History Books > H History Books > Alison Weir

Advantages: Excellent account of unprecidented war trial
Disadvantages: Can be hard reading at times

INTRODUCTION After the fall of the Third Reich, the Allies of the United Kingdom, France, The United States and Russia were left with the issue of bringing the Nazi leaders to justice. Whatever they decided would set a precedent; no trial in history had previously been conducted for the top brass of a criminal regime. They understood the importance of any decision they made, as it would hold the key to how war criminals once defeated would ...
...of this ground breaking trial. It is hard to read these kinds of things objectively; for example, my own father served in the British 8th Army during the war, and I would have been a fair way up the regime's hit list, so I can't claim to be in any way neutral. However, I have tried hard to read this book looking from both sides of the trial. It is a great credit to the book that it enables you to do this to a fair degree. Perhaps more fairly that ... Read review

Advantages: Compelling true story, well written.
Disadvantages: None

Highly detailed account of the wartime experiences of a group of soldiers from the 101st Airborne's Easy Company. The book's very accessible style (it even includes maps at the front) and its highly compelling subject matter combine to make this an extremely worthwhile read. The inclusion of photographs in the book helps to remind the reader that this is a TRUE story, rather than just a TV show (which was also excellent). Especially striking is the ...
...though I won't elaborate as it would spoil the book if you haven't read it (or seen the TV series). Personally, I couldn't put this book down. The shattering, heart-rending journey these men go through over the course of 307 pages makes this book (for me) the ultimate page-turner. It left me with a sense of gratitude at the sacrifices and hardships these men went through, whilst feeling inspired that they still retained their friendship and humanity. ... Read review

Advantages: A good read
Disadvantages: none

Operation certain death is written by Damien Lewis and was published in 2004 and is the inside story of the SAS's greatest battles. Damien Lewis is an award winning author and filmmaker whose documentaries have appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and a host of other networks. Operation certain death is the real life story of eleven Irish Ranger soldiers who where taken hostage in sierra Leone in 1999 by the west side boys after a routine mission to the ...
...a battle plan code named Operation Barras in which they would drop into the middle of the rebel village and all hell would break. This was also a joint operation with the Paratrooper Company 1 Para whose mission was to take out the neighboring rebel village Magbeni and their heavy artillery in case they use them on the SAS during the rescue of the Irish Rangers. This mission was considered to be extremely dangerous and very unlike the SAS who use ... Read review

Advantages: Well-researched and well-written - a fascinating read
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

Mark Kurlansky seems to delight in devoting himself to subjects that other authors shy away from - how else can you explain his eclectic choice of subject matter that ranges from the social history of various European peoples (The Chosen Few: The Resurrection of European Jewry; The Basque History of the World) to the role that cod has played down the centuries (Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World)? However, on closer inspection the ...
...Basques, who live in close proximity to the Atlantic, were and are a people renowned for their proud history of deep-sea fishing, and Altantic cod has been a mainstay of the European diet for centuries... but without the use of salt to preserve fish, this simply would not have been the case. It therefore seems perfectly logical for Kurlansky to turn his attention to something that is now ubiquitous, but was once considered the preserve of the privileged ... Read review

Advantages: Gripping summary of last 700 years.
Disadvantages: Some may prefer to watch the DVD.

My wife and I were given annual English Heritage tickets as a present and we have been enjoying getting out and about visiting their historical attractions. This led me to want to fill in the gaps in my English history so that I could better appreciate the sites. I found that the best starting place was the British History for Dummies book which gives an often humorous look at the main events and lifestyles of our Isles since man first inhabited ...
...a bit deeper into British history, and so thought I would give this book a try. David Starkey's Monarchy enabled me, in what I found to be an interesting way, to put together the strands of history that I already knew into context, and so get a better idea of the whole picture. I think I would have found the amount of facts in the book a bit overwhelming if I had not read the chapters, where my knowledge was most lacking, in the Dummies book first. ... Read review