Hoyt states at the beginning of this book that there are serveral good books about Goering and that this book was about the Luftwaffe. Then he details the life of Goering and his role in the Air Service. This is more a book about Goering, than it is a book about the Luftwaffe. That stated, it is a good introductary text on Goering and his Luftwaffe.
I like Hoyt's writing, but this book was only an average read. The subject is not covered in detail. Hoyt covers the main subjects: Goering's subservience to Hitler, his promises, the poor leadership of Udet and Kesslering, the lack of long range bombers, etc. I learned a few things from this book. The reason why Sweden was not invaded had a lot to do with Goering's promises to that country. There are other interesting tidbits of info in this book. However, this book does not cover this subject in detail. Otherwise, an average read.

I expected this to be a great book with all the hype surrounding this story. I am also very fond of George H. W. Bush, since I voted for him twice. This book I was not fond of. Why? Because it equalizes the Americans and Japanese during World War II. Forget about the Japanese conduct in China or the way they treated captured POWs and enemy aliens and then you have the moral equivalent of the Americans. This along with many other crimes against humanity are shunted aside.
Jim, The Germans, Japanese, and Italians were the first to target civilians in the 1930s and 1940s. The Italians did it in Ethiopia, the Nazis did it to Poland, England, and Holland. The Japanese did it in China and elsewhere. They legitimized civilians as targets in war. It must have been a surprise when they received the same medicine back again. Sympathy I feel for those families who lost loved ones. They should focus their anger at the leaders who brought them into the conflict.
Bradley is quite correct in saying the Americans of the early 20th century were racists. But his description of our conduct in the Philippines is very slanted. In Benovolent Assimilation, Miller shows the complex relationship between the islands and the American troops who occupied it. Bradley slants it all in the most negative light. The insurrection in the Philippines killed thousands of American soldiers, and the correct number of natives is hard to determine. Bradley justs slants the most negative numbers onto his work. For those readers who want a more balanced account, read Miller's book. It will differ from what Bradley says.
I guess I am upset because Bradley is equating American action in WWII as equal to the Japanese. There may have been individual actions of killing Japanese prisoners of war, but what the Japanese did was monsterous. Their leaders paid for it at the end of the war. If one had to be captured by the Americans, British, or Japanese, what would be the preference. Only those wanting a death wish would pick the Japanese. I prefer not to starve, be worked to death (River Kwai), beheaded, and/or eaten.
There was a great story in this book. It was clouded by Bradley's moralizing about the evilness of the Americans. He should have focused more attention on the story of the captured flyboys.

Another nice book by Hoyt. Hoyt writes a nice story, even though there are no academic breakthroughs here. Hoyt describes the naval and land battles of the Guadalcanal campaign. He includes Japanese sources in this story of the campaign. Because of the complexity of the campaign, this short book is only a summary read of the battle for Guadalcanal. If one wants a more in depth book, one will need to read elsewhere.
There were a couple of distractions in this book. First there was the habit of describing something about what was happening in the personal basis for the soldiers fighting this campaign, then in the next paragraph, Hoyt tells of the grand strategic dimensions of the war. This destroyed the flow of the book. Second, Hoyt tells of the sinking of the cruiser New Orleans, then he tells how this cruiser limped back to port. Obviously, this was some sort of error.
Overall a good summary read of this campaign. If only the flow was there and the typos were not, this book would have been better.

This is a great adventure story by Edwin Hoyt. I am glad this book is back in print. This is the true story of the German light cruiser Emden and its adventures during the first part of World War I. The Emden was based in the German colony of Tsingtao and was commanded by Von Muller. This ship broke away from the main German Asiatic fleet and raided Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean. It shelled the oil refinery in Madras, India and sailed into a Malayan harbor and sunk an Allied cruiser. It caused so much havoc that the Allied authorities tied down valuable warships hunting for the Emden. It was eventually caught and destroyed by the Australian heavy cruiser Sydney.
The story does not stop there because fifty of the crew escape capture and take a sailing vessel and go to Arabia, and then eventually make their way home to Germany. This was truly a great story.
This is one of Hoyt's early works. I always enjoy his books and recommend them to anybody who wants to both learn and enjoy a good read.

