Book Reviews

Book review: Berlin, The Downfall 1945

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Berlin, The Downfall 1945, is Anthony Beevor's sequel to Stalingrad, his work on the titanic battle and the destruction of the German...

Book review: Dad’s war

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This is a book of love and loss and of a son literally walking in his father's footsteps. Howard Reid's father, a...

Book review: Forgotten Voices of World War Two

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Forgotten Voices of World War Two is one of those rare gems of a book that reminds its readers that the last...

Book review: Armageddon

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Max Hastings' Armageddon is what reviewers like to call a "tour de force," not a mere retelling of the oft told tale...

Book review: The National Army Museum Book of the Boer War

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Field Marshal Lord Michael Carver's account of the South African War, The National Army Museum Book of the Boer War, is instructive...

Book review: We Were Soldiers Once …And Young

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We Were Soldiers Once …And Young is the classic account of the battle of the Ia Drang In November 1965, the first...

Book review: 11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour

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This year quietly marked the 90th anniversary of the end of a series of events that defined the course of the last...

Book review: Mud, Blood and Poppycock

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This reviewer first saw Mud, Blood and Poppycock in 2003 at Heathrow Airport (Terminal 4) while on his way to Sweden on...

Book Review: Verdun, 1916

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Verdun is both a small city in France's Meuse district and an infamous battle fought in 1916. Even Adolf Hitler, who had briefly...

Book review: 1914

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In June 1914 war between the so-called civilised powers of Europe seemed impossible. Two months later, the guns of August dispelled that...

Book review: Fatal Avenue

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Fatal Avenue is the book every student of military affairs and history should have when visiting France or Belgium. Indeed, the reviewer...

Book review: The Unknown Soldier

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Subtitled The Story of the Missing in the Great War, Neil Hanson's work drips with sadness. As the subtitle suggests, it deals...

Book review: Ypres 1914: Death of an Army

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It is now just six years to the centenary of the start of the "Great War" as World War One (1914-1919) was...

Book review: Marine

The US Marine Corps (USMC) is the world's premier amphibious light infantry force and the subject experts on seamlessly integrating air and...

Book review: Deliver us from evil

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Deliver us from evil takes a morbid look at that cruel joke of modern times – United Nations (UN) peacekeeping. It should...

Book Review: An Unpopular War

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An Unpopular War, is a readable, though regrettably lightweight reminiscence of the Border War and service in the SADF in the 1970s...

Book review: Grey Steel

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Grey Steel, is an amusing 1939 biography of Jan Smuts, the then Deputy-Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa. Subtitled "A...

Book review: From the front – AB (Banjo) Paterson’s dispatches from the Boer War

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The South African War (aka the Boer War) of 1899-1902 brought no end of literary greats to southern Africa, often as newspaper...

Book review: The Boer War

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The Boer War is a relatively wellknown title on what is a wellknown-of conflict. Wellknown-of because most Learning Curve readers would have...

Book review: Defeat into victory

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"It was good fun commanding a division in the Iraq desert. It is good fun commanding a division anywhere." - A memorable...

Book review: War and Anti-War

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"War and Anti-War, Survival at the dawn of the 21st Century" is an interesting, though, perhaps, over-rated book. In it, the authors...

Book Review: A Bright Shining Lie – John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam

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John Paul Vann is not a name that appears in most accounts of the Vietnam War, but according to this account he...

Book review: At thy call we did not falter

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At Thy Call We Did Not Falter is an infantry corporal's account of Operations Hooper, Packer and Excite in 1988, the climax...

Book review: How to Make War

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A good book almost writes its own review – and this is certainly the case with James F Dunnigan's How to Make...

Book review: Warfighting

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Impressions can indeed be misleading. Warfighting is a military manual. An US Marine Corps military manual. Yet it is the best, single-volume...

Book Review: The Art of Counter-Revolutionary War

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Lt Col John J McCuen's 1966 book was allegedly the bases of South Africa's "Total Strategy", the apartheid government's scheme to fight...

Book review: Expert Witness

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Expert Witness is Cranfield University Professor Christopher Bellamy's account of his experience as defence correspondent for London's Independent newspaper during the 1991...

Book review: Ops Medic

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Ops Medic: A National Serviceman's Border War is Steven Webb's account of his time in the SA Medical Service (SAMS) from July...

Book review: Soldiers in a Storm

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Soldiers in a Storm looks inside the South African Defence Force (SADF) during its dying days and witnesses the birth of the...

Book review: Attack Aircraft and Bombers of the World

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Need a handy, slim, one volume primer to all noteworthy current Attack Aircraft and Bombers of the World? Then Anil Pustam's book...

Book review: Modern Warfare

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Julian Thompson commanded 3rd Commando Brigade in the Falklands and subsequently became an author, BBC presenter and visiting professor at the Department...

Book review: Fiasco

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Mao Zedong was once reputedly asked whether he thought the French Revolution (of 1789) had been a success. He reportedly responded that...

Book review: As used on the famous Nelson Mandela

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"As used on the famous Nelson Mandela" is available in most airport bookshops and should be compulsory for those interested in matters...

Book Review – Warriors in the Sky

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Our friends at Pen & Sword have republished Peter Bagshawe's Warriors in the Sky, Springbok Air Heroes in Combat, first published by...

Book review: Bomber Command & Every Man a Tiger

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Max Hastings' Bomber Command is a powerful argument in support of not allowing a new generation of Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh...

Book review: Dien Bien Phu

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Hell in a very small place, subtitled The Siege of Dien Bien Phu is the classic account of a French defeat in...

Book review: We defended Normandy

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We defended Normandy is a slim and frankly disappointing account of the Battle of Normandy as seen through German eyes. The author...

Book review: Eye on the money

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The furore surrounding the "arms deal" as government's so-called Strategic Defence Package (SDP) is known to most South Africans refuses to die...

Book review: After the Party

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The African National Congress' (ANC) handling of the so-called 1999 "arms scandal" was an important moment in the history of the democratic...

Book review: The Kevin Woods Story

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Kevin Woods is lucky to be alive. Somewhere in the 1980s he made a crucial mistake – to work for Colonel Joe Verster,...

Book review: Kenya Cowboy

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The Kenyan "Emergency" of the 1950s was one of a number of nasty insurgencies and counterinsurgencies the British faced in the wake...

Book review: Delta Scout

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Counterinsurgency is largely about intelligence –keeping a finger on the pulse of a community, setting up and maintaining informer networks, making sense...

Book review: Assignment Selous Scouts

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Assignment Selous Scouts attracted some media attention at the time of its publication in late 2006 because of claims that South African...

Book Review: Executive Outcomes

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South Africa's famously tough stance against "mercenaries" is the result of the success of one man – Eeben Barlow, founder of Executive...