History Books > Jeremy Paxman History Books

Advantages: Interesting and well-written - a different look at all things English
Disadvantages: The maps aren't pink any more ;-)

...define being English? What is the essence of ‘Englishness’? Seems an easy question to tackle, but the more you think about it, the clearer it becomes that England is no longer a nation of tea drinking, cucumber sandwich-eating shopkeepers and cricket enthusiasts, if it ever was! In this book, Jeremy Paxman digs deep beneath the surface of the English consciousness to try and discover just what it means to be English. It’s very ...
...‘English weather’. And of course, the first resort of the frustrated expat when confronted with yet another example of German bureaucracy is to think of the antagonist across the desk clad in lederhosen and tucking into a bratwurst. Well, they all do, don’t they? Perhaps living abroad makes you think about the nature of belonging to a particular race or nation a bit more closely, I suppose it’s a natural reaction. What was ... Read review

Advantages: Informative and entertaining
Disadvantages: Slow in places

...mean to be facetious – the fact is that most of us only have a vague idea of the most basic functions of politicians. The Political Animal remedies that. As you expect from Jeremy Paxman, it holds no punches, but neither does it set out to vilify politicians. It is an honest, straightforward look at what politicians do and what it means to be a politician: from student days spent debating as an aspiring politician; to standing for a constituency ...
...cabinet position; and finally to the walk of shame as our MP is sacked amid a flood of disgrace and told to get the hell out of Westminster. To paraphrase Dickens, a career in politics seems to be the best of jobs and the worst of jobs. As much as we complain about the government, the truth is that most of us wouldn’t survive a week in the Houses of Parliament (even if a week is a long time in politics, that’s still pretty bad going). Jeremy Paxman ... Read review

Advantages: Captivating, informative, heart-renching
Disadvantages: Alot of information to take in.

War Junkie By Jon Steele ISBN- 0552149845 Price- £6.99 Published- Orginally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press a division of Transworld publishers in 2002. Later Corgi edition published in 2003. Found at- www.booksattransworld.co.uk War novels has always intrested me but War Junkie particularly caught my eye as it is very different from normal war stories. As i did not have alot of prior knowledge of modern war times this book was very ...
...make it enjoyable. War Junkie is written as a biography through the eyes of a camera man rather than an actual soldier. I found this intriguing having the story told by a cameraman gave the advantage of having all angles of the distrubances covered. It also tells you how cameramen and journalists also risk their lifes at the stake of capturing the horror and tell their story to the world. Jon Steele became a ITN cameraman in 1982 and has established ... Read review

Advantages: A gripping and extraordinary episode in history
Disadvantages: You need a good interest in WW2

...combatants and civillians. Stalingrad was perhaps the most important turning point of the second World War. Hitler's mad obsession with capturing the city named after his Soviet rival eventually cost the Germans the 250,000 men of the Sixth Army. Their remaining forces never recovered their balance and were soon in a rapid retreat all along the Eastern front. The first section of 'Stalingrad' deals with launch of the invasion of the Soviet Union. ...
...knew the Soviet counter-attack at Stalingrad destroyed the Roumanian 'satellite' armies fighting with the Germans in Russia I'd never really read much about it. Beevor takes time to dwell on the Roumanians and how they felt about the Germans and the war. So I felt I learnt new things from 'Stalingrad' throughout. The accounts of life in Stalingrad during the campaign are vivid and haunting. Red Army troops are boated in over the Volga river. This ... Read review

Advantages: Explores every theory, and links it with what's happening right now
Disadvantages: Too Ellusive and dream like to lay down real practical solutions

My Experience Whilst the book starts off interesting in relation to the globe at large, it slowly looses real grip of the most practical solutions a man can find. The book connects every situation, with global warming, thus equating that man is the cause for natures repause and changes and makes the attack visible. The book offers a wide eye view into a variety of issues that have happened for centuries and makes connections with religion beliefs ...
...for all the catasrophes on earth. Whilst the book title suggests, it is a vital blueprint for ensuring our future, it does not however offer practical solutions for the smaller problems. It jumps the gun, and tries to dictate the future of humans. It does give a lot of suggestions, for what we should do, whilst on the planet, but it does not provide the foundation, or the practicality of how systems should carry out these suggestions. A good read, ... Read review