5 comments about Where Death and Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.

1. Where Death And Glory Meet: Colonel Robert Gould Shaw And The 54th Massachusetts Infantry is the fascinating military biography of Civil War Colonel Robert Shaw who commanded an infantry unit composed of Negro soldiers, the North's first Black combat regiment. Russell Duncan presents a poignant portrait of an average young soldier struggling against his mother's indomitable will and thrust unexpectedly into the national limelight. Drawing upon Shaw's letters home before and during the war, Where Death And Glory Meet tells the story of the rebellious son of wealthy Boston abolitionists who never fully reconciled his own racial prejudices, yet went on to lead his black regiment into fierce and bloody battlefield conflicts where they performed with heroic distinction and scotched forever the notion that black soldiers would not or could not fight successfully against the Confederate forces. Where Death And Glory Meet is a superb contribution to Civil War studies and will prove of deep interest to students of Black history.



2. This book serves as an important source of information regarding the birth of the 54th Massachusetts,black soldiers, politics, Shaw's personal and Civil War life. It is well written and places the reader at the start of northeastern politics and Shaw's upbringing. Shaw leads a pampered life of a wealthy family. He travels the world yet comes back to fight for the Union in the Civil War. His family is influencial in his military promotions and sets his promotion to Colonel with Governer Andrew's backing. Shaw becomes Colonel of the 54th and dares to take a risk at leading the first ever black regiment. His daring tale of being an outcast and a potential political target for his role in getting the 54th ready for battle is courageous and inspiring. The book covers the plights of the 54th in learning drill, military life and battle in chronological fashion. Much is covered in this short yet informative book on Shaw and the 54th. The definate "must read" for anyone looking to get an understanding of how the 54th and Colonel Shaw came together and fought!



3. Although Robert Gould Shaw was only 25 years old when he died, leading the 54th Massachusetts Infantry in a futile assault on Fort Wagner, he has become an object of interest in the past dozen years, especially since the release of the movie "Glory," which gave a somewhat fictionalized account of the 54th. This book by Russell Duncan is a good introduction to the life of Shaw, and gives an extensive bibliography for those who want to engage in further reading and research.

   In this book (which is an expanded version of the introduction to Shaw's collected letters that Duncan edited and published in the book "Blue Eyed Child of Fortune") Duncan gives a view of a life that one can truly say was tragically cut short by war. Robert Gould Shaw spent much of his short life trying to find his way and place in the world, something that many of us can identify with immediately. He had difficulty in accepting authority; he could not decide upon a career; he was the only son of well-known abolitionist parents, yet he had grave reservations about the abilities of black people. A "rebel" by nature, he could be rigid and unbending with others. He was dominated by his mother, only truly breaking away from her by marrying a lovely young woman against his mother's wishes. Married to a woman he apparently adored, he also engaged in a flirtation with a schoolmistress in South Carolina after accepting the command of the 54th. Shaw had found his calling in the military: he was brave, and able to inspire confidence within his men, yet he promised his future wife that he would not persue the military as a career once the war was over.

   This book is a good introducation to the brief life of Robert Gould Shaw. It contains some photographs of the Shaw family and Annie Haggarety, Shaw's wife. It also dispells some of the myths about the 54th that were present in the movie "Glory," chief among them the myth that the 54th was made up primarily of unlettered escaped slaves. From reading Duncan's book it appears many were literate freedmen of long standing. Also, the sergeant-major of the 54th was the son of Frederick Douglass, not the middle aged recruit as played by Morgan Freedman in the movie. I would recommend this book for anyone who is interested in the life of Robert Gould Shaw, or the history of the 54th, as a jumping off point for further reading.




4. HONOR THE MEMORY OF COLONEL ROBERT GOULD SHAW AND THE FIGHTING MASSACHUSETTS 54TH BLACK REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAR
   
   COMMENTARY
   
   FEBRUARY IS BLACK HISTORY MONTH
   
   Those familiar with the critical role that the recruitment of black troops into the Union Armies in the American Civil War usually know about the famous Massachusetts 54th Regiment under Colonel Robert Gould Shaw which has received wide attention in book, film and sculpture. Those heroic black fighters and their fallen leader deserve those honors. Glory, indeed.
   
   Although Shaw was hesitate to take command of those troops after suffering wounds at Antietam when he accepted he took full charge of the training and discipline of the regiment. Moreover, as the regiment marched into Boston to cheering crowds before embarking on ships to take them South each trooper knew the score. Any blacks captured (or their white officers, for that matter) were subject to Southern `justice', summary execution. Not one trooper flinched. Arms in hands, they fought bravely at the defeat of Fort Wagner and other Deep South battles, taking many causalities.
   
