I really appreciated Anne Strathie's book about the life of Henry Robertson Bowers. It was fun and informative to see the Terra Nova expedition from Bower's point of view. The most interesting aspect of the work is the frequent references to Birdie's diary.

From it, the reader can learn a thing or two left aside in every other book from Scott's 1911-1912 South Polar expedition.
For one thing, Birdie tells us through his writings that there were frequent disagreement regarding steering between Bowers and Scott. Those disagreement led to serious waste of time, confusion and dangerous waste of food and energy. Also, Strathie admit that Teddy Evans in fact had the intention to resign before the final leg of the voyage between Australia and McMurdo Sound. It seems that the rift between Scott's and Evan's wifes were poisoning the men's relations.

All in all, a very good, quick review of Scott's Terra Nova expedition view from different eyes.

Yes, Teams of Rivals is the Abraham Lincoln story, which by itself is one the most most interesting, gripping political and human story you can ever read about. However, Team of Rivals is so much more than that. Throught Lincoln, Doris Kearns Goodwin draws a clear, enlightning portrait of William Seward, Kate and Salmon Chase, Edwin Stanton, Monty Blair and Ed Bates.

Almost any scholar of the Civil War period, almost any American will agree that Abraham Lincoln was one of the most important person who ever influence the course of US history, surely one of the 3 best American President who ever lived, if not the Greatest. What I realized going through Doris Kearns Goodwin marvelous work was that William Seward deserved a very high place on the list of the most important American politicians. Surely way more influencial, more credible than most presidents, Seward was the ancor on which Lincoln rest, he was the friend, the confident, the essential advisor on which he rely.

Without the unselfish Seward, Abraham Lincoln may not have been able to get through his first mandate, he may not have been able to leave his footprints on mankind's history. So, my sincere thanks to the author, who made me realize than the Civil War period was much more than Ulysses Grant, more than Robert E Lee, more than Abraham Licoln, more that George McClelland. The Civil War era was also where William Seward shone his brightest.

S.A. Andrée try for the North Pole in an hydrogen inflated ballon in 1897 was for years relegate to the "backroom" of Polar history. Thanks to Alec Wilkinson's stirring work, we can now appreciate the man and his struggle for scientific progress.

Againts all odds, being ridiculed by Polar Explorers, among those Adolfus Greely who had lead maybe the worst and most horrifying effort at the North Pole, Andrée kept his focus, drive and ambition to try something new,something he thought would be better. His quest ended in failure, yes, but he died in respect of his own ideas, not those of others.

Here is, in my opinion, two of the great strenghts of the book: first, Andrée's voyage, from conception to conclusion is a faboulus tale. A page-turner. As good as any polar expedition you can read about. Secondly, the author brings forth briefly other tries at the North Pole, specifically those of Greely and Nansen, so the reader can compare for himself the value of each try at the Pole.

Most importantly, the author rebukes and contradicts the widely affirmed conception the Andrée wasn't really up for the trip, that he wished to cancel the whole thing but only did went on with it because he was afraid of the world's reaction if he did back-off.

As a student of Polar expedition, I'm glad to have read "The Ice Balloon", and so will you.

"The voyage of the Discovery" is the last of a long string of book about Antarctic exploration that I've read. In fact, I even visited the Discovery in Dundee, Scotland in 2007.

So, here is what I did like about the book: first, if you are not an expert about Antarctica Exploration, this book will introduce to you many topics you need to know, in fact it's a book essentially for the non-initiated. The story is well written, Robert Falcon Scott being a tremendous writer. But that's about all.

On the negative side, although the author gave praise to his team and collegues, the book is centered on himself. Sadly, we don't get to know the personnality of the many special individuals who shared his adventures. Almost nothing on Tom Crean, almost less then nothing on Ernest Joyce. You have to be real attentive to realize that Frank Wild was on the expedition.

In fact, Scott, in relating his Southern sleging journey in 1902, don't find it important to introduce us to the 2 individuals who were with him, struggling for life in horrendous conditions, until midway throught the trip! Nor did he explain why he choose them. You'll get the answer in ANY other polar book available on the Heroic Age, but you won't get the answer from the man who picked the team!

I could tell you of many things Scott wrote that I find really hard to swallow, but I'll relate just two. First, on his Western Journey, in which Scott choose himself to lead when a geologist would have been way more efficient for gathering scientific records and data, Scott told the tale of a box full of important materials left in the field. After some sledging, the came back to pick the box up, but it's content lay all over the place, spreaded by the wind. Scott explains it this way: "The box was broken open, and the content was free to fly in any direction".

Now, how can the box be broken open when Scott's party was the only party nowhere near the box? The only explanation is that someone carelessly left it open when they left, probably Scott himself. Never one to blame oneself, Scott wrote " the box was broken open"... This ridiculous tale can only throw a shadow of a doubt about everything else he wrote, especially "Scott's Journals", his Terra Nova Expedition diary.

Secondly, Scott freely admit that, even if he was smaller than William Lashly or Taff Evans (who were with him on the Western Journey), he ate a full share of meals every day without remorse or regret. Naturally, Lashly and Evans, being bigger, needed more than Scott, but Scott ate as much as his companions. However, when on the South Polar trek in 1912, poor Taff Evans, way bigger than his 4 companions, was reduced by Scott of eating the same small share as the other four! The result? Evans broke down physically and mentally, and was the first to die an horrible death on the return journey.

