Wars Books

Tom Clancy once observed that a war of agression is armed robbery writ large--"they've got it, we want it, let's go get it." That's a simplistic if accurate observation, but it only describes war in only one incarnation. This book was written during the last few years of the Cold War, when very few "experts" on the issue could be described as objective. Back then, only two camps were being heard from. One was the "gung ho" school of thought that admitted that war might not be very desirable, but when your country got a slap in the face from someone "over yonder", those responsible had to be taught a lesson. That of course is the product of nationalism having been confused with patriotism--the terms are not identical. The other was the pacifist school of thought, which maintained that any enemy can be reasoned with and should be at all costs, and that anyone in uniform is by definition a bloodthirsty human predator. The first is the product of a bottomless naiivete about human nature and ignorance of how societies other than one's own think--the second forgets that it's the criminal, not the soldier, who's a predator in human vesture. Out of curiosity, I viewed the PBS series based on this book. I found myself intrigued by Dyer's observation that the way to make a fighting man out of a young man raised to believe that killing people is wrong is to strongly imply the enemy aren't really people. When you get right down to it, that is borne out by the historical wartime habit of referring to the enemy by demonizing the enemy and referring to him in subhuman terms. Another of Dyer's comments that interested me was the observation that a nation that piles up stockpiles of weapons in preparation for war will sooner or later get that war. Dyer of course isn't the only writer who's been able to look at war in such terms--Herman Wouk postscripted "War and Remembrance" with the comment that either war is finished or we are. The sad irony of our age is that some of us may be able to view war with this level of objectivity, but most of us still haven't outgrown nationalism--a phenomenon which Dyer correctly identifies as the root cause of war.

When a tourist lodge opened about twenty years ago in Kenya, the alpha males of a nearby baboon troop helped themselves to the easy pickings at the garbage dump. In the time honored tradition of baboon despotism where status obsessed males strictly enforce the prevailing hierarchy, the top ranking males claimed the spoils for themselves, and drove away their lower ranking brother baboons. The alpha males then perished en masse when they become infected with bovine tuberculosis from the rotten meat they ate at the dump. Once the alpha males died and their terroristic bullying tactics with them, the survivors were suddenly able to relax and began treating each other more decently. A new more peaceful baboon society was born.

Gwynne Dyer recounts this incident in the last chapter of "WAR: The Lethal Custom" to summarize and exemplify one of his main arguments in this thought-provoking work -- that our species' penchant for violence, although it does have roots in our evolutionary past, does not mean it is inevitable. He argues that as sentient beings we do have and have shown the capacity for making peace, too. In what is a hopeful but realistic retelling of the founding of the League of Nations after WWI and the United Nations after WWII, Dyer suggests that through it these organizations human beings are attempting to deal with the very real possiblity of species annihilation. He argues that the reversal of despoliation of the world must begin in earnest now so as to prevent the international anarchy that will undoubtedly follow if nations choose not to cooperate and instead chase after and fight over diminishing resources.

Tracing the rise of war from our early ancestors to the present day, Dyer relates a convincing story of increasing technological efficiency in the art and machinery of death, where the technology of war comes to outstrip the capacity of most human societies to contain and direct it. Early on when our species lived in egalitarian societies of roughly thirty individuals to a band, killing one's neighbors was a rare occurrence. In a sparsely peopled world with few competitors for game or territory, it was rare that roving bands would skirmish or fight each other. War appeared as more constant and sustained human enterprise with the rise of agriculturalism with its settled communities ripe for plunder by marauding bands whose economic lives and assumptions about tactics were based on their experience as shepherds of livestock. Highly mobile, schooled in techniques of herding, these bands employed the same principles when facing armies of settlers, e.g., using speed, terror, bluff and deception to terrorize settled communities into giving up their treasures.

War figures heavily in explaining the rise and fall of civilizations and peoples throughout history. The Roman phalanx, for instance, an early "machine" of war which used men as its moving parts, remained effective for hundreds of years, until guns eventually rendered it passe. Walled cities and medieval castles too, were marvels of defensive engineering, until they met a similar fate. Then with the end of professional and mercenary armies with the levee en masse in the wake of the French Revolution, came the era of total war when civilian populations, the manufacturers of the materiel of war, became defined as combatants, too, ushering in totalitarian states, weapons of mass destruction and the possiblity of annihilation.

Dyer also does a particularly fine job on guerilla warfare, which acquired that name during the resistance to Napoleon's invasion and annexation of Spain. He questions the notion of a "War on Terror" as espoused by the current American regime as emblematic of its naivete. The idea of war implies an end, a truce, an armistice. Dyer suggests that the U.S., by declaring a "war" on terror fell into the trap laid by Osama Bid Laden. For it is not a war that can be won through warfare. "Police Action Against Terrorists," while not as compelling from a rhetorical or strategic standpoint, has been shown to be the more effective strategy over time.

A history of the humankind told through the changing techniques of warfare and the key confrontations marking these shifts, written with verve, psychological and anthropological acuity, WAR is a valuable exploration of this most uncivil custom. Dyer sees evidence of and movement toward the restoration on an international level of the cooperation of early egalitarian societies. He suggests the spread of cross-cultural communication, which is opening a field for international debate (as evidenced in the massive worldwide anti-war protests against the invasion of Iraq), is restoring the possiblity of dialogue and a democracy of the multitude.

In the mid-80's, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) presented a documentary on the nature of war. Hosted by Gwynne Dyer, my recollection (I was barely a teen at the time) is that it was an interesting and in-depth analysis on the nature of war. Dyer then proceeded to write a companion book, which has been out of print for some years. Now, there is this brand-new, updated version. Dyer has woven the events of the last 20 years into the fabric of the narrative, instead of tacking on an extra chapter at the end - thus it reads like a new book, not a money-grabbing enhancement of an old one. It has been out in Canada for a few months, and will make it's U.S. (re)debut in the spring.

