Helpful votes received on reviews:
100% (6 of 6)
In My Own Words:
I am a self-confessed bookaholic. History has always been a major interest, most particularly post-Reformation European and North American history, as well as that of the impact of different cultures on each other in the age of European and American Expansion and Colonialism. Technology as a historical, economic and sociological driver is another focus interest and I am particularly interested in … Read moreI am a self-confessed bookaholic. History has always been a major interest, most particularly post-Reformation European and North American history, as well as that of the impact of different cultures on each other in the age of European and American Expansion and Colonialism. Technology as a historical, economic and sociological driver is another focus interest and I am particularly interested in naval developments 1860-1918 and in aeronautical development 1914-1945. Military history has always been a passion, with main areas of interest being Eighteenth Century , Napoleonic, American Civil War, British Colonial and both World Wars.
Amazon has proved a delight since I discovered it and I submit reviews partly to do a service to the authors I have enjoyed, partly to provide a constructive feedback to those I have been critical of and partly to alert others to pleasures in store.
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Reviews
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This is the most moving and memorable book I've read for many years. The scope is breath-taking, no less than an investigation of the Russian attitude to death, and ways of coping with it, from the late Czarist times to the present day. Given Russia's ghastly 20th century history the story is a terrible one and at many places in the book one has to pause, quite overcome by pity and emotion. Horror is piled on horror, though never for the sake of shock, yet the overriding feeling on finishing the book is of amazement at the resilience and nobility of the human spirit. The countless instances of cruelty, misery and waste, on a scale incomprehensible in a Western country, are matched by an… Read more
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This is a comprehensive account of the Crimean War that is as complete on the diplomatic and political machinations and context as on the military operations. The latter are competently covered, not just in relation to the Crimea itself but as regards Turco-Russian operations prior to involvement of the Western powers and actions in Rumania, the Baltic, the Caucuses and even the Far East. In general the civilian players are covered in greater depth than the military ones - this is not a significant disadvantage since there is already a large and accessible literature available on the latter (readers new to the topic will enjoy Cecil Woodham-Smith's classic "The Reason Why" and Christopher… Read more
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I approached this book with considerable hope, expecting that a Russian author with access to material hitherto unfamiliar in the West would be able to shed significant new insights on the tragic epic of Russia's naval forces in the Russo-Japanese War. I was very sorely disappointed. The overall impression is that the author is unfamiliar with naval matters and has indeed little feel for them. Though full of anecdotes, little attention is paid to overall context and the technological elements of the story - essentially the matching of British naval shipbuilding and armament prowess in Japanese hands matched against a hodgepodge of French, American and indigenous Russian practice - is not… Read more
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