236 replies to this topic

[marina]

Why, thank you, Tom - I do love Twinklies!
Marina

[Chris_Baker]

I now have a book to add to this list that I can honestly say is the the worst book I have ever read on the subject. My review is here: http://www.1914-1918.net/books/greatestday.html

[truthergw]

I looked at Amazon's blurb and didn't fancy it. Seems I was right. I wonder who it is aimed at and why he didn't write something else? Will there be a market for it?

[PBI]

Bought Norman Gladdens "Ypres 1917" on the Strength of this Advice.

[AWOL]

...Harry Being Temperate...

Hi,
I'm a bit confused. Can someone tell me what this old gent is to do with books.

Regards
Peter

...Harry Being Temperate...

[truthergw]

Sometimes a thread can get slightly sidetracked and I seem to remember this was a case in point.

[AWOL]

Thankyou
I have reread the thread and think I understand.

I agree with some others on Sebastian Faulkes and Birdsong. I bought the book on strength of Charlotte Grey but I am disappointed. I also skipped some large chunks in the chapter so I hope I haven't missed anything important.

Regards
Peter

[truthergw]

I doubt if you would have skipped it if it was important. The important parts of a book demand to be read.

[Bob G]

So, back to the thread........In the last centuary I was asked to become a book reveiwer for Stand To! My first and only book that I reveiwed was
Mr Laffins 'Panorama of the Western Front' This was an appalling book on a certain French chappie who had a large panoramic painting/drawing of the Western Front. It was from the North Sea to Swiss border looking towards the German lines as if  from 500 -1000 ft. The item itself was err OK...
but the book content and photographs were abysmal. My comments were so servier that I was sacked by the then hirearchy of the WFA and have not reveiwed anything since.
Does anyone remember this book?
I do not have it now as I gave it away, it was that bad.
Sorry for the spelling......... Bob Grundy

[truthergw]

I have a paperback copy. I bought it online in the early days of my interest when the name of the author meant nothing to me. I sometimes look at it and wonder why a publisher would so risk their reputation.

[PBI]

Try reading Mr.Laffins totally Unbiased Book " British Butchers and Bunglers of WW1"..Words Fail Me on How this "Book" was allowed to be published in the First Place.

[Arras100]

"Birdsong" gets my vote as one of the worst.

[PBI]

I will Second That,..Your DVD is on its Way,I Posted it last Sunday.

[ypresman]

Can I just say...the worst book to date I have ever read is ............The Battle of Cambrai..The Battlefields Today
Sorry Ian Saunders, but for the price(£17.00) and information within this 'book' ...this is the worst ever in my 350+ library.
You have full A4 pages with only half of it filled with poor B&W photocopies and no text to fill the rest of the page.
Some of the pages are a complete blank.
Then you have full pages of poor photocopies of writing on memorials, with no explanation. Half pages with poor pics (all pics in B&W and very poorly scanned), without any explanation, full pages, half pages with just pics of shadows...no explantion, no history behind the pics or indeed the battle itself.
Wish I could show the pics without infringing the copyright. I just don't know what this book is trying to achieve!!

[PBI]

Mr.Saunders "Book" gets a Very Poor Review in Amazons Books Section.Maybe you could sell your unwanted copy on Amazon or E-Bay ?

[ypresman]

Tried it...no-one wants it!
Wish I never bought of Amazon...one of my few mistakes in life.

[Paul Hederer]

Tried it...no-one wants it!
Wish I never bought of Amazon...one of my few mistakes in life.

  Wow, if buying that book is one of your biggest mistakes in life you're way ahead of me!  

  Paul

[ypresman]

Never said it was one of my biggest mistakes in life. You stated that.
I said "one of my few mistakes in life"....as I don't have many. As you don't know me, I will not elaborate.
Obviously then ...I must be way ahead of you.
Have you 'read' this book?
Care to give me your feedback on this said book?

[Paul Hederer]

Never said it was one of my biggest mistakes in life. You stated that.
I said "one of my few mistakes in life"....as I don't have many. As you don't know me, I will not elaborate.
Obviously then ...I must be way ahead of you.
Have you 'read' this book?
Care to give me your feedback on this said book?

  Never made the mistake of reading it I'm afraid.  

[MartinBennitt]

Ive just finished Billy Bishop's 'Winged Warfare', described as a classic of World War I, but it ain't in my view.

