Tag Archives: naval

Master and Commander

Posted on April 15, 2016 by smellincoffee

Master and Commander© 1969 Patrick O’Brian411 pages This morning, in a quiet courtyard, I finished Master and Commander, the first book in Patrick O’Brian’s Napoleonic naval stories.  These have been recommended to me ever since I finished Horatio Hornblower, though … Continue reading →

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Convoy

Posted on November 18, 2015 by smellincoffee

Convoy: The Greatest U-Boat Battle of the War© 1976 Martin Middlebrook384 pages In his memoirs,  Winston Churchill admitted that nothing worried him quite so much as the U-boat menace. Britain could stand alone against a continental menace, but not without … Continue reading →

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Battles for Scandinavia

Posted on November 11, 2015 by smellincoffee

Battles for Scandinavia© 1981 John Elton203 pagesTime-Life History of WW2 In Battles for Scandinavia, John Elton takes readers into the three nations who had the distinct bad luck to lay between the warring powers of World War 2.  Norway, Sweden, … Continue reading →

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The Battle of the Atlantic

Posted on November 5, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Battle of Britain © 1977 Barrie Pitt, series editor William Goolrick 208 pages Time-Life History of WW2 Long before panzers roared through Paris and Stukas littered the fields of France with burned-out machines, the Phony War existed only in … Continue reading →

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The Miracle of Dunkirk

Posted on October 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Miracle of Dunkirk© 1982 Walter Lord323 pages In September 1939, British troops arrived in Europe to defend France against a rapidly expansionistic Nazi regime.  Germany’s leader of six years, Adolf Hitler, had already annexed Austria and Czechslovakia, and following … Continue reading →

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Armada

Posted on April 9, 2015 by smellincoffee

Armada© 2012 John Stack400 pages It is the 16th century, and a crisis looms for England.  Spain, who thanks to the plunder of the New World and its Hapsburg connections, is Europe’s heavyweight and the declared enemy of England, threatens war. Spanish … Continue reading →

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Gallipoli

Posted on November 25, 2014 by smellincoffee

Gallipoli© 1956 Alan Moorehead416 pages           As the Great War ensnared powers beyond Middle Europe, it became  in truth a world war,  providing the spark to reignite old tensions in places like the middle east.  In late … Continue reading →

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Master of Rome

Posted on November 8, 2014 by smellincoffee

Master of Rome384 pages© 2011 John Stack     Winning a naval war against the Carthaginians is such a pain in the ol’ gluteus maximus. Invade Africa, threaten their very capital, and what do they do? They break an entire Roman legion … Continue reading →

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The Age of Steam

Posted on August 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

A Brief History of the Age of Steam© 2007 Thomas Crump288 pages For most of human history, transportation over land has been prohibitively expensive, limited to highly lucrative goods like silk. Trade grew from the rivers, as did civilization. But … Continue reading →

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The Men Who Lost America

Posted on August 7, 2014 by smellincoffee

The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of an Empire© Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy480 pages The Men Who Lost America is a rare history of the American Revolution, one which follows not the revolutionaries, but their … Continue reading →

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