After books on the wartime bombing of Dresden and the Berlin Wall,
Taylor now provides a popular read on the less explored (by
non-German historians at least) immediate post war history of
Germany, 1945-47. The initial chapters provide a narrative of
collapse and defeat including the mass movements of Germans from
east to west (although not with the same degree of depth as in Giles
MacDonogh: After the Reich - from the fall of Vienna to the Berlin
Airlift). I was fascinated to discover that teams
of economists had been working secretly within the Nazi structure
under Backe (Hitler's Food Minister) and Speer planning for the
economic survival of a defeated germany from 1943 onwards. The team
included one Ludwig Ehrhard, later to be the architect of west
Germany's economic miracle.
Where Taylor shines is when he looks at the specific occupation
policies of the allies. One useful chapter examines the practical
problems of denazification. An early IBM system was introduced to
set up a database of suspected Nazi's - but was plagued by technical
issues. It was to prove an impossibility for demobilisingoccupiers to denazify an entire population and Taylor
chronicles how pragmatism led to this being one of the first areas
handed back to German control. Another factor slowing down the
process is suggested as being an underlying anti-semitism amongst
the US command (especially Patton) which was reflected in a distaste
for supporting and listening to DP's (Displaced persons) many of
whom were Jewish survivors of the camps.
Post war zonal policy is examined individually. Much has already
been written of the attitude of the Soviets in the east, less about
the British and especially theFrench in the
west. It seems the British tended to treat their zone initially as
if it were andAfrican colony. At one point an exasperated Kurt
Schumacher (later to become the leader of the SPD party) exclaims
"Wir sind kein Negervolk" ("We are not Blacks" - which says as much
about the racist attitudes prevalent at the time as well as British
policy!). Taylor is especially useful on the French position. Early
French treatment and policies were harsher even than those in the
Russian zone. There were large numbers of prisoner of war deaths,
they refused to accept refugees from the east, saying as protestants
they would unsettle the religious balance of their Rhineland zone -
and cleverly recruiting German Catholic support. Paradoxically
though the French were also the first to give the Germans a genuine
role in self-government and denazification (Taylor suggests one
reason for this may have been more empathy between occupier and
occupied given that many of the French had played a collaborational
role with Germans in Vichy).
What the reading makes clear is how the occupiers had to juggle
many, often conflicting demands: initial concern over
"Werwolf"counter attack and desire for revenge, followed by the
practicalities of feeding a people incapable of doing this
themselves because of destruction and dislocation. How to restore
Germany - non industrial state incapable of going to war (The US
Morgenthau plan), nation made up of fragmented states as after 1648
(France), a client state incapable of returning to a Nazi, or
capitalist past and too weak to wage war (Soviet Union) or a Poor
Law pauper kept alive but no better than the poorest at home
(Britain). Political and emerging Cold War reality soon focussed
minds: Britain and the US restore the framework for economic revival
and the ability for their zones to feed themselves. France and
Germany begin the dance of a couple destined to tie them and the
rest of Europe into the European Union. In the east, concerned
Soviets, try to use Berlin to halt these developments, which after
the blockade accelerates the binding of wartime western allies and their zones, by then the
Federal Republic.
OOne of the most useful sections is the epilogue - essentially an
essay on how post 1949 Germany has come to terms with its nazi past:
The sleep cure of the 1950's when the Adenauer regime admits the
"fellow traveller" nazi's back to positions of administrative
authority to manage the economic miracle. Then the questioning of
this by the generation of the 1960's: Press criticism, 1968,
Baader-Meinhof terrorism. In the 1970's as a prosperous but not yet
confident society, the Ostpolitik of Brandt coming to terms
politically with its eastern past. Only today, over 60 years later
is Germany sufficiently confident under a Chancellor born after the
nazi period, to take a lead again, but hesitantly, still conscious
of its past malevolent ghosts. March '12 (****)
PS: The full title is presumably/hopefully an Editor's choice -
surely we no longer need images of Hitler and his name in Big Blocks
to sell a book? The German edition (called "Between War and Peace")
is much more appropriate. Perhaps a little denazification of the
book industry might do some good.....
