1 comments about Xenophon and the Art of Command.

1. Using prime sources like Xenophon's Kyropaideia, Agesilaos, The Constitution of Lacedaemonians, Ways and Means, The Cavalry Commander, The Art of Horsemanship, On Hunting, Anabasis, Hellenika, Memorabilia and Oikonomikos and also Plutarch's Agesilaos, Pelopidas, Lysander, Alkibiades and Artaxerxes, Mr Godfrey Hutchinson does an excellent job analysing the ancient art of command, the lessons of hard experience and what they teach us today (the value of innovative thinking is proved at the case of the Thebans who smashed the famous Spartan phalanx at Tegyra, Leuctra and Mantineia). Xenophon was a really gifted person who started the campaign to Persia in the army of Cyrus the Younger, only to turn a general by the vote of his colleagues, when the Greek leadership was massacred by treachery. He not only managed to lead the Ten Thousand back to safety but also revealed a keen eye for tactics and strategy, writing down his experiences for posterity and even describing his ideal commander. Many of his suggestions found their way later in Alexander's operational art, shattering the Persian Empire for centuries. The reader will be surprised to find out how many problems of today's armies were also faced by the ancients and how they chose to solve them. Mr Hutchinson also uses heavily Sun Tzu's writings and compares them (together with modern manuals on operational art) with those of the Greeks. There are some good diagrams on the most important battles which Xenophon describes and also some black and white photos. The book is a real gem and it is certainly worth reading.

5 comments about A Walk on the Sidewalk.

1. A Walk on the Sidewalk opened my eyes to what went on in Vietnam. McCormick's book gave me a feeling as if I had been there with him experiencing what he did, and made me realize even more that those who served were true heroes not only to our country, to eachother as well. I laughed at his jokes and cryed his tears. A family member of mine served almost exactly a year before McCormick, and never speaks of the war or the horrific things he experienced there. While I understand why he feels this way, I give McCormick such a tremendous amount of credit for being able to share his experiences and feelings this way, and would highly recommend this book to anyone, to include those who served in the Vietnam war. Bravo McCormick you are a true hero!



2. McCormick's book is like a wonderful piece of folk art: unaffected, spontaneous, from the heart and compelling. Here is a Vietnam that we haven't seen before, a Vietnam seen from the eyes of a bewildered suburban young man scared by forces beyond his control and struggling with his own sexual identity. For those of us who lived through that horrific period of American history, it is a compelling reminder; for others, it is a very different slant on recent history.



3. I've read many books on the struggles of war. This book is different in its portrayal of the inner struggles of the warrior. Excellent account by a decorated veteran.



4. I Read the book as soon as it hit the shelves. I enjoyed the narrative and the contrast between his past and his future. McCormick had me feel as if I was a part of his infantry with all the attention to detail of the surroundings and his fellow soldiers. The book also had humor and sorrow to keep you interested. I'd love to see this book become a movie or documentary. I would recommend this to all who like, Band ofBrothers, Saving Private Ryan and any other well made War depictions.



5. I bought this book and was hoping it would ease my long flight to Hong Kong last month. At first I wasn't even sure if I would be able to finish it before I got back to the States. But let me tell you, I finished reading it during the first 10 hours of my flight. Mr. McCormick's story in Vietnam is so touching, so well written and it just kept me turning the pages one after another. The experience Mr. McCormick had makes me feel like there is something missing out in my life for not having an experience like what he had. I highly recommend this book to anyone, because Mr. McCormick reminds me of the rules of survival. Sometimes you just have to learn to adapt to different enviroments fast enough in order to survive. He also makes me aware that anyone can become a hero, regardless of his or her gender, race, color, sexual preference, age, and background, etc., as long as one can risk one's own life in order to save or protect others and make this world a better place. Mr. McCormick and our troops who are fighting now are all my heroes and I wish this book can become a movie someday.

No comments about The Rash Adventurer: A Life of John Pendlebury.

5 comments about Defending Baltimore Against Enemy Attack: A Boyhood Year During World War II.

1. Osgood's wit and rich tribute to his 1940s boyhood results in an enjoyable, worthwhile read, even better if you get the audio version, read by Charles himself. I did find his criticisms of today's children (and their excessively competitive parents) a bit grating. It made me think of a book that could have been written when he was a child, something like, "Radio?! Who needs that! Why when I was a boy we didn't need all those special effects and people shouting at you from a wooden box! We had books, like Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. And they were never spoiled by silly toothpaste or hair tonic commercials."
   
