tjec Posted 21 July , 2008 Share Posted 21 July , 2008 War in the Trenches by Mathew Holden and The Somme - The Day by Day Account by Chris McCarthy Regards, Norman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per ardua per mare per terram Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 HMS Warspite by SW Roskill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Nulty Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Just finished reading Alan Morehead's 1956 classic "Gallipoli". For my money, it's probably the best Great War book I have read. Simple as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Doyle Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Just finished reading Alan Morehead's 1956 classic "Gallipoli". For my money, it's probably the best Great War book I have read. Simple as that. You've gotta try Rhodes James book Gallipoli, it's got my vote... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skipman Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Just started The History of the Fifty First (Highland Division) 1914-1918 by Major F.W.Bewsher. Thanks to Tom McC.... (might finish it some day if can ever drag self off forum) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMHart Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Now that's funny but Rhodes James book is probably my least favourite book on Gallipoli. I always think of it as a simple and rather turgid rewrite of the official history (and I could spot the plodding sequence of events and minor changes in adjectives when I went through re-writing it for my own book!!!!!) He quotes participants but not enough to really give you the real feeling of the campaign. He also spouts all the usual numbing platitudes about the brilliance of the Gallipoli concept, about the 'close run' nature of the campaign and generally ignores the Turks meanwhile giving us a sound thrashing! His judgement on the 'bigger matters' was as fallible as you would expect of a thoroughly obnoxious Tory MP who devoted his whole life to ruining the lives of the kind of working class men who fought at Gallipoli! He also took the time out in one of his re-issue editions to specifically criticise Nigel Steel and myself so the feeling was entirely mutual by the way! Moorehead's book along with Joe Murray's fantastic epic Gallipoli as I saw It were what started me off as a Galliopli nut. Moorehead may also be shaky on a few facts and concepts, but as a journalist he wrote with a real passion that transcended his sources. I think Len Carlyon is probably the modern day equivalent for a good popular account; for anything else then I think back to the Official History which is now cheaply available through reprints. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Doyle Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Now that's funny but Rhodes James book is probably my least favourite book on Gallipoli. ... His judgement on the 'bigger matters' was as fallible as you would expect of a thoroughly obnoxious Tory MP who devoted his whole life to ruining the lives of the kind of working class men who fought at Gallipoli! He also took the time out in one of his re-issue editions to specifically criticise Nigel Steel and myself so the feeling was entirely mutual by the way! Pete No chips there, then..., eh? He clearly was obnoxious, as his intro to the last issue of his book demonstrates; but in my view its a great one-volume history and a well-written account. I would have thought we could list out some worse ones, surely... Still each to his own... Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin Bennitt Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 I have Rhodes James but not read it for a long while; IIRC he also spent a fair bit of the book slanging Moorehead for inaccuracies, but it did introduce me to Gallipoli, prompting me more recently to read Hart and Steele (which I must reread) and then most recently Carlyon, which I thought terrific. cheers Martin B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Home Dad Posted 23 July , 2008 Share Posted 23 July , 2008 Hallo all Just finished 'London 1914-17 - The Zeppelin Menace' by Ian Castle (Aspern on the forum). Very thorough, goes into great detail, with maps etc, not only about all the various aircrew and crash sites but also the bombing targets etc. Dipping in and out of 'They Sleep In Heroes Graves' by Glyn Warwick, another forum member. The detail is astounding. An inspirational book in many ways. Kind regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st AIF Posted 24 July , 2008 Share Posted 24 July , 2008 The Middle Parts of Fortune by Frederic Manning - a bit of a grind but not too bad as it illustrates the day to day "politics" of a British battalion in and out of the line. Caused a stir when it was first published cos it use the f word occasionally Am now onto Somme Mud which is not too bad. Both books written by ex-WW1 soldiers. Len Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMHart Posted 25 July , 2008 Share Posted 25 July , 2008 No chips there, then..., eh? I would have thought we could list out some worse ones, surely... Still each to his own...Peter Curses, Not only seen through, but out-argued in a couple of lines! Doh! You're quite right there are many worse books - I just hate him! Pete VIII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
At Home Dad Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 Not so much currently reading, but next month's book budget is going on these! A pre order of When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War and the five editions of Charley's War! http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Whistle-Blows...958&sr=11-1 http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b/203-...charley%27s+war Kind regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
