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Propaganda 17 reviews
Edward Bernays
Ig Publishing, 2004
The spinning of consumer needs and beliefs in life and advertisement
The ancient art of infusing thought system in people to affect their daily judgement and "belief" in clearly illustrated in this book.
A must read for those interested in understanding the underlying forces that infuence what we believe,buy and vote for.
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Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World131 reviews
Margaret Macmillan
Random House Trade Paperbacks, 2003
Paris 1919
A wonderful, well written, comprehensive history of the end of the Great War.More importantly, a great review of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, the result of the Paris Peace conference causing perhaps most of the problems facing us today. An extensive looke at Palestine, the Balfour agreement and the existance of Isreal today.
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Alfred and Emily 7 reviews
Doris Lessing
Harper, 2008
the horrors of war
I was not too pleased with the first fictional part of this book but when I read the second part I understood why Doris wrote the first part. What a hard life they all had in Zimbabwe once known as southern Rhodesia! But such a wonderful life: the story of the black bull calf touched my heart. and the food! and wasn't her father handsome? The boring life she invented for her parents living ...
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The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power140 reviews
Daniel Yergin
Free Press, 1993
Great book, still relevent even today
I learned a great deal from this book, from the rise of Standard Oil, it's dissolution, wildcatters, and the rise of the Middle East. I now have a better understanding of the economics of oil. The knowledge this book covers is still applicable today, including Saudi Arabia's continued role in attempting to regulate oil prices, and the risks/rewards of offshore oil drilling, and why too low price ...
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The Vertigo Years: Europe 1900-1914 2 reviews
Philipp Blom
Basic Books, 2008
The Vertigo Years from 1900 to the outbreak of World War I were a dizzying time in European culture
My dictionary defines "vertigo" as a state of dizzy disorientation. Think the film "Vertigo" directed by Alfred Hitchcok in 1958. In the excellent history book under review in this article we see Professor Philippe Blom of Vienna dissect European society during the last 15 years of the long "nineteenth century" world prior to the holocaust of World War I.
Blom devotes one chapter to each of ...
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Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph53 reviews
T.E. Lawrence
Anchor, 1991
A Unique Masterpiece
This is one of the great books of the 20th century. That it could be written at all is almost a miracle in itself. Take a brilliant Oxford student trained in the old classical tradition, place him in the Arabian desert as advisor to the wild Bedouin tribesmen during their revolt against the Turks and have him write with an acute sensitivity and unparalleld insight into what was transpiring ...
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Paradise Lost: Smyrna, 1922 9 reviews
Giles Milton
Basic Books, 2008
Very well written
This history of the Turkish city Smyrna in the early 20th century makes for compelling reading. I could not put it down once I had started. I had previously been unaware of this horrible story -- the death of over 100,000 people in less than a week, and the dislocation of so many more. I was unaware that Greek forces had invaded Turkey in the 1920's and pushed well into Turkish territory. ...
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All Quiet on the Western Front456 reviews
Erich Maria Remarque
Ballantine Books, 1987
A Great Work
I am a soldier with the US Army who has been deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom twice and Operation Enduring Freedom once. And yes I have lost some close friends to these wars.
I must say this is one of my favorite books on war that I have read next to the Red Badge of Courage. Yes soldiers are opened minded, I do know that this book focuses on the darker side of War and is considered an ...
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The Guns of August160 reviews
Barbara W. Tuchman
Presidio Press, 2004
Guns of August is a classic
I had lost my copy of this book in an airport on a recent trip. I wanted another to finish reading and to keep for future reference. This book is a classic, along with The Proud Tower. I was glad to get it at a reduced price and via such prompt service.
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Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs Novels)
Jacqueline Winspear
Henry Holt and Co., 2009
In the thrilling new novel by the New York Times bestselling author of An Incomplete Revenge , Maisie Dobbs must catch a madman before he commits murder on an unimaginable scale It?s Christmas Eve 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the prime minister?s office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met?and the ...