   The problem with nostalgia is that it can create an abnoral yearning for an irrecoverable past, and is often excessively sentimental. Tempis fugit...



2. This delightful read, one year in the life of a 9-year old boy, may be the most enjoyable book I've read in years. And I read a lot of stuff. The year was 1942 and Charles Osgood describes it magnificently as lived by most of us the same age. I laughed with tears in my eyes on almost very page. This book should be enjoyed by the children and grandchildern of those of us that were children during that incredible year, 1942. Memory lane was never better documented. Enjoy.



3. I was drawn to pick up this book when I saw the cover--the picture of the author as a young boy is irresistible. Although the content was interesting, I found myself quickly becoming annoyed by the author's numerous slurs towards our younger generation. I found his words to be increasingly mean-spirited and I finally put the book down for good when he made light of both children and their parents who are faced with the struggle of bipolar disorder. The author reminds me of many older Americans who can't see that the world has changed greatly since the 1940's and that our younger generation has many redeeming characteristics.



4. I envy Charles Osgood. He saw and experienced a Baltimore I never did. The stork didn't drop me off in B'more until 1955. I had such a good time in seeing things I remembered from a different perspective. If it's possible, I loved my city just a bit more after reading this. Thanks for the memories and insights.



5. I loved this book and I'm sure I smiled all the way through it. Everyone loves nostalgia about the good ole days -- meaning, we ALL have our own good old days. But the times he writes about are especially delightful and innocent. The music was great and something everyone and anyone could sing along with. The movies were dreamy. The radio was great and innovative. And best of all were Mom's final words to the young on summer days: Be home before dark! Yes, we used to go out and play. We didn't have play dates; we just played with whoever was there on that day. Sometimes we played kick the can, or tag, or jump rope, or went on long bike rides, or went to town to the small store to look at magazines and comic books and drool over the candy in the glass counters. We may even have had a nickle in our pockets to buy something.
   
   In any event, I grew up in basically the same circumstances as young Charles describes in this book. The book is short and sweet, something to smile about on each and every page. I wish it was longer -- Both the childhood of the 1940s and this book. Both were great.

2 comments about Hess: The Fuhrer's Disciple.

1. The first casualty in war - truth. Without it there will always be plenty of scope for the Violets, Roses, Gilberts, Manchesters, Irvings et al. A well focused study, difficult to put down once under way. Of course, no satisfactory conclusion, leaving me wondering whether I'll be around in 2017, and will the world then know the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I very much doubt it.



2. The standard and obligatory questions about Rudolf Hess are: did he fly to Scotland with Hitler's knowledge? Was he crazy during the Nuremberg trials and afterwards as well, and was he murdered? If you're insane or hopelessly ill-informed, you might also throw in the question whether he ever had a double. Unfortunately, Padfield asks these questions but is too ill-equipped historically to answer them. He is totally out of his depth here and it shows. He relies on Wolf Hess' testimony on many things when he needs to examine the historical record instead. The overwhelming abundance of evidence shows that Hess flew to Scotland in 1941 without the Fuehrer's knowledge, that he was perfectly sane throughout his life (though eccentric) and that the notion of him having a "double" is ludicrous.

   This book is not especially well-written and contains almost nothing new. The autopsy photos of Hess are revealing but hardly show "conclusively" that he was murdered. There is very little material on Hess' long confinement at Spandau, nor about his early life. His relationship with Hitler is not explored adequately with the possible exception of their time in Landsberg prison. In short, a disappointment.

No comments about The Life Of Major-General George H. Thomas.

No comments about A Life in Israel's Intelligence Service: An Autobiography.

5 comments about Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy.

1. It's simply infuriating to tune into the media on any given day to find out what's going on in Iraq. The problem is twofold. One, bias rears its ugly head. The mainstream media are, with few exceptions, largely left-leaning in their coverage of the war. They aren't interested in promoting American values or touting our triumphs, so any stories they do on the war will always focus on the negative. That's why you'll read reams about the ridiculous Abu Ghraib prison "scandal" or other supposed "wrongdoings" and little about the good deeds our boys and girls perform on a daily basis. Two, and even worse in some ways, is the emphasis media place on having stories that grab the audience's attention. It's boring to show schools, roads, and institutions being built. That stuff is for suckers. Our journalists are far more interested in showing cars and buildings blowing up, blood flowing in the streets, and bullets flying. If it bleeds, it leads baby! That's why CNN shows American troops taking bullets in the head from insurgent snipers. That's why the news from Iraq centers on the latest car bombings. Anything to drive those ratings through the roof, right?
   
