History Recent Picks
May 2009
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Hunting Eichmann : how a band of survivors and a young spy agency chased down the world’s most notorious Nazi, by Neal Bascomb.
"The pursuit, capture, and abduction of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann has been chronicled before, but it is a thrilling story that deserves retelling, particularly since recently uncovered information enhances the drama. Bascomb spread a wide net in researching the 15-year hunt, and he fills his book with previously unknown or neglected details, utilizing the remembrances of former Mossad agents, German and American intelligence operatives, and Argentine Nazi sympathizers who tried to find Eichmann after his seizure. Bascomb includes loads of juicy tidbits, such as squabbling within the Israeli government over planning the capture; the indifference of CIA agents, who apparently knew of Eichmann's location; and details on how he managed his escape from Europe. The reactions of his captors as they held him in a Buenos Aires safe house are particularly interesting, as their emotions range from elation to curiosity to cold contempt for the seemingly banal, fearful man who perpetrated monstrous deeds. This is an outstanding account of a sustained and worthy manhunt." (Booklist January 1, 2009)
Battle of the River Plate : a grand delusion, by Richard Woodman.
"'The Battle of the River Plate' was the first major naval confrontation of the Second World War, and it is one of the most famous. The dramatic sea fight between German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee and the British cruisers Exeter, Ajax and Achilles off the coast of South America caught the imagination in December 1939. Over the last 60 years the episode has come to be seen as one of the classics of naval warfare. Yet the accepted interpretation of events has perhaps been taken for granted and is ripe for reassessment, and that is one of the aims of Richard Woodman's enthralling new study." (Book Description Amazon UK)
Who will write our history? : rediscovering a hidden archive from the Warsaw Ghetto , by Samuel D. Kassow.
"In the Autumn of 1940 the Jews of Warsaw were forced into a crowded ghetto, enduring unimaginable conditions until most were killed. Yet, amid this, one man, Emanuel Ringelblum, started an extraordinary clandestine organization dedicated to recording life under Nazi occupation. His aim: to ensure that, if he died, his people's history would still be written. Codenamed Oyneg Shabes, this underground group painstakingly gathered together an archive of some 35,000 documents - letters, poems, photographs, personal testimonies, menus, sketches, songs and official papers - which was buried in tin boxes and milk bottles just before the ghetto was razed to the ground. This secret cache lay deep beneath the rubble for years, long after most of the Oyneg Shabes's members had perished, until one of the few survivors led the way to its secret location. Only now can the story of this incredible historical record, and the people behind it, be fully told. It is a testament to an extraordinary act of defiance in the face of tyranny, and to the triumph of history." (Book description Amazon UK)
The Spartacus war : the revolt of the gladiators, by Barry Strauss.
"No one presents the military history of the ancient world with greater insight and panache than Strauss (The Trojan War). His latest work tells the story of a slave from the Balkans, a gladiator who in 73 B.C. led an uprising of 700 gladiators that eventually attracted over 60,000 followers. Strauss depicts Spartacus as a charismatic politician, able to hold together a widely disparate coalition of Celts, Thracians, Germans and Italians. As a general, he was a master of maneuver and mobility, keeping the ponderous Romans consistently off balance. Strauss reconstructs the rebels' movements across southern Italy and their development into an army good enough to overcome Rome's legions in battle after battle. Not until Marcus Licinius Crassus was given command of Roman forces did Spartacus face an opponent who could match him. Spartacus forced a battle that resulted in complete defeat and his anonymous death. But the uprising he sparked left a permanent mark on the Roman psyche and made Spartacus himself a figure of myth as well as history, as Strauss shows at the end of this brisk, engrossing account." (Publishers Weekly March 17, 2009)
Land of the high flags : Afghanistan when the going was good, by Rosanne Klass.
"A memoir of lost Afghanistan. When the going was good, a young American woman traveled to the then-remote country of Afghanistan. A classic memoir in the tradition of Rebecca West, Rosanne Klass's Land of the High Flags is an insightful account of the land and its proud people. She was the first woman to teach boys from the country's villages, at a time when Afghan women were still kept hidden behind veils. Ms. Klass writes of Afghan traditions, of stark, splendid landscapes, and of the enduring friendships she made at a time when Afghanistan was reaching out to a hopeful future. Hailed by critics when it first appeared, this reissue of a classic includes additional new sections telling of her return to Afghanistan as a journalist—and of what became of the friends she brought to life for her readers. This is a vivid portrait of Afghanistan as it was before Afghan life was blasted into ruins like the great Buddhas of Bamian by the wars and the Taliban." (Book description Amazon US)
The lost world of communism : an oral history of daily life behind the iron curtain, by Peter Molloy.
