Grand unified books thread

[Malthus]

Just read The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers.

Now, that is one fucking strange book. In a good way. 

Thinking over the plot, it should read like a mess, but it hangs together quite well.

[Syt]

I've started with "A Splendid Exchange" a history of world trade.

Please let us know if you would recommend it.

Will, do but it may be a few weeks/months ... I do most my reading on my morning commute which takes 15 minutes. 

[Syt]

A book recommendation on facebook from my oldest sister (not to me, but to my other sisters):

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ALD1DIE/ref=r_soa_w_d

When he was twelve, his name was Branan Strickland. He was the heir to the Wardenship of Inglewood, a title to govern a Royal Forest and the land around it. But Branan's father was an abusive sod, beating Branan and his mother for sheer sport.

Until the night when his father's fist landed on the side of his mother's head - a wound that would kill her in a few short hours. Devastated, Branan spent those last hours with her. Just when he thought his world couldn't shatter any more, his mother told him the truth of his heritage.

Branan was not Strickland's son, he was the son of a Scottish Laird, Raulf MacTavish. Strickland had murdered Branan's true sire and forced his mother into marriage.

Raina MacTavish had just learned she was breeding when Strickland killed the man she loved more than life. Had she not carried Branan, she would have willingly died. Raina had told no one but Raulf of her breeding. After Strickland bedded her, a couple of months later, Raina announced her pregnancy. She did so only because she feared if Strickland knew Branan's true sire, the blackguard would slay her babe - the last link to her beloved husband.

But now she is dying. Raina knows she must tell Branan the truth. Her heart grieves, she can no longer protect him, but there is a family nearby who once called Raulf and Raina friend.

Raina also knows Branan is growing into the spitting image of his true sire. Soon, Strickland will see his old enemy staring back at him.

Branan has one chance to reclaim what was stolen from him, his title and his father's stolen sword, a huge Scottish claymore with an emerald set in the pommel and a thistle engraved on its hilt. He knows he must learn the ways of a knight and grow stronger. But Strickland discovers the boy's heritage and tries to kill him.

Now on the run and wounded, Branan fears Strickland will catch him. He seeks cover in a forest when an intriguing lass with bright blue eyes finds him. To his shock, the girl knows the forest better than anyone. Her name is Catriona and she is part of the family his mother told him about. The girl leads him to safety.

Branan's trials are only beginning, while he finds a brief respite with Catriona's family, Strickland does not give up his quest. Branan is forced to flee to his father's lands in Scotland. He abandons Catriona in the dead of night and leaves his beloved foster family behind.

10 years later, Branan's foster-brother, Gavin, searches for Branan in Scotland. Gavin finds him and tells Branan, if he wishes to reclaim his legacy, the time to act is now. But Gavin has more news and Branan is devastated again when he learns Catriona has been betrothed to another man.

But Branan's his heart is not prepared for what greets him when he returns to England. The home of Branan's foster family and Gavin's parents, has been burned to the ground. In the ashes, Gavin finds his father's signet ring.

Catriona...what has happened to her? Many of the local villagers believe her dead as well, but rumors abound, one woman may have escaped fire to flee to the forest....

4.3 stars on Amazon (out of 85 reviews). 5 ratings at 1 or 2 stars.

[The Brain]

Bought Marius B. Jansen's The Making Of Modern Japan. 1600 to 2000. Anyone read it?

[11B4V]

Exciting upcoming year for 2014. Pre-ordered some very interesting titles from Russian and East European authors.

Stalin's Favorite: The Combat History of the 2nd Guards Tank Army from Kursk to Berlin: Volume 1: January 1943-June 1944 Hardcover – by Igor Nebolsin Hardcover: 504 pages
Publisher: Helion and Company (April 2014)
Language: English

This is the first detailed combat history of any Soviet unit available in the English language known to the author. The 2nd Tank Army was not an ordinary force; by 1945 it was an elite Guards formation which played a decisive role in the Soviet offensive operations of that year and whose tanks were the first to enter Berlin's streets. The Army commander, Colonel-General Semen Bogdanov, became a Marshal of Armored Troops and was promoted to the position of Chief Commander of all armored and tank units of the USSR shortly after the war, and remained in this position until 1953. 2nd Guards Tank Army remained in Germany until 1993, a period of 48 years. It is the only Soviet Tank Army of the war that still exists today, now named 2nd Guards Army.

