5 comments about A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

1. A Long Way Gone is one of the few books I have read in one sitting. This memoir is a glimpse of what is happening under our noses in the world during the last decade. Too often isolated from unreported terrors and the horrors of civil war, Beah tells a frightful first hand account of a life filled with desparation brought on by the will to just survive. The book erases any illusions that children of war torn regions live with the security found in the west. While not explicitly stated, the book in the end is a reality check on one's worldview.



2. This book was an eye opening dipiction of the life of a child soldier in Sierra Leone. Beah's novel shows the journey that this young man took from being forced to fight in a war that robbed him of his innocence to his ultimate rehabilitation. It is a must read and should be required reading for high school students.



3. When reading this book, one must keep some distance between oneself and the narrative, to not be overwhelmed by the horrors that are described. Fortunately, the writing style helps the reader maintain this distance. Writing in a very matter of fact style, perhaps even too matter of factly, Beah describes his efforts to avoid getting pulled into the civil war in Sierra Leone and his actions when he is eventually "recruited" to join the army.
   
   The bulk of this book is quite bleak, by necessity. But Beah shows a talent for story-telling throughout, especially in the more hopeful sections of the book, when he describes his life before the civil war struck his village and after his "rehabilitation".



4. We are so sheltered in the US -- it's amazing what this young man had to endure and that he was able to rise above all the horrible things and really make something of his life.



5. This book tells a story that the world has not heard about the life of a child soldier. Some of it is shocking to say the least, but it needs to be read and understood. Get a box of tissues and settle in on a wet day.

5 comments about The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story.

1. The story in this book is fascinating. It provides the reader with how a real family reacted in WWII.
   
   The issue with the book is there are just too many words. The author seems so interested in writing interestingly that she goes on to describe things in a paragraph that could have taken a sentence or less. I found the beginning of the book particularly difficult to get through. I would have preferred this story told in approximately half the pages.



2. Oh my goodness, what a wonderful story. Set in the period leading up to and during WWII in Warsaw, Poland, this historical novel brings out the true meaning of human kindness and cruelty, human hope and despair. It is beautifully written and moves with incredible swiftness towards an inevitable conclusion. Enjoy!



3. I haven't finished the book yet but it's hard to put down. sometimes it gets a bit long in detail. It's the only book on the holocaust that includes animals - making it so special



4. The story itself is amazing but the way it was written is so exceptional. You can see, you can feel, you can smell when you read descriptions of even the simplest things. The author did lots of research before writing this book and therefore you can learn lot's of interesting facts and details.



5. As an amateur scholar of Yiddishkeit, my readings have included several novels and biographies set in the Warsaw Ghetto, so I was familiar with the horrific overcrowding and dehumanizing conditions that Warsaw's Jews were subjected to before the Ghetto was razed in 1943 and the remaining survivors were sent to concentration camps. Many of my maternal relatives immigrated from Poland in the early 1900s, and were fortunate to have escaped living through the wars. For the millions trapped in Poland, life turned into a living hell for Jews and Gentiles alike under the Nazi occupation of Warsaw.
   
   In Diane Ackerman's The Zookeeper's Wife, she chronicles the real-life heroism of Antonina and Jan Zabinsk, the zookeepers in charge of the once-prestigious Warsaw Zoo that was heavily damaged in the initial bombing in 1939, who turned to rescuing hundreds of Jews and Polish Underground families attempting to flee for safety.
   
   Antonina has a rare gift, a deep empathy with humans and animals alike that allows her to sense deeply what they are thinking and instinctively understand how to calm them (which saves her life more than once when facing Nazis). Jan was also an active member in the Underground, using his official documents as a pass to smuggle Jews out of the Ghetto, as well as perform acts of sabotage against the Nazis. They face the unknown in their different ways, Antonina attempting to fill the villa with activity, music, and the few animals that she brings indoors (many of the larger zoo animals were killed in bombings, slaughtered by Nazis for sport, or transported to German zoos).
   
   Ackerman's prose hauntingly captures the destruction inflicted by the Nazi bombings, the daily humiliations and indignities that war inflicts on civilian populations, particularly on those trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto. At times, the novel is nearly bogged down by the overenthusiastic descriptions, such as a segment on beetles that goes on for several pages, but these scenic detours serve to illuminate the thinking behind several pivotal characters.
   
   There are certainly important concepts glossed over, such as the Hasidic viewpoint of the Shoah, and at times the quotes taken from Antonina's diary and other documents blur between fiction and recounting based on the sparse endnotes, but the Zookeeper's Wife is a glowing testament to the courage of two unconventional Poles whose bravery saved over 300 lives during one of the darkest periods in modern history.

3 comments about 1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War.

1. I bought "1948" through the mail and did so with a bit of trepidation because of the author's reputation as a "new historian" (in other words, a revisionist). Too often, revisionist history amounts to left-wing attacks on the West.
   
   But having read 1948, I didn't get the impression that the author was challenging his country's legitimacy at all. Instead, I think he was giving an honest account of the fighting that broke out in 1947 and which didn't end until 1949.
   
   What does "honesty" in the case of "1948" amount to? It recognizes:
   
   -The fact that the Yishuv was not heavily overwhelmingly outnumbered and out-gunned by the Arabs. Far from it, the Yishuv was far better organized and ready for war than the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab states ever were.
   
