History Books > Thomas Cahill History Books

Advantages: Good as part of the series, good as a stand-alone text
Disadvantages: -

...and women in danger of crucifixion.’ Cahill continues the discussion in his fourth book, ‘Sailing the Wine Red Sea’, and takes the ideas further in a more secular direction. This book, ‘The Desire of the Everlasting Hills’, highlights an important step in the development of the world today. ... Read review

Advantages: Interesting stories, good writing
Disadvantages: A few sketchy details

...together (Augustine in particular) and how they led to a reshaping of various lines of authority under the church administration. This led to missionary zeal that carried both the ideas and the institution far across the continent; Ireland, never having been under Roman control, perhaps suffered least in these areas by the decline of Roman influence and the rise of the church. Indeed, they were well poised to become leaders in their own right, and ...
...the church. The Irish influence spread across Britain, and throughout much of the West in the monastic movement, which was instrumental in helping to restore order in the various lands from the former empire. Many abbots and teachers came directly from Ireland; others were taught by the teachers or in the schools established by the Irish monastics who traveled throughout the continent. Entertaining, easily readable, full of facts that are often overlooked ... 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