Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs

Saboteurs: The Nazi Raid on America by Michael Dobbs is a popular history of the rather farcical attempt to land German guerrillas on the American coastline during the second world war. Not surprisingly for books of this genre there are the usual fictional flourishes which I guess I'm just going to have to accept.

The book traces the training of the agents, there transport in a U-boat, capture and execution. The legal challenges provide part of the Bush administration's reasoning behind Guantánamo Bay. I was expecting more references to current events there are only a few references at the end of the book.

Most interesting was the idea that apparently Hitler and his entourage actually thought they would be effective. Surprisingly the book argues that theoretically they could have crippled alumina production within the United States. Fortunately for the Americans the misfits selected weren't terribly competent and included one who betrayed the mission.

Interesting history on a current topic of interest

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World by Stephen Bown

A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World by Stephen Bown is a popular history on the topic. The author describes the history of gunpowder and explosives its inventors, uses and the perceived effects on the modern world. There are nice biographies of Alfred Nobel and Fritz Haber. I also found the coverage of the War of the Pacific informative. This was a conflict between Chile and an alliance of Bolivia and Peru over saltpeter deposits [made up of bird feces].

Some of the connections he makes between explosives technology and wider history seem forced. For instance he says that French refusal to use Nobels explosives led to the defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. I'd consider that a rather simplistic explanation. The narrative also tends to bounce around quite a bit. A partial bibliography without footnotes.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Mr. Kipling's Army by Byron Farwell

Mr. Kipling's Army by Byron Farwell is a picturesque look at the British Army of the 19th century. The book is divided into thematic chapters including regiments, recruitment, religion, training, tactics, sport, women and alcohol. Farwell one of the preeminent historians on the Victorian Army gives numerous examples dealing with each topic.

This is a truly masterful work that if you have any interest at all in the British Army you must have. Farwell also had a gift for writing as well. This could quite easily have been a dry recitation of statistics and regulations. Fortunately it's not. As the title suggests there are occasional references to Kipling's writings, both short stories and poems.

Highly recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Dervish: The Rise and Fall of an African Empire by Philip Warner

Dervish: The Rise and Fall of an African Empire by Philip Warner is a history of the independent Sudan during the late 19th century. There is a decent enough discussion on the Islamic movement that swept through the country and led to it breaking away from Egyptian control. There is quite a bit here on its relations with the British government including the murder of Gordon and the eventual reconquering for the Egyptians by the British.

The narrative was alright. I was expecting a little more color. Some of the comparisons with the British Army of the second world war and 1950s were interesting. I have several of Warner's books on British battlefields. They have been reviewed on the blog. I preferred those to this.

Mildly recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

Omdurman, 1898:The Eyewitnesses Speak edited by Frederic Sharf and Peter Harrington

Omdurman, 1898:The Eyewitnesses Speak: The British Conquest of the Sudan as Described by Participants in Letters, Diaries, Photos, and Drawings edited by Frederic Sharf and Peter Harrington that's one long title. It also gives an excellent summary of just what it is we are dealing with here.

This book grew out of an exhibition of art on the campaign. The editors thought that a collection of sources would be useful. All of the accounts are from officers. Strangely they say the descriptions written by non-officers have been collected somewhere else but don't actually say where. If anyone knows let me know in comments. There are also dispatches from newspaper reporters. These seem a little out of place although they are nice to have.

Most of the major phases of the campaign are dealt with including the lead up to the battle, the battle itself and the aftermath. Each selection is prefaced by a biographical note about the author. Several come from archival sources that would be impossible to find anywhere else. If you are interested in this campaign this is a must-have.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Omdurman by Peter Ziegler

Omdurman by Peter Ziegler is a history of the Victorian British military campaign that reconquered the Sudan. Ziegler is writing a popular history of the battle. Much of the material he provides is colorful. For instance the various nicknames that the officers had. There is a pretty good description of the battle itself. He's using a lot of the available sources including some from the Dervish perspective. A readable history on this important colonial campaign.

Highly recommend!

Is available through Abebooks.

Omdurman 1898: Kitchener's victory in the Sudan (Campaign) by Donald Featherstone

Omdurman 1898: Kitchener's victory in the Sudan by Donald Featherstone is part of the numerous campaign series from Osprey. The standard flourishes are here. Pictures, drawings and maps on every page.

After the Dervishes killed General Gordon in Khartoum in 1895. The British launched an expedition to destroy the Sudanese. This was with a combined British and Egyptian army. After several minor engagements along the line of march down the Nile Kitchener's force was attacked outside of Omdurman the capital. The British/Egyptian force managed to destroy the Dervishes, they repulsed several suicide attacks. The battle is also famous for the charge of the 21st Lancers one of their Lieutenants being Winston Churchill.

