Not a review, as I only bought them today. Just a heads up that
Tesco has a bunch of books at 2 for £7 which may be of interest (and actually works out just cheaper than Amazon if you like physical books). There's probably more of these worth a grab, and at least in Tesco you can flick through a book before buying...
Book three of the Tancred series by James Aitcheson, which I'm pretty sure I have the first two sitting in my unread pile.
(Yes. It's a bad sign when you can't remember what's in your unread pile!)
Another take on the origins of WW1, this time by the ubiquitous Max Hastings.
I'll be interested to compare it to the AJP Taylor "
War By Timetable"...
And finally, book one of
Conn Iggulden's War of the Roses series - I know some people are dubious about the quality of his research, but I do occasionally just enjoy a rattling good yarn, and they're great for working up campaign backstories when you're a
drama-loving old hack like me :D
I already have this from Amazon.
I think 'Catastrophe' and 'War by Timetable' are both very good, but with different approaches and styles (obviously!). That's an unfashionable thing to say because Taylor is considered to be dated nowadays and Hastings appears to be hated by anyone with a more advanced history qualification than GCSE. However, they're both very well written and surprisingly easy reads for such an apparently daunting subject. Anyone ought to be able to form an opinion about the causes/start of WWI after reading these.
ReplyDeleteI've also got my eye on 'The Sleepwalkers' by Christopher Clark, but, at 700+ pages, do I want to add to my tsundoku habit?
I have just finished Catastrophe and found it very good, bogged down a bit in the middle, but really worth reading. Coming from the 'colonies' I found that it was a real education, Most of my previous knowledge was around the Australian battles.
ReplyDeleteI picked up stormbird myself the other day and am just about to start it
Reading stormbird at the moment. Very enjoyable. Now just to pop over to the perrys website and buy some plastics....
ReplyDeleteI din't like the Iggulden book. I seem to recall reading one of his Roman ones and Julius Caesar, or somebody, pulls out a telescope.
ReplyDeleteI keep trying his books but I find the plots thin and the history weak.
I am reading Robert Low's Anglo Scot wars series and have just finished Master of War by David Gilman which I thought excellent.