This study is based on the rarely available operational documents of the Army from the Central Archives of the Russian Defense Ministry and provides an analysis of every battle it fought in World War II. This includes Operation Citadel North (Kursk), Sevsk, Cherkassy, Tyrgul-Frumos and Jassy, Warsaw, Vistula-Oder, Pomerania (including Sonnenwende) and Berlin. What also differentiates this book is that it was created in cooperation with the senior army general (Anatoly Shvebig) who was an active participant in all the Army's engagements. Another unique point is that the combat operations are covered from both sides in a scope and scale that has never previously been attempted. The day by day coverage of events, honest views of the Army's commanders, full statistical data (including unit strengths, movements, and casualties for each operation from both Russian and German points of view), and the 'human element' based on the exciting firsthand reminiscences of Soviet tank officers all make this study an incredibly valuable source of information on tank battles fought on the Eastern Front 1943-1945. According to Major-General Anatoly Svebig, deputy commander of 12th Guards Tank Corps within the 2nd Guards Tank Army, this is the best study on any Soviet unit he has ever seen in his long life!

Volume 1 focuses on the first half of the Army's service in the Great Patriotic War. 2nd Tank Army was created in January 1943. In spring and summer of 1943 it was engaged in the fierce battles at Sevsk and Kursk. Combat experience was heavily paid for in blood. The Army played a critical role in containing a strike of the German III. Panzerkorps in February 1944, aimed at rescuing units in the Cherkassy pocket. In March-April 1944 2nd GTA carried out a deep raid to Uman and was amongst the first Russian units that crossed the Romanian border. In May-June 1944 Army was engaged in combats at Tyrgul Frumos and Jassy against strong German armored forces belonging to 'Grossdeutschland' and 24. Panzer-Division. The text is fully supported by specially commissioned color maps and an extensive selection of photographs, many from private collections in Russia. Volume 2 will provide a detailed record of the Army for the remainder of World War II, including its elevation to Guards status later in 1944.

Tomb of the Panzerwaffe: The Defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army in Hungary 1945 Hardcover – March 1, 2014
by Aleksei Isaev , Maksim Kolomiets

In March 1945 the German Wehrmacht undertook its final attempt to change the course of the war by launching a counteroffensive in the area of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Here, the best panzer forces of the Third Reich and the elite of the Panzerwaffe were assembled - the panzer divisions SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking and others, staffed by ardent believers in Nazism and armed with the most up-to-date combat equipment, including up to 900 tanks and self-propelled guns.

At the time, this was considered a secondary axis for the Red Army, and thus the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front had to stop the German counteroffensive with their own forces and could not count upon reinforcements from the Stavka Reserve, which were needed for the decisive storming of Berlin. Relying upon their combat skill and rich combat experience, the Soviet troops carried out this task with honor, stopping the tidal wave of German armor and inflicting a decisive defeat and enormous, irreplaceable losses upon the enemy. The defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army became a genuine catastrophe for Germany, and Balaton became the tomb of the Panzerwaffe.

In this book, penned by two leading Russian military historians, this major defeat suffered by the Wehrmacht has been described and analyzed for the first time using data from both Soviet and German archives. It focuses not only on Operation Spring Awakening, but also describes the preceding Konrad offensives conducted by the Germans in the effort to come to the aid of the encircled and desperate German and fascist Hungarian defenders of Budapest. This edition is lavishly illustrated with over a hundred rare photographs of destroyed or disabled German armor taken shortly after the battle by a Soviet inspection team, besides other photographs and specially commissioned color maps.

Days of Battle: Armoured Operations North of the River Danube, Hungary 1944-45 Hardcover
by Nortbert Számvéber 

Days of Battle describes a hitherto neglected part of the military history of Hungary during World War II. Dr Norbert Számvéber the presents detailed accounts of four important clashes of German-Hungarian and Soviet armor north of the river Danube, in the southern territory of the historical Upper Hungary (part of Hungary between 1938 and 1945, at the present time now part of Slovakia) in three separate studies.

The first is an account of the battle between the Ipoly and Garam rivers during the second half of December 1944, in which the élite Hungarian Division "Szent László" saw action for the first time.

The second study is about the fierce tank battle of Komárom, fought between the 6-22 January 1945. This was an integral part of the Battle for Budapest, parallel in time with Operation "Konrad".

The third part of the book describes the combat during the German Operation "Südwind" in February 1945 and the Soviet attack launched in the direction of Bratislava in March 1945.

The author, chief of Hungary's military archives, has based his research firmly on files and documentation from German, Hungarian and Soviet sources. The book's authoritative text is supported by photographs and color battle maps. This is a very important new study that throws much-needed light on armored warfare on the Eastern Front during the final months of the war.

The Sword Behind The Shield: A Combat History of the German Efforts to Relieve Budapest 1945 - Operation 'Konrad' I, III, III Hardcover – June 1, 2014 by Norbert Számvéber 

The history of the Hungarian theater of war from late August 1944 to the end of March 1945 is a special chapter of the history of the Eastern Front during World War II. The Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts had encircled Budapest by Christmas 1944, after very heavy combat. However, this was just the first phase of a period of intense combat, as Adolf Hitler and the German High Command planned the relief of the Hungarian capital.