In terms of timeline, this is the most comprehensive book on the roots of, and motivations for, war. Dyer uses archaeological evidence and combines it with analyses on the behaviours of our primate cousins (chimps, baboons, etc.) to build a description of the origin of organised society and the roots of warfare. He then proceeds through the ages, from Babylon and Egypt to the Cold War and the two U.S.-Iraq wars. In this way, he builds a complex but ultimately useful and compelling description of warfare as a human activity. He makes many of the same conclusions as John Keegan and others, but the sheer depth of the analysis is more complex than anything else out there, to my knowledge.

Granted, much of the material in this book has been covered before. For example, is war a natural condition of human societies? Is it inevitable that man will fight his peers? With his trademark wit and seemingly contradictory combination of optimism and sarcasm, Dyer convincingly builds his thesis. The prose is entertaining to read, and the liberal sprinkling of photographic illustrations makes this book eminently readable.

First, the pessimistic side: Humans (and most apes, for that matter) really DO mean to kill each other. However, the average person's chance to die by a violent death has remained mainly steady over the millenia. Certainly, the chances of dying in this century's World Wars was high, but those wars only took up 10% of the century's time. Thus, as battles increased in size and lethality, societies fought less and less frequently, so it all balanced out.

However, he is quite optimistic that humans really are moving in a pacifistic direction. With the advent of nuclear weapons, the next big war will be the last one. His chapters describing the Cold War might be controversial (especially to the U.S. Right) as he maintains Reagan's defense policy was basically invented by Jimmy Carter, and the Soviet Union was already done before Reagan came to power. Whatever your political leanings, though, he lucidly describes the training and mindset of the professionals tasked with maintaining and, if necessary, launching the ICBMs that WWIII would have been fought with.

That's not to say that Dyer is a pacifist per se. He has great respect for people in uniform, and those that follow his syndicated column will know he was in favour of Gulf War I and the destruction of the Taliban by the U.S.-led coalition. He does maintain, however, that modern warfare has turned into an all-or-nothing game where the loser is wiped out (at least the government, and often entire ethnic groups). This is not a sustainable situation in the nuclear era, and so we are in great danger. However, he points out that natural human tendency is to equal rights and democracy. As modern communications and universal literacy make it feasible, nations will naturally move towards more equitable solutions. Thus, in the final analysis, war may eventually become obsolete after all. As he says in the book, it will be good riddance.

The best reflection about war I have read so far. Less detailed than Keegan's "history of warfare", but more pertinent. A clear, lucid perspective on organized human violence. Dyer is parcimonious with words and daring with concepts.
The hardcover edition is also a beautiful looking book.

Dyer has done an excellent job of revising his earlier text, although I must confess to missing a couple of particularly trenchant comments that he has left out in an effort to rise above the suspicions of today's readers, steeped as they are in a silly, false political dichotomy. Dyer's book is both a source of illumination onto how humans got here and a clear explication of how war threatens the future of the human race. He is not overly optimistic about our chances, but neither is he a doomsayer. If we have the guts and intelligence to confront the urges, instincts, and social pathologies that drive us towards violent conflict, we've got a chance. It's up to us.

FOr anyone who has experienced or has had the least bit of interest as to what the meaning of war truly is this, is a must read! The author speaks honestly from his heart without the drama of puke and flowers. He's on the level as a human being no more, no less and am anxious to read more from him!

Noah writes "dedicated to the military and emergency personell who protect us and the activists who keep our government in check, A WAR TO LIVE FOR is the dr Seussian type epic poem about a nonviolent war." I whole heartedly agree! I cant wait for his next book he has samples of in the back of the book called IN SEARCH OF NODE which looks like is going to be a collection of his poems. Finally some poetry that rhymes again and has meaning rather than vague ideas by authors trying to pass themselves off as the allmighty. This author is so down to earth yet so imaginative that its a welcome relief, thought provoking and hopeful and it shows within his within his writing.

THis book is so cool! Every time i read it i find something new!

Happiness is ....... reading books like this! Glad to have it in my collection. I keep going back to reread it. is so fun the way the poetry flows off the pages!

Noah writes "dedicated to the military and emergency personell who protect us and the activists who keep our government in check, A WAR TO LIVE FOR is the dr Seussian type epic poem about a nonviolent war." I whole heartedly agree! I cant wait for his next book he has samples of in the back of the book called IN SEARCH OF NODE which looks like is going to be a collection of his poems. Finally some poetry that rhymes again and has meaning rather than vague ideas by authors trying to pass themselves off as the allmighty. This author is so down to earth yet so imaginative that its a welcome relief, thought provoking and hopeful and it shows within his within his writing.

Written well for enthusiast level readers (there are some technical details off, particularly in the nomenclature) this provides a really handy visual history of weapons and the armor used to protect against them. Primarily the book is about guns, but I was pleased with how much space was also paid to medieval and earlier weaponry. Also nice was that the history of guns wasn't just modern weapons, but early modern as well.

It's one of the most important books for me, full of detailed pictures in the classic style of DK publishing.I totally recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of armor and guns

I bought this book for my father for a winter hobby. He's a retired policeman and avid gun collector. I wasn't sure how it would go over because he is not a reader. He loved this book, wouldn't put it down on xmas. It was well-organized, and the visual pictures were excellent. Perfect for a weapons-buff who's not a huge reader. It's going to keep him entertained for awhile, which was the point. Highly recommended.