   I have remarked elsewhere (in a review of William Styron's Confessions of Nat Turner)
   that while the slaves in the South, for a host of reasons, did not insurrect with the intensity or frequency of say Haiti, the other West Indian islands or Brazil that when the time came to show discipline, courage and honor under arms that blacks would prove not inferior to whites. And the history of the Massachusetts 54th is prima facie evidence for that position.
   
   I should also note that the Massachusetts 54th was made up primarily of better educated and skilled freedman and escaped slaves unlike the black troops recruited from the plantations in the Deep South in the 1st and 2nd South Carolina black regiments. Thus, one might have suspected that they would not be up to the rigors of Southern duty. Not so. After reading a number of books on the trials and tribulations of various Union regiments, including the famous Irish Brigade, the story of the 54th compares very favorably with those units.
   
   However, so as not to get carried away with the `liberalism' of the Union political and military commands in granting permission for black recruitment it is necessary to point out some of the retrograde racial attitudes of the time. It took a major propaganda thrust by Frederick Douglass and other revolutionary abolitionists to get Lincoln to even consider arming blacks for their own emancipation. Only after several severe military reversals was permission granted to recruit black troops, although some maverick generals were already using them, particularly General Hunter. As mentioned above there were qualms about the ability of blacks to fight in disciplined units. Moreover, until 1864 black troops were paid less than their white counterparts. The Massachusetts 54th is also rightly famous for refusing pay until that disparity was corrected.
   
   One should also not forget that the North in its own way was as deeply racist as the South (think of the treacherous role of the Southern-sympathying Northern Copperheads and the Irish-led anti-black Draft Riots in New York City, for examples). This reflected itself in the racial attitudes of some commanding officers and enlisted men and well as the general paternalism of even the best white commanding officers, including Colonel Higginson of the 2nd South Carolina. It was further reflected in the disproportionately few blacks that became officers in the Civil War, despite the crying need for officers in those black regiments and elsewhere. Yet, all of these negatives notwithstanding, every modern black liberation fighter takes his or her hat off to the gallant 54th, arms in hand, and its important role in the struggle for black liberation



5. Every Civil War buff (and many others, too, thanks to the movie "Glory") knows the story of the 54th Massachusetts, the black regiment commanded by the boy-colonel Robert Gould Shaw which attacked the Confederate Fort Wagner in July 1863.
   
   The story of the 54th is memorable for many reasons. The most obvious one--and the one usually focused on--is that Shaw and the 54th displayed extraordinary courage in the assault on Fort Wagner. Another less emotional reason is that the 54th proved to the nation that men of color could and would fight for the end of slavery. This was the shattering of an important color barrier and an important stage in the evolution of the conflict. By war's end, an incredible 74% of free Northern blacks of military age would enlist (p. 50).
   
   But a deeper, more significant reason why the history of the 54th is important--and one, moreover, that's usually missed--is that it invites reflection about the standards by which our culture, then and now, measures "manhood." W.E.B. Du Bois (quoted on p. 123) put it well: "How extraordinary...in the minds of most people...only murder makes men. The slave pleaded; he was humble; he protected the women of the South, and the world ignored him. The slave killed white men; and behold, he was a man." Prior to proving themselves in battle, both the North and the South looked at men of color as bumbling and cowardly half-wits. Except for the minority Abolitionists, most whites considered blacks subhuman, and there seemed little or nothing blacks could do to break through that conviction. But he moment they proved themselves skilled at killing other human beings, they were accepted (even if reluctantly) as "men."
   
   Duncan's Where Death and Glory Meet is a fascinating chapter in the history of how our culture determines manhood. Although a rather detached supporter of abolition, Shaw was skeptical about the fighting abilities of freedmen, and initially declined the command of the 54th. When he did accept, he was painfully aware that the eyes of the nation were on his regiment, and his training of them was relentless. But the 54th measured up by proving itself in battle.
   
   Moreover, Shaw is also representative of the cultural measure of manhood. In his private letters, he expresses great ambivalence about commanding the 54th and almost panicky fear about assaulting Fort Wagner--a task that he (correctly, as it turned out) thought rather hopeless. Just as th But Shaw, fully aware of what was expected of a "man," overcame both doubts and anxiety in order to perform his duty. Just as the ability to kill men made his black soldiers "men," so Shaw's willingness to die in battle also demonstrated his own "manhood," his final maturation from a boy-colonel to a seasoned warrior.
   
   What fascinating under-currents run through the Civil War. Too bad they're so often bypassed in favor of the surface stories of guns and glory. For more on our cultural conflation of manhood with battlefield courage, Margaret Creighton's magisterial The Colors of Courage is highly recommended.