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Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War187 reviews
Sebastian Faulks
Vintage, 1997
One of the best novels I've read
The scenes with Stephen are extremely well written. Increadibly intense account of personal suffering of soldiers in World War I. Tender, realistic love story. This is first-class writing. Unfortunately, later scenes with granddaughter Elizabeth are very weak. But since the rest of the book more than compensates for it I still give it five stars.
Ayca Yesim
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To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War84 reviews
Jeff Shaara
Ballantine Books, 2005
A Masterpiece
You can't go wrong with a book by Jeff Shaara. His historical "novels" are really a true history that cannot be told within the confines of a historical work. A historian can't take his best guess at how actual (undocumented) dialogue took place or give you insight into the undocumented thoughts and feelings of historical characters. In other words, a "nonfiction" historical work cannot really ...
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Johnny Got His Gun289 reviews
Dalton Trumbo
Citadel, 2007
A brilliant novel that hasn't dated at all, sadly.....minor spoilers...
I read this book in high school (on my own, it wasn't assigned reading. The assigned reading bored me to death). It has never left me. It's one of the most searing indictments of war ever written. It's brutal, depressing, creepy, terrifying, surreal, and absolutely fascinating. A book like this never really dates, as it is not about one specific war but about war itself.
I'm generally a ...
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Regeneration85 reviews
Pat Barker
Plume, 1993
Why you should read the entire trilogy
"Regeneration" is best read as part of the so-called "Regeneration Trilogy," of which it is the first book. (The other two, in order, are "The Eye in the Door" and "The Ghost Road.") This way, you will be able to follow the main characters: Dr. W.H.R. Rivers, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, and Billy Prior (all but the last are historical figures) through all three books. In particular, you'll ...
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The Great War and Modern Memory28 reviews
Paul Fussell
Oxford University Press, USA, 2000
An important book in a time of war
On one level, Fussell writes about World War I, and his unsparing depiction of the industrialized killing in this first "modern" war will acquaint readers with a war that now seems very distant. On the second level, he shows how British World War I soldiers viewed their experience through the literary and popular culture they brought to the trenches--through ideas of the pastoral, of epic ...
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The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story22 reviews
Gloria Houston
Puffin, 1996
Perfect Christmas Story
What a delightful story that can remind us of the bygone days of old-fashioned country Christmases! Ruthie is a small-town girl whose family finally receives the honor of choosing the Christmas tree for their town--and sure enough she and her papa find the perfect balsalm. However, war comes and Papa leaves. Ruthie and her mother have more worries than they expected.
This is a surprisingly ...
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A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 191845 reviews
G.J. Meyer
Delacorte Press, 2007
The Teacher You Wish You had Had
Having just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin's wonderful Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, I wouldn't have expected to be blown away by a history, but this one is really impressive! Meyer's sympathy for the characters, his humor, his concern for the needs of his reader and his uncanny ability to make a huge and complex story understandable makes this one of the best ...
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The Zimmermann Telegram32 reviews
Barbara W. Tuchman
Ballantine Books, 1985
The Zimmermann Telegram and U.S. entry into WW I
This book, by an eminent historian, greatly enlightened me as to the primary events that caused our entry into WW I. I heretofore had thought that the Lusitania sinking and the resumption of untrestricted submarine warfare were PRIME, while the Zimmermann Telegram was realtively minor and/or a British hoax. However, the revelation of the Zimmermann Telegram "galvanized" U.S. citizens like ...
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A Farewell to Arms (Scribner Classics)374 reviews
Ernest Hemingway
Scribner, 1997
__Underscore.
What beauty. What excellent prose. There is little I can say that has not already been said about Hemingway's style. So, I will keep my review short and blunt. This is one of the select few finest American literary works of the twentieth century. If you have any interest in Hemingway's writing, this novel is a must-read.
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The First World War197 reviews
John Keegan
Vintage, 2000
Wasn't expecting it to be this good.
Over the last year, I have read a lot of books on WWII, and some on the Winter War in Finland and the Spanish Civil War. I was ready for a general overview of WWI and bought Keegan's book based on Amazon reviews. I have to think the "Civilization" review got it right as "The best one-volume account there is." It was unlike many histories in that I hated to stop reading it each evening. Well ...
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