   -The fact that the Israelis did engage in what could be called "ethnic cleansing" but which was of a sort that was morally defensible since the Palestinians had flatly refused to accept peaceful partition of Israel and would have "cleansed" their Jewish neighbors if they had won the conflict.
   
   -The fact that the Arab nations bewailing the plight of the Palestinians drove out their own native Jewish populations.
   
   -The fact that both the Israelis and the Arabs and Palestinians committed war crimes in the course of the fighting, but the Israelis committed more (but only because being the victors put them in a position where they had more opportunities to commit them).
   
   That final point is something people ought to keep in mind when considering the terrible situation of the Palestinian people. Had they been the winners and not the losers in the 1947-1949 conflict, they would have cheerfully expelled the Jews that they perceived as interlopers in their midst. So if they are "victims," they aren't quite the innocent victims that the Bosnian Muslims in the 1990s.



2. Benny Morris, considered by many to be the"Dean" of Israeli Middle Eastern historians, is noted for "revisionist" works on the genesis of the Palestinian Arab refugee issue and rewriting of Israeli historical hagiography. This book, a comprehensive history of the dual-phase 1947-1948 war (civil war between Jews and Arabs antedating Partition, followed by invasion by a constellation of Arab professional militaries and various ad hoc militias) reviews the entire enterprise from both a military and political perspective.
   
   The book can be divided into three segments: 1). an introductory section, which places in context the, 2). major middle-section, which exhaustively deals with military affairs and, 3). a summary/conclusion section, which presents the author's perspectives based on presently available evidence. As Arab archives have not been opened to researchers as of the 2008 publication date, this work cannot be considered "definitive", but certainly holds this status as of now.
   
   There is one major shortcoming of this book: the lack of maps. The barrage of detail on virtually every military and paramilitary engagement becomes confusing and frustrating, as the reader cannot readily follow the strategy and tactics elaborated in the text. Further, many of the maps have inadequate legends, rendering the majority of them difficult to understand.
   
   Morris attributes the Israeli military victories to a combination of better planning, better logistics, better preparation, better motivation, better training, fighting along "interior lines", internal cohesion in the form of communality of purpose and international sympathy. Surprisingly (at least for many readers) much of the initial political and military support came from the Soviet Union, later an ardent partisan of the Arab cause and foe of Israel. Czechoslovakian arms, supplementing those bought from international weapons dealers, helped turn the tide, in addition to the above factors. Conversely, lack of purpose, infighting, jockeying for advantage vis-a-vis rival regimes and cynical manipulation of Arab public opinion by Arab political elites did little to fashion a force capable of opposing the Jews. Heated rhetoric, in other words, did not serve as an adequate substitute for assiduous planning and training. Worse, innumerable inflammatory and "eliminationist" statements regarding the Jews tended to provoke, amplify and reinforce pre-existing reciprocal thoughts and statements in their enemies, hardening positions to the point of ossification; thus, the genesis of the current mess. The complexity of the situation is further enhanced by complicity of various Arabs in the acquisition of lands by the Jews. The branding of numerous Arabs as "traitors" by the mercurial Mufti of Jerusalem, Husseini, heightened internecine disputes, often with lethal consequences, not only for the "perpetrators", but also for the cause; this behavior continues to the present day.
   
   As for presenting a "balanced" perspective on the "Middle East Problem", the author makes every effort to be scrupulously objective. Israeli military and paramilitary actions that resulted in war crimes against civilians were frankly acknowledged, as was the policy that underlay them, to wit, generally ad hoc, rather than the result of the product of Macheavellian scheming and malevolence. Whle Morris states that the Israelis committed more atrocities than did the Arabs, he notes that this was an accident of opportunity, rather than evidence of moral superiority of the Arabs and their fighters. His synopsis of the motivations of Zionist, British, Arab and Ottoman participants in the genesis of the modern Middle East is fair and bluntly accurate.
   
   Certainly, one could conclude that the Zionist enterprise was not any more or less "fair" than the "Manifest Destiny" of the white invaders of the Americas (murdering, cheating, displacing and finally segregating the indigenous inhabitants into "reservations", where many continue to reside under rank and disgraceful conditions) or of the British in Australia, to cite but two examples. Similarly, the displacement of Arabs from their land is not much different from the massive population transfers that occurred after WW-II in, for example, the case of the German (civilian) expulsions from Poland and Czechoslovakia. Perhaps a better example would be the displacement/population exchange of millions of Hindus and Muslims during the Partition of India and Pakistan, which occurred around the same time (circa 1947). That division, accompanied by generally involuntary "repatriation" based on ethnic and religious affiliation, was accompanied by considerable violence, property damage/confiscation and left a residue of bitter inter-communal hatred, with intermittent terrorist attacks and threatened international war. These examples are not cited by Morris and are not offered by me as justifications; they merely illustrate a fundemental aspect of human nature.
   
   In summary, this is an excellent history which would benefit from inclusion of more detailed maps to accompany the more important military engagements. It is objectively written, comprehensively referenced and the conclusions drawn by the author are buttressed by data and temperately drawn.



3. In tackling the controversial and important, but gigantic, subject of the 1948 war, the Nakba, the Israeli was of independence, Mr. Morris has come full circle from his original study The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 (Cambridge Middle East Library). This journey was a process that has already involved one revision of that celebrated thesis on the Palestinian refugees. Undoubtedly it was inevitable that this book had to be written in order not only to show the context and the military side of 1948 but also to show the Jewish side, the fate of Jewish areas conquered by Arabs, the fate of Jewish refugees from Arab lands, and the agency, the decisions, made by Arab leaders and local Arabs that led to the war.
   