3 comments about Muhammad: Islam's First Great General (Campaigns and Commanders).

1. This is a scholarly attempt to look at the life of Muhammad, the founder of the religion of Islam, in a whole new light. The author intends to examine his military accomplishments, and freely admits his lack of qualifications with regards to the religious aspects of the Prophet's life. Those military accomplishments were considerable, and the ensuing discussion of the Prophet's life, through his military exploits, is interesting.
   
   The author begins with an overview of Arab warfare prior to Muhammad's epiphany. He spends several chapters outlining Arab politics at the time, and is especially careful to discuss military organization, tactics, and strategy, as much as he can. One difficulty is that during this era, warfare tended to be of the follow-the-leader variety, with little in the way of formal military organization, no standardization of weapons or equipment, no uniforms, no real organized units with a formal chain of command, pay structures, ranks, and that sort of thing. All of that, more or less, existed during the Roman or other ancient periods, but wouldn't re-emerge until towards the end of the Middle Ages. Instead, Arab warfare was essentially tribal, low-intensity warfare, rather like what the American Indians or African tribesmen practiced in later eras. Wars went on constantly between neighboring tribes, but could go on for years with ritualized battles and campaigns in which few, if any, warriors were killed. Instead, the tribes relied on these "wars" to provide opportunities for warriors to exhibit their bravery, and as an aside, they raided their neighbors, stealing livestock and women.
   
   Muhammad, rather like Shaka Zulu, changed the way warfare was conducted. In Shaka's case we're not sure why what happened occurred: some outside sources attribute his actions to influence from a white man, while African sources insist that his ideas were homegrown. Regardless, Muhammad's transformation is easier to trace, and Gabriel makes a point of it: he didn't come up with something new. Instead, he transformed one form of warfare into another, with devastating results.
   
   At this time, Arabs only engaged in war to the death when there was something called a blood feud occurring. Such events could last for years, even generations, but they tended to be rather vicious. Essentially, in Arab society, there was no objective right or wrong. Instead, everything was based on the tribe you belonged to. You didn't steal from those in your tribe (but you could steal from others). You didn't kill members of your tribe (but others were fair game, provided you were brave enough to defy their tribe). When someone from your tribe was killed, your highest duty in life was revenge the death by killing the killers, which in turn could of course lead to that tribe wanting revenge against you. The only way out of this was to pay money to the relatives of the dead.
   
   Muhammad transformed Arab tribal warfare by making all wars between Islam and non-Muslims blood feuds. This meant that while he was alive, anyway, warfare between him and non-believers only stopped temporarily. He believed that fighting must continue until either the other side surrendered, or they paid that blood money for the insult done to Islam (by not joining it). This sort of warfare, where things were brutal and you showed no mercy to the enemy, was completely confusing to the Arab pagan societies around the original Muslims, and it conquered them in short order during about a decade.
   
   This book is interesting, and it spends a lot of time discussing tactics, organization, and equipment used by the Muslims and their opponents during the era. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone not interested in military affairs: it's pretty dry and workmanlike as far as the writing goes. The author's a professional soldier who now teaches at Canada's military academy, and it shows in his writing. Nevertheless, if you're very interested in Muhammad or in military history, this is a good book.



2. Muhammad: Islam's First Great General is not a typical biography Muhammad, prophet and founder of the religion of Islam. Military historian and retired U.S. Army officer Richard A. Gabriel presents a close examination of Muhammad as a military genius, who introduced innovations that would transform armies and warfare throughout the Arab world. With a keen eye upon the connections between social, economic, and cultural environment in which Muhammad lived and the religion he founded to Muhammad's military achievements, Muhammad: Islam's First Great General is an exceptional chronicle of how a brand-new religious movement survived its tumultuous birth through eight major battles, eighteen raids, and thirty-eight other military operations in its first ten years alone. Also covered is Muhammad's masterful application of nonmilitary methods including bribery, alliance building, and political assassination, to fortify his long-term position and goals, even at the expense of short-term military objectives. Muhammad: Islam's First Great General reveals how Muhammad's talents and inspirations enabled his successors to defeat the armies of Persia and Byzantium, and establish the foundations of the Islamic empire, and is a singularly fascinating study of historical warfare and leadership. Highly recommended.



3. Although the authors many military history books and his international recognition have been familiar to this reader, the new information provided in this book, earned my appreciation.
   A new presentation of the Prophet as a military leader put the conflicts which are being played out in our days appear in a clear historical light providing precedents.
   The book is a very important contribution to understanding Islam since it is the only book from the military history of this leader

2 comments about All Things for Good: The Steadfast Fidelity of Stonewall Jackson (Leaders in Action Series).

