5 comments about Bull Halsey.

1. Kept me interested from cover to cover. E.B. Potter does an excellent job of bringing history to life with this biography of Halsey.



2. In keeping with Professor Potter's work about Admiral Nimitz, this, IMHO, is the definitive work about one of the most controversial admirals in naval history. I consider this book as a THE reference work about Halsey.



3. This work, overall, is a good biography of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey. He is most renowned for his work in the Pacific Theater during World War II, with distinguished service from Gaudalcanal to Okinawa. This volume does a sound job in laying out his career in the Pacific.
   
   A couple cavils: (1) The jumping back and forth between his early life and World War II makes for a sometimes jarring narrative; (2) Some of the more controversial aspects of his leadership in World War II, such as his decision-making in the Philippines, seem a bit underplayed.
   
   I'm not sure of the background of the John Wayne movie, In Harm's Way, but the description of Halsey taking over from his predecessor here sure has some analogues with John Wayne's Rock Torrey taking over from an ineffectaul admiral to win a battle that has some clear parallels with Guadalcanal.
   
   Halsey was a "take no prisoners," "full steam ahead" fighting admiral. It is interesting to compare this biography with, for example, a nice biography of his colleague Raymond Spruance, The Quiet Warrior. These admirals of the Pacific had very different personalities and tactics. Nonetheless, they were both effective in their distinct ways.
   
   This volume certainly informs readers of those facets of Halsey's leadership that served the United States well in the Pacific. All in all, despite some questions one might have about the book, this is worth reading by those interested in the naval war in the Pacific during World War II.



4. E.B. Potter's biography on Admiral William "Bull" Halsey proves to be pretty well written, researched and very readable book. Like some of the other reviewers, I didn't like the way the author skipped around Halsey's life at the beginning but I thought it didn't distract from the overall book.
   
   I regards this as an introductionary biography on Halsey simply because as one previous reviewer stated, it really doesn't say too much about Bull Halsey the man. This book read like the military biography of Halsey and thus feel incomplete as a full biography.
   
   The book proves to be "Halsey friendly" most of the time. However the author couldn't hide the fact that Halsey was a very overt racist and that he made a serious error in judgment at Leyte Gulf where only the timidness of the Japanese Admiral Kurita saved Halsey's reputation. The book did make it clear that Halsey's racial hatred toward the Japanese came about long before Pearl Harbor. Author never explain how or why Halsey developed such an attitude toward people he had little or no interaction with.
   
   But overall, as a military biography of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey, this book meet all the points of interest. Its clearly written and gives a good understanding of Halsey as a navy man and as a fleet commander.



5. Bull Halsey is an inspiration for all who have ever worn a uniform in any service. E.B. Potter I think does him justice in this biography, which I expect will become a standard as has his life of Nimitz.

5 comments about A Soldier's Promise: The Heroic True Story of an American Soldier and an Iraqi Boy.

1. Since we are starting to get very complacent about the war in Iraq, the press only report negative stories and our politicians are fighting whether we should continue with our support or pull out of Iraq, I think every person in this country should read this book. Since I read this book, I pray every night for the safekeeping of our soldiers over there. It certainly gave me a much deeper compassion towards our soldiers that are fighting for our freedom, the many risks they have to take, the many situations where they do not know whether they will come out alive or not. It also displays a very deep insight into the operation of the hard core insurgents and their messed up image of the Americans.



2. A Soldier's Promise is a book that changes perceptions. This is one of my favorite books. When I first started to read it, I put it down and did something else. A few months later I desided to read something and came across it. I had forgotten about it. I started to read where I left off. Once I got into the story, it was very hard for me to set the book back down. It kept me wanting to know more. It was so good I wish it was longer because when I finished I just wanted to keep reading. I didn't want the story to end. This is on my top 3 favorite books list. I strongly urge you to read this book. Don't give up on it just because the very beginning doesn't grab you. Keep on reading. You'll be glad you did.



3. This book will give you a deeper insight into war and personal conflict, building peace and relationships in the midst of chaos.



4. This book, A Soldier's Promise by Sgt. Daniel Hendrex, is in some ways a light out of darkness. With most stories out there focusing on the negetive it is refreshing to get an idea for why we are fighting.This story shows the suffering and fear that common Iraqis endure everyday. The Iraqi boy on the cover is Jamil, son of a insurgent leader that forced him to fight the American soldiers in Husaybah, Iraq. The plot follows the way Jamil escapes from his father's tyrannical influence and defects to the American tank force in that area. Daniel Hendrix shares a close relation with the boy and does everything he can to get him safely out of Iraq. Almost every war has a defining book. World War II had Band of Brothers and I think this is the book for the Iraq War. If you are for or against the War it doesn't matter, it is worth it for you to read this book.



