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
Today I came across an article in an American publication, Science News Letter, dated 24 April 1943. The headline on page 269 reads ‘Gas Attacks Expected’. The opening paragraph reads: HITLER’S BOMBERS, if they make their expected raids on American cities, can be counted on to drop poison gases in bombs or sprays, Col. A.
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
59-61 Farringdon Road in London is also known as the Zeppelin Building. I don’t know when it received this name; possibly only recently. But it owes it to the fact that its predecessor on the site was destroyed during an air raid on the night of 8 September 1915. The most famous of the Zeppelin
I’ve never been to a Cliopatria Awards ceremony, but I imagine it is full of glitz and glamour, tuxedos and ball gowns. As the best history bloggers of the past year, the winners certainly deserve to be feted in this way. But instead of my applause all I can give them is a little recognition,