As the previous reviewer from Portugal noted, humanity sometimes fails to acknowledge people who do the right thing. Sousa Mendes was just such a man. He was a Portuguese Council in southern France at the time of the German invasion. Jews from the low countries and France fled south trying to get to the neutral countries of Spain and Portugal. These countries sealed their borders in most cases, so one had to have a visa to get across the border. Sousa Mendes violated his country's rule aginst these stateless persons, and literally issued thousands of visas so that these Jews and other opponents of the Nazis could escape. In the process, he destroyed his career and eventually died in poverty. He did do the proper thing where most others abided their country's rules.
This was an inspirational read. Fralon details the life of Sousa Mendes and Portugal's role in both World Wars. He also details a little of the fascist rule of Salzaar. Unfortunately there were no happy endings with Sousa Mendes. The Portuguese government even balked at honoring him, and was forced by outside pressure to recognize what he did in the nineties.

This is a book about two pilots of a crashed Eastern Airlines flight 401 bound from New York to Miami. The plane crashed in the Everglades because the pilots concentrated on correcting a burned out light bulb (for the landing gear) and disconnected the autopilot, allowing the aircraft to crash land in a swamp.
The plane was the relatively new L-1011. These two pilots survived the crash, only to die of their injuries. EAL used some of the parts of the crashed plane in other airliners. These other L-1011s were subsequently visited by the dead pilots.
The pilots did not haunt the aircraft, but they wanted their presence known. On several occassions, they helped warn of problems and fixed aspects of the aircraft. Both pilots were friendly, but their presence caused emotional disturbances with the flight and cabin crew.
Fuller has written a number of books about the supernatural. I don't know if I believe him on all aspects of his writings. This book had a solid story of the crash, followed by sightings of the ghosts, and then some weird stuff of mediums and communicating with Don Repo through a Ouija board. The last four chapters are hard to believe. Fuller died in 1990, so only he can tell us if all this stuff is really true. John, I await your answer whether all this stuff is true.

This is one of Hoyt's earlier works about a merchant ship equiped to sink British shipping in the Atlantic. This ship, the Moewe (Seagull) sank British and Allied shipping during the First World War. Her two voyages gave the German's a victory in disrupting Allied shipping. Despite all this, the German captain Dohna-Schlodien was gallant and humane enough to rescue most of the crew members of his victims.
This is an adventure story. Several of Hoyt's earlier works are classic reads on little heard of events. I am surprised this book has not been reprinted. I think there would be interest in the exploits of the German surface raiders because the odds were definitely against them.

This book is a novel, or historical fiction as the long introduction will point out. The author Smith wrote this and had the publishers say it was the journal of Davy Crockett. It isn't. Smith read some books ghost written by Crockett, and then wrote this story in a similar fashion. That being said, it is a good and entertaining read. However, it is not true, so fellow historians beware.
Crockett is a colorful figure in American history. I can't say I know much about him, but this story places him in a very favorable light. The saying much attributed to Crockett about the voters of Tennessee going to hell, but he was going to Texas is one of my favorites. This is a great short read and I much recommend it.

I think this is an interesting read even if it a novel. I read this after a reference to this book in a news story about the coup de etat in the island nation of Comorros. At that time, some South African mercenaries overthrew the crazed rule of the African ruler of Comorros. That is where the reference to the Dogs of War was made.
One of the previous reviewers thought it was bad for Forsyth to spend so much space on how the coup was organized. The procurement of all the arms with the export license was very fascinating. What Forsyth revealed was that coups could be done privately witout the knowledge of governments. One only had to know how to procure and organize for the overthrow of a government. I think Forsyth did this well.
This is an interesting read. This may not be on the level of his previous books, but it is still a good read.

Twenty years ago this was required reading for my East European history course, and I have to say it is not only a classic but a great read. My Professor (an exile Latvian) wanted us students to know the reason why Eastern Europeans acted the way they acted. After being dominated by major great powers, East Europeans became docile in the face of power. Good soldier Svejk not only exhibits this with both the Austro-Hungarians, but also the Russians. Svejk accomodates himself to the realities of his life by acceptance outwardly, but resists internally the controls placed on him.
This is a great read for those trying to understand East Europe.
It is also a humorous read. Even now I chuckle over the actions of Good Soldier Svejk.