In reply to spud1910

spud1910 said:

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Any recommendations for books about the Norman Conquest? Supposedly an ancestor was involved. Not a clear line for sure, but I thought would be interesting reading.

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Read: "1066 - year of the conqueror"


"Harold the king" is ok but was more historical fiction with a good bit of research.
Harold was my ancestor. The last of the Anglo saxons

In reply to oldord

oldord said:

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spud1910 said:

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Any recommendations for books about the Norman Conquest? Supposedly an ancestor was involved. Not a clear line for sure, but I thought would be interesting reading.

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Read: "1066 - year of the conqueror"


"Harold the king" is ok but was more historical fiction with a good bit of research.
Harold was my ancestor. The last of the Anglo saxons

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Thanks, I did read 1066-Year of the Conqueror. Definitely learned a lot.

Just finished American Buffalo by Steven Rinella

Really interesting

Geronimo by Mike Leach

Children of Ash and Elm

Book covering the history of the Vikings through the Viking age.

Currently reading:
Desert Solitare - Edward Abbey
Memoir of Abbey's time as a park ranger prior to Arches NP being fully developed. We're going back out to Moab for Spring Break so thought it'd be appropriate

Emerald Mile - Kevin Fedarko
History of exploration of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon to lead into the story of the fastest rafting excursion ever through the GC in 1983 by using a storm event/dam failure. We're rafting the Grand Canyon over Memorial Day so it too is appropriate.

Listening to:
The Lakota and the Black Hills - Jeffrey Ostler

His Time in Hell: A Texas Marine in France.

AWW1 memoir written by Warren Jackson.
He wrote it a few years after his experiences as a Marine.

Pretty good read. Good stories on the trials & tribulations of life of a Marine during this period of time.

He fought in a couple of the same battles that my grandfather participated in.

Hero of the Empire

I've always heard how great he was, but never pursued studying him. I'm about a third of the way through. So far, I'm convinced he was perhaps as arrogant a person who has ever lived - though persistent in his pursuits. In my last chapter, he took command against the Boers in the face of overwhelming calamity and is currently a POW. I suspect and am hopeful that I'm fixing to place a different view upon him.

In reply to Front Range Ag

Front Range Ag said:

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Hero of the Empire

I've always heard how great he was, but never pursued studying him. I'm about a third of the way through. So far, I'm convinced he was perhaps as arrogant a person who has ever lived - though persistent in his pursuits. In my last chapter, he took command against the Boers in the face of overwhelming calamity and is currently a POW. I suspect and am hopeful that I'm fixing to place a different view upon him.

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Who's 'he'?

Churchill.

Sorry, that post read like was talking to myself.

Thought a s much - thanks!

In reply to AgRyan04 "The Monkey Wrench Gang" is another great Edward Abbey book.

Finished:
Crazy Horse: A Life - Larry McMurtry

Last Stand: George Bird Grinnel, the Battle to Save the Buffalo, & the Birth of the New West - Michael Punke (Audiobook)

Currently:

A Terrible Glory: Custer and the Little Bighorn - the Last Great Battle of the American West - James Donovon

Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West - Wallace Stegner (Audiobook)

Just finished Downfall by Richard B. Frank.

On to Silent Victory vol II by Clay Blair.

In reply to Smeghead4761

Smeghead4761 said:

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Just finished Downfall by Richard B. Frank.

On to Silent Victory vol II by Clay Blair.

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What are they about?

In reply to BigJim49 AustinNowDallas

BigJim49 AustinNowDallas said:

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Smeghead4761 said:

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Just finished Downfall by Richard B. Frank.

On to Silent Victory vol II by Clay Blair.

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What are they about?

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Downfall covers the end of WWII in the Asia-Pacific theater. It's widely considered to be the authoritative post-ULTRA declassification work on the decision to drop the atomic bombs and the Japanese decision to surrender.

Silent Victory is about the submarine war in the Pacific. Vol II begins at the time of the Marshalls campaign.