The reinforced IV. SS-Panzerkorps was designated for this task and its units were transferred rapidly from Polish territory to Hungary. Two operational plans were swiftly devised by the Germans, before they chose the code name "Konrad". This was an armored strike from the Komárom region through the mountains south of the river Danube to the Buda side of the Hungarian capital. The first day of Operation "Konrad" was 1 January 1945, and marked the beginning of a series of fierce clashes that lasted for nearly six weeks, a very special period in the history of the Battle for Budapest. Both sides employed significant numbers of armored forces in these battles, including heavy tanks.

The German-Hungarian forces tried to break through to Budapest three times in three different locations, but each time they struck relocated Soviet tank, mechanized, rifle, cavalry, artillery and antitank units from 3rd Ukrainian Front's reserve. In January 1945, furious tank battles developed in the eastern part of Transdanubia in Hungary, especially in the areas of Bajna, Zsámbék, Zámoly, Pettend, Vereb, Dunapentele and Székesfehérvár. After the third and strongest German attempt (code-named "Konrad 3"), which also failed, the Soviet troops launched a counter offensive in late January 1945 to encircle and eliminate the advancing enemy forces. But the German armored Kampfgruppen managed to blunt the Soviet attack, which eventually wound down and fragmented, mirroring the German offensives before it.

This work is based mainly on German, Soviet and Hungarian archival records (e.g. war diaries, daily and after-action reports, etc.). In addition, a number of rare unit histories, contemporary private diaries and reliable personal memoirs, from generals to enlisted men, have also been used by the author. The combat actions are extremely detailed, and provide a day-by-day account. The author analyzes the command and control systems at operational and tactical levels and the losses of both sides. For a better understanding of the events the book includes many photographs and detailed specially commissioned color battle maps.

Marshal K.K. Rokossovsky: The Red Army's Gentleman Commander Hardcover – April 1, 2014
by Boris Sokolov

The author Boris Sokolov offers this first objective and intriguing biography of Marshal Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky, who is widely considered one of the Red Army's top commanders in the Second World War. Yet even though he brilliantly served the harsh Stalinist system, Rokossovsky himself became a victim of it with his arrest, beatings and imprisonment between 1937 and 1940.

The author analyzes all of Rokossovsky's military operations, in both the Russian Civil War and the Second World War, paying particular attention to the problem of establishing the real casualties suffered by both armies in the main battles where Rokossovsky took part, as well as on the Eastern Front as a whole. Rokossovsky played a prominent role in the battles for Smolensk, Moscow, Stalingrad, Kursk, Belorussia, Poland, East Prussia and Pomerania. While praising Rokossovsky's masterful generalship, the author does not shy away from criticizing the nature of Soviet military art and strategy, in which the guiding principle was "at all costs" and little value was placed on holding down casualties. This discussion extends to the painful topic of the many atrocities against civilians perpetrated by Soviet soldiers, including Rokossovsky's own troops.

A highly private man, Rokossovsky disliked discussing his personal life. With the help of family records and interviews, including the original, uncensored draft of the Marshal's memoirs, the author reveals the numerous dualities in Rokossovsky's life. Despite his imprisonment and beatings he endured, Rokossovsky never wavered in his loyalty to Stalin, yet also never betrayed his colleagues. Though a Stalinist, he was also a gentleman widely admired for his courtesy and chivalry. A dedicated family man, women were drawn to him, and he took a 'campaign wife' during the war. Though born in 1894 in Poland, Rokossovsky maintained that he was really born in Russia in 1896. This Polish/Russian duality in Rokossovsky's identity hampered his career and became particularly acute during the Warsaw uprising in 1944 and his later service as Poland's Defense Minister. Thus, the author ably portrays a fascinating man and commander, who became a marshal of two countries, yet who was not fully embraced by either.

[jimmy olsen]

Exciting upcoming year for 2014. Pre-ordered some very interesting titles from Russian and East European authors.

Tomb of the Panzerwaffe: The Defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army in Hungary 1945 Hardcover – March 1, 2014
by Aleksei Isaev , Maksim Kolomiets

In March 1945 the German Wehrmacht undertook its final attempt to change the course of the war by launching a counteroffensive in the area of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Here, the best panzer forces of the Third Reich and the elite of the Panzerwaffe were assembled - the panzer divisions SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking and others, staffed by ardent believers in Nazism and armed with the most up-to-date combat equipment, including up to 900 tanks and self-propelled guns.

At the time, this was considered a secondary axis for the Red Army, and thus the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front had to stop the German counteroffensive with their own forces and could not count upon reinforcements from the Stavka Reserve, which were needed for the decisive storming of Berlin. Relying upon their combat skill and rich combat experience, the Soviet troops carried out this task with honor, stopping the tidal wave of German armor and inflicting a decisive defeat and enormous, irreplaceable losses upon the enemy. The defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army became a genuine catastrophe for Germany, and Balaton became the tomb of the Panzerwaffe.