   There have been other stand alone studies of the war by Gelber, Palestine 1948: War, Escape And The Emergence Of The Palestinian Refugee Problem and The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and War in Palestine, 1948: Strategy and Diplomacy (Israeli History, Politics, and Society). But each has had its own weaknesses, either because it concentrates on the military aspects or because it is terribly biased.
   
   Here, at last, is a full account that is not biased and is not overly focused on the military side and does not take for granted the conclusion that the Zionists would prevail and therefore all their actions should be judged as if they knew the results beforehand. Morris also sheds light on the fate of Christian Arab villages in the war and the many nuances of the war, including the very controversial issues of massacres and 'ethnic-cleansing'.
   
   This book is a tour de force, a masterpiece of writing that should be read by anyone interested in the conflict, the Middle East, Israel, the Palestinians or the Holy Land. It strips away the clichés of 'conceived in sin' and the old narratives of right and wrong and heroism and suffering and presents a balanced historical view based on archival sources.
   
   The organization of the book is first class. It is chronological and divides the war by phases, especially the civil war between November 29th, 1947 and May 15th, 1948. It gives the reader a complete understanding of the military situation and how the Jewish forces, which were composed originally of an underground militia and several smaller units, was able to gain mastery over not only Arab militias but also Arab armies that were supplied with modern European weaponry. How they overcame both the air forces, artillery and armour that was thrown at them and how they succeeded, using interior lines, to actually bring the war into the Sinai and Lebanon.
   
   Seth J. Frantzman

5 comments about Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10.

1. As a vet of the military, I have always had great respect for people who join the special forces. I was very interested in this account, as I had been heartbroken to read the news back in 2005. The SEALS are a relatively small community and to lose 2 seal teams was a devastating loss.
   
   That being said, I agree with a previous reviewer in that I wish Luttrell had focused more on his buddies that did not make it out of Afghanistan alive. They can never tell their stories and he had such a wonderful opportunity here to do so, I'm disappointed that he didn't take advantage of that opportunity. This book gives you a detailed account of what it's like to be a Navy SEAL and a very tragic account of what happened up in the mountains of Afghanistan. The courage of the men who serve in the SEALs is, to me, unfathomable. What they went through, and that they fought until the very end without giving up was heartbreaking.
   
   Luttrell put too much of his personal political views (alhtough none of which were backed up with any facts)into this book by constantly blaming the "liberals" for everything that went wrong. The book could have done without that. Other than that, I came away from this book more impressed with the men who become Navy SEALs than I was before. It's a good read, and I think, an important story to get out to the public.



2. This book will renew your faith in the American fighting Man and also reveals that there are still heroes today in the American Military.



3. Marcus Luttrell writes a powerful book that shows the hardship of training, the perfection of the SEAL, and the courage of men.
   
   Marcus is one of the participants of Operation Redwing where nineteen special forces members died in one day. I remember the news stories back when I was in college. I remember seeing Michael Murphy's photo on television. Murphy is probably my idea of how a SEAL should look like; cool, calm, and incredibly fit. I felt a sort of sadness come over me when I saw Murphy's photo on television. Some time later, I heard Murphy got the Medal Of Honor and I knew from the get go after seeing a picture of this man, that he must of died heroically and probably behaved like how a true SEAL should to the end.
   
   Now I have the chance to read over the story about Operation Redwing. I was more interested in hearing what Murphy did that day, but then I found that Marcus did a wonderful job explaining the whole thing; from training to how he survived the slaughter.
   
   I won't go into much details about the story since I think most people will know the entire story. The one important lesson I learned about the training was take it one minute at a time, don't think about the future or how you will perform in the future; think about right now. I think this is an important life lesson that can be used outside of physical training and into everyday life.
   
   By the end of the story I was a bit sad. Marcus was rescued by villagers in the Afghan mountains and these people protected Marcus with their life. Not only that, they took the time to insure that Marcus would be rescued and that the Taliban didn't have the last shot. I was a bit sad that to hear about the village children and how the Taliban abused the children while they tried to gather things for Marcus. I was also surprised by how people gathered around Marcus's parents and family. I think it goes to show that even though the media might make it seem like everyone is against the current war in the Middle East, people still care about friends and families. I think it goes to show that America is a great country and its citizens care about others just as much as they care about themselves.
   
   Overall, I am happy with the book. I am sad of the fact how we lost so many young people, but I think the key thing about this book is that there are good people out there who are willing to lend you a hand when you're down. I heard another good book is Bravo Two Zero. I am planning to read that book in the future.



4. This book is a portrayal of a Navy SEAL - his early upbrining, the SEAL training program that so few pass and most importantly, his role in an operation in Afganistan that ended in disaster for his team and a rescue team. His biases and perspectives are not mine, but I didn't mind hearing them - after all, they probably reflect widely held beliefs within the military... On the other hand, there are parts of the book that stretch credulity (Marcus shot an Afgan between the eyes, who then fell screaming over a cliff), and there is more fluff than needs to be. Overall, a disappointment.