Matthew Brzezinski: Red Moon Rising: Sputnik
and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age/span>
Tells the story of "Sputnik and the rivalries
that ignited the Space Age". Indeed it starts well with a very
atmospheric description of a V2 launch against London, and then goes
on to tell the story of the early pre Sputnik US and Soviet space
programmes and the internal politics that lay behind them.
Centre-stage is rightly given to von Braun, ex member of Hitler's SS
and Korolev, survivor of Stalin's Gulag camps (interesting that
Korolev had as many failures - probably more than the US before his
successful Sputnik launch) with an examination of their respective
relationships with Eisenhower and Khrushchev but beyond telling the
story, rather like early US attempts to get into space, it fails to
really ignite.
Brzezinski is a former journalist (for the
Wall Street Journal) and this reads like an extended piece of
journalism - rather like a long series of articles that you might
find in a weekend supplement. The US political context is more
satisfactory than the Soviet. The end notes suggest that research is
essentially secondary - and much of that from the internet.
An appropriate read perhaps if you are new to
the period (having just seen the forthcoming movie on "Ham" the
space chimp maybe) but don't look to find any novel insights or new
archival research. Jan'11 (***)
Michael Howard: Otherwise Occupied:
Letters Home from the Ruins of Nazi Germany
At the end of the second world war all the allies sent teams into
defeated Germany to identify and seize war materiel and weaponry
(perhaps most famously German V2 rocket technology - see the
casahistoriaspace
racesite for links).
This then came to include the "evacuation" of machinery and
intellectual property (including individuals) that might help
reconstruction of allied economies. Much has been written about the
Soviet removals from their and the other zones, far less about
Britain's own programme.
Michael Howard was a young 19 year old officer sent to the Ruhr in
1946 as an intelligence officer for Britains T-Force to help
administer British seizures and this is his story of his time as
part of that process. The approach in his book "Otherwise Occupied"
which the cafe has just finished reading is novel: Howard has used
the 67 letters he sent home to his mother during the period as a
structure to hang the development of the general account on, a
narrative that reads well and is clear to follow (although the
profusion of characters who appear briefly in the mess then and
disappear can be a little irritating at times). Maps and photographs
by the author help general understanding and the personal story
element of the book. Interesting aspects emerge on the nature of the
early British occupation (interestingly he comments for example that
it seemed many of the initial military administrators had a pre-war
background in Britain's colonial administrations - his own father
was in the Fiji Colonial Service) as well as the reality of life in
the immediate postwar period for occupied and occupier and the issue
of "fraternisation".
Little is said about the wider picture of T-Force work (and indeed
this is not the purpose of the book), rather the focus is on the
experiences and impressions of a young officer who happened to be
part of a wider process (so despite the described efficiency of the
authors section, day to day military administration in general
during the period comes over as somewhat ad hoc with officers
clearly enjoying their occupying role, and much reliance on a public
school ethos that was perhaps typical of the period). This is
perhaps the key significance of Howards writing. Letters from the
war period are relatively common, far less common are letters with a
commentary written 60 years later by the same writer. Here this
provides not just elaboration but a modern self-evaluation of
attitudes and actions contemporary to the period that help the
context to be better understood. Of particular value is the
(empathetic) development of the author's response to German
nationals.
As a junior officer the author had no real part in key zonal
decisions, so do not look here for new evidence on British postwar
occupation policy or relations with the Soviets. However Michael
Howard's book has real value to the historian in another way. Recent
years have seen an explosion in German witness accounts of the
immediate postwar period. Here we have what amounts to an annotated
contemporary account of early occupation life by a member of a
western occupying force to set alongside them.
