons of the armistice negotiations with North Korea. He plays that out by discussing the ineffective use of American air power throughout the conflict including the self imposed limitation on use on strategic warmaking targets.
This book, written in 1979, was clearly read by a later generation of American military minds as many of the lessons observed here appear, to me, to have been learned very well. Not that there weren't other hard lessons yet to be observed...
This brilliantly argued new perspective on the Civil War overturns the popular conception that Abraham …
I recommend it. Much of the pop history written about the Civil War focuses on battles and generals, but the story about how Congress fought the war is just as compelling. Bordewich builds the story into a narrative that weaves seamlessly with the external events driving the country and the war. From the secession crisis to the Impeachment of Johnson it's quite a tale.
You really get to know some of the main characters of the age: Pitt Fessenden, Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Franklin Wade, et al. Lincoln gets a lot of the limelight in other texts, but the Congress had to keep the lights on and figure out how to function as well as push the nation forward.
I recommend it. Much of the pop history written about the Civil War focuses on battles and generals, but the story about how Congress fought the war is just as compelling. Bordewich builds the story into a narrative that weaves seamlessly with the external events driving the country and the war. From the secession crisis to the Impeachment of Johnson it's quite a tale.
You really get to know some of the main characters of the age: Pitt Fessenden, Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Franklin Wade, et al. Lincoln gets a lot of the limelight in other texts, but the Congress had to keep the lights on and figure out how to function as well as push the nation forward.