5. I really wanted to read this book, but found I couldn't get past the first 40 pages. The author he can't keep his personal political beliefs out of the narrative. If I heard one more great thing about George Bush or let's hear more about the "liberal American Media". Come on! Enough already, how about a good war story, not a rant taken from the Bill O'Reilly Show. And I'm sorry but modesty is not part of this guys lexicon. Ok, Ok, I get it the Seals are the Greatest soldiers, fighters, shooters, cooks, gardeners, painters, etc, in the world. Look I really wanted to like this book, but this guys ego and self righteous political comments were too much. Sometimes hearing someone being humble instead of saying how great they are goes down a little easier. I should have know when the jacket of the book had two good reviews, both from texas ( here's a little hint the author is also from texas).

5 comments about Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45.

1. Not much new here as far as new insights or evaluations, but the interviews and anecdotes from the battlefield and seas are priceless in conveying what WWII in the Pacific was like without the sanitized Hollywood filters. One must also remember that the Japanese, much like the Russians, have yet to admit their horrible scale of atrocities, genocide and massive raping even to this day. Germany has paid billions in reparations, banned Mein Kampf, and erect memorials to the suffering it has caused. Until both the official Japanese and Russian history reflects it's responsibility, they are both worthy of suspicion.



2. Relatively few people are alive today who experienced any aspect of WWII as a teenager or older. Fewer still live in countries where the WWII experience can be freely discussed, as in the United States and UK. The Soviet Union considered the war to be a people's war and only recently have stories of individual experiences been forthcoming. In Germany, less and less attention is paid to the horrendous crimes of the German people. France dramatizes its miniscule, if even existent, role. And in Japan, as Hastings points, out widespread denial is still the norm. As a result, accurate knowledge of WWII and its horrors and few glories is rapidly fading from human consciousness - and with that forgetfulness comes the danager of new and even more horrible wars.
   
   Max Hastings writes highly readable military histories. He eschews footnotes and the minutia of academic writing in favor of a friendly narrative style. There is considerable depth, however. In its 550 pages, Hastings covers a war that spanned the years 1931 - 1945 and a bit beyond. It covered a larger geographic area than any other conflict in history, though most of the area was the Pacific Ocean.
   
   The book opens on the saddest possible note: the dedication is to Max Hasting's son who apparently died at age 27 in 2000. And on that sad note, the deaths of millions and unspeakable cruelties at the hands of the Japanese are chronicled in the following pages.
   
   In twenty-two chapters, Hastings treats every major aspect of the war against the Japanese by the primary combatants: the United States, Britain, China and late in the game, the Soviet Union.
   
   Hastings begins with a look at the motivation and goals of the United States. President Roosevelt had announced the goal was unconditional surrender. In recent years, revisionist historians have claimed that this policy prolonged the war. Throughout the book, Hastings demolishes these arguments over and over again. It is quite something to see: Hastings has a clear mastery of the subject.
   
   He then goes on to describe the various battlefronts and he is equally at home here. He uses dozens, if not hundreds, of interviews and memoirs to create his descriptions of battles like the British Burma campaign, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and so on, all the time weaving in the machinations of the main players in the Japanese, US, British and other governments. It is a very effective approach. His descriptions of the battles on Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the sea war at the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the kamikazee campaign leave no room for doubt as to why the Americans feared the blood cost of an invasion of Japan.
   
   This is a critical history and Hastings heaps it on. The vastly overrated Douglas MacArthur is cut appropriately down to size, though Hastings does laud his post-war stewardship of Japan. Hastings criticizes the revisionists, apologists and anti-Americans who condemn the United States for its actions, such as the use of nuclear weapons. He spares nothing in his criticism and outright condemnation of Japanese leaders, past and present for the widespread atrocities.
   
   I devour history and there are few well-written histories, so I found myself dealing with "Retribution" as if it were a great thriller and couldn't wait to get from one page to another. I truly wish that books like this were require reading in America's schools so chilren would grow up with an understanding of why they enjoy such lavish freedom. It did not come free and Hastings gives new life to the tens of thousands of Americans who died in the Pacific and Asian campaigns. It is a sobering book and one that I hope will be widely read.
   
   Jerry



3. Met or exceeded my expectations after reading reviews of it in the New York Times and the WSJ.



4. Hastings continues his fine histories of the last years of World War 2. His earlier book "Armageddon"
   focused on the battle for Germany, he continues in "Retribution" with the last years of the Pacific war
   Starting with a striking dust cover, an eerie night photograph of a smoke screen off Iwo Jima by the legendary Life photojournalist W. Eugene Smith, the journey of death and atrocity in Asia begins. His presentation technique moves chronologically and sequentially deftly mixing commentary, observations with American, British and Japanese soldiers' memoirs. Less well known aspects of the war find space; the heroic British
   push in Burma, the Australian unions' refusal to unload ships and their general difficulties supporting the Allied case, the Soviets push in Manchuria, the laxity of the Chinese nationalists under Chang Kai shek and the Communists under Mao to advance the war against the Japanese preferring to ration their efforts until once the Pacific war ended. Hastings is a fine and insightful writer; his objectivity is underscored by his severe critique of MacArthur but finally complimenting on his conciliatory speech on the deck of USS Missouri at the end of signing of the Potsdam Declaration; his criticism of the Japanese warrior ethic of bushido and
   its militarist leadership for their wartime atrocities and his historical justification for Truman's dropping of
   the atom bomb in August 1945. This last point has been criticized by some media reviewers for being conclusory on Hastings part. Hastings, on the contrary, lays out a convincing set of detailed rationales for
   the American bombing of Hiroshima. "Any scenario suggests that far more people of many nationalities would have died in the course of even a few further weeks of war than were killed by the atomic bombs." Anyone who reads the book to its end will understand his points but may not agree with them. But that is one of the reasons why reading fine historians like Max Hastings is such pleasure.