This, sadly, gives me the measure of the man. Scott was strong, he had stamina, he left us a tremendous pictoral recording of the Terra Nova Expedition, but he never, never, should have led any Antarctic expedition. Scott coudn't take counsel or recommandation (other than from Uncle Bill Wilson), he was too concern about the legacy he would left. Repeately, he drove his companions on the verge of starvation and exhaustion. He was a deeply flawed man given responsabilities way over his competence. The results are there to prove it.

I was really impressed by The Complete Illustrated Guide to the Presidents of America. Not only do we get a very good, easy to read and comprehensive resume of all the Presidents, we also get the benefit of the retelling of the major events that preceded and shaped those Presidencies.

For instance, the "Road to Rebellion", the "Lewis and Clark Expedition" or the "Trails of Tears" pages beautifully enhanced and give color to political decisions and law making. I got to know better some lesser knowed Presidents, like Rutherford B Hayes, who left a very good impression on me. Dwight Eisenhower is another who do not get the credit he deserves.

I highly recommend this book to any person who wish to understand the evolution of US politics and law-making.

Dr. John Rae is truly, in my opinion, the most underrated of polar travelers. With no ressources other than his own talent for hunting and traveling, he set the standards by which explorers who followed him could have been inspired...the only thing is too few of them did listen. Those who did, like Roal Amundsen, collected succes after succes, without any loss of life or horrendous hardship to tell.

Rae's life is an inspiration by itself; honest, hard-working, couragous, loyal to his employers and friends, he lived a rich life of discoveries and adventures. I was really impressed with his stamina, drive to excell and compassion for his companions.
Ken McGoogan book relates with passion the life and achievements of this great polar explorer. At the end of the book, McGoogan shares with us the letter Rae's wife wrote of his passing. That letter is so beautiful, it will surely stir your heart.

Rae's name will shine in eternity with those of Amundsen, Cook, Shackelton and Mawson.

The bond John and Robert Kennedy shared was very deep and unwavering. I just can't conceive the passion, drive and energy Bobby showed to protect and advise his brother against all odds. It's truly the most touching testimony of love and friendship I ever came into contact with.

Supported by a small cast of friends and followers, the 2 brothers defied the whole US war industry and became isolated against an all-powerful coalition headed by the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia and the anti-Castro rebels. Ironically, the Kennedy's found more understanding from the Soviets than from fellow US related goverment personel.

I understand today that, being born in 1962, the brothers saved my life from the nuclear holocaust General Curtis LeMay and friends wished to propel the whole planet into. The killing of John and Robert is the most tragic tragedy of the 20th century, and the US Goverment should still be ashamed it yield (and is in fact still yielding) all those years to the coalition in order to bury the truth from the world.

JFK and Robert weren't without fault, nobody is. JFK was a terrible husband and Robert lacked diplomacy. However, I urge you to read their fantastic story. David Talbot's "Brothers" is a page turner, a well researched and well written portrait of 2 American Heroes.

This small, 216 pages book is the view of European intellectuals about Adolf Hilter's NSDAP. Even if some admissions required courage (such as the Western Powers lack of policy, statements or actions in face of what Germany did to the Jews of Europe) the overall work lacks dept and sadly, continuity.

I would not reject out of hand the effort, but, if you are interested in nazism and Germany during the 1933-1945 period, there are plenty of other books who will go deeper and not drift into theoretical nonsense you'll have a hard time to understand.
Just try "Inside the 3rd Reich" by Albert Speer. Way better.

Baseball Pionniers is the story of those forgotten amateur clubs preceding professionalism. From 1850 to 1871 baseball nines organized from social clubs and so took hold in many US regions. Town-ball would be a thing of the past. The fascinating aspect of this book reside in the fact that we stand witness to the struggle from baseball amateurism to professionalism. Lesser local players are discarded for the benefit of succes and superior players who exchanged performance on the diamond for "legit" work in a factory or goverment work.

Some stories are of far more interest than others; the Petaconica Baseball Club of Illinois for instance whose members got trashed time and time again by scores of 90-2 or so but still played and loved the game. Or the Unions of Saint-Louis whose members were torn between allegiances for the Unions army of the Confederacy.

Each club passage into history is recorded in the book, and then you get a little resume of the most important people who played for the first nine or done the basic administrative work to launch the activities of the club. Those resume are very entertaining, and are written in the fashion of "Major League Profile", the major reference work of the 1871-1900 era written by David Nemec.

If baseball origins and history is of interest to you, this is one book you can't afford to ignore.

This is a meticulous and comprehensive overview of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg from conception to long lasting consequences. Although the Nuremberg Trial wasn't the first attempt at judging war criminals (a surprise for me), it was the first who reached a successful final conclusion. Telford Taylor draws a frank, direct and complete analysis of the proceedings in which the defendants aren't the only point of focus.

The performances of the judges, lawyers and even researchers are scrutinized under a microscope in order to give the reader a clear picture of the whole enterprise.
The author also isn't shy of critics against his fellow Americans, as judge Francis Biddle and Justice Jackson in particular are on the receiving hand of some unpleasant but deserved observations.

Telford has to merit to keep an honest, clear head. For exemple, being asked on page 618 what he thought of the treatment of Rudolf Hess, all alone in a spacious prison for decades, Taylor states: "It's a crime against humanity".

That remark alone proves the authenticity and free will of the author.