In this book, penned by two leading Russian military historians, this major defeat suffered by the Wehrmacht has been described and analyzed for the first time using data from both Soviet and German archives. It focuses not only on Operation Spring Awakening, but also describes the preceding Konrad offensives conducted by the Germans in the effort to come to the aid of the encircled and desperate German and fascist Hungarian defenders of Budapest. This edition is lavishly illustrated with over a hundred rare photographs of destroyed or disabled German armor taken shortly after the battle by a Soviet inspection team, besides other photographs and specially commissioned color maps.

  That's written as if the Germans weren't already finished by that time. Even if they hadn't launched Watch on the Rhine and used all the men and resources they saved there to bolster Spring Awakening the offensive still would have failed.

[Admiral Yi]

I'm starting to get the feeling Before is a Red Army fanboi.

[Ed Anger]

I'm starting to get the feeling Before is a Red Army fanboi.

East Front fanboy. He's the dude clutching a tattered copy of War in the East.

[Kleves]

Are Cornelius Ryan's WWII books (i.e. The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, The Last Battle) worth reading? Do they still hold up today?

[11B4V]

Are Cornelius Ryan's WWII books (i.e. The Longest Day, A Bridge Too Far, The Last Battle) worth reading? Do they still hold up today?

IMO yes

[11B4V]

Exciting upcoming year for 2014. Pre-ordered some very interesting titles from Russian and East European authors.

Tomb of the Panzerwaffe: The Defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army in Hungary 1945 Hardcover – March 1, 2014
by Aleksei Isaev , Maksim Kolomiets

In March 1945 the German Wehrmacht undertook its final attempt to change the course of the war by launching a counteroffensive in the area of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Here, the best panzer forces of the Third Reich and the elite of the Panzerwaffe were assembled - the panzer divisions SS Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Totenkopf, Wiking and others, staffed by ardent believers in Nazism and armed with the most up-to-date combat equipment, including up to 900 tanks and self-propelled guns.

At the time, this was considered a secondary axis for the Red Army, and thus the troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front had to stop the German counteroffensive with their own forces and could not count upon reinforcements from the Stavka Reserve, which were needed for the decisive storming of Berlin. Relying upon their combat skill and rich combat experience, the Soviet troops carried out this task with honor, stopping the tidal wave of German armor and inflicting a decisive defeat and enormous, irreplaceable losses upon the enemy. The defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army became a genuine catastrophe for Germany, and Balaton became the tomb of the Panzerwaffe.

In this book, penned by two leading Russian military historians, this major defeat suffered by the Wehrmacht has been described and analyzed for the first time using data from both Soviet and German archives. It focuses not only on Operation Spring Awakening, but also describes the preceding Konrad offensives conducted by the Germans in the effort to come to the aid of the encircled and desperate German and fascist Hungarian defenders of Budapest. This edition is lavishly illustrated with over a hundred rare photographs of destroyed or disabled German armor taken shortly after the battle by a Soviet inspection team, besides other photographs and specially commissioned color maps.

  That's written as if the Germans weren't already finished by that time. Even if they hadn't launched Watch on the Rhine and used all the men and resources they saved there to bolster Spring Awakening the offensive still would have failed.

Your statement is the product of hindsight.

The same could be said of Operation Sonnenwende (planned by Guderian BTW) in the Pomerania area. Hindsight would tell us it was due to fail and could not possibly succeeded in its' aims (The relief of Kustrin). When in fact this offensive worried Stalin and Zhukov enough to postpone the Berlin offensive for a couple of months while the Russian cleared their north flank.

or

The same could be said about Citadel's failure. The germans had no reason to believe a summer offensive would not penetrate the soviet tactical defenses within hours, operation defenses in days, and the strategic depths in a couple of weeks. Why would they think any different. They did it in the Summer of '41 and '42. They just didnt know what to do, when they did got into the strategic depths. Hindsight tells us that the Russian's had been learning, evolving in regards to organization, operations and planning very well up to that time (summer '43) and that Stalingrad had a major impact on Citadel's failure too.

[11B4V]

Tim, here's a little light reading about Operation Sudwind in Feb '45. Actually successful operation.

http://www.druhasvetova.sk/OLD/view.php?nazevclanku=struggle-for-the-hron-bridgehead-and-operation-sudwind&cisloclanku=2007120002

[Razgovory]

Were really that many German officers that believed the war could be won by March of 1945?

[Ed Anger]

Were really that many German officers that believed the war could be won by March of 1945?

I bet that asskisser nazi Schorner might have.

[Eddie Teach]

Totally winnable. All they needed was a working time machine.