The postman delivered a very welcome package from Amazon this morning ... my copy of AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE 19TH CENTURY. This was bought on the recommendation of Ogrefencer, and was even better than I had hoped.
The book was written by Kevin F Kiley and Digby Smith, and Jeremy Black MBE acted as a consultant. It was published by Lorenz Press (an imprint of Anness Publishing Ltd) in 2010 (ISBN 978 0 7548 1901 1) and covers the following nineteenth century conflicts:
A visit to the local branch of Waterstone's tonight enabled me to buy a copy of Harry Turtledove's latest book, HITLER'S WAR (Hodder & Stoughton [2009] ISBN 978 0 340 92182 1). Its premise is that World War II breaks out in 1938 as a result of the Munich Crisis and not in 1939, when the Germans invade Poland. As my dissertation – written many, many years ago! – compared Britain's military preparedness in 1938 and 1939, I will read his book with interest.
I have not always enjoyed reading some of Harry Turtledove's previous 'alternative history' books, but as this deals with the Interwar period, I will give it a try.
The book was written by Kevin F Kiley and Digby Smith, and Jeremy Black MBE acted as a consultant. It was published by Lorenz Press (an imprint of Anness Publishing Ltd) in 2010 (ISBN 978 0 7548 1901 1) and covers the following nineteenth century conflicts: - The Crimean War
- Wars of German and Italian Unification
- The American Civil War
- The Boer Wars
- Wars of the Colonial Empires
A visit to the local branch of Waterstone's tonight enabled me to buy a copy of Harry Turtledove's latest book, HITLER'S WAR (Hodder & Stoughton [2009] ISBN 978 0 340 92182 1). Its premise is that World War II breaks out in 1938 as a result of the Munich Crisis and not in 1939, when the Germans invade Poland. As my dissertation – written many, many years ago! – compared Britain's military preparedness in 1938 and 1939, I will read his book with interest.
I have not always enjoyed reading some of Harry Turtledove's previous 'alternative history' books, but as this deals with the Interwar period, I will give it a try.
Likewise Amazon delivered 19thC uniforms....I had forgotten I had ordered it so likewise a nice surprise. It is profusely illustrated and touches on all relevant conlicts although a bit too much ACW which I have lots of books on already....but all in all a very good buy especially as I bought it at £12.99 last year a bargain!!
ReplyDeleteBob, I was a bit disappointed with the military uniforms book. I have the companion Napoleonic and AWI books, both of which I think are better. I thought the organisation of this one a bit odd - but I was only disappointed in comparison to two other very good books. The pictures are the thing, and they are all very handy one volume painting guides.
ReplyDeleteClive
Hi Bob, I have the other two titles in the series - the Napoleonic Wars and the American War of Independence - the AWI title is probably the most comprehensive of the three simply because if covers one war rather than many. The 19th century book is excellent though and well worth the price from Amazon! Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeleteOgre
Fraxinus,
ReplyDeleteYou are right to point out that it is a little ACW-heavy, but at the price Amazon were selling it for I can live with that.
The last section on the Colonial conflicts was - in comparison - a little light, but I still found it an interesting and inspiring read.
All the best,
Bob
Old Metal Detector,
ReplyDeleteI have not seen either of the other books and it may well not be as good, but as I wrote elsewhere, I thought it was quite good for the price.
In comparison with a standard Osprey MAA, it was less than the price of two MAAs and had many more illustrations. On balance, I think it was money well spent.
If you rate the Napoleonic book as better, I will certainly look out for it. This is a period that has been a marginal interest to me for years, and as I have quite a few figures I think that I should start to use them. This book might just be the thing to spur me to do so.
All the best,
Bob
Ogrefencer,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendation. It was money well spent!
All the best,
Bob
I bought 'Hitler's War' a few weeks ago - not read it yet though!
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteI have begun reading it, and it is a typical Turtledove book. It tells the story from the point of view of several different characters rather than at a strategic or grand tactical level.
What I hoped for was a 1938 version of Hackett's THE THIRD WORLD WAR; what I got was something else. A good idea that could have been executed far better.
All the best,
Bob