This book is a lot of fun. I knew some of the military history
348154
This book is a lot of fun. I knew some of the military history, but there was still some more to learn. But much more important that the military history was the how to.  Some of the projects are so complex I would never consider them but some are doable and fun.
554061
I loved this approach to learning about so many of the people who were a part of that battle.
1964684
Didn't know what I was getting into initially but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I loved the introduction of modern Japanese culture interspersed with the memories of  Iwo Jima.  The history of  the samurai and the master craftsmen that created their swords was fascinating.
The sword slashing action scenes weren't bad either.
All in all a fun read.
4416882
Full disclosure: I wrote a short piece for this volume.  And, after getting a look at the finished product, I can tell you without reservation I am so proud to have been allowed to participate.

Chuck and Gary have put together a great book, the type of thing that both entertains and - here's the cool part - inspires an interest in history.  (This book needs to be thrown into the hands of impressionable middle-schoolers everywhere.)

Wonderful art, well-researched stories, and factoids abound.  Worth your time whether you're a lover of history or solid storytelling.
4384990
It is a shame that more Americans don't have an appreciation for U.S. history.  This book is able to fill in all that so many of us once learned in school, but since forgot.
Davis offers an entertaining, accessible approach to history.  Including the little anecdotes that make history fun, as well as some of the perspectives that we might not have learned in school.  I actaully read this before I started teaching social studies and am glad that I did.  This does not "dumb down" history, but refreshes the details of events.  LEt's face it- who really remembers the details of the tea pot dome scandal?
This fun and useful to have around.  Also, his Civil War volume is great, too!
516910
It's a fun read. Perhaps too much military type jargon and detail, but the overall premise of the plot is intriguing and not off the wall. The authors are very knowledgeable about the underlying possibilities they describe.
969749
My review title says it all. If you are a serious reader of world war one histories then this book needs to be on your shelf. Occasionally (and just occasionally) the tactical descriptions of various combat encounters get a little dry but the first part of the book dealing with the outbreak of the war is one of the best going. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
1011787
As I am the author of this book, I cannot in good conscience tell you that the prose in the work is Shakespearean, but I can say it's a fun read, full of facts that you haven't read elsewhere, 15 full-color maps and several hundred photographs, and a book you will return to time and time again when you are studying the Little Bighorn.  So for that and much more, I have to give it five stars.  For example, inside you will not only learn what Company M did at the Little Bighorn, but how they were recruited, where they came from, their experiences as new recruits, what they ate in the Army (does slumgullion stew sound tasty?), and how they were supposed to be trained with their weapons.  Concerning the initial fight of Company M with Major Reno's detachment in the Little Bighorn Valley, you will be able to use the maps, description and photographs to actually go to the valley and see the exact terrain - a portion of the fight that most visitors to the park normally do not visit.  You will read about acts of valor in Company M and why ten soldiers should have received Medals of Honor but didn't, as Reno was no fan of the company commander and Captain Benteen disliked the company first sergeant even more.

The book follows the 45 Company M survivors of the fight (12 died) through the rest of their careers and lives.  Many were later buried at the Old Soldiers' Home in Washington DC; their gravestones are shown in the book and can also be used as a quick guide to that cemetery, when you are next in the nation's capital.  Simple forensics makes an appearance in the book, with detailed photographs of cartridges at the Company M valley positions that show that at least one trooper experienced jamming of rounds in his carbine, and that First Sergeant John Ryan fired his distinctive Sharps telescopic rifle there.  A small piece of dark blue cloth, a trouser button and carbine casings found together show where there may have been a hasty grave after the battle for a Company M soldier, and this study narrows that down to one of two men.

The troopers of Company M were a rowdy lot, with an average of over one court-martial conviction per man.  Two troopers earlier picked a bar-fight with a man who turned out to be Wild Bill Hickok - with bad results.  After accessing their medical records in Washington, DC, the study is able to report who was kicked by a mule, who was in the riot in Company M two months before the 1876 campaign and who caught a social disease in the bordellos and hog ranches of the West, where the whiskey served was some of the meanest on earth.

So saddle up and join Company M; "we're burnin' daylight!"
3755165
I purchased this equally for "office bookshelf eye-candy" as for reference.  While I haven't read it once through, there's a lot of great history in here, and it's fun enough to peruse through any time.
4615842
I'm not sure what I expected to get from `Generals in Bronze', but I know what I got: lots of flavor but a bit too much detail.  I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I were more of a Civil War buff, but I still had to give it 4 stars.