5. An excellent book that brings focus to the end of the war with Japan. Detailed and well researched as are all Max Hastings book. As with every Max Hastings book 5 stars.

5 comments about Killing Rommel: A Novel.

1. Killing Rommel is the latest effort from the noted historical fiction author, Steven Pressfield. This fast paced book is different than most of Pressfield's titles which normally focus on ancient warfare. As the title suggests, this story is set during World War II. The story is treated as a first hand account of a British officer, Lt. Chapman, who is attached to the British Long Range Desert Group (LRDG) who along with the Special Air Service have been given a mission to assassinate Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.
   
   Upon first hearing about the book, two things concerned me. First was the mission, assassinating Rommel, second was Rose, Chapman's wife.
   I was aware, as are many people familiar with the desert war, that the British had indeed planned a mission to capture or kill Rommel but the mission came to naught. As the book was a work of fiction, I could accept that the LRDG would assist in such a mission.
   
   Rose is Chapman's wife. I was worried that somehow Pressfield was going to have this signal expert be part of the patrol. If this thought has crossed your mind, you can breathe easy. Rose is simply the wife of the protagonist and is stationed in Egypt. This actually happened with some regularity during World War II. While Rose, is central to the development of Chapman's character she is not central to the mission. Her character is used to advance the story, principally through Chapman writing to and thinking about her.
   
   The story itself is relayed to us through an unpublished memoir of a British officer (Chapman) who was attached ever so briefly to the LRDG in late 1942. If you are expecting a book similar to The Eagle as Landed, by Jack Higgins, you will be disappointed. Despite the title, the book`s central focus is not the mission to kill Rommel. Chapman and his fictional T3 patrol do not spend days or even weeks planning a mission down to the last detail. You will also be disappointed if you are expecting a technical manual on the weapons and equipment used by the LRDG.
   
   What will not disappoint are the actual story and the writing style of Pressfield. The story moves quickly and smoothly form one chapter to the next. The story begins with the Chapman as a young man, shortly before entering college. As war is declared, he enlists and is commissioned in a Royal Tank Regiment. He is soon shipped to North Africa, where his tank regiment is engaged in combat with the newly arriving Afrika Korps commanded by Field Marshall Rommel. Chapman is no different that a thousand other officers in a tank regiment. Circumstances lead to Chapman's temporary assignment to the LRDG for the purpose of determining tank routes through uncharted deserts, an assignment not too uncommon for junior officers in the tank regiments.
   
   Upon assignment, Chapman is introduced to many names familiar to people who are familiar with the LRDG. Pressfield uses this opportunity to introduce these same people to the reading audience, a common plot device that is often necessary to advance a story. Pressfield does this quite well and what could have been an annoyance to the already informed, flows smoothly.
   
   As I mentioned before, Pressfield does not tire us with a mind numbing technical jargon about the LRDG equipment. This also keeps the story going. What we have in place of the jargon is what sounds like personal recollection of what patrols needed to do to keep the vehicles moving and keep weapons operational in the harsh Sahara. We get a feel for what it is like to drive up a sand dune. We understand the dread of German aircraft. We also get an understanding of ordinary soldiers who have taken on an extraordinary mission.
   
   The book is not a history lesson. If you have a better than average knowledge of the LRDG, the story will not tell you anything new about their operations or equipment. If you have no knowledge of the LRDG, the book will give you a good understanding of the unit without overwhelming or boring you.
   
   Why should you read this story? If for no other reason, any reader of World War II fiction should happily embrace this book because of the lack of good fiction about the desert war. While the desert war is well represented with memoirs, there is very little fiction set during this phase of the World War II, a phase which occupied a full half of the war for Britain. Most World War II fiction discusses North West Europe or the Russian Front and a smattering on the Italian front.
   
   Furthermore there are few fictional accounts of actual commando type attacks. Most instead focus on the cloak and dagger type missions similar to Alistair MacLean's Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare. Pressfield has forgone these super-hero stories and the age old concept of Private Armies and engages us with a story of an actual special force unit, performing a typical, if improbable mission, during the desert war.
   
   He has woven his fictional characters into a patch work of actual persons and created a desert war that captures the actual memoirs of those who had fought in the war. With the story, you get the feeling of the brave lads who rushed to volunteer for the war, the reality of tank battles in the desert where your armor is no match for the enemy, the quiet confidence and determination of the LRDG and the common comradery of soldiers and the guilt and anguish associated with surviving it all.
   
   The book is highly recommended for the LRDG enthusiast and anyone who enjoys World War II fiction.



2. In "Killing Rommel" veteran author Steven Pressfield has written yet another vivid and exciting novel detailing the matter-of-fact heroics and actions by the warriors who fight and too-often die.
   
   Set in North Africa during the British fight against Gen Erwin Rommel in 1942, Pressfield takes the exploits of the British Army's little-known Long Range Desert Group, and presents the reader with yet another well-researched and exciting story of men at war.
   
   As is Pressfield's style, he tells the story from the viewpoint of one of the participants. Lt. Lawrence Chapman is one of Pressfield's proverbial citizen-soldiers, a young man thrust into a war for which his middle-class collegiate upbringing has not at all prepared him. While normally in Pressfield's books it's the enlisted men who are the narrators and telling the story from the boots-on-the-ground perspective, it's a unique change in approach as Lt. Chapman brings an officer's point of view to the fight.
   
