is a biography that deals with Churchill's training and military campaigns. Russell earlier wrote a book on the various awards and decorations Churchill received. I quite enjoyed the book.The book starts with Churchill's childhood. He showed an interest in the military relatively early on. Both with toy soldiers and the adventure stories of the day. There's coverage of his experiences in the five conflicts he took part in. They were in India, Sudan, Cuba [as a journalist], Second Boer war [as journalist and soldier] and First World War. His time in the reserves comes up.
Lots of research is in this book. At this point I'm a relative expert on the Sudan campaign but there is some new material here that I was unaware of. I do have to wonder about the audience for this book. Occasionally introductory material is given on such things as the British Empire. However knowledge of Churchill's life is assumed. Several references are made to his girlfriend throughout the Boer war section the next we here he's married to someone else. There are some mistakes like saying that the Suez Canal was controlled by a British company, it was actually French. There are attempts to defend Churchill from various criticisms in the text. Russell is evidently a Churchill partisan. That being said this is an important part of a Churchill bookshelf.
Highly recommended!
is a short rather whimsical science fiction novel.the main character decides to hide out inside an amusement park. He quickly meets up with the only other person to manage this long-term. They try to protect the park from a competitor and time travelers. Unlike his other book's there isn't much humor here. There are quite a few references to Robert A. Heinlein and his works. This is a nice end of summer read.
is a rather disappointing historical novel. The hero [expert swordsman, intelligent, linguist French and German and tactician] an officer in the cavalry starts the book by being nearly court-martialed. Then gets back to England for romantic entanglements. Over to Ireland for more legal trouble and concluding at the Battle of Waterloo. It's the first in an ongoing series.
is well what the title says. Through the discussion of a hurricane the author discusses the outbreak of the American Revolution in the colony capitols affected [
this is a book on the rebuilding of the cathedral that was destroyed by the Germans in WWII. The book was written by the architect responsible. Much of the book comes off as a defense of the rather controversial design. There is also discussion of the difficulties in obtaining certain materials and skills. I don't really have much knowledge as far as architecture goes but I could still follow most sections. There are some nice photos as well.
this is probably the best single volume history on the Canadian Army. It covers from Confederation up to 2001. It's big I get the feeling that a lifetime of research has gone into this. The bibliography is massive.
is the second book in a science-fiction trilogy. In the first book a computer virus was released that caused a near collapse of society. This book begins 10 years later. Technology is now controlled by the government. The Mafia cells bootleg components. There are also religious fanatics wanting to destroy all of it. The sun of the man blamed for the virus tries to learn more about his father. This leads to all sorts of violence and sex.
is a science fiction novel. The hero of this morality tale is an unemployed white collar type who happens to have precognition. He discovers a website for SomeplacElse. A new kind of business that harnesses the potential inside employees. After some cajoling he finds himself running things. He is up against a stereotypical Republican gubernatorial candidate and a Senator.
is a popular history of this Victorian military campaign. Think an overgrown osprey without the computer-generated maps. The book describes the various operations with emphasis on the original seizure of Egypt by the British. I was actually quite happy that this was covered in depth. It seems to have fallen through the cracks as far as secondary sources go. Gordon's involvement and his death make up the second section of the book. Naturally the third is the re-conquering by Kitchener.
is a mystery. a star athlete is murdered just before his first season on a NBA team. It's up to his best friend to track down his murderer. He is assisted by a former military intelligence officer, his model girlfriend and various underworld types. This is the eighth book in the series. My understanding is that most of the other books deal with a character that is offstage for most of the narrative.
is the second in a three volume series of essays on this campaign of the Civil War. I've reviewed the first volume previously. There are six essays. Topics include Confederate artillery, Union logistics, the behavior of Union Quartermaster General M. C. Meigs and extracts from the diary of a Confederate staff officer. There isn't really an overarching theme.
is a highly readable extensively researched history of the British Empire. This is from a larger series on world history topics (Short Oxford History of the Modern World). It is presumably aimed towards the college market.
is the author's description of her time with the guerrillas in Portuguese Guinea (Guinea-Bissau) and Mozambique. These conflicts are components of the Portuguese Colonial War (1961-1974).
is a very positive biography of this controversial figure in British military history. This combineds the two volumes published separately into a single one. So the book is pretty long.
this is the second volume in a multi-volume history of Canada published in the 1950s and 60s. Strangely there is a 20 year overlap with the first volume. I find Rutledge's argument that he included it because it was interesting a rather weak justification.
was originally published in 1986. This book provides western military officers a look inside Soviet decision-making, tactics and strategy. The title is somewhat of a misnomer since the Soviets didn't have the same sort of view of combined arms that Western militaries do.
tries to do two different things. First it is a history of the various fortifications that have tried to defend the northern Chinese border for the last 3000 years. The second is to describe the metaphorical wall separating China from their neighbors and the West.
is a very short book on a forgotten battle of the second world war. Aachen was the first town within Germany that the Americans captured. Werstein's book contains about as much text as the average Osprey campaign title although, there is only the occasional map. The Americans had to seize several important terrain features before assaulting the town. First with artillery then with infantry. The German force inside surrendered at that point. I found the book to be much too short. The narrative itself is pretty good. There is a bibliography of sources and order of battle. Since this is the only book length treatment of this, I've been able to come across I would have to say it was worth while if a little disappointing.
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