This is a three in one review on the truly splendid books, Warrior, Weapon, and Battle. Or more formally: Warrior, A visual History of the Fighting Man. Weapon, A visual History of Arms and Armor. Battle, A visual Journey through 5000 Years of Combat.

They can be reviewed together because of their kinship in sharing the same visual concept and the same supremely expert author, R. G. Grant. No pilgrim, Grant is the author of over 20 books, most on the subject of conflict, implements of war and the fighting man.

All three books are wonderfully delicious for those of us whose DNA inclines us toward the history of arms, armament and the men who have carried them. These books are chock full of photographs, charts, maps and illustrations on every page to beautifully compliment and expand upon a tightly written, no fluff text. And this text is extremely well researched.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must confess that I have not read each of these three books in their entirety. I've had them for only 2 weeks and after scanning them from start to finish, I am now devouring them slowly, page by page, like a monk with a holy book, meting out tasty morsels judiciously. I want this to last a long time.

Although, the books overlap to a degree, they are not repetitious in any negative way as they each have their own exclusive focus.

Warrior takes on the subject of the individual fighting man from 600 BCE to the present, from the Greek Hoplite, the Samurai, Zulu, Mongol bowman, American rifleman to the modern western infantry and special forces...and almost everything in between.

Weapon focuses on just about every kind of implement of a fighting man's arsenal of killing tools from Assyrian spears to the AK 47. In some cases, replicas have been photographed but mostly it's the often crusty, old real thing. The photography is first rate. As in all three books, the text and illustrations are intermingled in such an artful way as to make each page a visual smorgasbord.

Battle covers the first recorded major battle which is between the Canaanites and the Egyptians at Meiddo and takes us through conflicts in every age all the way to modern times. Its focus is on the Generals, the strategies, the troops and their weapons.

Battle was published by DK in 2005, Weapon in `05 and Warrior in `07. Highly recommended, all three.

I bought this book as a birthday gift for my dad (A big weapons fan) He loved it. Great pictures and easy read with a lot of information. It's a big book, a really nice coffee table book.

A marvelous book. The author is to be commended for his ability to recall these events from the vantage of so young an age at the time of occurrence. This story is little known, sometimes actively forgotten, almost always disregarded in the record of 20th century crimes against humanity. I had the privilege recently of speaking, literally for only a few minutes, at the funeral of an older man (born 1922) from Rowne--only a few miles from Adamczyk's hometown, Luck. A decade older, he tried to get to Hungary in October, 1939, failed, and was therefore a criminal for having made the attempt. His story, then, was of direct prisons rather than of being dumped by the side of the tracks. Each situation had its advantages and disadvantages. The man from Rowne was "amnestied" from Norilsk, above the Arctic Circle, in late 1941, and his story paralleled that of Adamczyk until arrival in Persia, emaciated--at 86 pounds at age 20 and suffering recurring malaria. There are a million of these stories; more should be published.

I am sitting here struggling to find the words to begin to express my love for this book. I have just spent the past twenty-six hours not putting this book down. Now, I don't know if it is the fact that my family had delt with these similar circumstances and moved to the same area of Chicago, but i have never felt so connected/transported to individuals in a book as I did with this one.

The ugliness of reality balanced with hope, faith, and love render this reader, at least, speechless. I can only thank Mr. Adamczyk for a glimpse of what my family had found to difficult, with good reason, to talk about. This book has left me with a greater understanding of World War II, the atrocities of a Communist rule, and a deeper appreciation of my Polish faith and heritage.

This book reflects the resilience of the human spirit even in the most devistating of circumstances and stands as an inspiration to reflect on the freedom we too often take for granted.

...Wow!

Simply stated, this book reiterates everything my grandpa told me about the Russians' way of life and their mentality brought on by the deceitful communist system full of oppression and anti-western propaganda. Read and you will begin to fathom the injustice inflicted upon the peoples, both Polish and Russian. It will take generations to undo the damage.

Anyone with half a brain might wonder why the Nazis are still minced to pieces in all media 60 years after the war's end, while the Soviets, with 70 years of blood on their hands, have passed quietly out of their Communist terrorism without any great international trials or severe criticisms by the Western media. Is it because the leftists still believe that "true Communism" has yet to be attempted? Well, perhaps, there are such fringe lunatics still around (in the Frisco and NYC areas).

No, the real answer lies in the deadly dealings of the Allies in WWII, in cooperating with Stalin in the Lend-lease supply of materiel, and in not condemning the murders, exile, and starvation of the Poles before Germany attacked Russia. In our all-out effort to defeat the Nazis, the USA and England cooperated in suppressing the knowledge of the 5,000 Polish officers and Polish civilians shot and buried by the Soviets in 1939, when they invaded and took over Eastern Poland. This famous massacre in the Katyn Forest was for years blamed on Hitler, when the Germans had not yet been in that side of Poland. Only when Gorbachev came to power was the murder order signed by Stalin made public - but Roosevelt knew, as did Churchill.

This remarkable book takes us into the frightening world Wiesiu Adamczck, a seven-year-old boy when his father, then 47, was taken away and killed in Katyn Forest, unbeknownst to his family - Wiesiu's mother, older sister and brother. They are all packed up on trains and sent to Kazakistan, as members of a bourgeois oppresser class, they must be punished according to Soviet logic.

The writer, now a man in his 70's, is an excellent wordsmith, who doesn't stint in telling what Russian and Polish expressions mean. He dwells on his own family, his own people and the terrible consequences of the Communist regime for the people of the USSR, for the Poles, and for all nations which fell to its avarice and terror after WWII. His incredible adventures, if you want to call them that, in surviving such a deportation through the Eastern republics of the chaotic war years, into Persia and finally to England, then the USA, is a ten-year journey of incredible hardship, hunger, cold and homelessness. His mother dies, and the truth about the father is known at the end of years of hoping against hope.