Got to read The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell about the differing philosophies of the use of bombers during ww2. Interesting and fairly short read that i knocked out on a 5 hour plane ride. Some side stories of the development of the Norden bombsight and napalm in there also.

Not much time but trying to get through this.

Jim Haley's biography of Sam Houston.

Jim used the extensive records at the Catholic Archdiocese of Austin that included many of Houston's private letters that were unknown publicly.

All I can say is we need more politicians like Sam, he was a deeply flawed man but brilliant.

One quote from one of his letters that resonated with me:

Quote:

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When tyrants ask you to yield one jot of your liberty, and you consent thereto, it is the first link forged in the chain that will eventually hold you in bondage.

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Politics were probably even more rancorous in those days but they handled it more smoothly and civilized than we do. One of the funny stories is one of his correspondents said some nasty things about Sam, so Sam wrote him and asked if it was true. The correspondent replied that it was true. So Sam wrote back and said this is my last letter to you and I expect you to stop writing to me. "Although it is a pity, because you have such beautiful handwriting! Adieu."

War Plan Orange by Edward Miller.

In reply to Smeghead4761 I've read that one. It's good. Lots of competing and evolving ideas/philosophies over time.

In reply to YZ250 It's actually a re-read for me. Decided to read it again after watching a youtube video on the fall of the Philippines.

Ever since I read it the first time, it has amazed me that MacArthur thought that help was coming. That's despite the fact that, beginning the 1934, all of the versions of ORANGE that were discussed and approved by the Joint Board assumed that Guam and the Philippines could not be saved, so they wouldn't even try. And the Chief of Staff of the Army, and head of the Joint Board, when that was approved in 1934, was Douglas MacArthur.

True, starting in the summer of 1941, Army brass was making noise about defending the Philippines, promising several hundred planes and thousands of troops, to be delivered by May or June 1942. But they'd barely gotten started on the planes (mostly the two or three squadrons of B-17s that ended up largely being destroyed at Clark Field), had sent few if any troops, and, oh yeah, the Navy wasn't interested one bit in changing the plan.

Personally, I think the MacArthur's towering ego demanded (in his own mind) that because he, Douglas MacArthur, was there, the islands must be defended, the fleet must sail to their relief. Anything else was unthinkable.

Being Leonidas at Thermopylae wasn't good enough.

In reply to Smeghead4761 "Ever since I read it the first time, it has amazed me that MacArthur thought that help was coming."

Help was coming. Many efforts were made. For example, the Pensacola convoy was on it's way and Marshall told MacArthur it was coming. The navy however would not send it on to the Philippines. Additionally, one of the tasks given to MacArthur was to support the navy in raiding the Japanese lines of communications in the South China sea. Now why would one assume the navy wouldn't come to your aid when the navy had a task to carry out?

"That's despite the fact that, beginning the 1934, all of the versions of ORANGE that were discussed and approved by the Joint Board assumed that Guam and the Philippines could not be saved, so they wouldn't even try. And the Chief of Staff of the Army, and head of the Joint Board, when that was approved in 1934, was Douglas MacArthur."

That's because the navy withheld this from MacArthur. They waited until Gen. Embick was appointed head of the AWPD and then told MacArthur that only the navy's lines of communication were being perfected. They said they only changed their initial goal and that the nominal plan had not changed.

"Personally, I think the MacArthur's towering ego demanded (in his own mind) that because he, Douglas MacArthur, was there, the islands must be defended, the fleet must sail to their relief. Anything else was unthinkable."

This isn't right at all. MacArthur wasn't alone in wanting to defend the Philippines. The head of the Philippine Department, General Grunert, was doing everything he could to build it up. Besides, the Army and the government wouldn't have started the rearming of the Philippines just because one person demanded it. It was our duty to protect the Philippines. Really, we had two choices. Either defend the Philippines as our colony or, if you don't want to defend them, grant them independence and leave. The navy failed in this regard as we were not going to abandon our presence in Asia. I agree with Eisenhower, "The trust and friendship of the people of Asia were important to the US; failure might be excused, but never abandonment."

