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The Globe At War |
Book Reviews |
Germany and the Axis Powers: From Coalition to Collapse by Richard Dinardo, University Press of Kansas, 2005. Hardcover, $34.95, 282 pages Richard Dinardo's Germany and the Axis Powers fills an invaluable niche in the literature currently available on the Second World War's European Theater. In particular, Dinardo has focused on Germany's relationship with Finland, Hungary, Italy and Romania; producing a concise but revealing analysis into the numerous problems that derailed the Axis coalition. Read more... Erich Raeder: Admiral of the Third Reich by Keith Bird, U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2006. Hardcover, $34.95, 282 pages. Keith Bird's Erich Raeder: Admiral of the Third Reich breaks new ground in exploring one of the pivotal personalities involved in the war at sea during World War II. Remarkably, in the sixty plus years since the War ended no one has produced a complete biographical treatment of German Grand Admiral Erich Raeder. Bird's work fills this gaping whole in the historical narrative and focuses on not just Raeder, but more importantly his stewardship of the German Navy during the critical years of 1928-1943. Read more... The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy by Adam Tooze, Penguin, 2008. Softcover, $20.00, 848 pages. Adam Tooze's The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy is an extraordinary piece of scholarship and for years to come will no doubt be regarded as essential reading for anyone seeking a greater understanding into Germany's Second World War economy. Tooze's work comprehensively breaks down the how and why of Hitler's quest to establish a German empire in Europe and the role economics played in German defeat. Read more... |
Tank Tactics, From Normandy to Lorraine by Roman Johann Jarymowycz, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2001. Hardcover, $59.95, 362 pages Just when you thought there was little more to be gleaned from the thoroughly documented armored battles in France between June and September 1944 Tank Tactics emerged in 2001 to redefine what is known about these pivotal events in World War Two. Read more... Death of the Wermacht, The German Campaigns of 1942 by Robert M. Citino, Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2007. Hardcover, $34.95, 431 pages. For anyone interested in the German method of warfare, or for those that just enjoy a good operational history, Death of the Wermacht ranks among the best of today's scholarship. Conventional Wisdom has long posited Hitler played the crucial role in turning Germany's stupendous victories during the spring and summer of 1942, in the Soviet Union and North African Desert, into catastrophic defeat in the fall and winter of that same year. European History Professor at Eastern Michigan University, and award winning author, Robert M. Citino challenges this conventional wisdom in his fascinating book, Death of the Wermacht. Read more... Field Marshal von Manstein, The Janus Head, A Portrait by Marcel Stein, Helion & Company Ltd, 2007. Hardcover, $59.95, 464 pages. Few would argue with the assertion Erich von Manstein ranked among the best operational level military commanders of the Second World War, if not the best. Nevertheless, because of Manstein's decisions during and after the War, he also ranks among the War's most controversial figures. In spite of Manstein's central role in the War however, there has been no official biography written about him. Read more... |
December 2008 |
August 2008 |
January 2009 |
Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945 by Catherine Merridale, Metropolitan Books, 2006. Hardcover, $30.00, 480 pages Catherine Merridale's Ivan's War: Life and Death in the Red Army, 1939-1945, is a fascinating and necessary look at men all too often reduced to a subhuman status by not only their Second World War foes but nearly fifty years of Cold War propaganda. Read More... |
August 2009 |
After Stalingrad, The Red Army's Winter Offensive 1942-1943 by David M. Glantz, Helion & Company, 2009. Hardcover, $59.95, 496 pages The war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union has received an uneven treatment from most popular historians. Perhaps no better example of this is in typical accounts of events taking place during the winter of 1942-1943. Read More... |
November 2009 - Movie Review |
The Ninety-Fifth, The Iron Men of Metz, Directed by Davidson Cole, Produced by Davidson Cole, Neal Gold, Adam Graham, John Digles, Ligia Popescu, Bruce Rosenzweig and Mary Kay Cook, Traveller Jones Productions, 2009. $19.99. When one sits down to watch The Ninety-Fifth, The Iron Men of Metz it readily becomes evident this film is not your typical work on the Second World War. Read More... |
March 2010 |
Tirpitz, The Life and Death of Germany's Last Super Battleship by Niklas Zetterling & Michael Tamelander, Casemate, 2009, Hard cover, $32.95, 360 pages. Tirpitz, The Life and Death of Germany's Last Super Battleship is a book this reviewer enjoyed and does not hesitate to recommend. Read More... |
June 2010 |
Erich von Manstein, Hitler's Master Strategist by Benoit Lemay, Casemate, 2010, Soft cover, $32.95, 528 pages. There is little doubt that Erich von Manstein had one of the finest military minds of the Second World War. Read More... |