And one whose attitude to the population would anticipate their
later reintegration into the postwar world. Nov '10 (****)
Leo McKinstry:
Lancaster: The Second World War's Greatest Bomber
The title of Leo McKinstry's book, "Lancaster: The Second World
War's Greatest Bomber", is quite deceptive. It is not really a
narrow nuts & bolts history of another warplane. Instead McKinstry
has provided a comprehensive survey and analysis of the role,
effectiveness and morality of the British strategic bombing
offensive against the Reich. The development and use of the
Lancaster bomber is the leitmotif providing central continuity for
the account, just as it was the central component of the offensive.
As well as considering past official reports and research as well as
the earliest accounts of the bombing such as David Irvings 1960's
work, McKinstry has made clear use of new research, especially into
the effectiveness of the strategy in 1944-45. In doing so he
provides a valuable and very readable campaign history making good
use of the now rich seam of witness accounts and memoirs collected
from the survivors of the bombing as well as RAF crews to illustrate
aspects of the unfolding story (although at times, just as with any
good student of history, he also provides information to qualify and
place in context several of these insertions).
The key thread may be the Lancaster, but the figure who is most
dominant in the account is not Chadwick, the Lancaster's designer,
but Sir Arthur Harris, Commander in Chief of bomber command from
1942 onwards. He is behind the policy of area bombing, focusing on
the means of production (ie the civilian population), rather than
the precision bombing of key strategic targets such as oil stores
and arms factories, believing that the destruction and terror
created could bring victory on its own. With the deliberate bombing
of civilian areas in raids with up to 1000 bombers officially called
"dehousing", this shows that spin is nothing new. Whilst it is
possible to argue that Harris's policy was most justifiable in
1942-3 when Britain had no other way of returning the fight to
Germany and of taking pressure off the Red Army in the east,
McKinstry shows clearly the flaws in Harris's stubborn refusal to
amend this policy in 1944-45 when precision bombing of military
targets alone, he believes, could have shortened the war by several
months. The US daylight raids had taken this approach in 1944 (as
had the RAF in assistance of the D day landings) and it was later
shown to be more effective than the RAF night attacks on cities such
as Berlin and Dresden. What is surprising from the book is how
little Harris's superiors did to force him to change policy when
they were clearly unhappy with it. It is clear Harris bullied them,
they themselves were too weak. (Churchill however, appears
duplicitous, especially over Dresden, presented here as a means of
the UK hoping to use the attack to seek favour/respect with Stalin
at Yalta.).
The victims of this inability to manage the C in C were obviously
the civilians who continued to die in the ever increasing raids (By
1945 the USAF is also into area bombing), but also the bomber crews
themselves. The irony is that Harris saw the bomber offensive as a
way to ensure victory without the horrors of another Western Front,
yet by sending his men out night after night to bomb heavily
defended targets he ensured their casualty rates were the highest of
any of the western theatres of war (over 50,000 killed out of a
total of 125,000 aircrew, a 44% death rate, a further 8,000 were
wounded in action and nearly 10,000 taken prisoner).
Towards the end of the book I began to feel that too much was being
devoted to the context, too little on the final (postwar) years of
the Lancaster, yet it was soon clear the end of the war was the end
of the Lancaster. It's sole purpose was to bomb Germany. It was not
well suited to conversion to the Japanese theatre, yet the atomic
bombs stopped the conversion being done. However those atomic bombs
also meant that huge bomber fleets were now redundant. More
depressingly perhaps, their threat for the future rested completely
on Harris's belief in the significance of indiscriminate area
bombing. Dehousing indeed.
Feb '10 (****)
Sean Longden: T-Force: The Race for
Nazi War Secrets, 1945
This
book has been a disappointment. Familiar with both the geographical
area and the background technological and military history I found
this little more than a regimental history of the “T-Force”, a group
set up to seize and secure Nazi military technology at the end of
World War II. There is too little strong central narrative, rather
it is a collection of events, incidents & forays most of whom lack
development. There is much interesting personal history based on
anecdotal and witness accounts, but the general development would
have perhaps benefited from tighter editing.