   At the same time, the images we see from Iraq do offer a partial representation of what our soldiers face on a daily basis. They are in grave combat situations where life and limb are at constant risk. It's a war zone, obviously, a place where the enemy can hide amongst the civilian population quite easily. The jihadists in Iraq use the innocents as cover to build and deploy their notorious improvised explosive devices (IEDs) that have killed hundreds of American soldiers. They use houses to hide guns, ammunition, explosives, and other arms used to wage daily war against the hated "infidel" invaders. They also prey on the innocent Iraqi civilians, maiming and killing them for helping us or for not joining in the fight against the crusaders. The foes we face in Iraq are murderous thugs without a shred of human decency. They're roaches that scuttle under the nearest rock when we shine the light of justice on them. We don't need to "understand" them, or try to befriend them, or listen to their complaints. We need to exterminate them before they kill us and our loved ones. And they would. Without a moment's hesitation, they would kill your parents, your wife or husband, your kids--and they wouldn't lose a moment of sleep over it, either.
   
   That's why a book like Ilario Pantano's "Warlord: No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy" is such an important read. Pantano, a Marine officer who reenlisted after 9/11 to go fight America's enemies in Iraq, tells us exactly what we face in that hostile land. His is a depressing tale, a story about death, fear, destruction, and the inability of America to face its enemies without tying both hands behind its back. The author tells us about friends he's lost to the enemy, desperate firefights in the streets of Iraq where the next bullet could very well have your name on it, and how our troops can't properly fight a real war because of politically correct Rules of Engagement. When you learn that our soldiers have to fill out paperwork like a beat cop when they stop someone to search their car, or have to carry around handcuffs in case they need to arrest someone (and these things happen in Pantano's Iraq), you just know we aren't going to win the war. Even worse, Pantano faced capital murder charges for a traffic stop gone bad that resulted in the deaths of a couple of Iraqis. That's right: capital murder charges. In a war zone.
   
   "Warlord" is a great book. Not because of the insightful picture it paints of the Iraqi adventure, although that's a large part of it. Not because Pantano tells us wonderful stories about the brave men and women pouring their blood into the desert sands in order to avenge our country for 9/11 and protect you and I on a daily basis, although that's another part of the book that deserves praise. The best part of the book is how it deftly blends biography with war narrative. Ilario Pantano and I, as far as I can tell, are roughly the same age, yet his life goes so far beyond anything I've accomplished. Born in New York to Italian immigrant parents, Pantano went to a private school, stared down thugs in the streets of New York, joined the Marines and fought in the first Gulf War, went to college, married and divorced and married again, had kids, worked for Goldman Sachs, worked in the entertainment industry, and helped start up a new media company with the birth of the Internet age. Then he reenlisted to fight in Iraq again, this time going through additional training to become a Marine Corps officer! Then it was off to Iraq to fight the jihadists and to try and stay alive. Then back to the United States to fight for his life in a courtroom. Wow! This guy is a real hero.
   
   The only drawback to "Warlord" is the absence of a description from Pantano about the actual event that led to his trial. We learn about the situation through a recitation of the trial record, but Pantano never really talks about what happened in the context of his war experiences. Some readers of a left-wing persuasion would probably take this as some sort of admission of guilt, which is likely total nonsense. A far more adequate interpretation, based on his character traits outlined in the rest of the book, is that the incident is too painful for him to talk about. Yet he still should have addressed it directly. No matter, though, as the book is a real page-turner and a must read for those trying to craft a bigger picture of the Iraq War.



2. Pantano's experiences reveal the horrible injustices being visited on our soldiers as a result of the "political correctness" movement in the U.S. That type of thinking demands that a U.S. at war MUST have war criminals and will seek any convenient target. While a very few of our own troops undoubtedly engage in illegal behavior during a war, Pantano's story points out the need of the "politically correct" crowd - and even those members of the military who lose their objectivity because of those influences - to find horrible crimes being committed (and those crimes need to be instigated by an officer) whether or not there is any basis in truth.
   
   I purchased this book as soon as it came out and could not put it down. While I felt the "flashbacks" were far too frequent, the book was still a great read.
   
   This should be required reading for all those folks who say they oppose the war but support our troops, as it exposes the results of such thinking.