`Generals in Bronze' gives us history as seen through the eyes of some of the people who made it happen, particularly as related to the Civil War and its aftermath. Sculptor James E. Kelly had many of the generals pose for him, and get measured by him, at the end of the 19th century and the first part of the 20th century.  His sculptures included the generals, war councils, and the surrender at Appomattox. Many of his sculptures are on display at the battlefields that made them famous; I particularly like the John Buford statue at Gettysburg, that is on display on the book's back cover.

The interviews of the Civil War (mostly union) generals by Kelly were informal and personal, but there were too many battles that I was not very familiar with. I was prepared for Gettysburg, having read the Michael and Jeff Shaara trilogy and having visited nearby Gettysburg and its cyclorama a half dozen times or more; but I didn't know enough about the Western Campaign on the Mississippi, for example, to enjoy those discussions. But whatever the battle, I learned something of the atmosphere, the politics, the personality of the principals, and a sense of what it was like at ground-level and in real time (usually confusing). It was intriguing to hear historical figures like Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan speaking informally about what had happened decades before at key points in our history. Getting to know Grant, by the way, was considered by Kelly to be the highlight of his career, and he surprisingly described Grant as gentle and kind.  In addition to the battles, there was a fairly long but intriguing series of interviews with eye-witnesses to the Lincoln assassination and its aftermath, probably the best part of the book. (Generals were not the only ones interviewed by Kelly, though the title implies that.)

Kelly was interesting, every bit as direct and commanding as a general.  He spoke with the generals and even with President Theodore Roosevelt at a peer-to-peer level and they accepted it!  He even became very good friends with some of them. He was a straight-shooter and I came to admire him, though a little put-off at times by his gruff manner. It was interesting that he was a total abstainer from alchohol, though he never said why; he frequently turned down offers to share a drink with the generals.

The informality of the interviews, the Monday morning quarterbacking over the battles (decades later), and the bristling and affecting personalities drove the book and gave it flavor, but I felt it could have been edited down to about half the size of the book.  On the other hand, if you are more than the casual Civil War buff that I am, this book might just be your cup of tea.
2795077
I have read a few of Gilbert Morris' books from the Lions of Judah series.  I hadn't read any of his American history books.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and actually pulled out reference material to read more about the Sante Fe Trail.  I was surprised to find that most of the things I read were also in the fictional account of Sante Fe Woman.  It's so much more fun to learn about history when given a romantic story line to go along with the facts.

I found the book to be entertaining but not over the top.  By three-quarter's of the way through the book, you pretty much knew how everything was going to end up.  It was still fun to get to the end though.  After reading this book, I plan to pick up more of Gilbert Morris' books.
1709356
Got this as a gift for a military history buff-he loved it
2551456
What a fun book. No, you don't exactly sprain your brain reading it... but it's a lot of fun.
629381
This is a great read.  A page Turner. I learned a lot of history in a very exciting way.  Names and places have new meaning now.  Teens to seniors will enjoy this refreshing romp through a little known period of America's history.
1978629
I really enjoyed this book.  Barb Baltrinic is new to the scene of writing, but she already has a great style.  You can tell that she spent numerous hours laboring over this story and editing so that the story had just the right 'voice'.  One of the common problems with Kindle books on Amazon is editing errors.  Luckily for us, there are no such errors in her writing.  That alone is worth at least a star or two.

Barb Baltrinic is able to seamlessly blend fact in fiction in her story.  It's a fun and interesting way to learn about our beginnings without the normal dry tone of a history book.  I would definitely recommend that the book be used in classrooms.

If you have any desire to read about early American history in a fun way, then pick up this book.  However, if you prefer boring accounts of history, then don't bother, this book would be much too fun for you.

Summary: READ IT!
1628920
I like history, and especially American History. You may have seen my review of the Horrible Histories take on the American Revolution, and maybe you figured ah, those Brits, they're just bitter, they don't like what we're taught in school 'cause we beat 'em! Well, this book is by an American, and it doesn't always jibe with what we're taught in school, either. But it sounds a lot more likely to me than the official stuff. And it's funny! But, behind the humor, I understand why those troops fired during the Boston Massacre. Not sorry that Sam Adams made a big deal out of it, mind you, but I do understand. (It's not in this book, but John Adams was those troops' lawyer, and he got them off. Now I know why.) On the positive side, I learned things about Lexington and Concord that I never knew; those poor redcoats never stood a chance! (That's a good thing, don't read me wrong.) And I learned that General Burgoyne was a successful playwright after the war. Good for him, huh? Entertaining, fun, and the truth: who could ask for more?
2119086
As I read countless historical books about one of my favorite subject, I thoroughly enjoy having this companion and it's voluminous amount of ancillary information at an arms reach.  I can open it up to check one specific subject on which I have a question and then an hour later find myself still surfing around the book from subject to subject.  A fascinating compilation of American Military History.