   The war in 1942 in North Africa was going badly for the Allies. Gen Rommel's strategy and tactics overwhelmed Gen Montgomery's British troops, and the initial American Army reinforcements were routed at the Kasserine Pass. If Rommel could successfully capture Cairo, then the Germans would control the middle-eastern oil fields, the Suez Canal, and quick access to India and the Pacific, all of which would have horrific repercussions on the Allied war effort.
   
   The British had previously formed the Long Range Desert Group as a desert recon force, which they now tasked to kill Rommel, and Pressfield uses Lt. Chapman to narrate the war in the desert.
   
   Historically accurate, "Killing Rommel" describes a war that most in Americans might only know through the old television show "Rat Patrol." Driving old Chevrolet trucks that they up-armor themselves, often short on petrol, rations, water, and ammunition, Lt Chapman depicts the fight in North Africa between the beleaguered Brits and Rommel's Afrika Corps as he learns to command as he learns to fight.
   
   Those who have fought, and especially those Marines who have fought at An-Nasiriyah, Fallujah, Haditha, and Anbar Province, will understand the pictures Pressfield paints of the thirst, heat, sand, and boredom - interrupted by intense combat - in the desert. He draws the reader into the action with Chapman and his men as they drive -often by stars and dead reckoning - to their rendezvous points and multiple missions.
   
   As Pressfield's books are so famously noted, the characters in "Killing Rommel" possess a quiet courage and grow into a maturity far beyond their years. Similar to Xeo in "Gates of Fire," and Matthais in "The Afghan Campaign," the deep story here is how Chapman and his fellow Tommies are thrown into some extraordinarily ugly situations, and then respond. It's the story of these citizen-soldiers and how they react to the carnage around them that makes "Killing Rommel" one of Pressfield's best books.



3. Killing Rommel, a novel written by Stephen Pressfield, is a fictional memoir of a World War II British officer named Chapman who serves in the North Africa Campaign. It is also an awesome story of men at war.
   
   In Killing Rommel, the reader follows the fictional Chapman through his early life at a British public school, Oxford, the incredible seesaw fight in North Africa between the British 8th Army and Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps, and then an ultimately doomed raid with the famous Long Range Desert Task Force to assassinate the German commander who was called, deservedly, the Desert Fox. Along the way the reader gets a feeling for what it was like to participate in one of the oddest campaigns in military history, atypical to most wars of the 20th Century, certainly on World War II.
   
   Chapman, a tank commander, is attached to the Long Range Desert Task Force in a mission designed to kill that man of honor and brilliance. But first they have to find their target, a story that occupies most of the last third of the novel. What follows is an epic of men at war, it's horror and glory, as compelling as anything Stephen Pressfield has written before, in his novels set in Ancient Greece.



4. I can add little more to the eloquent 5-star praise and synopses thus far for Pressfield's newest wartime adventure, except "Ditto for me and roger all that." I've immensely enjoyed and been edified by every book this master storyteller has written.
   
   I can count on his typically thorough research to inform me accurately on the factual details as well as the grand historical dramas in which his subjects play their parts. For his narrative technique, which looks out from inside the soldier's mind, I award him the title of "soldier's chronicler," in the dirt with the boys where Gen. Omar Bradley liked to be. At the same time, the action scenes, the slash-burn-grit-grind of battle, are more reminiscent of Patton. It's an unbeatable combination to have telling a war story.
   
   Pressfield pulls us into the fray and helps us feel what it's like to be right there in the muck, agony and glory of it all. The feeling sticks with you, the taste stays in your mouth, and it changes you a bit. To me a book is like a conversation and, having journeyed around the block many times, I get rather picky when it comes to who gets my attention and for how long. Keeping these world-wizened eyes stayed on a story requires a very special talent which this author has in abundance.
   
   As for Rommel himself, possibly the last of the honorable gentlemen warriors, this book inspired a nice epiphany. We know the story of Hitler's ultimatum to Rommel and the general's resulting suicide. But it was with a new sense of irony I realized more fully, after reading this account of the Brits' determined plotting and planning to take out the Desert Fox, that his own boss was the only one who could finally do him in. I take this as Pressfield's tribute to a remarkable general that gives the book's title another, more subtle dimension I hadn't imagined.



5. My copy of "Killing Rommel" arrived in the mail on Friday. By the time I closed the covers for the first time (I will open them again more than once, I'm sure) on Saturday, I had a blistering sunburn - and I'd hardly left the house. That is how intensely and intimately Pressfield drew me into the story, and into the sands of North Africa. It is Pressfield's genius to take us to a place we thought we knew from history classes (the battle of Thermopylae, the conquests of Alexander, the campaigns across North Africa) and make them come alive - to make it feel not only that we KNOW about the campaign, but that we REMEMBER the campaign.
   
   Not only does Pressfield tell a crackling-good barn-burner of a story, he writes with an obvious mastery of the craft. Pick up "Killing Rommel" and open it to a random page. Read a sentence - any sentence. That sentence will be a work of art, because virtually every sentence is a work of art. You don't notice it unless you stop and look, because Pressfield has woven all of these carefully crafted passages so seamlessly into the story.
   
   As in several of his previous novels, Pressfield (perhaps emulating the Desert Fox himself) draws you deep into the sands of the book and, when you're in far too deep to withdraw, has you step on a landmine. In this book, so full of the warrior ethos and the band of brothers camaraderie of barracks and battlefields, the landmine for me was the single paragraph in which Chapman reflected upon "the perverse logic of war and the true tragedy of armed conflict."
   