What Hollywood or the BBC could do with this material! The story of the Soviet empire and all its disgusting inhumanity should be aired out thoroughly, even more so than the Nazis' philosophy. If it should take root again, woe betide the planet and the millions to be starved in the future.

This book should be mandatory reading in the US high schools, as many students will never know that non-Jewish-descended EUropeans also suffered dreadful consequences during the war.

A skewered history is often a false one, and that is slowly happening throughout the US media, in omitting the Communist side of the horrendous torture and killing from 1917-onwards.

Well, this book will make it clear: FDR knew it, as he knew that Pearl Harbor was to be bombed.

The teaching of history is often distorted by selective presentation of past events. Virtually everyone has heard of the 5-6 million Jews killed by the Germans. Few outside Polish circles have a clue about the fact that 2-3 million gentile Poles were also murdered by the Germans, and a few hundred thousand by the Soviets--first as Poland's sworn enemy and then as an "ally". While Churchill and Roosevelt were dilly-dallying with "Uncle Joe" Stalin, he was still murdering Poles and executing his plans to deprive "liberated" Poland from her rightful independence, freedom, and sovereignity. The western powers shamelessly disregarded the Atlantic Charter and betrayed the Poles--who all along had been fighting on their side on just about every front, and who had played a significant, if not decisive, role in preventing the Luftwaffe from achieving air supremacy over the English skies as a prelude to the planned German invasion (Operation Sea Lion).

This work provides an absorbing personal account of the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Poles by the Soviet Union following the German-Soviet conquest of Poland in 1939. Wes Adamczyk, then a boy of 7, was to lose his father in the infamous Katyn Massacre, and his entire family was uprooted and sent to a living death in Kazakhstan. He was one of the lucky few to be released and to eventually find his way to a new life in the United States. Decades later, he fulfilled his wish to visit the site of his father's murder near Smolensk, Russia.

The reader is exposed to the brutality of the Soviet police as they ransack the Adamczyk home, destroy objects related to Polish patriotism, and herd the family ("enemies of the people") into overcrowded trains for the fateful trip east. Every day becomes a battle for survival. They are near starvation. However, individual Kazakhs and Russians show friendship towards the Poles. The young Adamczyk befriends Mr. Petrovitch on a fishing boat. The moving account tells how the elderly Russian teaches the boy the truth about Communism. It is lies on top of lies on top of lies. In fact, the continued spying by the Soviet police on the captive Poles does not stem from the fact that they suspect that the Poles may escape or revolt. The spying comes from the fear that the locals may learn the truth about the outside world from the Poles--that the non-
Communist world is not rotten, and that the Soviet Union is no workers' paradise.

Nazi Germany turns against its erstwhile Soviet ally, creating a chance for the Poles, consigned to eventual death from starvation, overwork, and disease, to escape the Gulag. Negotiations "succeed" in securing the release of captive Poles. But the Soviets drag their feet, and only a fraction of still-living captive Poles end up being released. The Adamczyk family has to stage a near-escape adventure to reach Iran. The squalor of the just-freed Poles is indescribable. Thousands die right there, including Wes Adamczyk's mother--ironically just a short time after having finally left the clutches of the Soviet hell.

Tens of thousands of previously-captured Polish officers are found to be conspicuously and unexpectedly missing, and the Soviets say, "They all escaped to Manchuria". As time drags on, the Adamczyks realize the fate of their father and the remainder of the POWs. The Soviets don't admit responsibility for the Katyn Massacre until 1990. The long cover-up by western governments is little better than the decades-long Soviet one. The west needed a second coverup to cover its first coverup of the conspiracy of silence about this heinous Soviet crime.

The Adamczyks, like all surviving Poles, get a cruel blow when they learn that Roosevelt and Churchill have betrayed their faithful ally Poland by giving away eastern Poland to the Russians, and allowed a Communist puppet state to be forced on the rest of "liberated" Poland. In a sense, all of the Polish sufferings and sacrifices turn out to have been in vain. The Adamczyks, and millions of other Poles, have no home to return to. The only "happy ending" is a new life in America.

This was the next selection for my military history book club. It's a little on the old side, originally copyrighted in `73, but it's a well written book and obviously a labor of love. The author was not a professional historian, that is to say he was not a professor of history, but in many ways this is probably a plus. What he was as a professional was a journalist, publisher, and editor. Hence the readability and quality of the book.

The notes to the chapters are somewhat modest but written in a very conversational style adding useful information about the resources used. Although many of these are actually secondary sources or collections with comments on primary sources, the author uses them judiciously and critically.

Divided into chapters simply given as Roman numerals, I found it sometimes confusing as what the topic was to be until I'd read the sections under the heading. For instance Chapter I is actually a brief characterization of central participants, mostly those on the American side of the issue, while Chapter II presents the British point of view, especially that of the King and his primary counselors. I can certainly see why the vague headings were applied, however. The story requires many back tracks to explain events as they occurred, particularly in the prodromal phase of the war. Letting go of my need to attack a book in a cut and dried fashion, I found it much easier to read and to enjoy.

The very readable narrative style of the book literally carries one from chapter to chapter like a mystery or adventure story. Without the need to categorize his material or to drive the reader from point A to point B in a pedagogical manner, the book takes on the personality of a first hand account, which makes it much more personal and intense for the reader. The people aren't just static figures performing on the stage of history, they lived on the brink of disaster for years, some of them died miserably, others lost everything they owned, others were discouraged and defected, etc. Remember, they didn't know what the outcome would be as we do.

