[Cross-posted at Society for Military History Blog.] Today is Anzac Day, the anniversary of the landing at Gallipoli of Australian (and New Zealand, though my remarks here mostly pertain to my own country) troops on 25 April 1915. In the last two decades Anzac day has increasingly been seen as marking the coming of age […]
E. H. Carr. What is History? Camberwell: Penguin Books, 2008. Second edition. What indeed? David Edgerton. England and the Aeroplane: Militarism, Modernity and Machines. London: Penguin, 2013. Second edition. England and the Aeroplane was first published in 1991 and is now a key text for understanding modern Britain’s relationship with technology in general and aviation
Peter Gray. The Leadership, Direction and Legitimacy of the RAF Bomber Offensive from Inception to 1945. London and New York: Continuum, 2012. An interesting title, and looks like an accurate one (if an annoyingly difficult one to shorten for citations!) Gray’s background before doing his PhD (which this book is based upon) is in the
[Cross-posted at Society for Military History Blog.] I learned something new from an article in the March 2013 issue of History Today: Exactly half a century ago, in the spring of 1963, Israel was suddenly gripped by a curious mass panic. Sensational newspaper reports and radio announcements claimed that the country was threatened by enemy
Quite some time ago I promised to write more about J. M. Spaight’s Volcano Island (published in 1943 but written late in 1942). I probably should do that at some point. Such as now. Here I want to look at what he has to say about area bombing. He quite unapologetically uses this phrase, even
Robert Bollard. In the Shadow of Gallipoli: The Hidden History of Australia in World War I. Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2013. Focuses on the Australian home front, in particular the growth of dissent which culminated in 1917 with the Great Strike and the second anti-conscription campaign. The final chapter looks at industrial and military unrest as
The art of Charles Dellschau has been receiving some attention lately, thanks to the recent publication of a book about his work. Dellschau, who produced thousands of strange and wonderful watercolours, drawings and collages in Houston, Texas, between about 1899 and 1922, is significant as an early outsider artist, but he is mainly of interest
James Hinton. The Mass Observers: A History, 1937-1949. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. This is not yet another book of extracts from Mass-Observation diaries (not that there’s anything wrong with that) but a history of the organisation itself. Even within the chronological span covered, the focus is on the first five years (i.e. before Tom
[Cross-posted at Society for Military History Blog.] Previously I argued that two books by Frank Joseph, Mussolini’s War: Fascist Italy’s Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935-45 (Helion & Company, 2010) and The Axis Air Forces: Flying in Support of the German Luftwaffe (Praeger, 2011), were at the
The Aero Manual: A Manual of Mechanically-propelled Human Flight, Covering the History of the Work of Early Investigators, and of the Pioneer Work of the Last Century. Recent Successes, and the Reasons Therefor, are Dealt With, Together with Many Constructive Details Concerning Airships, Aeroplanes, Gliders, etc. London: Temple Press, 1910. 2nd edition. Well, the title
