The Finest Historian Alive.
923623
So impressed was I by the superb narration of Stalingrad that I paid extra money to purchase a signed copy of The Fall of Berlin 1945--which turned out to be every bit as strong as Stalingrad. I then placed the rest of Anthony Beevor's works on my wish list which is how I came upon the Spanish Civil War. Having just finished it, I can pleasantly report that it is just as good as the others and is one of the more riveting works I've ever read. Beevor says things that many other historians do not and his manner is colorful, honest, and concise. Despite his many opinions and evaluations, I have never considered Beevor to be partisan in the least, and he really is quite fair here. However, I must note that his two references to Noam Chomsky's American Power and the New Mandarins gave me pause. All I can say regarding his citation of the famous linguist, and self-proclaimed expert on everything else, is that he had a much better reputation for veracity when The Spanish Civil War was written than he does today.

As far as politics goes, that it so pervades our outlook on this crisis cannot be questioned. Originally, I believed in the journalistic and liberal view that the Republican cause was noble and that the world enabled fascism by letting them down. Then, several years of studying the Soviet Union changed my mind. I regarded Spain as just being one other area in which Stalin foisted his paranoia on an entire population and stomped out any of the good that existed. I now know that my easy and extrapolative analysis was hasty. While the communists and the NKVD tainted immeasurably the Republican side, the majority of the people and soldiers should be the objects of our pity and remembrance. A feeling of emotion is conveyed within these pages and one cannot control the well of sympathy the narrative creates. Franco was a despicable man and more totalitarian than authoritarian in nature. The atrocities he committed in the name of Spain and Catholicism were absolutely atrocious and extended far beyond Guernica. Repeatedly they slaughtered the inhabitants of villages and military installations for no apparent reason. The Nationalists were the most dishonorable of men as they seldom took prisoners and even betrayed the commands of foreign governments in their blood lust for executions. That the church was fooled initially by them is understandable; that they would continue to endorse their side in full knowledge of the truth is reprehensible. In retrospect, despite my disdain for emotional journalism, sentimental non-sense, the Soviet Union, communism and its adherents, I must reverse previous judgment and proclaim that the Republican cause was the noble one after all.

Yes, this tale is horrific, but it is brilliantly told by a brilliant man and worth your time.
4039983
Arielle Kozloff's AMENHOTEP III is an extraordinary read.  Her writing style flows effortlessly, enriched by a lifetime of observation and study of Egypt past and present--on the very ground, in collections and literature, and even from above via Google Earth.  The author's account of her Pharaoh's monumentally magnificent Heb-Sed festival, bringing together the myriad bits of scattered information into a jaw-dropping mind's eye spectacle is alone worth the price.

  As noted by other reviewers, there are positions taken which are arguably unsupported by the evidence or by current discoveries.  Kozloff's proposed scenario of Egypt's catastrophic decline beginning near the end of Amenhotep's reign, and deepening considerably under the four pharaohs who followed, does not appear to this reviewer to be in accord with the numerous building programs of Akhenaten and Tutankhamen, the unsurpassed stone carving during Ay's very short reign, and the amount of gold he used to bury Tutankhamen.  We know both Ay and his successor Horemheb had large and elaborately painted royal tombs with finely carved hard-stone sarcophagi which do not augur for austerity.

  A few of the black-and-white photos are indistinct, but all-in-all this is a book of uncommon insight and original perceptions, a scholarly work which makes the wonder of Ancient Egypt come alive.  What the ancient world authentically was like, however, still remains a mystery.
4641365
Regine Pernoud, the renowned French archivist/historian has written rather extensively on the Middle Ages,the Knights Templar,the Crusades and at least 2 books concerning the famous story of Jeanned'Arc. One advantage in this book (and in the same author's The Retrial of Joan of Arc) is that Ms. Pernoud uses original source materials and also, with her expert knowledge of the times and places, gives an unsurpassed portrait of the besainted young French maid who ended the longest war in history and saved France from being relegated to a small Mediterranean nation or merely a footnote in British history. Brilliant scholarship !
4129000
This is one of the finest biographies I've ever read, thoughtfully conceived and gracefully written.  I've read several other studies of George Washington, but for the first time I feel I understand him.  The book deserves more than the five stars I can give it here.  Chernow proves that a biographer can humanize George Washington without debunking him.  One-volume biographies of Washington will, of course, continue to be written, but for the remainder of my life, Chernow's will be the standard against which I measure any others.