5. Great book with many hero's, very hard for me to put down. It made me truly realize why we are there and the true meaning of, "No greater gift can one give than that of himself for his fellow man". I'm not sure I could deal with the heartbreak of the children over there. I would want to bring them all home! A great gift for someone who loves non-fiction books.

4 comments about MASH: An Army Surgeon in Korea.

1. All i can say is at the end of this book you will be speachless, this a a timless classic that inspired a spawing fox tv series that is still shown today. I Don't want to give any of the book away so i wont tell you alot, but this book is a very highly recomennded book for those who loved the series and loved the movie (also found on amazon.com). "One of my favorites ever! "



2. This book is not about the T.V. show M*A*S*H. But the tv show did get many of its episodes from this book. From arterial transplants to make shift clamps these Doctors opened many new doors to the medical world. Chapter 6 "In the O.R." is pretty gruesome. Details of intestinal wounds abdominal wounds and pretty much everything a war could destroy on a body.

   But its not all blood and guts. D.R. Apel talks of the korean's who helped around the camp. The use of the white rocks in the compund. Plus his first day at the MASH was spent on his feet for 72 hrs. operating. Amazing.

   I would have ggave the book a five star rating but there was a section on a paper the D.R. wrote on arteral repair which IMO took away from the book. It might have worked better at the end of the book.

   Nice pictures of procedures and Korea. This book is a must for people who like the TV show and would really like to see what went on in a real MASH outfit during the real Korean war.




3. Dr. Appell's book "M. A. S. H.: An Army Surgeon in Korea" is an excellent tribute to the men and women of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals by a veteran surgeon of the 8076TH M . A. S. H. unit. My only complaint is that the book was not a little longer. For any fan of the movie or t. v. series this book is a must-read. Dr. Appell (who was a consultant for the series), tells us what life was really like in a M. A. S. H. unit. The series took some liberties with actual events, but its overall portrayal was fairly accurate-though the series lasted 10 years compared to the three years of the Korean War itself, and the average length of stay for surgeons in a M. A. S. H. was about 8 months. Dr. Appell has written a very interesting book.



4. It's clear that the author is a doctor and not a writer. The book cries out for editing; writing errors and organizational issues permeate the book. That said, after I got about halfway through these things stopped bothering me. The story made up for it. The reality of the MASH is much more interesting than what's portrayed on the screen. It gave me a new respect for military medicine. If you can make it through the starting chapters it's a great read.

3 comments about The Irish General: Thomas Francis Meagher.

1. This is the best book on General Meagher that is available today. The research is prodicious and the writing is excellant. It is a fair view to a complicated man. Dont miss out on a excellant book if you are a fan of General Meagher, the Irish Brigade, the Civil War, or Montana History. The photographs are also excellant.The bibliography is also excellant.



2. Wylie's book is very well researched and well written. I not only learned about the very rich and flawed life of an infamous Irish general and rebel, but I also learned a good deal about the historical struggles in Ireland that inspired him. I learned much about the Civil War, as well as how communication and politics worked around the war. I learned still more about early Western history as it applied to newly developing territories. If you have any interest in Montana history at all, this book is a must read. The author provides a colorful and detailed, very human picture of what Montana was like when it was first forming. This includes some history of the sociopolitical struggles between the settlers and the Native Americans as well. Meagher was certainly a very colorful and very human character who suffered many ups and downs and wore quite a few important hats in his day. Even Meagher's death is well researched. "The Irish General" is a real page-turner overall.



3. It seems every time you turn around someone's writing a biography of another Confederate general from the Civil War. Somehow, there's not quite the enthusiasm for biographies of Union soldiers that there is for the Confederates. This current book examines the interesting life of one of the more unusual characters from the Union Army in the Civil War era: Thomas Francis Meagher. Meagher is famous as the Union general who led the Irish Brigade, a hard-fighting unit which was famous for its opposition to the Emancipation Proclamation, and also famous for its ability to consume large amounts of whiskey. Meagher himself supposedly drank to excess, though whether he did so on the battlefield or not is a matter of debate.
   