The writing in most Ospreys if not particularly good is at least serviceable. Unfortunately, this is not the case in this book. Featherstone feels the need to cram in as much data as possible into each sentence. There is a wealth of technical data here about weapons and uniforms but it's presented in such a way that is rather hard to get into.

Recommended but don't pay list price.

Is available through Abebooks.

The Fall of the Roman Empire. The Military Explanation by Arther Ferrill

The Fall of the Roman Empire. The Military Explanation by Arther Ferrill lays out his reinterpretation of the collapse of the Western Empire. I first was exposed to this when during my undergrad I did a special project on whether the Roman Empire had a grand strategy. I recently came across a copy and wanted to know if it still held up all these years and books later. I'm happy to say that for the most part it does.

Ferrill argues that there were two major threads of failure in the West, bad decision-making and the absorption of Germanic tactics and equipment in the Roman army. There was also a relaxation of levels of training as well as recruitment that led to Roman military failures.

There's a decent enough summary of the major theories behind Rome's collapse. Some like the lead poisoning idea are mentioned just to make fun of them while others are dealt with more seriously. He also tries to make the case that the Empire in the West actually did in fact fall instead of transitioning into the successor states without any changes.

Recommended.

Is available through Abebooks.

That was a mistake

interesting analysis over the most recent uproar in the science fiction community. Personally I think if he was dumb enough to write it in a supposedly professional e-mail he loses the privilege.

Strategy and Power in Russia 1600-1914 by William C. Fuller Jr

Strategy and Power in Russia 1600-1914 by William C. Fuller Jr is a massive history of Russian strategic thought over the last three centuries of czarist Russia. There's coverage of tactics, strategy, grand strategy, the economy and society. I've read general historys that have contained less info about society in Russia than this book.

Fuller deals with Russian wars against Turkey, Poland, The W ar of the the Austrian Succession, Napoleonic Wars, Crimean and war with Japan. Even the smaller wars are given a thorough explanation. I hadn't come across much besides one paragraph summaries on some of these wars.

As far as the analysis goes he takes evident glee at dispelling simplistic explanations for military victory or defeat. He's also particularly hard on the paranoia theory of Russian foreign policy. The idea that the Russians have been preoccupied with foreign invasion.

There are substantial notes and bibliography. Considering references in the text I'm slightly surprised that there isn't a companion volume for the Soviet era. He obviously thought about it since he occasionally makes references to Soviet strategic debates.

Highly recommended!

Is available through Abebooks.

Quotation [occasional]

Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please.
- Mark Twain

2,002 books!

I've just surpassed the 2000 book mark in my personal collection. The number is actually 2,002. I date the start of my library to Christmas 1993. I certainly had books before that but they were either passed on to my sister or are somewhere in the parents garage. My first book was Star Trek the Next Generation Dark Mirror by Diane Duane. It's been 5306 days since then. I've therefore averaged a new book every 2.65 days.

Medieval Russia: A Sourcebook 900-1700 edited by Basil Dmytryshyn

Medieval Russia: A Sourcebook 900-1700 edited by Basil Dmytryshyn is a collection of translated primary sources that discuss Russia and how it was perceived by others. There are accounts from foreign travelers, legal documents and chronicles. The topics covered are political, religious and the customs of the society. Interestingly enough the selections occasionally interact with one another. For instance one source discusses how a Russian bride asked her foreign husband to beat her as a sign of love, eventually killing her. A later source points out that the story was wildly inaccurate. The translations themselves are surprisingly readable. I can't discuss the issue of accuracy.

Each piece is introduced with a short discussion of the background of the events described as well as the transmission of the source. Citations are provided to either the original Russian or the translation. The book concludes with a glossary of Russian terms.

Recommended.

Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers by Horace Kephart

Our Southern Highlanders: A Narrative of Adventure in the Southern Appalachians and a Study of Life Among the Mountaineers by Horace Kephart is part memoir part anthropological survey. First I should note that I was going to use this for Maggie's Southern reading challenge however the introduction informs me that the author was in fact born in Pennsylvania. So I'll substitute one of Shelby Foote's novels in its place.

Anyway back to the book. Kephart describes in great detail the society, customs and personalities of the Scotch Irish and Dutch that were [are?] the mountain people. The book was written in the early 20th century. He spent several years living with them.

There is extensive discussion of bootlegging. He seems to be trying to give a balanced look but much of what he tells us is positive. His criticisms are muted and often come with caveats. For instance his discussion of blood feuds. He argues that they were necessary because of lack of government control. However government control as extended through the excise on alcohol is called un-American in the chapter on bootlegging. He evidently had quite a bit of affection for the people. In my edition there is an excellent introduction that helps put the book into context.

Highly recommended a portrait of a historical curiosity.

Boing Boing wakes up

Was that so F&^%%ing hard?