   Whether you are a history buff, a veteran or fan of all things military, or just want to pick up the sort of novel that grabs you by the nose and kicks you in the rear, you'll love "Killing Rommel." Just don't start reading it on Sunday evening if you have to go to work on Monday.

4 comments about Mission Accomplished! Or How We Won the War in Iraq: The Experts Speak.

1. This book is a clever and comprehensive satire of the egregious prognostications made by the U.S. government, military, and media before, during, and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. It should be mentioned right off the bat that, unlike the hordes of "Bushisms" books and other anti-Bush administration literature, this is not just an irreverent or pithy crack at the neo-conservatives and predominantly right-wing pundits and politicians who supported our invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. Many liberal voices, including many writers for the New York Times and other publications, appear here as well. Every person quoted in this book is measured up to the facts on the ground both at home and in Iraq.
   
   Not only is this book often startling and darkly humorous in its revelations, it is also an insightful portrait of the way the Bush administration's policies were fed to and digested by the media. If you like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, or are a voracious reader of the political blogosphere, this book is an amazing encyclopedia of the lies that were spun (and spun) every six months to keep us at war for the past five years.



2. It's truly a joy to see all these utterly depressing quotes gathered in one place for easy reference...



3. As our burgeoning economic woes overshadow the war in Iraq in the minds of prospective voters, the imperial hubris that has been the mainstay of the Bush administration's rhetoric seems to get less airplay these days. Even though people continue to die, the cable networks apparently feel that their viewers have grown tired of the war. That's why there is great value in picking up this piercing collection of direct quotes from the so-called experts on the Iraqi conflict by Christopher Cerf and Columbia professor Victor Navasky, satirists who pose as co-founders of the Institute of Expertology, the nation's leading purveyor of expertise on expertise. The breadth of the public statements presented here is astonishing in their deceit, ignorance and utterly blind ambition.
   
   All the classic assertions are included here starting with George W. Bush's claim of success that provides the book's title. Donald Rumsfeld chimed in with recycled catchphrases like "Stuff happens" and "Freedom is untidy". Convinced that the Iraqis would greet U.S. soldiers as liberators, Dick Cheney confidently proclaimed that "The streets of Baghdad are sure to erupt with joy". Even though he expresses regret now, policy analyst Kenneth Adelman originally stated that he felt the war would be a "walk in the park", while political pundit Bill O'Reilly echoed similar feelings of invalid self-assurance ("Military action will not last more than a week"). More evasive statements have an insidious sense of gloom, such as Condoleezza Rice's declaration that "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud", or former White House speechwriter David Frum's covert remark that "This 'rush to war' should really be seen as the ultimate 'rush to peace'".
   
   Reading all these together provide a strong reminder of the power of the propaganda machine at work with the current administration. The co-authors make note of the gradual shift occurring in placing more of the blame now on Iran for helping the al-Qaeda. There is a pervasive sense of black comedy over the entire tome, not surprisingly given the co-authors' previous collaboration, 1984's The Experts Speak : The Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation. Intriguingly, Cerf, the son of Random House publishing co-founder and "What's My Line?" panelist Bennett Cerf, wrote many of the early sing-along tunes on Sesame Street and produced Marlo Thomas' classic 1974 children's program, Free to Be You and Me.



4. The Institute of Expertology has done it again! This timely book is clever, informative and highly entertaining, in spite of the subject matter. Cerf & Navasky have managed to capture every single absurd word uttered by this highly quotable group of "experts" running our nation and influencing our people. With the election right around the corner, buy a copy for yourself and get one for a friend. Let the words of the so called "experts" remind you that it's time for a change!
   
   If I wasn't laughing so hard, I would be crying.

5 comments about The Book Thief (Readers Circle).

1. I thought I was going to hate this book. If my book club hadn't selected it that particular month, I would never have picked it up. Despite my doubts, I checked it out of my local library and gave it a go.
   
   The first pages were difficult because I was so put off by the strange premise of having the events narrated by Death, and by the unusual phrasing and word choices. But somewhere along the way I got sucked into the story. I began to realize that the phrasing and word choices were brilliant, arresting, moving. By the end of the book, I realized this story had to be told by Death, that this was part of its power. Death was the constant outsider, "haunted by humans," a witness of every kind of depravity and nobility. By the end of the book, I knew it was one of the finest I had ever read. Months and months later, I am still moved to tears when I think of some of the characters and the things Death said about them.
   
   I agree with those who are mystified at this being classified as YA. Not that young adults wouldn't understand or enjoy this book, but that it's fully complex, original, and polished enough to stand with the best "literary" books out there.
   
   I feel a re-read coming on. Maybe this time I'll buy my own copy so it'll be there when I need it.



2. this book was so confusing, and hard to understand. i do not recommend this book to anyone!!!
   unless you want to spend forever trying to figure out what certain phrases mean.



3. I do not care for this book at all. I had read such good reviews but it is really strange and moves very slowly. I would not recommend it.



4. Book was written by Death, an interesting perspective. The main character, the Book Thief, was a young girl, near Munich, Germany. WWII was viewed by the poor, a young Jewish man,a young girl, her foster parents and neighbors. It portrayed the struggles and the strengths of individuals.
   
   Very uplifting.