1. This is an excellent look inside the life of Thomas Johnathan "Stonewall" Jackson.
   
   Reverend Wilkins does an excellent job of researching first-hand accounts of the important events that occurred during Jackson's life and how they refined him into the man that God made him.



2. First let me say that the "Leaders in Action" series is tremendous (check the rest of them out--Robert E. Lee, Winston Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt, William Wilberforce and more). They are biographies which deal not only with facts, but also with the character and faith of historical figures. Every school age child should read these books and take these role models to heart.
   
   The great thing about this book is that it gives a solid summary of Stonewall Jackson's life and history as well as a thorough examination of his faith and values. If you can believe it, I was almost brought to tears by the account of his death. Especially for Civil War buffs--this is a must read.

5 comments about From Private to General: An African American Soldier Rises Through the Ranks.

1. A great read from start to finish. If you enjoy history, the military or stories of personal success, this book is for you. General Curry personifies what it is to be an American, and his book elucidates this perfectly. As an American you can accomplish anything by dreaming big, working hard and following after God.
   
   Todd Morrisson



2. This book is an enjoyable read with an inside look at military life from the General's professional and personl life. Teacher's should take note! This would be excellent material for a character education segment of curriculum. It's riveting and heartfelt with a lot of perserverance against all odds thrown in. Your students will be inspired to be excellent and hard working.



3. The extraordinary journey of an extraordinary man! What a great read!



4. Some men are born to greatness and from his childhood, Jerry Curry was destined for great things. With a lot of hard work and determination everything that Jerry set his hand to do was successful. I found "From Private to General: An African American Soldier Rises Through the Ranks" an interesting read from a enlisted point of view. Many times we enlisted men are blind to the difficulties that officers have to deal with. Often when talking with my twin brother who is a "West Point" graduate we discussed how politics often are a part of advancing in rank. What is the old adage; "It isn't what you know, but who you know." And this is so very true of those who compete for higher rank.
   
   On the down side, I felt that many times instead of reading an autobiography, I was reading a dissertation on the evils of racism. There are many powerful lessons that the American culture had to learn since the abolition of slavery. We must learn from our mistakes or be doomed to repeat them. But even with the cards stacked against him, Jerry Curry, by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ was able to overcome and advance. Is not this after all is the primary mission of the military; to overcome and advance.



5. The story of Gen. Curry is inspirational. He describes some of the obstacles he faced in the military because of his ethnic background from the viewpoint of an overcomer, rather than a victim. His integrity and courage stand out. His faith in God is part of the story, but his wife's book, "The General's Lady," gives much more detail on the spiritual side of their family.

5 comments about Black Cadet in a White Bastion: Charles Young at West Point.

1. I've just finished reading this skillfully researched book about Charles Young's life. From his birth to parents with roots in Southern slavery to his graduation from West Point, it's a story that reflects a strength of character and purpose against the many odds of the time in which he lived. His struggle against the racism of the time is a story that begs to be told.



2. What an inspiring story! Luck, pluck and a narrow window of opportunity all lined up for Charles Young, a young African American teacher from Ohio, who knocked on West Point's doors in 1884 and found them open to him. I'm amazed that West Point enrolled Blacks in that period. But as historian and author, Brian Shellum, tells us in BLACK CADET IN A WHITE BASTION, for a short period after 1884, a few African Americans were accepted at West Point. Soon after Young graduated, the military school barred African Americans for fifty years!
   
   Shellum explains that Young struggled at West Point because of intolerance as well because of its challenging curriculum. But Young was a man who never gave up, depending on hard work, tutors, mentors, friends and family to carry him to graduation.
   
   The author outlines the challenges of writing about an individual whose color relegated him to a shadowy existence at West Point. Yet with some diligent and creative research, Shellum pieces together a biography of a hero who clearly became the Colin Powell of his time.
   
   I look forward to Shellum's next installment of Charles Young's extraordinary journey.



3. My book club recently read this insightful biography of Charles Young's birth through graduation from West Point with unanimous praise for Shellum's writing style and solid research. While many military bio's are dense and slow, this book reads with ease and quick pace. As two of our club members are alumni of The Academy, I was not surprised to learn from them that the descriptions of campus life and traditions were accurate and much the same for Young as those from late this century.



4. Most biographies are about extraordinary people who accomplish extraordinary things. But the story of an ordinary person who makes the most of everything he has can be even more compelling. This is why Black Cadet in a White Bastion is well worth reading. It is a tale of accomplishment through simple perseverance, not complex genius. Brain Shellum details the slave community of Young's birth, the freeman's community of his youth, and the West Point environment where Young struggled for social and academic survival.
   