   Wylie's account of Meagher's life is a full one, following the man through life, beginning with his childhood in Ireland, involvement in the Irish uprising in 1848 (which was very small and never had much chance of success). He then recounts his exile in Tasmania and escape. Meagher made his way to America, became a citizen, earned a law degree, and did the lecture tour circuit in order to make money. When the Civil War started, Meagher was at first sympathetic to the Confederates, but changed his mind and wound up raising troops for the Union. These troops were formed into a regiment which he wound up serving in. After First Bull Run, Meagher raised more troops and wound up leading the resulting brigade, fighting through all of the crucial campaigns up through Chancellorsville. By this time the Irish Brigade was down to a few hundred men, and Meagher felt they'd earned a rest and a period to recuperate, but the high command disagreed, and he resigned during the dispute. He did later get himself reinstated, but didn't fight again for the remainder of the war, and primarily distinguished himself with a very poor performance trying to move a body of troops from Tennessee to North Carolina, which almost led to his removal from command. He then, at the end of the war, accepted a post as secretary of the Territory of Montana, and served as the interim governor while the office was vacant or the governor absent. He died in a bizarre accident two years after the end of the war, falling off of a steamboat into the river, his body never being found.
   
   Wylie is a judicious and intelligent biographer, and this is a careful, well-written biography. The author contends that Meagher's drinking certainly had an effect on his life, but also notes that it might have been exaggerated by enemies, of whom Meagher had many. One of those enemies was William T. Sherman, who recounted the famous incident where Meagher complained to President Lincoln about Sherman's rather draconian attitude towards discipline, and Lincoln's rather comical response. This is, frankly, and intelligent and well-written biography, and I think a valuable addition to any Civil War library.

5 comments about No Greater Glory: The Four Immortal Chaplains and the Sinking of the Dorchester in World War II.

1. If you ever feel that your fellow man has no regard for you, pick up this book and don't put it down untill you have finished it. What an inspiring story of four 'Men of God' and their dedication to that God, each other, and all those fortunate enough to have crossed their paths. You will be stunned by the character of each of these great men.



2. With a sickening thump, an explosion wracked the troop transport S.S. Dorchester - a German torpedo had found its mark. It was shortly after midnight, February 3, 1942, and the ship was about to sink into the deadly cold waters off of Greenland. As men panicked and struggled to find a way to save their own lives, four men walked amongst them spreading calm and encouragement. Helping everyone they could find, even giving away their own precious lifejackets, the four chaplains - Rev. George Lansing Fox (Methodist), Rabbi Alex Goode, Rev. Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed) and Fr. John Washington (Catholic) - sought to serve their God and the fellow men. And when the end came, survivors saw the four chaplains, locked arm in arm, praying on the upside-down hull of the ship, just before it dove beneath the waves.
   
   This book tells the remarkable true story of four men who joined the American military as chaplains, their experiences at their Massachusetts training camp, and their final tragic mission. It is a story that is bound to bring a tear to your eye, but it is also a great story of faith and truly living the life of godly sacrifice. Overall, I think that this is a great book, on that I highly recommend to everyone.



3. Everyone who's already reviewed this book has said so much about it that it's hard to find anything more to say about how well it's written, what a great gripping true story it is, and the amazing heroism of the four chaplains. This book is so well-written and has such a compelling and involving story that I read it in like two days, and wished there had been even more. Additionally, this heroic tale from WWII has special meaning to many of the people in my area (New York State's Capital District) because Rev. Clark Poling's church was in nearby Schenectady, providing a local connection.
   
   The book itself follows a somewhat nonlinear format, going back and forth between the pre-war lives of the four chaplains and their lives during the war, particularly after they boarded the Dorchester and arrived in Greenland for a very brief stay before going back on the ill-fated ship. After this point, the narrative switches entirely to a linear format, discussing the ship's final night before being torpedoed by a German U-boat and the chaos, heroism, and tragedy that ensued. Not many people could honestly say that they would give up their lifejackets if their ship went down in freezing waters in the middle of the night (Rabbi Alex Goode even gave up his gloves) or remain calm in the midst of such frantic circumstances and such a life-and-death situation. Many people back then also weren't so forward-thinking about interfaith relations, with a Reform rabbi, a Catholic priest, and two reverends from different Protestant denominations being such close friends and reaching out equally to everyone on the ship, largely being nonsectarian apart from when they did things like conduct services. This was still an era in which many Protestants and Catholics didn't associate with one another, to say nothing of the rampant institutionalised prejudice against Jews, and, in a number of areas, against Catholics as well. They set a moving and heroic example for all time, not just in the area of interfaith relations, but also in the area of selfless sacrifice. It was interesting to read in the Afterword about some of the people who have since been awarded the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity Award, such as the Japanese Righteous Gentile Chiune Sugihara, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Omri Abdel-Halim al-Jadah, a Palestinian Muslim who died while saving a young Israeli Jewish boy from drowning. The Afterword also provided information on what happened to the survivors of the Dorchester sinking and the near and dear ones of the chaplains.
   