The book is much better balanced than the traditional story one got in high school about the American Revolution. The British, while definitely myopic in the policies directed at the colonies, definitely had legitimate reason for their irritation with them. Certainly it's obvious that much might have been gained, or at least great loss of life and fortune might have been prevented, had some finesse been applied to the situation rather than the stubborn and prejudicial approaches that were. That this was impossible given the time, the culture and the history of the people on both sides is pretty obvious from the book, and the "what if they had..." approach to the history of the period is mostly 20-20 hindsight and totally impossible given the reality of the period. If nothing else, the book definitely reveals that, although the outcome was not predestined, in fact anything but, the event itself, the Revolution itself, was. Replayed, the specific events probably would not have been the same, perhaps not even with the same individual personalities or even the same outcome, but the War itself, given the critical factors of the time, probably would have.

A superb and readable volume

While I tend to read books on military history, I have not read much about the American Revolution. Thus I picked up this book to fill in gaps in my research. I found this book to be a wonderful work describing the American Revolution from its origins through Washington's brilliant winter campaign at Trenton and Princeton.

Before covering the battles named in the title, Ketcham provides a solid summary of the origins of the war, discusses some of the politics and difficulties both sides faced. His discription of the conflict between not just the armies, but the citizenry was very interesting. The book describes the sad cycle of violence and revenge between Tory and Patriot as armies moved back and forth. For me it put the revolution in a new light.

The discussion of military operations begins with the campaign in NewYork. It is covered quickly, but in sufficient detail to understand the action. This is important because it sets the scene to understand the reasons for the titled battles, Trenton and Princeton. The book really shines in this coverage. I was entralled with the text and speed through it. It was a wonder to me that after the disasterous New York campaign Washington was able to keep his army together and perform a series of brilliant maneuvers that just completely stymied the British forces. After reading this book I have a new found respect for Washington as a military leader. He is frequently dismissed as a general, but I now think that his leadership in this campaign should rank with the greatest.

I found this book to be very memorable, and probably worth rereading at a later date. I recommend it for any one interested in learning about this period of the American Revolution, especially if you do not have a great deal of background in the subject.

Richard Ketchum does a masterful job of capturing the details and personalities that drove the American Revolution to its sometimes inexplicable conclusion. He spends time exploring the minds and temperments of key English characters such as King George III, Lord Frederick North, Edmund Blake and takes the time to explain the rationale for the war beyond the tired adages of "No taxation withourt representation" or "The intolerable acts" etc.

His discussion of the multiple missed opportunities for reconciliation by the British authorities is revealing. His examination of Washington's continual losses during 1776 and how the Americans were pushed all the way from New York to Pennsylvania sets up the the desparate plight faced by Washington in December 1776.

Ketchum examines the personality and character strengths and flaws of Johann Rall, the Hessian commander at Trenton to help explain how the Continentals pulled off their first victory of the war. He also describes decisions by the generals and their subordinate commanders on both sides that caused the fortunes or misfortunes we are familiar with all the way from Boston to N.Y. to New Jersey during that momentous year.

Ketchum's writing style is very contemporary, entertaining, magnetic and credible. As you read you can just imagine the Hollywood movie that should be made from his version of the decisions, personalities and events of 1776. His maps add immeasurably to the understaning of events and are integral to the enjoyment of this book.

Mr. Ketchum as an historian writing about the American Revolutionary War ranks among the best. His base of knowledge is broad and deep and his books read easily. If you want to learn about the major battles in New Jersy in 1776/1777, this book is a must.

David McCullough's 1776 was excellent, but Ketchum's Winter Soldiers is even better. This is the finest kind of narrative history. The mounting tally of disappointments after New York and the near despair of the Continentals as they retreated into Pennsylvannia is expertly captured in painful detail. The later descriptions of the long, cold night marches and harrowing battles at Trenton and Princeton made me feel the extreme fatigue, but elation, those men must have felt.
This is mythic ground, but told in a straight forward manner which allows the men and their actions to show us what great accomplishments these were and helps us to understand why these stories have been treasured by generations of Americans.

Being a Yorkie lover, I really did enjoy the story. Smoky was quite a dog - they are an exceptional breed. I think any pet lover/history buff would enjoy the book.

I love this book about Smoky, and I almost didn't buy it, because a reviewer said it was poorly written. But I find it quite well done, and I have read some self published books that were not. This is really a lovely little book. I think anyone would enjoy it. Certainly, dog lovers will be most interested, but those who don't care about dogs might find themselves a dog lover by the time they finish this book. The photos are great, too. I have a little Yorkie, so I especially love this story. I'm going to buy the book for some older relatives who fought in WWII. I think they'll be charmed.

I first learned about Smoky through a Wikipedia link where she immediately captured my interest. Buying the book was the next logical step in learning more about this amazing and wonderful dog, but sadly none of my local vendors had it and was in fact greeted with several different smirks when given the name of the book to search for. Thankfully Amazon had it in stock, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone. The story of Mr. Wynne and Smoky seems almost unreal during the War and the story of their life home and on the road will keep you captivated to the teary end.

When Bill writes of his experiences with Smoky it feels as though you are right there along side both of them,experiencing what they are going through.Well written and he even gives you training tips to train your dog with.Yorkie doodle dandy is a must have for any family library.Way to go Bill and thanks for bringing Smoky back for us all to enjoy!!!

Yorkie Doodle Dandy is not just another story of a man and his dog. It is a real life story of a miracle and I guess what is meant to be will be. Mr. Wynne finds his little Yorkie literally in the middle of nowhere on an island during a war. I don't want to give the story away but it shows the bonding that can take place between owner and pet and what sacrifices will be made for each other. Be prepared to laugh and cry. If you have Yorkies, like I do, run and get this book. If you don't have Yorkies, read this book and you will want a Yorkie. My deepest respect to Mr. Wynne who is one of those rare people who truly understands dogs.