Two quibbles, one technical and the other substantive.  1. It's difficult to find the citations because page numbers of the text are not given above the endnotes. 2. Chernow often makes shrewd guesses about what his characters might have been thinking, but occasionally he overreaches.  For instance, when slaves weep at the departure of Martha Washington from Mount Vernon in 1789, Chernow writes that possibly the slaves were weeping for their "six friends and family members being forcibly relocated to New York; perhaps the remaining slaves feared mistreatment at the hands of overseers in the Washington's absence." (572)  Maybe, maybe not; in any case, this sort of mind reading across centuries puts historians on shaky ground.
3260975
Doctor Glenn Robertson knows more about the battle of Chickamauga than any person alive! He has spent decades researching every aspect of the campaign and battle. Other authors use his research as the "platinum standard".  He has conducted hundreds of battlefield analysis tours to senior military officials and to civilians. This magazine length condensation of his vast knowledge is highly readable to history buffs and professional students of war. He brings the battlefield to life with expert commentary, pictures, engravings, sidebars and maps. A superb, highly enjoyable read!
662845
Benson Bobrick's books are among the very few history books that are, literally, page-turners. He manages to combine what is obviously unremitting research with an ability to put it all down on paper in not only a clear and logical way, but with a rare sense of perspective. He amazes me, frankly. As a journalist and history buff, I appreciate Bobrick more with each book he writes. "Angel in the Wind," his book prior to "Wide as the Waters," takes the reader through the tangles of the American Revolution and escorts him into the clear -- with, for me certainly -- a much greater appreciation of the times and events that changed this continent and the world. "Wide as the Waters" does the same for the Bible. Bobrick aslo has a sense of humor, as well as the talent to finely balance various accounts, blending them intelligently into a cohesive picture that spans centuries. He's an historian's historian.  P.S. -- I'm not in publishing and have no vested interest -- except in reading this man's books.
3441203
Famous for her engaging, narrative style that makes history flow like a thrilling novel, Barbara Tuchman presents a comprehensive review of 14th century Europe (mainly France, the dominant European power at the time). She emphasizes three main events that dominate the lives of Europeans in the 14th century: the Plague, the Hundred Years' War and the Papal Schism. Despite this large-scale vision, she also succeeds in bringing this "distant mirror" as close to the reader as possible.
One way she does this is by following the life, as much as possible, of one man, neither extraordinarily good nor evil but nonetheless very capable and active, whose name is Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy. He was a shrewd and practical politician as well as courageous warrior, and his life spanned most of the 14th century. As conqueror, mercenary, crusader and diplomat, he was active all over the known world of medieval Europe and participated in most of its historic moments. This means the historian's case study is not limited to one country or culture and makes her research more comprehensive and accurate as well as interesting.
The only difficulty I had with the book was its maps. Just for the ease of reference, I had wished the maps were all located in one place. Otherwise, I couldn't hope for a better and more enjoyable account of medieval Europe!
314204
A great man and a great book. History will treat him more kindly.
3361443
While not an academic historian, he is one of the great historians of our time, like Schama or Mazower.  This book is as good as the Last Mughal or White Mughals, based on the same extensive research on Afghan sources that anyone familiar with his other books has come to expect.

This is an author who collects multiple peperspectives and writes with empathy about persons and great subtlety about context.
4896322
As is well known, Adolf Hitler remains one of the most notorious personalities of all time: even now, a lifetime after his death and universally reviled by all significant authorities, he probably commands more attention than any other non-American politician in recent history. Seemingly every year there is a new book -- Often several -- about the German dictator advertised in the papers, and many more that do not reach a mass audience for being too abstruse, too scholarly, or written in non-English languages.

Alas, to keep track of this vast literature is more than one can expect even of professional historians, unless dedicated specifically to that task. Even perusing the massive, thousand-plus-page biographies of such authors as Alan Bullock, Joachim Fest, Ian Kershaw, or John Toland (the lattermost is the best of these, in this reviewer's opinion) can be a daunting task. The casual reader who wishes merely to learn a little about this terror of the 20th century to satisfy his curiosity is liable to be swamped in the morass of wordy publications.

Such a reader is well served in turning to this little-known but tremendously under-rated book.

In one elegant volume of less than four hundred pages, Colin Cross produces a better understanding of Hitler than, for example, Ian Kershaw manages in his cyclopean tome. Eminently lucid, scrupulously objective, surprisingly insightful, and meticulously adherent to the documentary record while also providing a human touch through select application of the personal views of contemporaries, Cross's brief biography must be considered one of the finest works in a very crowded field. That it is not more widely praised than it is (and no longer in print) is nothing short of incomprehensible to yours truly.

