Category: Book Reviews
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Book Review: Battles of the Scottish Lowlands
In Battles of the Scottish Lowlands, Stuart Reid offers a sweeping survey of battles and campaigns occurring around Stirling over a period of nearly 450 years (1297-1746). The focus and selection of events is purely geographical and the Reid freely admits that readers may immediately criticize the lack of some significant Scotland battlefields (e.g., Culloden), but…
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Book Review: The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam
Riley-Smith, Jonathan. The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. In The Crusades, Christianity, and Islam, Jonathan Riley-Smith has provided a succinct, powerful work that helps us understand the historical memory of the Crusades in both the Western and Islamic worlds. Given the sensitivities over the Crusading era with both Christians and…
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Book Review: Turning Pro
Author Steven Pressfield published a short, powerful book earlier this year, Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work. The blurb caught my attention, as he sought to explain how he moved from being an amateur to being a professional. Addressing anyone with artistic aspirations, Pressfield emphasizes there is a stark difference…
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Book Review: New Jersey Butterfly Boys in the Civil War
In New Jersey Butterfly Boys, Peter T. Lubrecht tells the story of the Third New Jersey Cavalry, a regiment that saw action during the latter half of the Civil War. The unit is an intriguing one that featured an ethnic mix of predominately German and Irish immigrants, as well as soldiers from more than a…
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Video Review: The Complete Gettysburg Guide for the iPad Kindle
The Complete Gettysburg Guide for the iPad Kindle is slick and well worth the $13.77 price tag. It is in full color and easily navigable like other books. In addition, you can zoom in on the maps. To demonstrate some of the functionality, here is a video demonstration of the book. I have used the hardcover…
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Book Review: These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory
Desjardin, Thomas A. These Honored Dead: How The Story Of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. 288 pages. Thomas A. Desjardin’s These Honored Dead is a decent introduction to some of the popular myths that have spawned and lingered from Gettysburg since the battle occurred. The popularized version of Gettysburg from…
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Book Review: The Battle of Agincourt: Sources and Interpretations
On 25 October 1415, Henry V (1387-1422) and his army of heavy infantry and longbowmen fought a larger French army of cavalry, crossbowmen, and heavy infantry. The result was a decisive English victory at the Battle of Agincourt that historian John Keegan identified as “one of the most instantly and vividly visualized of all epic…
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Book Review: In Words and Deeds
Richard F. Miller. In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2008. 424 pages. Richard F. Miller’s In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History is a unique book. While it does contain excerpts from more than 90 speeches, it is more than just transcribed words. Miller has classified…
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Book Review: The Father of Us All
Hanson, Victor Davis. The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010. 272 pages. From the mind of Victor Davis Hanson comes The Father of Us All, which gets its name from the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus (c. 535-475 BC), who said that war is “the father, the king…
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Book Review: Warfare in the Ancient World
Carey, Brian Todd. Warfare in the Ancient World. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2009. 184 pages. In Warfare in the Ancient World, Brian Todd Carey has produced a collection of 26 ancient battles, which serve as a fine introduction to the topic. In between the battles, Carey mixes in descriptions of the rise and fall…
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Book Review: A Short Guide to Writing About History
Marius, Richard, and Melvin E. Page. A Short Guide to Writing About History, 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2010, 226 pages. A Short Guide to Writing About History is a book that has withstood the test of the time over the past two decades. Originally written in 1989 by the late Richard Marius, professor from…
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Book Review: Joan of Arc: A Military Leader
DeVries, Kelly. Joan of Arc: A Military Leader. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing, 2003, 244 pages. Kelly DeVries, author and professor of history at Loyola University in Maryland, has written a strong case that scholars have incorrectly analyzed Joan of Arc through virtually every lens save for a military one. She “was a soldier, plain and…