An opportunity missed to tell the story thoroughly of how not just
the USA and USSR but also Britain grabbed its share of German
know-how at the start of the Cold War.
Nov '09 (**)
I note (in 2011) that its US paperback release is called "T-Force:
The Forgotten Heroes of 1945", perhaps a much more appropriate
title.
Margaret Macmillan:
Peacemakers
Margaret
Macmillans "Peacemakers" is the book I wished had been written when
I was a student (or as I covered the Peace Treaties year after year
with my examination students beginning their exam courses). It is
valuable on two levels. Firstly there is the obvious: a study of the
drafting and setting up of the Peace treaties that ended the First
World War. Macmillan writes in a clear readable manner, portraying
the key participants, Wilson, Clemenceau & Lloyd George as very
human characters, grappling with enormous issues but also showing up
their flaws. Wilson for example, spending too much time on the
creation of the League and failing to focus on the inconsistencies
of Versailles re his 14 Points (especially concerning the German
minorities left in Poland & Czechoslovakia). Equally his failure to
see the need for US all party support dooms the settlement to US
rejection.
The book also shows clearly the emergence of the Anglo-Saxon
alliance that is to develop as the 20th century progressed. Most of
all it presents the three as facing a novel situation: no real
precedents; the sudden German collapse presented no time to prepare
for the peace; the pressure of public opinion limited the freedom of
action and forced some decisions the three knew would cause future
problems. Additionally they were hemmed in by a desire to prevent
the further growth of a feared new ideology adopted by their earlier
ally – Bolshevism. It is clear the ending of World War 2 was to be
very different, much as a consequence of these 1919 issues: no big
postwar conference, no deputations from smaller nations. Rather 1945
produced a peace that the Great Powers could realistically enforce
on their own, and in their own interests.
But perhaps the real value of the book is on another level. It is an
excellent primer for the 20th century. Coverage is gloabal as
Macmillan goes into detail about the creation and future problems
not just of eastern & central Europe but also the Far and Middle
East. For Example Japan's concerns over the inclusion of a League
principle to guarantee racial equality reveal the depth of unease
the west (and especially the white Dominions) had in dealing with a
newly industrialised & strong Japan. There is also a clear
explanation of the role the Great War played in the rise of an
expansionist Japan in China which is not always dealt with in
western textbooks.
My only reservation is that perhaps like the Peacemakers Macmillan
may have ignored the Germans. The full footnotes, bibliography and
listing of unpublished sources lack any in German indicating a
reliance only on what has appeared in English. Nonetheless, this is
a key resource for those beginning courses on 20th century history,
making clear the origin of what become the dominant problems and
concerns that mark out the century's progression, or in many cases,
regression.
Aug '09 (*****)
John Gimlette:
Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace
John Gimlette, author of an excellent "travel history" of Paraguay
has turned his attention now to Europe in 1944-5. Following a
veteran of the US landings in Marseilles he and the veteran retrace
the route taken by a US anti tank panther company through France
into Germany and finally into Austria.
This is an interesting adea: the author juxtaposes the actions of
the war with the position today in key locations of the original
campaign to see what remains and what is now different. The
strongest part of the book is the description of the war in the
forests of the Vosges, a theatre that normally receives little
attention.
July '09 (***)
Ryszard
Kapuscinski: Imperium
This is a volume of essays dating from 1939 to the fall of Gorbachev by the
Polish journalist. In them, Kapuscinski writes clearly and shows a sharp sense
of observation of the workings of the Soviet Empire as he finds it in his
travels during the period. Although we are well aware now that the former USSR
was not a monolith but made up of many different nationalities and Soviet
Republics, his writing from the 1980's from the Soviet "stans" reminds us that
this was also the case at a time when the west tended to consider the USSR as
one uniform state. In many ways the best is at the start and finish - a masterly
description of the 1939 Soviet occupation of eastern Poland from a boys account
and an analysis from the time by an easterner of the fall of Gorbachev. Not
quite history writing, but a good resource for historical study of the period.
