Book recommendations and reviews

This Forum is to discuss History and to annoy Fansy and Nowonmai by existing at all.

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby vagabond » Wed Jun 27, 2012 7:37 pm

Spartan Actual wrote:We Did Nothing: Why the Truth Doesn't Always Come Out When the UN Goes in (Linda Polman)
A book for tea baggers? Who cares. More seriously recommended for those who understand the UN, realize the crucial distinction between the organization and its members, and are concerned about it for all the correct reasons, such as wanting to see it stronger and more effective.


Most, if not all, of the readers and posters on BFC have some travel experience in conflict areas and counties where
the UN is "working".

Can you point me to the place where, on measure, the UN has made anything better for
the indig population?

Even UNICEF is a discunctional program that serves merely as a dating service for th male UN "workers"


You might also want to check out "Emergency Sex: And Other Desperate Measures" - the female writer's part isn't much of anything but the lawyer and doctor's parts are pretty interesting
"If you were born near someplace called "The Erg of ____" you lost the lottery." - Kurt the Wise

"If you're stupid, the whole world is a dangerous place." - friendlyskies
User avatar
vagabond
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 5128
Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:20 pm
Location: LA

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby St John Smythe » Fri Sep 14, 2012 1:16 pm

Image
St John Smythe
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 136
Joined: Thu Aug 30, 2012 5:35 pm

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby AztecDave » Tue Mar 12, 2013 1:33 pm

just picked up "The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today" by Thomas E. Ricks. Have just got into it. Looks like a promising read. especially the part that rapes Tommy Franks. Franks should have gotten the hook right away. Anywho, looking forward to the rest of it.
The real Army, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight.”
― Jean Lartéguy
User avatar
AztecDave
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 962
Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:26 pm
Location: Look behind you

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby tlcfj40 » Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:25 am

I just finished reading "GB 84", a fictional work on the miner's strike in England. Good read, as were his Red Riding series. Would anyone have suggestions on other books that are about the 1984 Miner's Strike? In particular, I'd like read something from both sides of that, if possible.

Also, does anyone know of any mystery books with the Troubles set as a backdrop? I finished reading three of Stuart Nevilles' books, his newest Ratlines is on order.
If I get married again, I want a guy there with a drum to do rimshots during the vows.
User avatar
tlcfj40
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 1746
Joined: Tue Dec 20, 2005 5:54 am
Location: Porn Valley, CA

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby nowonmai » Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:46 am

tlcfj40 wrote:I just finished reading "GB 84", a fictional work on the miner's strike in England. Good read, as were his Red Riding series. Would anyone have suggestions on other books that are about the 1984 Miner's Strike? In particular, I'd like read something from both sides of that, if possible.

Also, does anyone know of any mystery books with the Troubles set as a backdrop? I finished reading three of Stuart Nevilles' books, his newest Ratlines is on order.


Are you stuck in a 1980s British time warp? Nightmare.

Not sure what a mystery book is but this was popular at the time. Got made into a TV film as well.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Harrys-Game-Gerald-Seymour/dp/0552147222

As for the miners strike I'm just glad that it is no longer on the news every night ad nauseam. I cant imagine anything more dull than reading about it.
User avatar
nowonmai
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 11542
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2005 8:52 pm

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Yeahsure » Mon Sep 16, 2013 1:42 am

"The Lords Of Finance" Liaquat Ahmed
Good night and good luck - Edward R. Murrow
Yeahsure
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 958
Joined: Sat Jul 26, 2008 12:56 am

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Rhah » Sun Mar 22, 2015 10:13 pm

In the Shadows of Empires by Sir Jens. Great little book about Vlad III of Wallachia
"I am content to die as are all our comrades. But I will not let myself be slaughtered like a sheep. I would rather face the blow. Strike straight at my face and watch carefully if I pale at all.”
User avatar
Rhah
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 252
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 11:20 pm

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Devlin » Sun Feb 14, 2016 12:15 am

I just completed several books on Charles Becker. He was a the first Police Officer put to death for a crime he did under the color of authority. Good stuff and at this point it looks as if he was railroaded.
User avatar
Devlin
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 1380
Joined: Mon Jun 02, 2008 5:48 am

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Kurt » Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:49 am

Devlin wrote:I just completed several books on Charles Becker. He was a the first Police Officer put to death for a crime he did under the color of authority. Good stuff and at this point it looks as if he was railroaded.


Rosenthal.

Was that person related to the Rosenthal of Black Sox fame? If so, then I could see him being set up.
User avatar
Kurt
In Manus Manus
 
Posts: 20009
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:29 am
Location: New York City

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby AztecDave » Wed Jul 26, 2017 8:13 am

"Prisoners of Geography" by Tim Marshall. An excellent book with condensed info on geopolitics.

https://www.amazon.com/Prisoners-Geogra ... 538&sr=8-1
The real Army, composed entirely of young enthusiasts in camouflage uniforms, from whom impossible efforts would be demanded and to whom all sorts of tricks would be taught. That's the army in which I should like to fight.”
― Jean Lartéguy
User avatar
AztecDave
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 962
Joined: Sat Aug 28, 2010 12:26 pm
Location: Look behind you

Postby el3so » Thu Mar 19, 2020 3:55 pm

Settling in for the long haul...

