The first of the Jack Reacher series. Grabs you from the start. I don’t usually like the ex-military superman genre but this was ok. As you near the end, some twists seem forced but the writing is interesting enough to keep you involved.
Weighing in at 600+ pages, this book has three separate sections: pre, during and post civil war. Provides a good deal of insight into Davis’ personality, but I was hoping for more information on his relationship with his western generals. Because so much of his and the confederate government papers went up in flames, there are definite gaps. Davis’ post war life was difficult and he endured a great deal of personal loss and tragedy.
Peace will not come until we have mastered both sex and war. And, to master war, we must study it with at least the diligence of Kinsey or Masters and Johnson. Every society has a blind spot, an area into which it has great difficulty looking. Today that blind spot is killing. A century ago it was sex.
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
This book is really well done. Much of the archive material was not available until the late 1950. Majority of stories are primary source, first person accounts. Interesting episodes like Morgan’s escape from prison in Ohio, the Confederate torpedo service, New York draft riots and other obscure incidents. Well worth a look.
Hammer is running out of gas and so is Spillane. You know Hammer will always get the girl, money, bad guy, etc and this book doesn’t deviate. The plot is a little weird with 89 billion dollars up for grabs. Drags in places. Good for filling a hour or two at the end of the day. It is what it is.
Remarkable story of a mother and daughter’s survival in the Warsaw Ghetto and escape from a train to Treblinka. The mother wrote the journal immediately after the war and had it transcribed into English. Sat in a drawer for 40+ years until being found after the mother’s death.
A Jump for Life: A Survivor’s Journal from Nazi-Occupied Poland
This work has none of Morris’ hubris and extravagance so blatantly on display in the efforts with Reagan and the second volume of TR. He lets his writing and research hold the weight and doesn’t resort to the silly tactics of “you are there, riding in the wagon with TR.” This book was the impetus for my creating the Theodore Roosevelt Timeline.
I was a bit hesitant to pick up this book as it is over 1000 pages. And how could it hope to cover such a vast scope? All in all, I think the author did a great job. Work is focused on first person accounts and covers all theaters. At times, very raw and visceral descriptions of what the men saw and did. Not a buff and polish homage like Brokaw. In fact, author appears to take Brokaw to task at end of the book. Refreshing to say the least.
Extraordinary detail on both German and Russian units. First part of book provides brief descriptions of the major players in the conflict. Maps and illustrated unit organization diagrams. More of a reference manual.
Very detailed discussion on the many engineering flaws that handicapped the Tiger’s performance. Great first person accounts at the end of the book from Allied soldiers who faced and destroyed Tigers. Many maps and detailed statistics of Tiger combat losses. One interesting point was that the Germans never developed a mine sweeping vehicle like the British flail. Instead, they would use the Tigers to explode the mines.
Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II
A good read. Harvey has a way of binding you to the story. Always a good sign when you look forward to picking up the book the next day. Also has the ability to let you skim sub-plots that you are not interested in. For instance, Elder, the main character, has a strained relationship with his daughter, Katherine. This does provide insight into the characters, but it really doesn’t interest me.
Darkness & Light: A Frank Elder Mystery (Frank Elder Mysteries)
This was the first John Harvey book that I read. Since I pulled it off the shelf at random, I noticed it had a positive blurb from Elmore Leonard. I have had problems connecting with other British writers, so I was a bit leery. Overall, I liked his writing style, though some of the back story seemed a bit too in depth. Looking forward to reading more by this author.
Not bad. I found the ending to be a bit weak, but that is often times the case in the detective genre.
Meticulous detail of tank numbering and unit histories. The photographs are what make this book unique. The title is a bit misleading as the vast majority of the photos are not combat related. However, this is nitpicking. Maintenance and recovery photos seem to be from personal collections rather than stock photos.
Pretty amazing book about survival of Jewish refugees and partisans in the swamps and forests in Belarus during WWII. Details conflicts and suspicions that arose between the different partisan groups, all of whom were under the suspicion of the Soviet Union.
A sad end for one of the Bielski brothers:
