History Books > Norman Davies History Books

Advantages: Interesting, thought-provoking, readable
Disadvantages: Has various biases (most of them explained)

The British Isles are a unique geographical location in the world, having been provided by nature with advantages and problems unique in the world, and peopled by various groups who have worked together and against one another for domination of the Isles. Only for the briefest periods in history did the Isles truly represent a unified group, and even these times were more of an appearance of unity rather than actual unification. Norman Davies, author ...
...an interesting history of the British Isles, trying to portray them as a group that, while lacking unity, should be at least addressed as a unified group, always influencing and co-dependent upon each other. Davies is rather modest in his self-description of the book: ------------ This book necessarily presents a very personal view of history. Indeed, by some academic standards, it may well be judged thoroughly unsound. As I wrote in relation to ... Read review

Advantages: very informative
Disadvantages: --

This is a very large tome. it is more the size of a dictionary than some of the more usual history books that you get. Davies' main focus prior to this book had been Poland and he makes many references to that country in this text. It can be hard trying to plough through a book like this at times and it is probably best gone through in stages. Not that it is dull by any means, just very large with a great amount of material. In order to elucidate ...
...text and are separately indexed. These can be referred to as you are reading through or can be read later to expedite a better understanding of the section of the text that you are in. Each deals with a particular subject within the general flow of the text. The book is wide ranging and is attempt to try and get people to focus on the wider Europe. Of course there is the question of what actually constitutes Europe. Is it the EU/EEA? Is it inclusive ... Read review

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