Complete tales of HP Lovecraft. Kinda bought it for the cover. Nothing new, nothing special, love the theme.
Corona means I have no more excuses not to finish Friedländer's Nazi Germany and the Jews.
There's some Wodehouses sitting on a shelf which I haven't started on since 2002, back when Amazon just sold books. AskJeeves indeed.
And Kriegstagebüch des OKW, picked 'em up back in my driver days, not much of a real read but nice to have to reference/crosscheck other WW2 non-fiction.

Comics mostly Franco-Belgian stuff, literally hundreds of classics.

Digitally Witcher 3 and Divinity 2 will tide me over till September. Heck, given time, I might even revisit online FPS.
PM me your negative COVID-19 test results
User avatar
el3so
Creepy Uncle
 
Posts: 8100
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:25 am
Location: Beglium

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Kurt » Sat Jun 06, 2020 8:19 pm

willyjs wrote:hey, gays. I wrote some articles about tips to find girlfriends, you can click here (website) sugar dating to read it, i will be proud if you the articles can help you, have a good time.


This spammer cracked me up with "Hey, Gays" ..
User avatar
Kurt
In Manus Manus
 
Posts: 20009
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:29 am
Location: New York City

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Lost Boy » Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:36 pm

Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.
LIBERTAS ET PATRIA
User avatar
Lost Boy
BFCus Regularus
 
Posts: 430
Joined: Thu Jan 07, 2010 3:31 pm
Location: West of the Mississippi

Re: Book recommendations and reviews

Postby Kurt » Mon Jun 15, 2020 2:55 pm

Lost Boy wrote:Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger.


That is one thing I realize I know nothing about other than it happened.

Unlike others in Quarantine I have found reading books to be just as easy or easier than before.

Right now I am reading The Secret World: A History of Intelligence by Christopher Andrew. It's big and since it references other points in history without going into great detail about them (like The Frond before the reign of Louis XIV ) It takes a while.

What I thought was the most interesting part of it (so far) was that in the mid 1600's the Mughals, Chinese, Ottomans, and Persians were all much more powerful than any country in Europe. They had more intelligence on us than we had on them, in fact some of "us" where still thinking that we could find a shortcut to "them". When the superpowers of that time discovered that the west was settling a "New Land" they thought we were idiots. They could take land that was ancient, cultivated and had a history of producing wealth and being able to muster armies. They let "us" have a few trading outposts here and there like the Mughals allowed the Portuguese to use Goa, but really there attitude was "they are stupid, smelly and the more they focus on the New World and fighting one another for it and their weird sectarian wars then they will eventually need the Ottoman's to restore peace"

The Mughals never would have guessed that within 100 years the Brits, who they had hardly been aware of, would be in control of their old puppets, or that the Qing Dynasty would be carved apart in 200 years, partially by the New Land that they mocked, and eventually the political system that lasted started in 200 BCE would be destroyed.

That also made me realize I have not read any History or literature from Persia, especially ancient Persia. Just what the Greeks wrote about. If anyone has any advice where I should start on this I would appreciate it.
User avatar
Kurt
In Manus Manus
 
Posts: 20009
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2004 6:29 am
Location: New York City

Postby el3so » Thu Jul 23, 2020 1:21 am

Kurt wrote: weird sectarian wars
Jesus vs impersonal God vs whatever the others believed. Rise of the royal empires. Jews were always an easy victim. Those were a couple of centuries of internecine sh!t. Dunno if they still teach kids about that stuff in school.

Re-reading a lot, mostly fiction. Guess amazon still does books.
PM me your negative COVID-19 test results
User avatar
el3so
Creepy Uncle
 
Posts: 8100
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 9:25 am
Location: Beglium

PreviousNext

Return to History

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest
http://cafe.comebackalive.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&p=604064
cafe.comebackalive.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2020-34
49621
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:CT2MYVMJYT3VAZPCZBQF7HQG32X6NJEJ
<urn:uuid:bbdd3b0d-2986-4c87-9b00-dfa52a3a6639>
2020-08-04T02:48:51Z
35.233.155.143
application/xhtml+xml
sha1:JPD3GS3YBQNZWMLTHERWZJJCPWVNDCBI
<urn:uuid:8702d8ca-c3a9-4131-b10c-f4fe439750f1>
http://cafe.comebackalive.com/viewtopic.php?f=20&p=604064
response
<urn:uuid:eef1c2dd-fe67-45cd-b965-04d8b8990ce2>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-34
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-82.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.17 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/