   Charles Young lived a century before there were television ads selling the Army as the place where you can "Be all you can be." He was ahead of his time, and his story is an inspiration to anyone who seeks to follow in his footsteps, to overcome the odds against them. Author Brian Shellum performs a great service by portraying Young's faults along with his strengths so that we can fully appreciate how hard he had to work to earn his stripes.



5. There was a great deal to learn from a story that is over 100 years old. I was unfamiliar with the story of racism at the military academy and this thoroughly researched book provides a great deal of context and thought provoking observations that are useful today.
   
   The author is challenged with finding authoritative resources long after the trail has gone cold but does a great deal of first-hand reporting unearthing historic letters and photos.
   
   I understand there will be followups to this edition which should be a welcome addition to what appears to be a rather small bibliography on the subject.

2 comments about Stonewall Jackson (Great Generals).

1. I thought this book provided a succinct and accurate assessment of General Jackson's life and career. I do, however, offer three criticisms.
   
   First, a few maps would have been most helpful. The author presumes that the reader has a working knowledge of Jackson's major battles--the places they were fought, the strategy and tactics employed, and the surrounding topography. I realize that the Great General Series must make certain accommodations in order to accomplish its goal of providing a BRIEF overview of the life and service of its subjects, but a few maps would have greatly enhanced my understanding of what Jackson accomplished.
   
   Second, I thought the comparisons between Jackson's strategy and tactics and those employed in the Iraq War were both gratuitous and a bit of stretch, a not-so-veiled attempt to make the Civil War seem somehow relevant to the conflict in the Middle East.
   
   Third, the editors should have read the text one more time before it went to print. There were several typographical and formatting errors that were a bit of a distraction.
   
   These, however, are minor complaints. If you don't know much about Stonewall and want to get a feel for the contribution he made to the Confederacy and towards the evolution of military tactics, you would do well to read this book.



2. Stonewall Jackson by Donald A. Davis
   (Palgrave Macmillan (2007), Hardcover, 224 pages)
   
   A review
   by
   Colin J. Edwards
   
   Stonewall or Oddball?
   
   I have to come clean immediately and confess that I have difficulty with the description, `tough fighting generals'. What they are describing are heartless individuals who send men to death or mutilation with reckless abandon. Let us remind ourselves that wars are started by politicians, fought by generals and won by soldiers. The American Civil War was the exception: the generals prolonged that one.
   Before you cast me aside as a peace-nik lefty, let me assure you that I saw action as an infantry officer, and know a little of what I speak.
   
   Books about wars: and this is a book about a war more than a biography of an individual, are either from an officer's perspective, or the enlisted man. Donald Davis is the exception being quite at home writing about either. His best seller `Lightening Strike', records the active service of a gunnery sergeant. However, I could find little sympathy for the fighting man in this volume. Mr Davis wrote with touching tenderness of the separation of General Jackson from his wife and new baby girl. A separation that didn't last long as the general called them to his side. Tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers from North and South would have thought precious, just a moment with their loved ones. Rank has its privilege it seems.
   
   Davis' detailed descriptions of the various battles are excellent, if a little tedious. This is due perhaps to a lack of information about Jackson who was such a secretive individual, that it's a wonder Davis was able to write the book at all.
   
   Born at Clarksburg West Virginia on January 21 1824 into an attorney's family, he preceded by four months another general and West Point chum who saw the light of day at Liberty Indiana in May: a future adversary, Ambrose Burnside.
   
   After a very unsettled childhood, he entered West Point more by luck than judgement. He struggled to keep up but had an almost eccentric ability to focus unswervingly on the subject at hand. This paid off and he was able to move up the rankings graduating 17th out of a class of 59. This was not good enough to get him into the esteemed engineers, but it did get him into the artillery as a second lieutenant. This single minded eccentricity bordering on autism became more apparent when he was under fire during the Mexican Way. Observation of his reckless valour caused him to be bumped up the ranks to acting major. Another manifestation of his disturbed mental state was his inability to work in harmony with others. His unresolved dispute with a brother officer while stationed at Fort Mead in Florida, resulted in him leaving the army and taking up a teaching post at Lexington Virginia.
   
   The general consensus was that Thomas Jackson was a poor teacher, but the eight years there gave him the opportunity to meet and marry two wives.
   
   The Civil War found him back in the army and up to his neck in muck and bullets in the battles so precisely delineated by Mr Davis. His eccentricity (or mental disturbance), new no bounds and he and his soldiers went from victory to victory even if it killed them. He even had one of his generals (A.P.Hill), dragged along behind a cart on an interminable march for some undisclosed actus reus. This so damaged the general's tender feet that he was out of action for some time. Not the action of a sound mind you might think; particularly when it concerns one of your better generals.
   
