Charles Sowerwine. France Since 1870: Culture, Society and the Making of the Republic. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Second Edition. French history is one of my weak points. If I’d taken one of Chips’ classes — he retired from my former department a few years ago — I might not have needed to buy his book.
One sub-species of military intellectual is the retired field marshal (or admiral, or air marshal) who, at the end of a long career, sets down their thoughts on the future of warfare for the interested reader. Even though they may be quite famous, their essays into futurism are nowadays read less often than that of
As I said… I went back for more Shute! Neville Shute. No Highway. London: Vintage Books, 2009 [1948]. Not about the Comet and its metal-fatigue induced accidents, because it was written before the prototype even flew. Neville Shute. Pastoral. London: Vintage Books, 2009 [1944]. A Bomber Command romance.
The title of this post is something which Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris did not say. There are an uncountable infinity of things Harris didn’t say, but this particular one is of interest because during the Second World War it was widely believed that he did say it, and was taken to represent his aims
I went on a mini-spending spree this week — mini because Vintage have recently cut their prices in Australia and are cheap as chips. Graham Greene. Brighton Rock. London: Vintage Books, 2004 [1938]. ‘Now a major motion picture’. Aldous Huxley. Ape and Essence. London: Vintage Books, 2005 [1949]. I couldn’t resist this after reading the
In Culture in Camouflage: War, Empire, and Modern British Literature (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), Patrick Deer discusses airminded fiction for boys from the 1930s and suggests that (78): In their own cheery way, these boys’ flying stories echo the mythos of the flying übermenschen so dear to the fascist imagination. In their patriotic exuberance,
Juliet Gardiner. The Blitz: The British Under Attack. London: HarperPress, 2010. Another example of anniversary publishing, but I wouldn’t have misgivings about buying a Juliet Gardiner book. Except… I worry that it will cover too much of the same ground as her Wartime. Robin Higham and Frederick W. Kagan, eds. The Military History of the
Kate Moore. The Battle of Britain. London and Long Island City: Osprey Publishing, 2010. Gavin Mortimer. The Blitz: An Illustrated History. London and Long Island City: Osprey Publishing, 2010. 2010 was seventy years after 1940, and in the usual way saw the publication of a number of new books about the pivotal events of that
Peter Hennessy. The Secret State: Preparing for the Worst 1945-2010. London: Penguin, 2010. Second edition. The instant classic on how the British government has gone about defending the realm, particularly in preparations for the Third World War. Hennessy has updated it with information from masses of newly declassified files from the Cold War, and has
Xmas wins! Gus Officer. Six O’Clock Diamond: The Story of a Desert Harrasser. Northcote: Woolhouse Press, 2008. The memoir of a Second World War RAAF Kittyhawk pilot, who in 1942 was shot down over the Western Desert and spent the rest of the war as a POW. Roland Perry. The Australian Light Horse: The Magnificent
