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.Major and Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide to the Somme (Battleground Europe)
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt

April 25, 1994
Put quite simply, if you're visiting The Somme, please take this book with you. My visit was made all the better thanks to this little gem. It won't allow you to miss a thing and gives teriffic background on the places you'll visit.
While standing in Cemeteries containing over 5,000 graves you'll certainly shed a tear or two so take plenty of tissues! The whole Somme region is a huge burial ground and cemeteries and memorials appear from nowhere everywhere you look. When you come across one simply stop your car, take out this book, and you'll be able to read all about the memorial that stands before you.
My wife and I will certainly visit this very moving area of France again and this superb book will accompany us again ... Read More:
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.Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945: 0
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Christer Bergstrom

July 17, 2008
This is the fourth and final volume in a series covering the air war between Germany and the Soviet Union and the one which covers the largest scope - the whole Eastern front from near the middle of the war to its end. Given the huge scale of the volume the focus is on the strategic level rather than the operational, but the book uses numerous tactical anecdotes to illustrate the flow of the air campaign.

The air war on the eastern front was almost always conducted to support armies on the ground and Bergstrom describes the ground war to show how air power supported it (though the limited 'strategic' bombing campaign briefly conducted by the Luftwaffe in 1944 is discussed).

The first five chapters of the book cover ... Read More:
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.Tail End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War 1944-45
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Tony Rennell, John Nichol

April 07, 2005
As someone whose father was a tail gunner with 78 and 76 Sqdns who died in October 1944 after 29 ops, just to say thanks for such an informative book.
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.A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Alfred-Maurice de Zayas

June 19, 2006
If we ever forget that there are no depths to human depravity then we will always stand on the brink of actions described in this book. The common perception is that the acts were in direct consequense and "pay back" for what happened in the east. What this book brings clearly to light is that people can not be held responsible for a crime because they have a genetic link to the perpitrators and although it is young men who do the most of the fighting in wars it is everyone else who has to do the suffering. It has to be acknowledged that this was a human tragedy of a magnitude alongside the Holocaust, anything less is to to pass degrees of blame or innocence depending on race or accident of birth. War crimes are committed by individuals, sometimes with the ... Read More:
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.Luck and a Lancaster: Chance and Survival in World War II (Airlife's Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Harry Yates

March 15, 2001
The details of Luck and a Lancaster are adequately reviewed elsewhere, but I have to say how much I enjoyed it. This book is extremely well written and can be both funny and tragic. It sticks in my mind that the young Yates has a penchant for straying off course and 'buzzing' his parent's house during operational training. The reader then gets to know his aircrew, and accompanies them on some harrowing missions, courtesy of the flowing and detailed narrative. There's the Squadron reunion, where the crew are older but unchanged in character and Harry's emotional return to what was RAF Mepal. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and spending some time with these gallant young men.
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.Codebreakers: The Inside Story of Bletchley Park
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
from: Oxford Paperbacks

May 03, 2001
A disappointing book, given the exciting subject matter. The different authors recounting their experiences gives it a disjointed feel and some are clearly better story tellers than others. The precise, repetitive 'Civil Service' language is wearing to read.
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.The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Robert Jay Lifton

March 22, 1988
This is a very carefully researched book which deserves to be read. It not only covers the involvement by doctors in medical killing but also investigates their psychology. For those interested in medical ethics I'm sure it would be worth reading.

The first half of this book charts the historical progression from direct medical killing of those deemed to be 'life unworthy of life' (often mental patients) through to the most complete expression found in Auschwitz. We see how the medical ideal can be twisted by subverting it to the 'higher' ideal of caring for the health of the social organism by surgically removing the 'ailing' parts.

We are presented with the complex factors involved in this process. The religious, visionary component ... Read More:
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.Fascism: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Kevin Passmore

August 22, 2002
This book deals primarily with how fascism emerged and how it competed in the fledgling democracies of inter war Europe (1918-39). The chapters are divided up neatly, one analysing the appeal of fascism to women, the other looking at how fascism appealed to social class. There are also frequent mentions of how on the one hand conservatives can neuter fascism with tough policies, but sometimes instead legitimise fascism with these same policies. There is also an analysis of neo-fascism in Europe, with a focus on individual nations like France, Russia and Italy which have experienced far-right revivals. One feature is the author's academic rigour and discipline. He continuously reminds us of the fluidity of defining fascism, and urges readers to analyse fascism through ... Read More:
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.To Hell and Back
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: Audie Murphy

July 25, 2002
I have always admired Audie Murphy, and once you've read this account of his personal war time experiences I am positive you will too.

This is a blood and guts no holds barred account by a man who is modest to the end when telling of his bravery and loyalty to his comrades. I'm not surprised that he won the Congressional Medal of Honor, and many other bravery decorations.

What I particularly love about this book is that it is about all fighting men and does not criticise any other nation or in the same vain hype up the actions of one particular Army.

I recommend this enthralling and modest account to anyone with an interest in truth. You won't regret or forget it.
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.With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
City Travel Guides > Books > Origins
by: E. B. Sledge

September 25, 2007
While reading the book I repeatedly wondered how the author could emerge as a whole person. As the book explains the memories haunted him for years and only found release after completing the book.

The honesty is amazing, its clarity unusual. The details are numerous, but always important and add to our understanding of what it was really like.

Sobering, impressive, well-written, ever-relevant. Thoroughly recommended.


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