   Jackson continued to carry the whole war on his shoulders, confiding in no one until he experienced a nervous collapse. From then until the end of his life he was conspicuous for his ability to fall asleep anywhere. On one occasion he was summoned to see his boss Robert E Lee, and promptly fell asleep before he saw him.
   
   Thomas Jackson was a religious zealot who spoke more to God than anyone else. However, he did not practice what he preached, nor anything anyone else preached as he didn't stay awake long enough. He had no compunction in raking artillery fire into Mexican civilians when Mexico City failed to surrender in 1848, or later when he gunned down a retreating Mexican army. During the Civil War he showed no reluctance to destroy fellow Americans be them from the North or the South, and insisted that his officers do likewise.
   
   To experience fear while in the presence of danger is normal. To some extent it is possible to hide that fear. Jackson did not hide it; he did not have any fear. He constantly took needless risks and in front of his troops defied the conflagration to kill him.
   That was until Chancellorsville on May 2 1863. Throwing caution to the wind as usual, he took his staff beyond his own front lines to reconnoitre the enemy positions. True to form he omitted to inform anyone of his intentions. Upon his return he was fired upon by his own soldiers and hit three times. Six of his staff were killed outright. He however was not killed but was stretchered to an aid station falling off the stretcher on the way. The chief surgeon of Jackson's army, Dr Hunter McGuire, amputated his left arm, but did not notice General Jackson complaining about chest pain. The pain developed into pneumonia from which he died on May 10th 1863.
   
   Google Books list over 4000 entries for General Jackson, and most of them suggest that had he lived the result at Gettysburg would have been different. The generals lost the battle for the Confederates by their bickering and lack of direction. Jackson would have only added to the confusion. The soldiers of the South fought their hearts out at Gettysburg only to be betrayed by their officers.
   
   Donald Davis's book is a myth breaker, and a `must read' for anyone who has an interest in the first modern war.
   
   
   

2 comments about Soldier Boy.

1. It was Donald Trump's endorsement that first caught my eye, but after reading a few pages, I was enrapt in the true story of a boy's journey through life in a military school and the lessons he learns along the way. His association with Donald trump reveals a side of Trump not seen by most. I feel this book should be on every high school mandatory reading list. It is fun reading and teaches valuable lessons.



2. This is a great book for the high school student who is looking for direction and motivation in their life.
   
   I knew him as a teacher and he had a great positive impact on students. I'm sure this book will do the same for a new generation of students.

2 comments about Memoirs of a Revolutionary (Sightline Books).

1. 
   As I have noted in my review of Leon Trotsky's memoir My Life (click see all my reviews) today's public tastes dictate that political memoir writers expose the most intimate details of their private personal lives in the so-called public square. Here, as in Trotsky's memoir, Serge will offer up no such tantalizing details. These old time revolutionaries seem organically averse to including personal material that would distract from their political legacies. That is fine by me. After all that is why political people, the natural audience for this form of history narrative, appreciate such works. Contemporary political memoir writers take note.
   
   Serge was a militant from his youth. However the October 1917 Russian Revolution is the real start of his political maturation and wider political influence. I believe the reader will find the most useful information and Serge's most insightful political analysis dates from this period. Serge became a secondary Communist leader after the Bolshevik seizure of power and in various capacities, most notably as a journalist for the Communist international, witnessed many of the important events in and out of Russia in the 1920's and 1930's. Moreover, for a long period of time he was a key member of the Trotsky-led Left Opposition to the rise of Stalinism which formed in the Russian Communist Party and later in the Communist International in the 1920's. Serge eventually broke politically with Trotsky in the late 1930's over the class nature of the Soviet state and organizational differences on the role of the revolutionary party in the struggle and in power. Serge's later politics and activities are murky, somewhat disoriented and the subject of controversy (see the Appendix in Memoirs and my review of Serge's book Kronstadt). However, Serge's analysis and insights as a witness to this period of history retain their value, especially his analysis of the, for leftists, very troublesome Stalinist purges and terror campaigns of the 1930's.
   
   Thus, as with Trotsky's memoir, you will find a thoughtful political self-examination by a man trying to draw the lessons of the degeneration of the Russian Revolution, the subsequent defeats of the international working class movement, the devastating destruction of the fellow revolutionary cadre who made and administered the early Soviet state while still defending the gains of that revolution. Overshadowing these concerns is a constant personal struggle to maintain one's revolutionary integrity at all costs. That is, not to wind up like Bukharin or Zinoviev and the like, compromised and lost to the struggle for socialism. All this, moreover, and perhaps hardest of all still maintain a sense of revolutionary optimism for the future organization of human society.
   
   Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin once commented that in the run-up to the October Revolution the political whirlwind stirred up by that revolution inevitably brought those individuals and organizations looking for the resolution of the revolutionary dilemma into the Bolshevik orbit. This was most famously the case with Trotsky's Petersburg Inter-District organization that fused with the Bolsheviks in the fateful summer of 1917. That same whirlwind later drew in the best elements of the Western labor movement as word of the revolution reached the outside world. Previously, Serge had been close to the French anarchist and anarcho-syndicalist movement but as happens in great revolutions he, like other militant anarchists, was drawn to the reality of the Soviet experiment despite political differences over the question of the state. Despite this he, generally, like the non-Bolshevik militants served the revolution with distinction. Thus, this fateful political decision to cast his personal fate with the Russian Revolution led him to the series of political adventures and misadventures that enliven his memoir.
   
   At the beginning of the 21st century when socialist political programs are in decline it is hard to imagine the spirit that drove Serge to dedicate the better part of his life to the fight for a socialist society. However, at the beginning of the 20th century he represented only a slightly younger version of that revolutionary generation of Eastern Europeans and Russians exemplified by Lenin, Trotsky, Martov and Luxemburg who set out to change the history of the 20th century. It was as if the best and brightest of that generation were afraid, for better or worse, not to take part in the political struggles that would shape the modern world. Those same questions posed at the beginning of that century are still on the agenda for today's generation of militants to help resolve. This is one of your political textbooks. Read it.



2. There is not a better record of the Left Opposition to Stalinism available. A moving, sincere, exciting and interesting memoir of a largely forgotten political current of the first half of the twentieth century.

5 comments about Doc: Platoon Medic.

1. As a Squad Leader of 2nd Squad, 1st Platoon, reading Dan's book years after experiencing it brough back a floor of memories. We lost some good men in our battles, but we'ed lost a hell of a lot more if it hadn't been for him and the other medic's. I was honored to proof read his story before it was published and when I did, it was hard to hold back the tear's from the memories it brough. I'am honored to know him and to be part of his story.



2. I am a military physician and was serving in Afghanistan when I read Platoon Medic. I read the whole thing, cover-to-cover in a day and a half. It's simply a great book. It is a well-written, action-packed, gut-wrenching rocket ride through the hellish world of the combat medic in Vietnam. I felt like I was there in the rice paddies, watching Doc Evans patch up his bloody, dying comrades while the bullets were flying over his head. Dan Evans tells an astonishingly honest, important and poignant personal story. This book should be required reading for all Army medics and physicians. A great and important read.



3. Doc Evans not only tells it like it was, he makes his fellow grunts, like L. J. Henderson, and their heroism come alive in your mind. After reading Dr. Evans' book you won't want of miss two other books about the 4/39th during this same period; ...



4. Have you ever just known something you can't explain knowing? I have. I knew this book was going to be special before I even opened it. It has a vibe that I don't expect you to believe, but it does. Maybe it is because I share a sort of kinship with Mr. Evans. He was a corpsman who served in the Vietnam War. I was a medic myself for several years and though I have never felt a bullet whiz over my head or feared for my life, I have known the shame of not saving the life I had tried so hard to save. I have stood at a sink and kept scrubbing at the blood on my hands that had long since been scrubbed away and I can remember the screams of a father begging me to not let his child die. I have seen some things in my dreams that I do not need to share, but suffice to say Mr. Evans might understand. Sometimes only someone who has seen what you have seen can understand. I guess that is how I knew this book was for me.
   This is a very good book. As it turns out, it was way better than "just" a good book. To say that implies that it is merely flat and plain and words on paper, as if it is something to pick up or put down at your leisure. In fact, it is none of those things. Mr. Evans' recollections have a life of their own; they pull you in to his thoughts and feelings, take you back to a place where you can feel the mud, imagine the leeches and sense the suffering. The young soldier's story is so real you will feel it brush across your face like a cobweb in the darkest corner of the attic. You will be leery to look into the attic for all the forgotten memories, lost souls and pain packed away in boxes. You would prefer to walk away or pretend you don't care. But that won't work. It is time to unpack. And you do care, or you would not be at this website, or looking at this book. It isn't going to be John Grisham or Danielle Steele. It is about a war that still divides opinion in this country and touched the lives of generations before and after those who served in it. Even though you may know the history of the war in Vietnam, you will find yourself wanting a second chance to do the right thing and to stand up to honor those who served our country - not just for Mr. Evans and the men he served with, but for America itself.

