I just finished “Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution” by Nat Philbrick.
I’d recommend it- it draws from a variety of personal accounts that keeps it pretty human scale.
Adams and his rabble were really a bunch of violent criminals, who openly murdered authorities and replaced the King’s Law with their own version of justice. It’s a REALLY good thing for them that they won, and that’s a miracle too. Otherwise they’d all be swinging from gibbets.
A little hyperbole on my part, but it’s a pretty violent story.
On my days off this past week I read “U-Boat War” by Lothar-Gunther Buchheim. He is the author of "Das Boot"on which the movie of the same name was based, and this book is more his actual wartime experiences coupled with lots of photos that he took during his time on U-96, as well as before and afterwards. Very personal and very compelling. The photos he took are simply captivating to look at as you read his words of events going on and captured on film. Great stuff for anyone interested in subs, the Battle of the Atlantic, or the film.
I just finished “Night fighter over Germany”, by Graham White. An RAF Flight Sergeant, who flew Mossies. He has a very interesting writing style and inserts a lot of humor. Pretty interesting book.
Gunter Grass died today. His book The Tin Drum had a strong positive effect on my later tastes in literature. I don’t think I have read anything quite like it, ever since.
Reading the biography of Field Marshal Sir Bernard Law Montgomery of Alamein. Slow going at the moment. A young Monty has just been accepted into Sandhurst.
One of my patients just lent me a book “H.M.S. Puncher”. It is not quite a book as a photo collection with short stories about life and service on her. The hook? My patient served on her so it is an instant connection…
I read it, too, when I was studying German in college. I read The Flounder (Der Butt), too back then. I enjoyed how he wove history, including of his native Danzig, together with some absurdity, in putting forth the themes. He reminded me that way, too, of Kurt Vonnegut. The Diary of a Snail was interesting, too.
Just finished up Eugene Sledge’s “With the Old Breed”. Exceptionally good read and it was difficult for me to put it down.
Yesterday I was mowing my lawn for the first time this season and the cable that controls the “self-propelled” mechanism on my push mower broke. I was grunting and sweating and feeling the pain in my hands from having to shove the mower. I was going to take a break but then I thought of the pure hell that folks like Sledge had to deal with day in and day out. Suddenly my life didn’t seem so bad.
Yes, that was a good book. Sledge’s description of the daily ordeals of combat on Peleliu and Okinawa really put our daily mundane “troubles” into perspective.
I finally got ahold of Rick Atkinson’s final book of his WWII trilogy, “The Guns at Last Light” and started reading it. Fantastic stuff! My model building now has a serious rival for my spare time (besides the infernal internet) until I am done with this book.
Blind Man’s Bluff is a fascinating book. I happen to work with a submariner, who cannot confirm or deny the events described in the book, but recommended it as a good read. I am working my way through The Coldest Winter, by David Halberstam covering the Korean War. He goes into depth on the politics that got us into the war the personalities of the principle players in getting us into the war and how it was prosecuted So far a very interesting read, with history back into WWII and going forward to Viet Nam.
I will have to check out Coldest Winter soon, in addition to your recommendation, it was one of the books that Carlos started this thread with.
I ran across BMB doing research for a paper on submarines this past spring. One of the submariners I interviewed said pretty much the same thing as the one you know so it was first on my list of books to read for pleasure this summer.
Just finished “The Great War of Our Time: The CIA’s Fight Against Terrorism from al Qaida to ISIS.” While I enjoyed it and would recommend it, I’ll only elect to explain why only in PMs to whomever is interested so as not to possibly steer this thread into something else.
Has anybody read “Matterhorn” by Kevin Marlantes? If so is it worth the read? The only other fiction book I’ve read on Vietnam was “Fields of Fire” by Webb, which I loved.
I am working my way through The Coldest Winter, by David Halberstam covering the Korean War. He goes into depth on the politics that got us into the war the personalities of the principle players in getting us into the war and how it was prosecuted So far a very interesting read, with history back into WWII and going forward to Viet Nam.