   As we find out all throughout the book, this tragedy could have been prevented (it was kind of like a smaller-scale Titanic) if only the Dorchester had been inspected more closely or refurbished, or if there had been enough lifejackets and safety instructions provided, and even after disaster struck, the casualties could have been reduced if the nearby American ships had begun searching for survivors and bringing them onto their ships right away instead of thinking nothing serious had happened or going after the attacking U-boat first, but even in the midst of such bungling and such a chaotic disaster, the amazing heroism of the chaplains shone through as well as it would have in calmer circumstances.



4. I ordered this book for my father, whose brother died in WWII. The family was given almost no information at the time, but by piecing together details, my mother determined that he was almost certainly on a particular boat when it was sunk by the enemy. That fact was confirmed by this book, and it offered a lot of information that is offered only sketchily in other areas. We appreciate the author and the information he was able to provide families, as well as the story of the wonderful chaplains. My mother, an avid reader (particularly about WWII), said this was one of the best written histories on WWII that she has read.



5. This is a touching book about the four chaplains who gave their lives for our soldiers. You will read a biographical background on each chaplain. Their love for each other and the love for the soldiers reached beyond the line of denominations. They gave their lives so that others may life. You can see their beautiful pictures in the stained-glass window at Washington's Cathedral. I had the privileged to visit several years ago.

1 comments about The Life of Alexander the Great (Modern Library Classics).

1. I was impressed with this translation of Plutarch's Life of Alexander the Great. The prose was very clear and readable, and I finished the book very quickly. You shouldn't expect a detailed treatment of military or historical topics; the book is less than 100 pages in length, and such was not Plutarch's object anyway. Plutarch's Lives are really discussions of morality and character as evidenced in the lives of great men, and the history surrounding these men is really only a backdrop against which these things are portrayed. Use this book to begin to get a picture of Alexander the man; use other books to flesh out your understanding of Alexander the soldier, the king, and the politician.

1 comments about Alexander the Great: A Life in Legend.

1. Richard Stoneman examines, not the actual life of Alexander, but his afterlife in the legends of a wide variety of cultures. The book is book is both scholarly and entertaining, and seductive just to dip into. The tales themselves are fascinating. If you've ever wondered about the many works of art, cropping up in unexpected places (and well illustrated here), showing Alexander exploring the deep in a diving bell, or ascending into the sky in a flying machine drawn by winged griffins, or encountering the oracular tree of heads, this will furnish an explanation. An essential for those interested in Alexander, or in ancient history and its effects on the later imagination, or in the genesis of comparative legend and folklore.

1 comments about Panzer Commanders of the Western Front: German Tank Generals in World War II (Stackpole Military History Series).

1. Do you remember the Illustrated History of World War II books from Ballantine back in the late 60's and early 70's? Stackpole Military History Series ranks right up there with Ballantine's! All are easy reading, not as many photographs (but with all the dvds and other books out there, not that big an issue for me), and the books are well made and attractive. I would recomment this title and all the other titles in this series for any one interested in WWII.

4 comments about Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN.

1. "Vietnam's Forgotten Army" is the most complete personal account of ARVN soldiers at war and in the aftermath as experienced by two middle-ranking officers through the personal choices they made. It is written with balance and flair by a scholar who is devoted to a thorough accounting of Vietnam. With firsthand research, Wiest provides the crucial missing voices, those of the South Vietnamese often misportrayed, overshadowed, and underappreciated by their powerful American allies. He gives readers glimpses of what American advisers and their Iraqi counterparts may be facing in Iraq today.



2. `Vietnam's Forgotten Army" is about two ARVN soldiers and how they have lead their lives based on the concepts of Freedom - Country - Family - Duty - Honor. Their stories of loyalty, betrayal, life, death, love and hate are told so brilliantly compelling that makes it impossible to put the book down.
   
   The South Vietnamese Army is probably the military force that is most analyzed and most harshly judged by the US. In the teachings of history in current Vietnam, ARVN doesn't even exist. The war, according to the Communist Vietnam, is the fight for Freedom by the North Vietnamese Communist to liberate the South from the colonial US.
   
