Holland has written a series of nine excellent campaign histories over the last few years, looking at fighting World War II in a new light.
Books
REVIEW – Conflict Landscapes: an archaeology of the international brigades in the Spanish Civil War
The approach is admirably interdisciplinary, blending traditional archaeological fieldwork with historical documentation, and analysis of 38 photographs from the 15th International Brigade.
REVIEW – Fighting Churchill, Appeasing Hitler: how a British civil servant helped cause the Second World War
Adrian Phillips gives us a new and fascinating angle on the whole sorry saga of miscalculation and moral surrender that led up to the Second World War.
REVIEW – Dresden: the fire and the darkness
Sinclair McKay’s well-researched, detailed, and all-embracing book is the first major study of the bombing of Dresden to be published for 15 years, and covers equally the pre-war history of the city – ‘The Florence of Germany’ – the horrors of the RAF and USAAF attacks, and the mainly Stalinist-style rebuilding prior to German reunification.
REVIEW – MI6: British secret intelligence service operations, 1909 – 1945
Nigel West, a renowned expert who writes extensively about British intelligence, reveals in this book the operations of Britain’s overseas intelligence gathering organisation, Secret Intelligence Service (SIS)/MI6, from its origins in 1909 to the end of the Second World War.
MHM Book of the Year 2020 – Winners Announced!
The ballots have been cast, the votes have been counted, and we are delighted to announce the winners of the MHM Book Awards.
REVIEW – The Elite: the story of special forces – from Ancient Sparta to the War on Terror
Fiennes had picked his moment well. Ever since the dramatic Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980, the press, and to some degree the public, have been obsessed by the idea of special forces.
REVIEW – Keenie Meenie: the British mercenaries who got away with war crimes
But there is a clear difference between soldiers who fight for their own national army – or, it may be, their own tribe or religion or ideology – and those prepared to fight for anyone willing to pay.
REVIEW – A short history of the American Civil War
Anderson, an American history professor who has taught about the war for 20 years – ‘a Southerner teaching in South Carolina’, he tells us – has written a different sort of book.
REVIEW – Leadership in War: lessons from those who made history
Roberts begins with a personal hero, Napoleon Bonaparte. There seemed to be an array of qualities that made the general great, including meticulous planning, steady nerves, superb timing, good speeches, and respect for the men who served under him.
Advertisement