10 British Prisoners-of-War Saved My Life offers a powerful and important story. With fearless honesty - about herself, the events that engulfed her, and the people she encountered - Hannah Rigler tells the story of her descent from the delights and petulant jealousies of a middle-class childhood into the madness and horror of the Holocaust, and after surviving that, how she constructed a new life in the United States. Her remarkable acuity of observation and her honest unstudied writing combine to make her story vivid and poignant - we are right there with her, so much so that it is at times almost unbearable. Which is why we must read it; we need the wisdom and lessons of Mrs. Rigler's story. It brings a historical event fully to life. It helps us to imagine an otherwise unimaginable experience and to understand how this experience can still exert such a powerful influence in the world. It also attunes us to the full spectrum of human capacities - bravery and fear, generosity and treachery, clear-eyed vision and denial, compassion and brutality, and, ultimately, resilience.

The most severe critics of Holocaust memoirs are other Holocaust survivors themeselves. Most of all the stories of survivors, published and un-published run a certain pattern, what distinguishes them, amongst other factors, are the protagonist's characteristics.
In Hannah Rigler's "10 British Prisoners-of-War Saved My Life" the most humane aspects of the British PW's involved; their courage; their caring concern for her welfare and safety, stand out as examples of Man's nobility of spirit.
The fact that Hannah Rigler by her remarkable resolve to rebuild her life and to dedicate it to positive goals, crowns their efforts and offers validity to the Jewish dictum, that "if you save one life, it is as if you have saved the world".
Hannah Rigler's story is spellbinding by the hope that it inspires: That Men of good will, shall overcome evil.

This is a book to cherish...a book to remind us how privileged we are here in America...Hannah Rigler's very personal account of her escape from the Germans and her survival as a young girl in Eastern Europe is bone chilling and heart warming at the same time. Hannah opens her heart and her memory to the reader and shares a time that will never be lost because of this memior. The perfect read for this time of year...I recommend it for all ages...its message is one of hope and rememberance...

This book uses a very direct and candid approach to the experience of surviving the Holocaust. It conveys clearly the simple realities of life that existed before the Russians and, later, the Germans turned life in Lithuania upside down. A world that had been filled with the sweet music of childhood...school days, a father's thriving business, streets lined with bakeries and shops...turned into a living hell. Hannah Rigler tells her story with a strong urgency and a steadfast mission...to remind all of us that our security may be tenuous. What happened to the Jews can happen again....to anyone.

I have rarely read a book that went through such a range of emotions. The author describes in vivid detail the hell on earth known as the Holocaust of World War II. She decribes the idyllic life of families prior to the war and the upheaval of families as the war progressed. Ultimately the decription of movement into the ghettos, the atrocities, the death marches and the killing camps of the Holocaust leaves a memory never to be forgotten. Her survival and rescue by the British POW's is the beginning of a new life for this brave young lady. The future she makes for herself in America demonstrates the ability to overcome phenomenal trauma and to replace it with love, happiness and a drive to make a positive difference in the world.

Absolutely outstanding book on the complicated second American revolution that occured as a result of the American Civil War and the startling reversals that took place not ten years later. McPherson's essays are masterful.

First rate.

This thin book which contains series of essays on how Abraham Lincoln revolutionized our nation during one of the most important periods of our nation proves to be well written and amazingly easy to understand. James McPherson writes clearly how the American Civil War was truly a revolutionary moment in our nation's history and how Lincoln took steps to ensure these changes. How we lived, our political/racial/social norms that are part of our society today took form during the Civil War. Even the way we waged war, have it roots in the Civil War, all have Lincoln's fingerprints all over it.

The book proves to be easy to follow and read. But in its simple prose, lies amazing insights and perception of Lincoln's influence during the war and his abilities to effect changes in our nation. I would say that this book is a "must read" for anyone interested in American history.

This well-argued collection of James McPherson's occasional pieces focuses primarily on what the author sees as the fundamental changes that the Civil War brought to America's polity, economics, culture, and self-identity. The first, second, third, and seventh of the essays deal especially with this theme. The middle fourth, fifth, and sixth essays are less directly related to it, but nonetheless offer fascinating explorations of Lincoln the total war president, Lincoln the wordsmith, and Lincoln the "hedgehog."

Many of the people who lived through the Civil War thought of it as a revolution. Many historians since have agreed, although for varying reasons. McPherson's main project in this book is to figure out whether and how the Civil War can be considered the "second American Revolution."
He believes that the war was in fact revolutionary on several counts.

First, the war shifted the economic and political power balance in the United States. The war's devastation of southern property and demographics, especially after it evolved from a limited to a total conflict, shifted economic superiority to northern industry and agriculture. Moreover, the southern states' virtual antebellum monopoly of the White House, as well as their immense congressional power, was broken for the next half century. This is what McPherson (and others) refer to as the "external" revolution.

But there was an "internal" revolution too in the realm of legal rights and national self-identity. Four million slaves were freed and granted civil and political rights, and the southern aristocracy, along with the entire way of life and set of values it maintained, disappeared (or at least went underground). Moreover, argues McPherson, the war brought about a shift from early Republic concentration on liberty as "freedom from" (negative liberty), which distrusted strong central government, to liberty as "freedom to" (positive liberty), which emphasized the responsibility of the federal government to guarantee civil rights. This shift helped create a new sense of national identity that focused on the nation rather than the region: hence McPherson's claim that the Civil War moved the country from a "union" to a "nation."