Oct' 08. (***)
Frederick Taylor: The
Berlin Wall: A World Divided, 1961-1989
An interesting narrative of the history of the Berlin Wall by
the author of Dresden. Like that earlier work much attention is given to
context (although the potted history of the pre 1961 Cold War period is
perhaps too potted). The Wall remains the focus, especially in the
1960's highlighting as it does the hypocrisy and lack of will of the
western powers and the federal republic to support their rhetoric with
action towards the east (which was probably the wise course...) But the
most satisfactory chapter is perhaps the final one with insights and
perceptions available only to a writer with a genuine affection and
knowledge of the east gained through personal association. Useful also
to anyone seeking an accessible, and general history of the GDR. One
final point - in my (hardback) edition there are a surprising number of
typos, signs perhaps of too swift editing. But why? Dec '07 (***)
Philip
Roth: The Plot Against America: A Novel
An intriguing piece of counterfactual history - FDR loses the 1940 election to a
right wing Lindbergh in league with Nazi Germany. Written in the first person
from the viewpoint of a 10 year old boy this is perceptive and emotionally
moving on a personal as well as social and political level as it charts the
gradual decline of the US into antisemitic persecution. Yes, you can see how it
might happen in a "civilised" society.... May '07 (****)
Simon Sebag Montefiore: Young Stalin
This has to be read by anyone who seriously wants to understand what made Stalin
tick. The account of his youth and formative years (up to Oct/Nov 1917) clearly
indicates the impact of growing up in the wilds of (still lawless and gangster
riddled) Georgia and the Caucasus. Sebag Montefiore's account does more though -
it explains perhaps the ease with which the USSR slid into oligarchy and
lawlessness in the 1990's - because of a general underlying tradition of
violence, but also the dangers of faith schools and the risks of encarcerating
enemies of the state in similar places. Stalin? More educated and culturally
rounded than I had thought, but presents as not a pleasant character at all -
easy to understand his purges and ruthlessness as later USSR leader. Equally
repugnant seemed to be his inclination towards impregnating teenage girls at
least half his age - one of whom was only 13, (he was in his 30's......) Very
readable nonetheless. May '07 (****)
Max Hastings: Nemesis (US title: Retribution): The Battle
for Japan, 1944-45
Another massive tome, this time on the final 18 months of the Pacific War. An
overall synthesis, easily laid out with different theatres given seperate
chapters. I found the most useful sections to be on those areas of conflict
often less publicised in the west (& Europe. eg Burma, Australia, China, the sub
war) By contrast, Macarthurs travails through the Philippines are less
compulsive (as the man himself appears to have been). Some key points emerge:
the (very) variable quality of US military commanders (FDR seems to have given
them an almost free hand), the Japanese disinterest in technology (!!) and the
early (quite considerable) failings of the B29. March '08 (****)
Ben
Macintyre: Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal
A quick holiday read but no less enjoyable for that. Macintyres account of the
double agent Eddie Chapman is told well and in a sympathetic way - this despite
the many initially questionable aspects of the man himself. Chapman, Agent
Zigzag, a habitual criminal and serial womaniser/romancer became a spy for the
German Abwehr then a double agent (of considerable value) for MI5. What is still
unclear at the end is Chapman's motivation. Given the apparent complexities of
his personality that may never be clear. As Le Carre is quoted in the blurb
"meticulously researched, splendidly told and often very moving" especially in
his loyalty to old friends. August '07 (***)
Jonathan Fenby: Alliance: The Inside Story of
How Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill Won One War and Began Another
Meticulously detailed this looks exhaustively (at times perhaps too much so
unless you are using this to research an essay!!) at the development of the WW2
alliance system. Several points emerge very clearly: that Teheran was probably
the key meeting - Yalta was a case of formalising what had already been decided.
