Note: This review is long. The book was long and interesting, so the review is long, but may not be interesting. I love history, but I’m not a diligent scholar. My history knowledge is thin and wide spread with occasional deep dives. I have been fascinated by the events that led to World War 1, but didn’t know much about the Paris Peace Conference that dealt with the end of the war. Last year I listened to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series, “Blueprint for Armageddon.” […]
Army Chief of Staff Reading List #3
I read The First World War by Hew Strachan mostly because it was recommended by the Army Chief of Staff. I also realized that my knowledge of WWI is woefully inept considering I have a history degree. I took a class on World War II and the US Civil War. There are dozens of movies about WWII and the Civil War. We joke about the days in which the History Channel showed only profiles of Hitler, as opposed to Ancient Aliens, as a sign of […]
“You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!”
There is a complex tapestry of finely woven threads that make up this story; each one reaching back into antiquity, becoming drab of color and less distinct. The tapestry details the modern world, and without these threads, it’s impossible to understand the context in which we live. This book is an attempt to explain this tapestry, and details its creation via the economic systems of Great Britain, France, Germany and the United States. It follows their development in the 19th century, through WWI and it’s […]
Indescribably mediocre YA steampunk.
I don’t know what happened here. How a book about an alternate history steampunk WWI where one side has Clankers, and the other genetically engineered flying beasts that double as airships could be so exceptionally uninteresting and generic, I really don’t know. Also one of the MC’s is the son of the murdered Archduke Franz Ferdinand. And the other is a girl who dresses as a boy! Also, also it was narrated by Alan Cumming! And yet, my mind wandered constantly while listening, and I […]
Woodrow Wilson Writes Good Notes, And That You May Tie To
So we finally come to The Great War. This has been slowly building for four or five books now, each book has had some hint about this major event and how it will effect the characters. If I’m to be honest, I don’t think I’ve read this book more then once or maybe twice. The first time I read it, I was very young and the character death really bothered me, so I didn’t re-read it very often if at all. Is that a spoiler? […]
Spoiler: The Ship Sinks
I love everything that Erik Larson has written. I usually read them, but I went with the audiobook version for this one. It took me an entire year to get through – but that was no fault of the book. You see, I like happy endings. The ending here is no surprise, and I stopped listening to this one when it reached the last morning of the voyage. I just couldn’t do it. Then, I found myself on a long solo car trip with my […]
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