The influence of the political philosopher Isaiah Berlin is present throughout much of McPherson's thinking about liberty, and McPherson also draws on one of Berlin's most famous essays in designating Lincoln (Chapter VI) as a hedgehog in his single-minded devotion to preserving the union. McPherson might be drawing on the work of philosophers of language in his fascinating discussion (Chapter V) of Lincoln's influential talent for creating and manipulating "live" as opposed to "dead" metaphors in expressing his opinions and seeking support for his policies. In both these cases, McPherson nicely weaves some philosophical analysis into his historical interpretations.

Where I find McPherson less helpful is his rather uncritical discussion of Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus (Chapter III). He rehearses the well-worn argument that the suspension was simply necessary from a pragmatic perspective--end of discussion. As Lincoln said in another context, "often a limb must be sacrificed to save a life." But this interpretation begs for a discussion of the moral and political short- and longterm trauma that the amputation inflicted on the body politic. How far can one go in suspending liberties in order to preserve liberty?

Nonetheless, the essays collected in Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution are exactly what readers have come to expect from McPherson: illuminating, gracefully written, well-researched. They aren't the final word, and I suspect McPherson doesn't expect them to be. But they wonderfully enrich the on-going conversation.

James McPherson (Battle Cry of Freedom) is the preeminent Civil War author and scholar of our time. The Princeton University professor provides fresh insight into A. Lincoln in these seven essays.

McPherson demonstrates conclusively that the Civil War was indeed the Second American Revolution - it abolished slavery and smashed the political, economic, and social status quo. Before the War, southerners dominated American politics - after the war it was decades before a son of the south could be elected President. The absence of the south from the national legislature during the war allowed the passage of the great progressive and modernizing legislation; the Homestead Act, enabled a continental railroad, and land-grant colleges. After the war, blacks made great (if far from complete) progress in education, politics, and economics.

Unfortunately, the reactionary forces led a counter-revolution that attempted to turn back the massive changes in society with much success. That counter-revolution eventually yielded to a Second Reconstruction in the mid-20th century.

McPherson repeatedly returns to Lincoln's political evolution as the War changed from a limited war for limited ends to a total war for revolutionary ends. In the end Lincoln insisted on unconditional surrender.

I particularly enjoyed the essays entitled 'How Lincoln Won the War with Metaphors', which contrasts the communication abilities of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, and 'The Hedgehog and the Foxes', in which McPherson favors us with a description of Lincoln as the single-minded hedgehog outlasting the multifarious foxes such as Horace Greeley and William Seward.

My only small quibble is that similar points are made using the same quotes in multiple essays (perhaps unavoidable in a collection of previously published essays), but the quotes are so evocative of Lincoln's thinking that the repetition is not only forgiven, but enjoyed.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in US history, Lincoln, or the Civil War era.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION by James M. McPherson is a thin juicy volume. You feel energized as you read and absorb its deep insights. Each of six essays shows that it was Lincoln's reality anchored character and powerful intellect that transformed the United States to the country it is today. One essay shows how Lincoln's use of metaphor, culled from Aesop's Fables, the works of Shakespeare, and the Bible made him a consummate communicator. His metaphors resonated to the deepest layers of mind of the average American in way that instilled motivation and purpose to a war that seemed impossible to manage or win. Compared to Jefferson Davis who was so highly educated and abstract but was unable to connect with ordinary folk. But it is McPherson who too is able to convey to us this president's great powers with his own metaphors i.e. "barnyard philosophy," and his essay, "The hedgehog and the fox," which compares and contrasts Lincoln's abilities with the "smartest contemporaries." ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE SECOND AMERICAN REVOLUTION is a great distillate of the voluminous Civil War Literature. You must have it for your library.

Yes Tet of 1968 was hell for those of us that were over there at the time. And then came May and August of 68, which were also two of the bloodiest months of the war. I was with the 1/27 25th Infantry Division at Cu Chi, which was a major area of tunnels for which the VC and NVA stored weapons and supplies. As a "tunnel rat" I experienced some herrendous experiences there. Ron Spector has made some very good conclusions regarding the war and points out some of the many problems that we 19 year olds had to incur. Great book for those of us that were there as well as the rest of you who just want to gain some understanding as to why we lost the war, and some 56,000 young men as well.

This book covers the year time period after the Tet offensive during the Vietnam War. Given the title of the book I was prepared for a page after page description of savage combat. What I found was that the book was not just a description of one firefight after another, but a comprehensive account of the Vietnam War effort during this one-year period of time. The author does a great job of describing the experience of American soldiers in the Vietnam War during the year after Tet.

The author provides the reader with a brief, but complete and readable historical background for the war up to 1968. He also gives us very clear and vivid descriptions of the battles and everyday life of the foot solders. We also get a good run down of the South Vietnamese corruption that worked against the American effort to save their country. This was the part that really surprised me the most, it seamed like the South Vietnamese wanted and needed the war to continue to keep the profitable drug trafficking, smuggling and protection rackets going. What made me furious were the details of the United States supplied food, gasoline, and equipment that the South Vietnamese were selling to the North Vietnamese.

The author also spends some time talking about the drug use by the soldiers and the difficult race relations. This section of the book was not as surprising given that was the same environment in the states at that time. Overall, this book is a well-written and informative, but not a rundown of overly descriptive bloody fights. He does a wonderful job in describing the environment, how hot it was the difficulties in moving through the country, the differences in the front line and the support areas. This is a good book and a great way to introduce yourself to the Vietnam War.

Of the many, many books addressing the subject of the war in Vietnam, this is certainly one of the better ones. Mr. Spector is not only a good historian, but, just as importantly, a good writer and story teller. I doubt that a person could read this work with out becoming, at the very least, just a bit emotional.
The author, I think, has been very even handed with his assessment of the situation we found ourselves in at that time. He does not appear to have an axe to grind, one way or the other. Having served myself, I found the terminology used and the attitudes written about, to be pretty correct. You certainly will want to add this one to your collection and I recommend it's reading very much.