Okay, so it was presumably done as a morale-booster towards the end of 1917, and one must make allowances, notably the way it doen't reveal much in the way of names, places, aircraft types, etc. but it's really just one long boring line-shoot taken from his log-book, and terribly badly written at that. Being aware of the controversy surrounding many of Bishop's claims, I was looking for holes, and found plenty. Read it as a curio if you must, or if you're a hunter of first edtitions -- I found it in a library -- but otherwise don't bother.

cheers Martin B

[geraint]

As an avid reader of this topic ( I hardly read anything else) I'm absolutely p***ed off with the Voices of..; Last of... regurgitation books swamping the popular book stores. I DO NOT WANT TO READ any other compilation book of those poor sods in nursing homes talking to some 'author' 80 years after the event. No more; please no more! Can any one tell publishers that this is a no no market? Now if a diary written during the war, lying in an attic chest untouched for nintey years, turned up - that would be different! But bandwaggon jumping hacks, with an eye for a fast buck on the back of recordings done by these poor old blokes in the last twenty years is too much!

[Nigel Cave]

I have to admit to a strong dislike of the Mosier book - I think it has a lot to do with the hype that greeted its publication. I did actually get around to going through it for Review purposes (for the late Alf Peackock's excellent journal, Gunfire). I got to about page 80 and I was trying to be as balanced as possible, as I think the statement with the title - How the Germans won the battles and the Americans won the war - had some merit, at least in academic, discussion, sort f way - ie what do yo mean by 'won' the battles and 'won' the war. My gripe lay in the number of unforced errors - he complains about the Britsh and teh French could not get their act together and illustrates this by saying that they called the same battle by different names - ie Mons and Guise! He seems to have overlooked the fact that they were not only miles apart and fought a week apart, but that even the Germans called these engagments by dfferent names (and the result of Guise was very important). He talks about a place called Aubersville Ridge - I mean these are ridiculous elementary errors, which cast doubts on what otherwise might be a potentially interesting perspectve. On the other hand, I now consider it a good book for people to check their knowledge of facts (and I mean facts and not interpretations or viewpoints). I must try and dig up that review again!

[MartinWills]

As an avid reader of this topic ( I hardly read anything else) I'm absolutely p***ed off with the Voices of..; Last of... regurgitation books swamping the popular book stores. I DO NOT WANT TO READ any other compilation book of those poor sods in nursing homes talking to some 'author' 80 years after the event. No more; please no more! Can any one tell publishers that this is a no no market? Now if a diary written during the war, lying in an attic chest untouched for nintey years, turned up - that would be different! But bandwaggon jumping hacks, with an eye for a fast buck on the back of recordings done by these poor old blokes in the last twenty years is too much!

These books do provide an easy entry for many to the war and should be welcomed in that respect but they do tend to recycle the same or similar material - sometimes out of context. They tend, also to produce a far from balanced view being based on the interviews that are available rather than providing the full picture. Basically if there are no surviving veterans (or interviews) those aspects are simply "dropped". None the less, I get fed up with this market as well as there is often very little that can be learn't from these volumes.

One minor point, I do think it is gratuitous to refer to elderly veterans in nursing homes as ****.

[Staffsyeoman]

I am with Geraint on the "Forgotten Voices" series, I'm afraid. Many of them cause a conjunction of the terms "money", "old" and "rope". Lazy may be too harsh a term, but a charge of complacency can be levelled. They are a movement onwards from the rush of long lost diaries being published (some of which were, I regret to say, were somewhat banal) as it seemed that every publisher had to have one. At least Mr Arthur had the good grace not to call his last tome "Forgotten Voices" (of)  The Dambusters...

Martin's right - recycling a key factor; lack of context omnipresent and a lucrative (and cheap!) thread for some publishers. Let's not encourage them and save their budgets for genuine, new work.

Just one comment - I did some training in interviewing veterans in the early 80s when my university department was interviewing local veterans of the WW2 desert battles. Beware hindsight and the weight of popular opinion. I think that is what Geraint was getting at, not slighting veterans per se.

[Steven Broomfield]

I DO NOT WANT TO READ any other compilation book of those poor sods in nursing homes talking to some 'author' 80 years after the event.

I've expressed my view on these things elsewhere, but I'd disagree with this comment: I'm not sure the authors actually spoke to anyone.  They just trawled the archive and cut and pasted the bits that sounded good.

Then quoted it out of context, with no background, no checking...nothing.  Just sit back and wait for the cheque.