"1989 was a year of revolution: it marked the collapse of communism in Eastern and Central Europe and an end to an entire way of life for millions of people behind the Iron Curtain. Beginning in Hungary, the retreat from communism picked up speed over the summer when the Poles won an overwhelming victory in free elections over their pro-Soviet rulers. In the fall, East Germany and Czechoslovakia achieved freedom with surprisingly little violence. Only Romania, at the end of the year, witnessed a savage battle in the capital and the summary execution of the most notorious of Eastern Europe's dictators, Nicolae Ceausescu.In "The Lost World of Communism", Peter Molloy, producer of the accompanying BBC series, collects first hand testimony of the people who lived in East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Romania during the Cold War era, and reveals an astonishingly rich tapestry of experience that goes beyond the headlines of spies and surveillance, secret police and political corruption - in fact, many of the people remember their lives under communism as 'perfectly ordinary' and even hanker for the 'security' that it offered. From international figures like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa, via the shadowy figures of Eastern Europe's intelligence and security services to its 'ordinary' citizens, the voices collected on Peter Molloy's book evoke the moods, preoccupations and experiences of a world of that vanished almost overnight." (Book description Amazon UK)
Survivors of a kind : memoirs of the Western Front, by Brian Bond.
"This book provides an innovative analysis of World War One using memoirs of leading politicians and writers of the time. This is a unique study of World War One memoirs from a historical perspective. It explores the tremendous effect that war experience had on writers' lives and how they came to terms with it after 1918, in deeply moving and often brilliant writing. As well as such famous literary figures as Robert Graves and Siegfried Sassoon, it includes historically significant writers such as Lord Reith, Anthony Eden and Harold Macmillan. It challenges the view that memoir writers were in any clear sense 'anti-war'. While many were appalled by heavy losses and awful conditions they were, however, determined to achieve victory and proud of their regimental service and comrades. Above all, they constitute a brilliant source for understanding the war on the Western Front." (Book description Amazon UK)
House of treason : the rise and fall of a Tudor dynasty, by Robert Hutchinson.
"Robert Hutchinson made his debut as a popular historian with the critically acclaimed and commercially successful Last Days of Henry VIII. His biography of Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth’s Spy Master was published in 2006. This new biography works as both a sequel and 'prequel' to his existing books, telling the dramatic story of the Dukes of Norfolk. The richest and most powerful noble family in Britain, after the king himself, they regarded themselves as the power behind the throne and regularly tried to act as 'kingmakers'. Thomas Howard, the second duke, fought for Richard III at Bosworth and was imprisoned in the Tower by Henry VII. A brilliant politician, he negotiated his way out and became a key minister in the new Tudor regime. Late in life he commanded the English army that annihilated the Scots at Flodden in 1513. However, his descendants were a louche lot of plotters and conspirators; Henry VIII and Elizabeth I both beheaded a Norfolk for treason (although another led the Royal Navy against the Spanish Armada). The rise and fall of this mighty dynasty sheds new light on the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Elizabeth as well as providing enormous entertainment." (Book description Amazon UK)
Witness in Palestine : a Jewish American woman in the occupied territories, by Anna Baltzer.
"Anna Baltzer, a young Jewish American, went to the West Bank to discover the realities of daily life for Palestinians under the occupation. What she found would change her outlook on the conflict forever. She wrote this book to give voice to the stories of the people who welcomed her with open arms as their lives crumbled around them. For eight months, Baltzer lived and worked with farmers, Palestinian and Israeli activists, and the families of political prisoners, traveling with them across endless checkpoints and roadblocks to reach hospitals, universities, and olive groves. Baltzer witnessed firsthand the environmental devastation brought on by expanding settlements and outposts and the destruction wrought by Israel s separation barrier, which separates many families from each other, their communities, their land, and basic human services. What emerges from Baltzer's account is not a sensationalist tale of suicide bombers and conspiracies, but a compelling and inspiring description of the trials of daily life under the occupation." (Book description Amazon US)
Wonders of the ancient world : antiquity’s greatest feats of design and engineering, by Justin Pollard.
'"Wonders of the Ancient World' describes the most extraordinary feats of human engineering and design from across the globe, created between the dawn of human civilization and the onset of the Dark Ages. Author Justin Pollard looks at the problems that the ancients solved to build each wonder and introduces us to the travellers, both ancient and modern, who saw and rediscovered each site. (Book description Amazon UK)
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