Cross shows Hitler in a carefully and sensitively nuanced portrait. He does not fall prey to the all-too-common temptation to belittle Hitler as a lunatic or fool, and neither does he demonize him as an Antichrist figure: on the contrary, he shows a usually very capable, sometimes idiosyncratic, often charismatic, always passionate German nationalist -- Thereby going some way toward explaining how so many intelligent men and women could believe in Hitler, and how he could initially be so successful in international politics. Also, he shows this radical ideologist, Machiavellian statesman and ruthless warlord as a human being, with human interests and concerns (such as family rows, girlfriends, reading habits, occasional hypochondria). At the same time, he in no wise presents an apology for the German dictator. On the contrary, Hitler's aggressive foreign policy, virulent racism, and other negative traits are shown with proper emphasis.

As Cross is writing a popular biography, he bases his account entirely on published sources, ranging from documents and histories to personal memoirs. While this presents an obvious limitation, I have noticed no startling omissions, as compared to the more comprehensive works of others. (Indeed, through using certain nowadays somewhat obscure German-language sources, Cross provides several interesting pieces of information which Kershaw either missed or chose not to include in his more recent, far lengthier account.) Given that the book is now somewhat dated, a few errors do creep in as well -- For example, some distortions about Hitler's teen-age years that stem from the Austrian amateur researcher Franz Jetzinger's influential book on that subject -- but they do not appreciably affect the general picture.

In all, Cross's biography is without comparison the finest brief English-language introduction to Hitler of which I am aware, and of interest even to those who consider themselves well-read in the field. It is thus heartily recommended to all prospective readers, but especially to casual or beginning students interested in its subject.
2652128
This was the perfect gift for a historian buff, and I look forward to reading it myself.  To think what these people went through, accomplished and dared, it's a treasure to have had it recorded, written and published for us to know.
3589955
This book is superb in that it is not revisionist, is details many things usually glossed over or ignored on purpose. This is a MUST-READ for ALL students & historians---
4260387
If you want a history buff, researcher and financial analyst all in one, this is the man and the book.
132708
A thoughtful, superior hob rooted in solid scholarship and a palpable love of his subject.  Thanks for asking.
1328244
Compassionately written, this book brings illumination of Chapuys as an individual and as an educated, skilled negotiator.  A player on the world stage, he is also shown to be a caring mentor and philanthropist whose legacy still lives.  The narrative is warm and readable, while also being ferociously well - researched.  The bibliography itself stands as a tremendous resource to readers and historians of the period.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.
302627
Few historians could write this most impressive and thoroughly researched work about Napoleon Bonaparte.  Written in a clear and insightful style, Asprey has mined sharp insights, shrewd observations, and new understanding of one of history's greatest (and most complex) leaders, from a gold mine thought long paid out.  What readers should gain from this important biography, that is also a political-military-economic history, is that there are distinct doctrines for war, peace, and more importantly, intervention to impose the will of peace, law, and government upon nations which threaten another's security.  Asprey accomplishes this by using a very well written and interesting story line that chronicles Napoleon's life in a manner used all too infrequently by other writers of historical lives.  It is never dull, often revealing, and thoroughly fascinating.  The reader finds the secrets of Napoleon's great abilities by understanding his childhood, his youth spent in bookstores, and his lust for reading and writing.  Like Asprey's "War in the Shadows," this book will enlighten, infuriate, and hopefully inform a whole new generation of 21st century historians, members of the armed forces, and business leaders to understand that genius come from knowing, doing, and believing in one's innate abilities.  Napoleon Bonaparte certainly understood his and Robert Asprey reveals all in this first of two volumes.  The next volume, The Fall of Napoleon, will be eagerly anticipated.
474979
This is a truly phenomenal work of scholarship. Arrian was widely acknowledged as a talented literary figure and historian while he lived. This translation does not diminish his prose in the slightest degree; the narrative is smooth, simple and direct. It is also extraordinarily illuminating. Arrian had access to Alexander biographers whose work has been lost to us.

But the thing that makes this particular work stand out is the massive scholarship that supports Arrian's account. The volume of explanatory footnotes is almost intimidating, but always helpful. Almost half of this volume is devoted to explanatory appendices by leading scholars in Classical History; each appendix is fascinating reading by itself. And then, there are the maps...

the maps are what distinguish the Landmark volumes from lesser editions. There are dozens of these maps, extensively annotated, large, readable and enormously helpful. They chronicle every aspect of Alexander's campaigns, from the strategic movements across continents to the tactical disposition of troops during each major engagement.

I will be buying every volume in the Landmark series, based on the excellence of this particular book.