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1.Forgotten Voices of the Secret War: An Inside History of Special Operations in the Second World War (Forgotten Voices) by: Roderick Bailey
May 01, 2008
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I am not a huge fan of the sort of military history books that concentrate on strategy and campaigns without showing what war is really like on a human level. It's the stories people tell that catch the imagination and help us to remember what war was really like for those involved in the fighting. Rod Bailey has searched the Imperial War Museum's archives to uncover and weave together some fascinating narratives from people who operated behind enemy lines all over the world during the Second World War. If you enjoy reading first-hand accounts of adventure and bravery and want to understand the thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears of ordinary people doing extraordinary things in wartime then I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Bailey ... Read More:

2.Italy's Sorrow: A Year of War 1944-45 by: James Holland
March 03, 2008
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James Holland's generosity of spirit and indefatiguable labour has created one of the best general histories I've read recently--and there's a lot of stiff competition about. As well as using writen sources, Holland personally interviewed survivors from all sides of the conflict; Germans, Poles, Canadians, Britons, Americans, Italian partisans and fascists. These accounts give a vivid picture of the heroism and brutality of war, and instil a sense of sympathy for (almost) all of the participants. Their stories are skillfully blended into the larger narrative, which explains what happened, and why the major players (Alexander, Mark Clark, Kesselring, Churchill, Roosevelt, Mussolini, etc) made crucial decisions. Holland is immenently fair-minded; the ... Read More:

3.Warsaw 1920: Lenin's Failed Conquest of Europe by: Adam Zamoyski
February 04, 2008
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Warsaw 1920 is an easily available book on an important topic. As an introductory narrative it's OK. There's little exploration of major themes, the presumptions behind what analysis there is are unexplored. Quite why (other than a 'miracle') the Poles reversed their early defeats remains unexplained. The wider context of the Russian Civil War isn't really integrated. The pro-Polish bias grates after a while.

Much richer, if you can still get it, is Norman Davies' 'White Eagle, Red Star'. Plenty wrong with that as well, but it provides a deeper exploration that makes it useful even if you don't share Davies' viewpoint.

4.McMafia: Crime without Frontiers: Crime Without Frontiers by: Misha Glenny
April 03, 2008
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An eye-opening look at how the globalisation of organised crime effects day-to-day life-whether we like it or not.

The timing of the liberalistion of the international financial markets and the coincidental collapse of communism in central and eastern Europe and the USSR means that the face of crime has changed for ever.

And as the author points out, so long as the profits are so big and demands for illegal products so high, no amount of policing can ever stamp it out. In fact, the more resources poured in to the "War on Crime", the bigger organised crime becomes......

5.The Hunt for Nazi Spies: Fighting Espionage in Vichy France by: S Kitson
December 14, 2007
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This book brings a genuinely new picture to France during the Second World War. The central argument is that the Vichy government, whilst collaborating sincerely with the Germans, also engaged in a process of arresting German spies and indeed that around 40 of these were executed by Vichy's armed forces. The aim was to make sure that the government could centralise collaboration. In other words that individual initiatives of collaboration with the Germans emanating from private citizens were not well received by Petain's admininstration. This government engaged in a difficult balancing act between trying to preserve its own sovereignty, and therefore negotiating with the Germans from a position of strength, and sincerely collaborating with the occupier. It is a complicated story ... Read More:

6.Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe (Allen Lane History) by: Mark Mazower
June 05, 2008
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This is an excellent book, with a qualifying 'but'. If you want to understand the dynamic of 'Hitlers Empire', how it developed and collapsed, and the details of its particular favour of genocidal gangsterism, then this will satisfy all the curiosity you have, and then some. My only complain about the main content is that it is a bit short on personalities (though this may be an unavoidable problem - the focus of the book is, after all, on process and governance). You get little real feel for the _people_ who did all this. Mazower does not mention anyone having nightmares, or developing a drink problem (lots of people are mentioned as having drinking problems, but only for the usual, soap-opera sort of reasons, not because of a day job in the mass murder business), but there must have been ... Read More:

7.Empires of the Sea: The Final Battle for the Mediterranean, 1521-1580 by: Roger Crowley
May 01, 2008
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Crowley does an extraordinary job putting together three extraordinary stories that marked the 16th Century in the Mediterranean: The siege of Rhodes, the siege of Malta, and the Battle of Lepanto. These stories, especially that of the siege of Malta, makes the book read like a novel, most enthralling and nail biting.

Although Crowley has written a very accurate and detailed account of these clashes between the Christian and Muslim worlds, one gets the impression, that he tends to minimize the role of Christian leaders, their armies and the importance of their victories, and maximizes that of the Ottoman side. For example, he doesn't give much importance to the conquest of Tunis by Emperor Charles V, while he gets to the detail with other minor Turkish exploits.

The ... Read More:

8.The Bloody White Baron by: James Palmer
March 20, 2008
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This book is a well-written and lucid account of a fasinating figure.The baron was a man out of his time,he would have been perfectly at home as victorian adventurer and he might have died peacefully in his bed.As it was in a new century of political turmoil, his career was short and bloody.The author deftly decribes the life and times of a man who pre-figured the holocaust and the worst aspects of the twentieth century.The fact that he was also a devout buddist is just one of his contradictions.The only real flaw with book is the lack of illustrations.

9.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by: Stieg Larsson
July 24, 2008
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To me, this book is the most unexpected page-turning thriller I've read in some time. I couldn't wait for the next surprise.

I was reminded of first reading the early Ian Fleming books about James Bond, feeling like I'd entered a fascinating new world that I never had never dreamed of. But Stieg Larsson's writing is much better than Fleming's and these characters are more nuanced in their unusual characteristics.

The book defies normal novel categories. There are such a major story lines about both the hero and heroine that the novel would be more than adequate just developing those ideas. The mystery of a young woman's disappearance is more than adequate to sustain the interest of anyone who likes books about amateur detectives. In the background, there are dark ... Read More:

10.Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944--45 by: Max Hastings
October 01, 2008
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 : Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944--45
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I was a little disappointed with this book. I bought it thinking it would be as good a read as 'Armageddon' by the same author. But here I was wrong. It seems that the author has tried to fill up a long book rather quickly without paying too much attention to the overall readability. He does cover the Japanese point of view too, which is interesting but I think he has included too many personal interviews with survivors. It must be fascinating for someone who lived through it all, who can piece it all together today - but I was left a little confused and just about managed to finish reading the book. Not easy reading.


 



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