Gerald Dickens. Bombing and Strategy: The Fallacy of Total War. London: Sampson Low, Marston, n.d. [1946?]. That's Admiral Sir Gerald Dickens KCVO CB CMG to you and me, the grandson of Charles Dickens no less. An example of airpower scepticism. I had hoped that it was the 1941 edition, but the 'n.d.' turns out to mean c. 1946. But then I get to see what he makes of the atomic bomb, so that's not so bad.

Michael S. Neiberg. Dance of the Furies: Europe and the Outbreak of World War I. Cambridge and London: Belknap Press, 2011. Cuts a wide swathe through Europe in 1914 in constructing the argument that contrary to widespread belief, the coming of war was a huge surprise to contemporaries. I waver on this myself; the First World War seems like the most overdetermined war in history, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest it was unexpected. I guess it can be both.

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