Secondly, the emergence of Stalin as the main player with the support of FDR.
Equally it is a surprise how many of the leading US & UK participants were in
poor health, not just FDR but also many aides and military figures. As for
Churchill he seemed unable to get Gallipoli out of his system, but was right in
his postwar fears. For the publisher: why no maps? They would have been really
helpful to envisage the logistics of the meetings. A false economy. June '07
(***)
Sarah
Helm: A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII
This story of Vera Atkins, responsible for sending British female secret agents
to Nazi France and her cathartic efforts to find out what happened to those who
did not return is a compelling, well crafted read. The Atkins life is full of
twists and page turning mysteries.However in the process Helm emphasizes the
bravery of those sent to France and the amateur incompetence of those who sent
them. Equally, the transparent nature of the books structure serves as an
excellent example of how history is laboriously researched and worked upon using
a variety of sources – in this case very much like a detective thriller. March
´07 (****)
Anonymous:
A Woman in Berlin
This diary, written by a Berlin woman in her 30's during the fall of Berlin
illustrates clearly and forcefully the real meaning of defeat. Interesting
asides on the nature of the Russian conquerors: raised in a society where they
received but could not choose they had little concept of "value", even of booty.
Most of all it reveals the commonplace nature & acceptance of rape or of
attaching oneself to an Ivan lover - for protection and survival. A very human
diary of survival in year zero. Sept '06 (****)
Nigel Farndale: Haw-Haw : The Tragedy of William & Margaret Joyce
Tells the story of Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce), the wartime broadcaster from
Germany, later hanged for treason in Britain. Presents Joyce as a tragic figure
with strongly held (if seriously flawed) beliefs. I had not been aware of his
(and for a while dominant) role in British interwar fascism, made clear in the
book. Much writing is devoted to the time in wartime Berlin - and the
experiences of their living as a couple in an alien environment with limited
grasp of the language...... His postwar trial nonetheless is shown as a vengeful
travesty of British justice - which Joyce accepts with grace (and perhaps a
little enigmatic comfort from MI5..... - are the secret MI5 files on Joyce's
possible work with them still closed?). June '06 (***)
Giles MacDonogh: After the Reich - from the fall of
Vienna to the Berlin Airlift Any modern writer of post war Germany who mentions the names of Hajo
Holborn and Michael Balfour in the first few pages clearly has done their
reading. This book fills in the gap left in many English language histories of
postwar central Europe: from the actual end of war and its immediate impact to
the outbreak of the Cold War. Covering not just the zones of Germany, but also
Austria and the events of German speaking Europe elsewhere - the German Reich at
its largest.The initial 100 pages or so are a harrowing account of the treatment
of the
German speakers as they were invaded, occupied, looted, raped and for the
millions in the east, moved westwards. The brutality by all concerned is
meticulously documented - too much so in places - I wanted to skip on as it was
so disturbing and relentless. The Red Army is well documented by others, less so
the proportionately greater savagery of the Czechs on the Sudetenlanders
(especially grim as MacDonogh makes clear the pre 1938 Sudetenlanders were ex
Austrians, not Germans who had been unlawfully deprived of the chance at self
determination after Versailles by a nationalist Czech regime.).
Another eyeopener is the evidence that all the allies used prisoners
of war in ways similar to Speer in his use of slave labour (and often in the
face of resultant deaths). The US was especially cynical in this matter
announcing they had released all POW's in mid 1946 when in fact they released
them to be handed over to other allies: Belgium and France, for manual work. The
USSR was still returning POW's in the mid 1950's.