   This book is one of the very few books that introduces the readers to a fairly balanced view of the Vietnam War and its complexity.
   
   The one problem I have with the book, right from the beginning, is the explanation of Hue and Dinh's support of the war: "In a nation where Confucian values of family and honor are of the utmost importance, Dinh and Hue were drawn to the support of South Vietnam for the most Vietnamese of reasons, following paths blazed by their fathers" (p. 11) Mr. Weist then goes on to dedicate several more subsequent pages about `Family Matters' to support this reason.
   
   While this is undoubtedly a big reason, it is not the only one.
   
   Before 1954, the year Vietnam was divided, most Vietnamese people had already had a good idea of what communism was.
   
   Between 1945-1954, the North Communist initiated a systematic execution of anyone who was thought to be dangerous to the Vietnamese Communist Party. Ten of thousands of nationalists, Catholics and others were massacred in a campaign called `The Great Purge'. They also emulated China's Land Reform Campaign that lasted from 1945 to 1956 during which an estimated 15,000 landlords were killed.
   
   During this time, my father, who had lost most of his family including his mother and sisters due to starvation and sickness, seeing the French as the lesser of the two evils, joined the French Army and later, owing to his father's advice, moved South.
   
   My mother's grandfather, a land owner, sentenced by the Communist People Court, was staked to death in his own rice paddy. Her father was captured and then was fortunate enough to be set freed by his loyal former farm worker, ran home, gathered up his family and fled South via Hai Phong Harbor along with other millions of refugees to seek Freedom in the South.
   
   By the early 60's, when both Dinh and Hue joined the military, South Vietnamese fear of communism was proven valid by Mao's cruelty of `The Great Leap Forward' and `The Cultural Revolution' during which, 20 million of Chinese had perished.
   
   
   I believe that both North and South Vietnamese fought for the Freedom of Vietnam. For North Vietnam, Freedom meant a self ruled nation with Vietnamese leadership, regardless of how totalitarian this leadership was. For South Vietnam, the value of Freedom was not universal. For some people, it was National Freedom in a Democratic Vietnam, advanced and prospered like France or US or at least as the imperial past. For my father, it was political freedom, the idea that it could be under a common wealth, as long as this common wealth brought peace, law and order, security and prosperity to the populace. For my mother and probably the majority of Vietnamese people, the value of Freedom was an individual one. It meant having enough rice to eat, freedom to raise families, freedom to worship their gods or ancestors and own property. Sadly, these values became the great sources of conflicts within the South Vietnamese hearts.
   
   In this book. Andrew Weist did point out this complexity:
   "Certainly the South Vietnamese state and the ARVN were imperfect. Even so, South Vietnam fought for twenty-five years and the ARVN lost more than 200,000 dead. After the war, millions chose to flee South Vietnam rather than live under the suzerainty of their brothers from the North."
   
   The book did an excellent job in highlighting the reasons for the destruction of South Vietnam: Cultural hubris of American Leadership, moral blindness of the media, corruption and incompetence of the Vietnamese Leadership and the lack of enforcement of the democracy ideology for the South, thus in the critical hours, Democracy for South Vietnam could not stand against ideology trained soldiers of the North.



3. This a great story too long left untold. In addition to telling a wonderful but tragic tale of two men sharing similar histories whose lives take radically different courses, it is also a story about the betrayal of South Vietnam by this country. Mind you,I opposed the Vietnam War at the time, but it has become abundantly clear to me that it was a war that could have been won.
   This is no whitewash. Wiest makes it clear that the Army of S. Vietnam had a lot of problems, but he also makes it clear that many of these were caused by US training a lack of understanding on our part of the Vietnamese culture and society.
   It is a thoughtful and thought provoking book. A must read for anyone interested in the Vienam War.



4. This 303-page book is not a comprehensive history of our involvement in Vietnam. Also, it is not about the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ("ARVN"). It is about two Vietnamese army officers, Pham Van Dinh ("Dinh") and Tran Ngoc Hue ("Harry"), whose military careers closely paralleled each other up until the time that each was ordered to fight to the death in the face of insuperable enemy forces.
   
   Dinh is the elder of the two by nearly five years. Both men were from the Hue City area of central Vietnam. Dinh immediately built a reputation for aggressive leadership and was given command of the elite Black Panther Company ("Hac Bao"). Harry graduated from Vietnam's military school and before long, he was given command of the Hac Bao. Following impressive leadership exploits, both rose in the ranks of the ARVN, Dinh to the command of a regiment and Harry to the command of a battalion. Both men proved to be outstanding leaders in combat.
   