truthergw Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 Just started Blunden's " Undertones of War". Often referred to as a classic, I eventually got round to buying it. I was taken aback at the style, very self consciously literary I think and he was, after all, a poet. Quite humorous though and I will read it. If only to be able to discuss it. The other in the parcel is a small book, not much more than a booklet, by Viscount Haldane, " Before the War". European political shennanigans prior to the war by one of the British participants. Familiar to us mainly as the political half of the duo who reformed the BEF ,TF and other military affairs about 1905, in conjunction with Haig, his military advisor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elle72 Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 Today my copy of Neville Browning's 'For Kings & Cobbers' A History of the 51st Battalion arrived - all the way from Canberra - and I am sooooo excited....I have waited all day to get the chance to sit down with a nice cup of tea and start reading! Yippee!! Its going to be a very late night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenwoodman Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 A toss-up between Peter Hart's "1918", or "Tip and Run by Paice, as my next great war read. Currently catching up on the Indian Mutiny and before with "Soldier Sahibs". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lenandoliver Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 I am reading "Soldier From The Wars Returning " by Charles Carrington, also " The Indian Mutiny" by Saul David Regards Frances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redorchestra Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 Just finished Lynn MacDonald's '1914 - The Days of Hope'. A good read like all of her other books, I would've liked to have seen a little more from the French and German sides though as it was almost exclusively about the BEF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodge Dowson Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 The Fighting Nation by A J Smithers - excellent author Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john kemp Posted 29 July , 2008 Share Posted 29 July , 2008 Not so much currently reading, but next month's book budget is going on these! A pre order of When the Whistle Blows: The Story of the Footballers' Battalion in the Great War Its good to see many years of hard work by Andrew on "When the Whistle Blows" is approaching the final hurdle and is shortly to be released by Haynes. I hope all that buy will enjoy it and most importantly the memory of those mentioned lives on. JMK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ulsterlad2 Posted 30 July , 2008 Share Posted 30 July , 2008 Been on a bit of a book buying spree. Recently ordered Malcolm Brown's Verdun 1916 and John Terraine's Douglas Haig: The Educated Soldier. Also today, in a second hand bookshop in Belfast, I picked up: Farrar-Hockley's Ypres 1914 Death of an Army, Lyn Macdonald's They called it Passchendaele and Max Arthur's Forgotten Voices of The Great War for £6. Verdun 1916 is first on the reading list. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry_Reeves Posted 30 July , 2008 Share Posted 30 July , 2008 Great War, Total War-Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914 -1918, published by the German Historical Institute and Cambridge University Press. A series of essays edited by Roger Chickering and Stig Forster, the essayists are drawn from the United States and Europe. The book is divided into six parts: Basic Reflections The Changing Realities of Warfare War Against Non- Combatants Politicians, Soldiers, and the Problem of Unlimited Warfare Mobilizing Economies and Finance for War Societies Mobilized for War Some parts may be familiar to British readers; some of it you may disagree with, but the range of subjects covered by authors of various nationalities is certainly thought provoking. TR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcolm Posted 30 July , 2008 Share Posted 30 July , 2008 Summer holiday reading was ' Somme Mud ' by E P F Lynch which is an outstanding book I commend to the house. It was on offer at Tesco for £10. A bargain!! Aye Malcolm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 30 July , 2008 Share Posted 30 July , 2008 I've been reading the war diary of the 2nd Bttn KORL - an opportunity to read through a typescript digitised by the KORL museum. Typically I have skipped the French sideshow and moved on to Salonika. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommy mcclimonds Posted 31 July , 2008 Share Posted 31 July , 2008 Just finished "Somme Mud" by E P F Lynch which I must say was excellent and also "Digging The Trenches - The Archaelogy of the Western Front" by A Robertshaw & D Kenyon which I also enjoyed despite reading some rather negative comments on other parts of the Forum. All I can say is I did learn quite a bit so read it yourself and make up your own mind. Just started "Garvagh & Aghadowey Heroes " by Robert Thompson the 7th volume in his series covering the Great War Memorials of Co Antrim. The exception being "Inishowen Heroes" which covers the North West. Regards, Tommy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1st east yorks Posted 6 August , 2008 Share Posted 6 August , 2008 My next two books are:- Fromelles by Paul Cobb Tommy by Thomas Albert Crawford(15th DLI) I will put a review for each book on the forum when i have finished them. Anthony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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