3. Men like this are very rare. He followed his heart and got stabbed in the back from a fellow Marine. Thank God the system worked and noble countrymen came to his aid. I believe this story illustrates the civil war raging in our country even as we wage war in another. A great story and an eye opener. I thank Ilario and all men like him for what they have done and are doing to protect my country, my family and myself. God bless you all!



4. Warlord is a look at the moral ambiguities of contemporary warfare and their political resonance on the home front. Its protagonist is not a fashionable anti-hero, but a real American hero, the kind of guy who witnesses the WTC attack and immediately decides to re-enlist, shaving his hair into a Marine buzz cut even before going home. And yet when he does return home from serving his country at war, he finds himself under threat of capital punishment. The stakes here are not just personal: Pantano needs to win his grand jury case on behalf of every soldier in combat who might hesitate to defend himself in the field - and be brought back in a body bag - rather than be tried as a murderer at home.
   
   In addition to the intrinsic drama of the Black Hawk Down-style firefights into which Pantano leads his men, there is the drama of the courtroom, where the details of the incident - the "murder" of which he was accused - grippingly unfold. His reputation and character are almost impossible for the prosecutors to besmirch, but the trial outcome remains in doubt because he may be hung out to dry as a political scapegoat.
   
   Pantano graphically conveys the madness of combat that civilians and politicians cannot comprehend (and yet which many unfairly judge), but there are nice touches of humanity in the madness as well. The family dynamic is another compelling element. Pantano has a wife and young children at home, and it's partly because of his love for them that he goes to war - to defend his country and family in the enemy's backyard rather than wait until the war comes to his own. When he does return, it's his family's turn to defend him, in the courtroom and in the war zone of the American media. The drama is ratcheted up when Pantano discovers that a Pakistani website has marked him and his family as a target for extremists everywhere.
   
   Warlord has a hero you can root for and care about; drama in the battlefield, the courtroom, and at home; and a triumphant (if a qualified one) ending. It's a tale of the gap between the soldiers' reality and the media and politicians at home undermining their efforts - a tale that couldn't be more relevant, instructive, and gripping in light of our war in Iraq.



5. Obviously factual and straightforward. No personal bias is interjected by the author - he just tells it like it is. The transition between combat scenarios, background and the courts martial procedings are logical and seamless. Great read! AND a bit scary when you realize the obvious political prejudice by the government. After reading this book you will better understand the challenges and threats that our military men and women are facing in the war against terrorism.

1 comments about Call Out the Guard!: The Story of Lieutenant General John B. Conaway and the Modern Day National Guard..

1. This is the most accurate and complete record of the Air National Guard and the maturity of Total Force Policy. Total Force Policy changed the culture of both the Air Force and Air National Guard and forged these two components of our "Total Air Force" into an effective team. Lt Gen Conaway provides an insight into the modern Air National Guard that will help military planners keep history's military success stories alive. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to what the tradition of the minutemen of 1776 has become in modern times

2 comments about Surrounded by Dangers of All Kinds: The Mexican War Letters of Lieutenant Theodore Laidley (War and the Southwest Series, 6).

1. "'Surrounded by Dangers of All Kinds': The Mexican War Letters of Lieutenant Theodore Laidley" is edited, with extensive commentary, by James M. McCaffrey. The book is Number 6 in the War and the Southwest Series. Spanning the years 1845 to 1848, these letters tell of Laidley's journey through Mexico as an ordnance officer in the U.S. Army. These letters combine with McCaffrey's illuminating commentary to tell a fascinating story.
   
   Laidley and McCaffrey cover many topics: concern about disease, battlefield medicine, the impact of guerilla activity on the U.S. campaign, the importance of mail to the troops, the challenge in getting volunteer troops to reenlist, cultural sensitivity issues involving U.S. troop contact with Mexican civilians, and conflict among senior U.S. military officers. Laidley describes the reality of 19th century combat; he notes that "the horrors of war one can not understand until you have seen it." Particularly interesting are Laidley's observations on the Mexican land and people; he writes about climate, religion, architecture, agriculture, food, and language.
   
   One thing I found quite striking about the book was how relevant many of McCaffrey's and Laidley's topics are to the U.S. operations that are going on in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time I write this review. Laidley's observations are full of interesting details. His voice is at times quite feisty, and his style is consistently very readable. Overall, this book offers a remarkable look at the U.S.-Mexican War.



2. An interesting book of letters written by Lieutenant Theodore Laidley during the historic Mexican War.