   In March 1971, the North Vietnamese army overran Harry's battalion in Laos and, badly wounded, Harry was taken to a prison in Hanoi. In April 1972, Dinh was in command of a regiment that was about to be overrun by a superior enemy force. Dinh surrendered his command to the enemy. About one month later, Dinh accepted an offer from his captors and switched sides, becoming an officer of the North Vietnamese army. In contrast, Harry refused all such offers and remained a prisoner for thirteen years before being released. Thereafter, he worked his way to the U.S. and became a U.S. citizen.
   
   The book provides interesting accounts of the Battles for Hue City, Hamburger Hill, Lam Son 719, and the final breakthrough of the North Vietnamese army at the demilitarized zone. The book mentions the "forgotten" ARVN only in the introduction and in its conclusion.
   
   While this book is interesting and informative, there are several aspects that detract from it value.
   
   > The time-frame of the U.S.-Vietnam relationship is unclear because the text shifts in such references, often focusing on a beginning date of 1965 when the U.S. committed substantial ground troops to the effort. However, the fact is that the U.S. began providing military assistance in the late 1950s. Vietnam had about 20 years to develop an effective government and an effective military.
   
   > The reasonable expectations of the two nations are not discussed. How long could the U.S. be expected to fight another country's war; what reciprocal action is reasonably expected from Vietnam?
   
   > The tone of the book is often professorial in that many conclusions are stated in ex cathedra fashion without any facts being presented to support those conclusions. For example, one wonders at the many assertions that it was the U.S. fault that Vietnam's army was organized and controlled by self-interested politicians and incompetent military leaders. Similarly, references to a "U.S./ARVN symbiosis" leave this reader cold.
   
   > There is no clear analysis of the state of mind of Dinh, nor any distinction made between the surrendering of his command and his defection to the enemy. These were two different actions and should be analyzed separately. Surely, a commander can opt for surrender; defection is another story entirely.
   
   All told, it is an interesting book. It is unlikely that one will find these facts in the run-of-the-mill histories that we usually encounter.

5 comments about The Green Dragoon.

1. This is an exceedingly poor rendition of the most horrific British officer to serve in the field during America's rebellion.

   Tarleton was evil incarnate from the American point of view. He managed to amass a record of war crimes that put even the British to shame. However, to spend almost 500 pages on this sop's truly useless life is such a complete waste of the reader's time that one has to feel sorry for the author. There is nothing to be gained from reading this book, unless, of course, you identify with people who are failures in every facet of their lives.




2. Clearly one of the best books written on Banastre Tarleton. Clear, clean prose on a most complex man. A highly intellectual biography, perhaps over some heads in many ways--but well worth the effort. The book makes clear that it is important to remember that there was another side to our revolution.



3. Banastre Tarleton was, in many ways, something of an ideal young man, measured by the standards of English eighteenth century culture. Highly literate, well-educated, and brilliant as a cavalryman. As a cavalry colonel for the British side in the American Revolution, he participated in several key victories, particularly in the Carolinas, before being defeated at Cowpens and, again, at Yorktown. Tarleton was (and remains) reviled by American partisans as the cruellest of the English warriors, and though Bass relates several unsavory episodes in unsparing detail, he was not quite the unregenerate scumbag that is so often featured in popular histories. Having said that, his later career in English politics was an unmitigated disaster: constantly up to his eyeballs in gambling schemes, he flitted from party to party and had an unerring knack of finding the wrong issue on which to campaign.

   Mary Robinson, his long-suffering mistress, was an entirely different kettle of fish. Something of an underrated star of English literature, she was also one of the great actresses of her day. Her story in many respects resembles that of her contemporary, Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire (who makes several appearances in these pages), especially given her dalliances with Whig politics. In other respects she reminds one of other great female intellectuals of this era such as Gertrude de Stael or (a little earlier) Madame du Chatelet.

   An engaging joint biography of two strong, if star-crossed individuals.




4. This book is an excellent read on Banistre Tarleton. One of the best commanders of horse-mounted troops in history of the world.
   
   This shows the human side of Tarleton and shows how his reputation as a wild eyed killer is underserved propaganda, like most anti-loyalist and anti-british statements are.
   
   We need more books like this detailing the forgotten heroes of the struggle ad less books based on propoganda and subjective rhetoric.



5. This is the only bio of BT, so there are not many options besides this book if you want to learn more @ the dragoon. More than half the book is his career and love life AFTER the American Rev. Dated prose.