Book review: Berlin, The Downfall 1945
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
"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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
"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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
South Africa's famously tough stance against "mercenaries" is the result of the success of one man – Eeben Barlow, founder of Executive...