Grand unified books thread

[The Brain]

Today I received The Great War Dawning: Germany and its Army at the start of World War 1, by Buchholz et al, from Verlag Militaria. Looks nice, including some cool facsimile loose diagrams and maps. "This will become the seminal English language book on the German army as it entered World War 1". Hopefully it's as good as it thinks it is.

Yeah, it's got an obnoxious publisher's description, but the authors likely had nothing to do with writing that.  $97 for 550 pages with no plates and just a couple of fold-out maps is more than I'll pay, but I'll be interested to read your impressions.

Someone's trying to sell it on Abebooks for twice the cover price when it's still available from Amazon at cover price. 

There are 80 high quality plates.

Ah, then the price is understandable.

Finished it. Editing could have been better. The basic information on the structure of the Reich, army organization etc is fine AFAICT, and useful as an English language source of information. However, the analysis is weak. If anyone wants to I can elaborate on this weakness, but it's not really necessary IMHO.

[Savonarola]

I learned that Sherlock Holmes's catchphrase, "The game is afoot" comes from Shakespeare's "Henry IV Part I" (and is derived from a hunting term.)

[Savonarola]

Also I made a donation to the Florida Historical Society and they sent me "A History of the Florida Historical Society;" (without my asking, or informing me that was a gift to contributors.)   It's totally recursive.

[Syt]

[Habbaku]

Accurate.

[The Brain]

Holocaust deniers are weird.

[11B4V]

Grumbler your a naval guy right?


Any recommendations for naval actions of WW1 and Russia Japan War? Just Glantzy type books if possible.

[grumbler]

Grumbler your a naval guy right?


Any recommendations for naval actions of WW1 and Russia Japan War? Just Glantzy type books if possible.

Probably the best analytical work on WW1 naval action is The Rules of the Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6TZGLM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 which, though it deals directly only with the RN, tells a pretty universal tale of the links between the Victorian Era's focus on social roles, and the influence of that focus on naval operations.  It's not Glantz-like in its technical detail, though.

Though it isn't exclusively on the Russo-Japanese War, Kaigun https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DRYEMH2/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 is very Glantz-like and covers the topic well (it's 700 pages long, so can spare 200 pages to the early Japanese navy through the R-JW and still have 500 pages for post RJW developments (WW1, leadup to WW2, and the first few vbatles of WW2 before the whole IJN strategy collapsed).  It's a terrific investment and worth buying used in hardback.  It's just the Japanese POV, though.

For the Russian POV, I'd recommend The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Journey to the Battle of Tsushima https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XBZGR5S/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1  though it is scarcely Glantz-like, being a bit romantic and focusing more on the struggles of the Russian fleet to get to its doom than on strategy or tactics or equipment.  It's well-written, though not by a naval historian.  Get it in Kindle.

You could also get Vladimir Semenoff's two books on the RJW, but they are as far from Glantz as you could get, being first-person accounts by a Russian officer whose ship survived the Battle of the Yellow Sea and rushed back to Russia, only to find himself assigned to the flagship of the Second Pacific Squadron, on which he lumbered back to Tsushima.  His story is great, but his prose is antique and he deliberately eschewed consulting any works other than his diary, to avoid hindsight. Another kindle candidate unless you skip him completely.

The most Glantz-like book on WW1 naval actions is probably Friedman's Fighting the Great War at Sea https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SGC4WYY/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 but you will find the writing dry as dust.  More useful as a reference book, perhaps.

There may be something terrific out there that I don't know about, though.  I'd truly love to get a steer to a great book about the Imperial Russian Navy.

[11B4V]

Thank you

[The Brain]

I love Kaigun.

[jimmy olsen]

But I don't generally like the idea of reading historic fiction, like novels about ancient Rome or such.

The First Man in Rome series is entertaining historical fiction.

[Agelastus]

Grumbler your a naval guy right?


Any recommendations for naval actions of WW1 and Russia Japan War? Just Glantzy type books if possible.

Probably the best analytical work on WW1 naval action is The Rules of the Game https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B6TZGLM/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1 which, though it deals directly only with the RN, tells a pretty universal tale of the links between the Victorian Era's focus on social roles, and the influence of that focus on naval operations.  It's not Glantz-like in its technical detail, though.

I wholeheartedly second this recommendation.

I must look at getting Kaigun myself. thanks for the rec. Grumbler.

[Razgovory]

I haven't read a book in quite a while.  When ever I do I get nervous and have to stop.

[The Brain]

I haven't read a book in quite a while.  When ever I do I get nervous and have to stop.

Have you tried reading legal books?

[mongers]

Couple of weeks ago whilst reading an archaeology book I came across a word I'd not seem before, palimpsest. 

I mention this because today I came across it for now the 2nd time in my life, on this occasion in another archaeology book.

Maybe the word is like London buses?