The early stance of the US was surprisingly tough. Outside the Soviet
Zone, the US had and maintained the hardest stance to its prisoners and civilian
population for the first 18 months. Torture seems to have been common initially
amongst all the occupiers as they sought to do the necessary and root out
Nazi's. However MacDonogh's examples indicate a direct line of war's
dehumanisation that makes treatment of Iraqi prisoners seem minor.One issue with After the Reich
is caused by its heavy reliance on documentary sources, especially memoirs. This
had meant a skew towards recounting the experiences of the better off, in
particular the womenfolk of the German/Prussian nobility. At times this leads
perhaps to a too unconsidered appreciation of the sometime self-serving
motivation of the 1944 plotters, many of whom were close to the writers of the
memoirs used.
The final sections takes a reader swiftly but clearly through the fog
of the origins of the Cold War, only after 500 pages of the aftermath analysis
what follows has a clarity lacking in the work of many other revisionist
writers. Ultimately the emergence of the postwar west Germany is shown to be
linked closely to the creation of the European community, with Adenauer
consciously supporting a pro western & French future, even if it, as suggested,
meant sacrificing the old historic Prussian, socialist and protestant eastern,
(and at the time more slavic influenced) provinces of the old Reich.
Since the Wende, this has
been a topic occupying the history shelves of most German bookshops. MacDonogh
has done English readers a service with this account. The underlying sentiment
is that this book records the consequences of the far greater evil perpetrated
on others by the Germans - a feeling that many of those recorded reflect,
despite their misery. It is not surprising that with the opening of the east
Germans have wished to document the period, nor is it surprising that Anglo-saxon
writers have shunned it for so long. May '06 (*****).
Frederick
Taylor: Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February, 1945 This is perhaps the emergent "revisionist" view of the Dresden bombing. Irving
produced the initial, horrifying, description of the mass destruction of the
allied attacks - Taylor places them in a more pragmatic wartime context, but
also looks at the history of Dresden itself and shows it to be not quite the
cultured, non-military city of the earlier histories of the bombings. Dresden
was undefended through lack of preparedness, the RAF were by Feb 1945
professional and skilled in area destruction. The need to appease Stalin remains
unanswered. Dresden had its centre ripped out - and visually still suffers
today. March '06 (****)
Christopher Bayly: Forgotten Armies : The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945
The main value of this tome to the general reader is most likely to be the early
chapters before the war. This outlines most clearly the nature (arrogance and
decadence?) of the British presence in malaya & Burma. The forgotten armies of
the conflict are dealt with very methodically, but this makes for drier reading. Feb'06 (***)
Ben
Elton: The First Casualty
Even if you are not normally an Elton fan, this is worth a read. It is a
detective mystery with a (21st century?) twist. Elton's left wing liberalism
seeps through in a provoking way - and this is one of hs novels that a teacher
might even be able to recommend to a younger student - given that the sexual
exploits/foul language are far less than usual!! Jan '06 (***)
This
book has been a disappointment. Familiar with both the geographical
area and the background technological and military history I found
this little more than a regimental history of the “T-Force”, a group
set up to seize and secure Nazi military technology at the end of
World War II. There is too little strong central narrative, rather
it is a collection of events, incidents & forays most of whom lack
development. There is much interesting personal history based on
anecdotal and witness accounts, but the general development would
have perhaps benefited from tighter editing. 
Margaret
Macmillans "Peacemakers" is the book I wished had been written when
I was a student (or as I covered the Peace Treaties year after year
with my examination students beginning their exam courses). It is
valuable on two levels. Firstly there is the obvious: a study of the
drafting and setting up of the Peace treaties that ended the First
World War. Macmillan writes in a clear readable manner, portraying
the key participants, Wilson, Clemenceau & Lloyd George as very
human characters, grappling with enormous issues but also showing up
their flaws. Wilson for example, spending too much time on the
creation of the League and failing to focus on the inconsistencies
of Versailles re his 14 Points (especially concerning the German
minorities left in Poland & Czechoslovakia). Equally his failure to
see the need for US all party support dooms the settlement to US
rejection.
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