   The author weaves his story the way a spider weaves its web: first one thread and then another, somehow tying each end together, forming a piece of art that is different than any other web. His web is strangely beautiful and a little scary at the same time. He is diligent, drawing each corner of his web to a proper angle, adhering it firmly to the doorway we must cross through to learn more. We are lucky indeed to find a man so willing to bare to the world what is so deeply, personally his. Imagine being a girl-chasing, car-loving, movie-going young man one moment and a hunted soldier the next? One moment being squeamish at the sight of blood and the next trying to treat a sucking chest wound. How can you explain to someone why something horribly and ghastly is hysterically funny? Do you tell them the truth - That laughing is the only way you can cope with such devastation and loss? How do you tell people that killing a man might be easy, when one moment it seems as if it is and the next it isn't? Can ordinary people understand how it comes to be that you don't recall what you had for dinner three days ago but you have instant and total recall of one single moment in your life in the jungle of Vietnam in 1968? Can they understand how the man you call your brother is no blood relation at all?

   I think Mr. Evans answers every question when he puts words to his story and little pieces of his life on every page. He is a teacher, whether he knows it or not. I believe that anyone who reads this book will feel as if Mr. Evans has given them some tiny little bit of something they never had before. It could be they will learn that the Corpsman is probably the bravest, most selfless creation ever touched by the hand of God, just like a firefighter, because no matter what, when everyone else is running away from danger, they are running or crawling toward it. Or maybe the reader will find out that the Vietnam War was neither won nor lost. That it is not really over for most of the men and women who served there. Or maybe they will change their minds about something they used to believe was true. After all, that is what a teacher is supposed to do: open hearts and minds.

   I believe Mr. Evans wanted to reach out to his veteran brothers to tell them he is still here, that he understands what they have gone through, because he went through it too. Maybe he is telling them they are not alone and there can be strength in knowing there are others to support them through a kinship and brotherhood. It seems to me Doc Evans is doing what he has always been destined to do: bandaging the wounds of his brothers.




5. Great reading... great story... As with all of us who started at "Ft. Sam", everyone has a unique story... From my vantage point in the 2d bde, I have neverending comraderie with all those, as "Doc Evans", who came before and after to do their job as circumstances required. This is the real thing. (Couldn't edit the rating...meant it to be 5 Stars!!)

4 comments about The Face Of The Third Reich: Portraits Of The Nazi Leadership.

1. Fest provides the reader with a well-written summary of the high-ranking and crucial members of Nazi Germany. This book is a good background for the general reader on the Third Reich and is an essential first-step in any investigation into the period.



2. This book was poorly translated and even in the original German, Fest is a heavy writer, turgid and hardly scintillating. This compilation is laden with errors, some major, some not, but the ultimate effect compromises the integrity of this book. It's absurd, for example, to make the statement that Hermann Goering's Nuremberg defense was anything but brilliant. One can loathe what Goering stood for and decry Nazism and its atrocities, but to deny that Goering stole the show at Nuremberg is historically inaccurate.

   There are many better summations of the Nazi leadership than here. This is as dry as timber and about as edifying.




3. What you get in this book is pretty much what the title promises you. The author (J.Fest) plunges into a psycho-social analysis of the Nazi elite and attempts (succesufully) to shed some light on the people who moved the strings of Nazism in Germany.
   Admittedly, the author's heavy writting style will turn off a certain group of viewers. While his intentions on decoding the personas that played key roles of Nazism are honest and straightforward, the atmosphere of the book is rather characterised by abusing descriptions and verbal exagerations.
   Short biographies and psychological profiles are on offer here: Hitler, Goering, Hoess, Himmler, Hess, Ribbentrop, to name but a few.
   However, you'd be mistaken (in my view anyway) to assume that this book will help you understand what brought this fascistic movement to power. Before even deciding whether you should read this or not, start by reading "The rise and fall of the third Reich" or other books pertaining on fascism and the masses. What is absent here are the german people themselves. Fascism does not rise because of a few psychotic personalities , and, as was proven in Germany's example, it very often complicits the people themselves to grab the power mechanisms.
   But, if you are interested in blitz-biographies, and short "explanations" then the "Face of the third reich" will be a good choice. Then again, when it comes to the major players of Nazism there are far better individual biographies and character accounts out there (one of them by the author himself on Hitler).



4. Oversimplified and relentlessly negative. Filled with sweeping negative generalizations that ignore abundant evidence of positive characteristics of the Third Reich personalities. The caricatures painted of the key figures in the Third Reich are laughably unrealistic. As a serious history reference, this is a terrible book. It is so bad that it's actually worth reading: its sheer awfulness makes it a great example of how NOT to write a serious non-fiction book.