Spector's book is not just a history of what happened after the Tet Offensive of 1968, but a history of the entire war in microcosm. Plenty of other folks here have sufficiently covered the merits of this book so, if I may, I'd like to address something a little different. I have little patience for military historians who don't include details about weapons, equipment, and organization. It may seem an inconsequential thing to many, but understanding how the belligerents were clothed, equipped, communicated, etc., is very important for shedding light on what happened. So important in fact that John Keegan addressed this very issue in his book "The Face of Battle." So, kudos to Spector for explaining to the layman the details of an RPG and a LAW, an M-16 and a Kalashnikov, jungle boots and tire-soled sandals. Anyone who wants to more fully understand the Vietnam War should definitely read "After Tet."

An excellent book on the Vietnamese War of 1968. Spector not only tells us why we (Americans) failed at the war but also what the weaknesses were on the other side (Viet Cong and NVA). The book summarizes some of the problems associated with the war such as race relations, lack of a professional soldiers and officers, and weapons. Spector describes that 1968 was the critical year of the war. America and the Saigon regime won the military battles but lost the political war. He equates the war at that point to the stalemate of the Western Front during the First World War.

I knew only a little bit about the Japaneese internment camps during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I had learned a little from reading novels by Gail Tsyukiyama. I learned a lot more after reading this one by the very talented Ann Tatlock. I had no idea the degree of predujice the Japaneese went through in America. I also had no idea how predjudiced Mississippi was in the 60's. This book really is an eye opener about how stupid racism is. We are all human and make terrible mistakes at times. We are all capable of being consumed by hate and violence. This book clearly shows that we all need to forgive since none of us is near perfect. I wish I could get a couple prejudiced friends of mine to read this book, but none of them read much(if they did they might learn more!), and hate long books. That is actually the reason I didn't give this book 5 stars. It was a bit too long, with too much repeating. It has taken me 6 weeks to finish it. I think the book would be more popular if the author had decided to cut out about 1/4 of the pages. I like to be able to finish a book within 3 weeks tops.
I absolutely adored Tatlock's "A Room of my Own", so I will probably check out another novel of hers soon. She makes history fun, real, and interesting. I agree with the reviewer who said this should be on high school reading lists.

This is such a great story! I had just finished "Farewell to Manzanar" when I read this book and learned more about the treatment of Japanese Americans during the war through the eyes of a young girl. The story did not get bogged down in war and politics though. The most intriguing aspect was the desire of the caucasian girl to be part of the Japanese family based on internal emotions and the challenge of the Japanese family to be accepted as Americans based on their external features. If only man were able to look at the heart the way God does! This is an inspirational story of belonging and the adverse treatment of "enemy" culture during the war.

All the Way Home is a touching story, teaching us how the world events of WWII and the Civil Rights Movement touched everyday lives. The author weaves the story with questions of faith--real ones that real people struggle with--without being preachy in the least.

I enjoyed the book so much that I read it very quickly, but it's also worthy of a longer more thoughtful reading. Quality writing from an award winning author. Highly recommended.

What a wonderfully well written story. I have never read this author before and was pleasantly surprised. There were so many issues for discussion and so much history in the story that I am pushing for this to be on the required reading list at the high school where I work.

ALL THE WAY HOME by Ann Tatlock
November 15, 2007


Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I wanted to like this book a lot more. While I enjoyed the two subplots (that of the story of a Japanese American family living in Los Angeles before the start of W.W.II, and life for Black Americans in the Deep South during
The 1960's), I felt this book could have been better if either one or the other subplot had been eliminated. I understand that the author was trying to compare two terrible injustices played against two sets of minorities in America, but I think this could have been easily two separate books, or written differently (to be specific, shorter).

With that said, ALL THE WAY HOME starts off as the story of Augie Schuler, who in the 1960's is flying from California to the Deep South, to meet with a woman who wants to tell her story about her project helping Blacks to use their right to vote. On the plane, she meets a woman who is on her way back home to the South, and Augie flashes back to memories of another time, living with a Japanese American family who made her feel like she was one of them. Augie's home life was terrible, having lost her father early in life and now her mother was forced to move in with a brother, living in a crowded house with children from both families. Augie chose to spend most of her time away from home, and eventually came to live with the Yamagata's and became best friends with Sunny, who became more like a sister to Augie. The first half of the book details the friendship between the two girls, and the awful family situation that Augie had to endure at her uncle's home. But when W.W.II broke out, and with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Augie lost her adopted family, who were sent to the camps. Augie waited for that letter that would tell her that Sunny and her parents were doing OK, but no letters ever arrive.

And now it is the 1960's, and Augie has since learned to keep those memories of her childhood away, feeling she had been betrayed by the Japanese family she had once loved. But what she finds in Mississippi, will shock her, and bring her childhood memories back to the forefront.

This is a good book for one to be introduced to the plight of the Japanese Americans in the years before and during W.W.II. As a Japanese American (Third generation), there is only a little that I know about those years when my father and his family lived at Manzanar. While I am not sure how accurate this book was in terms of life for the Japanese American before WW II in Boyle heights, California, an area of Los Angeles I am familiar with, I think I did get a better idea of how my father's generation may have felt. However, I did have a hard time believing in the portrayal of Sunny's parents, who were 2nd Generation Japanese Americans (meaning, their parents were from Japan). They behaved too much like Caucasians, and not like the reserved traditional Japanese Americans that I connect with who were born in America before W.W.II. Still, I did enjoy reading the story of Augie and Sunny and their remarkable friendship prior to W.W.II. The book was a just a tad bit too long however, and that is why I'm giving it a 3.5 rating.