I would recommend reading Prewar Plans and Preparations by Mark Skinner Watson. It gives a great view from the Chief of Staff prior to the war.

Started The Heart of Everything That Is by Drury & Clavin

I'm going to be up in the Black Hills next month so I've been reading and listening to a lot on the hisotry of the area since the start of the year....trying to squeeze this one in and Black Elk Speaks before we leave....I probably don't have enough time but I'm going to give it a go! I've got a couple others but I know getting through these two will be tight so I'm just going to save the others for later

SIX FRIGATES
"The epic history of the founding of the US Navy"
Ian Toll
(Just finishing; fascinating stuff)

US NAVAL POWER IN THE 21st CENTURY
"A new strategy for facing the Chinese and Russian threat
Brent Droste Sadler
(30 pages deep)

STOPPING A TAWAIN INVASION
"Findings and recommendations from the Center for Security Policy Panel of Experts"
Stephen Bryen, Panel Chairman
Lt. General Earl Hailston, Co-Chairman
(Finished three weeks back)

The Battle of Kursk by David Glantz and Jonathan House.

Just finished listening to Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy


Currently reading: Ranch Life and Hunting-Trail by Teddy Roosevelt

Interesting look at his time as a rancher in North Dakota.

Can't imagine any current politician having the ability to write as well as TR

In reply to Smeghead4761

Smeghead4761 said:

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The Battle of Kursk by David Glantz and Jonathan House.

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?

In reply to Smeghead4761

Smeghead4761 said:

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The Battle of Kursk by David Glantz and Jonathan House.

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Nice. I read Kursk: The Greatest Tank Battle a long while ago and found the whole event very interesting. The scale is hard to comprehend.

Shattered Sword by Jonathan Parshaal and Anthony Tully. Great book about the battle of Midway.

As I recall, Anthony Tully used to post here as "Titan".

In reply to Chipotlemonger Agreed; I've read that also and was fascinated.

In reply to TRD-Ferguson A not funny thing that a lot of people don't realize about Midway is that the US came within an eyelash of losing all of its carriers itself. If Nagumo's decision to change his aircraft capabilities around had been successful what happened to the IJN could have happened to us. Japan lost four top of the line carriers in five minutes plus all the air crews and all the naval personnel to go with that. The Japanese fleet, though still lethal in certain aspects, lost what had made them superior in the first place. Naval power world wide had been impacted.

I read a book on the Battle of Kursk entitled "The Tigers are Burning". I think there was some questions about the books accuracy. Glantz is supposed to be a top-notch historian but haven't read any of his. I've read several on Stalingrad. What horror.

Ivan Musicant's Empire By Default: The Spanish-American War and the Dawn of the American Century.

In setting the scene for the war, Musicant shows that current history is not unique. In the election of 1896 William Jennings Bryan was a populist candidate who had great campaign following and rallies. He received more votes than any Democratic candidate had ever received. But he lost to William McKinley, who eschewed campaigning and instead sat on his front porch. Members of the press and the public were only allowed to ask him certain questions, for which he had scripted answers. So the 2020 election was not a first. by any means.

In reply to Junction71

Junction71 said:

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I read a book on the Battle of Kursk entitled "The Tigers are Burning". I think there was some questions about the books accuracy. Glantz is supposed to be a top-notch historian but haven't read any of his. I've read several on Stalingrad. What horror.

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This is the third of Glantz's books that I've read. When Titans Clashed is a great looks at the German-Soviet portion of WWII, from Barbarossa to Berlin. The other one I read was Soviet Military Operational Art: In Pursuit of Deep Battle.

All of Glantz's books that I've read tend to be on the dense side, with a lot of detail. In the Kursk book, it's almost impossible to keep all of the names of Russian generals and towns straight, so his descriptions of actions, locations, and movements often became 'big hand, little map'.

I will note that in Kursk, the main text is only about 2/3 of the printed book. The rest is appendices and notes.