5. I got to page 267 after two months. I am usually a fast reader, but this made me fall asleep every time I started reading. Good story, but boring! I would compare it to "running in sand!" One does advance, but with tremendous effort.
   Too bad, I usually like stories from WWII.

5 comments about American Heroes: In the Fight Against Radical Islam (War Stories).

1. If you want to know why we must fight and prevail in the war against Jihadist fascism, Oliver North provides us with a series of inspiring stories. This is a book for all Americans to read, and to remember. Bravo Zulus, Ollie, for once again giving us a ground-level sit-rep that we all must take to heart.
   John Weisman



2. This book is a great addition to the conversation about our troops overseas. Oliver North is such a class act and really understands the plight of the men and women serving our country. With the addition of Chuck Holton (a former Army Ranger), this book is a sure bet to giving a true depiction of our American Heroes.



3. With all the different opinions and false information shown in the media the war on terror has become something we are unsure and confused about. This book comes out and clears things up. A Must Read!



4. It has been a challenge to gather accurate, encouraging information and insight into this conflict due to the fact that it is an unpopular endeavor among leading media outlets. I know Chuck Holton personally and have been following his work with Oliver North so that I know how much time and effort has been invested in delivering this insightful book. It is very refreshing to get my hands on information written and compiled by men with integrity who are committed to truth.



5. This is a high quality book in the National Geographic style. Well illustrated with scenes of the young people that are doing the job and relevant articles about their heroics. Not all heroics is dodging bullets and bombs. Sometimes it's taking the time to comfort a child or give aid to a civilian. Even enemy combatants are cared for by the troopers after the shooting stops. I give this book my highest recommendation. This is money well spent.American Heroes: In the Fight Against Radical Islam (War Stories)

5 comments about Moment of Truth in Iraq: How a New 'Greatest Generation' of American Soldiers is Turning Defeat and Disaster into Victory and Hope.

1. Michael Yon gives a view of the war from the trenches. Heart rending stories of humanity and leadership are intersperesed with harrowing evil of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Gives us hope that the good souls everywhere wish the same for their familes. It reminds me more of Max Hastings writing on World War II.
   
   He let us know how big a disaster Abu Ghraib was. It handed a huge propoganda victory for the enemy and cost us many lives. Book ends on high note and I am hopeful that we will prevail.
   
   Keep up the good work Yon. Looking forward to see more of your postings.
   
   I wish we had someone write like this on Afghanistan.



2. Mike Yon is a "hands on" reporter...he doesn't talk about theories of the war--he walks his readers through it. He doesn't tell readers what to think about the war--he describes the details and allows the readers the freedom come to their own conclusions. Deep. Thought provoking.
   
   Another thing I really value about Yon's writing--he humanizes the Iraqis. They are so "far" away from the American public, that they are often not even considered when discussing the tragedies and losses of this war. If you ask the average citizen here how many they think have died in Iraq, they will almost always just refer to the Americans.
   
   Yes, this is a war influenced by and affected greatly by media...and Yon's journalism is one of our greatest assets in this fight. His words are brutally honest in describing what he saw, encountered and experienced, but then, that is exactly what makes this work, so refreshingly unbiased, so valuable. Way to go, Mike!



3. I got turned on to this book by Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds, [...]-- who often links to Michael Yon. MY review is choppy, but the book is not. I'm just shepherding a couple of children and it's tough to get my thoughts together. In contrast, Yon's writing in Moment of Truth is very lucid. Don't judge the book by my writing style, please.
   
   I didn't know it would be such a good read. My first impression was that Yon brought clarity to the myriad units fighting, and he clarifies the relationships between our allies and our enemies. This alone would be reason to buy the book -- current media war reporting runs to lazy, ill-informed, agenda-driven, or incomplete stories. It has been almost impossible to decipher WHO are our allies, and WHO are the enemy. Clarity.
   
   Yon relates events even-handedly. There is no lip gloss on this book -- you are going to get the straight story. Did we execute poorly at the beginning of the war, to the detriment of our credibility? We did. Did it nearly cost us the war? It did. Have things changed? They have.
   
   Yon is trustworthy. He has been embedded with US and British units since 2004, fighting with them. He's not a cheerleader. He's a professional. We will win counterinsurgency with media reporting such as his.
   
   Yon lays out story after story of how Iraqi governance is being built through watching the example of American soldiers.
   
   The book is up to date, with reporting into January of 2008.
   
   It's a fast read -- takes maybe 2 evenings, but it's the war coverage the American public should have been getting all along.
   
   For me, the most hopeful takeaway from this book is that the US Army is becoming competent at counterinsurgency and urban warfare. This is encouraging news. Our soldiers have always been the best among us. It is the hearts of the American soldiers that is turning Iraq into a success story.
   
   Get it and read it -- I am so glad I did.



4. The book is 3 things:
   
   - First-rate first-person war reporting
   - An account of what is going on tactically in Iraq
   - A partial handbook on COIN/4GW and the importance of the non-kinetic activities
   
   I highly recommend it.



5. Michael Yon has been giving great dispatches from this front for years and his book takes it to a whole new level. Alongside the men of our armed forces in small teams, Yon is able to get a front row seat for the courageous battles, subtle diplomacy and true scenes of bravery. Only a former Green Beret would actually participate in the battle he is writing about. Its about time someone talked about the magnificent job that our brothers and sisters are doing in an incredibly difficult situation. Thank you, Michael, from all of us.