Not Just a Role Playing Game!

Ewalt, David.  Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play
       It.  New York: Scribner, August 2013.  ISBN: 978-1-4516-4050-2

You do not have to have been a nerd, geek, played D &D, read Conan the Barbarian, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, or other sword and sorcery books to appreciate Of Dice and Men.  But it does help with the jokes. 

David Ewalt takes the reader on an enjoyable, whirlwind tour of Dungeons and Dragons from the beginning in 1974 to the introduction of the newest rule set in 2012.  Along the way, he introduces you to all the major personalities in the evolution of the role-playing system.   This is a book of how a concept became a phenomenon that swept the country and the world before the age of the Internet while showing how it had changed to fit the times.

Like Man of War and Leaving Mundania, David Ewalt mixes his personal involvement with D & D into the history and stories using excerpts of his gaming sessions to introduce chapters and clarify concepts.  He is not afraid to discuss problems the D & D may cause in a life, but he also illustrates how it can help.  The book reminded this reviewer of the fun times he had with D & D in college and brought back many memories.

Highly recommended for readers interested in brand creation, company histories, gaming history, and role-playing.

High Tide of the Confederacy?

Tucker, Phillip Thomas.  Barksdale's Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at 
        Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.  Havertown, PA: Casemate Publishers, 2013.
        ISBN: 978-1-61200-179-1

Like most readers of history, especially American Civil War history, any time I see a book about Gettysburg, I resist adding it to the stack of books I want to read.  Most visit the same ground, emphasizing the same fights, and retelling the same stories.  I am glad that I made an exception with Barksdale's Charge.  Phillip Tucker makes a very convincing case that the often overlooked Mississippi Brigade's charge, routing a large part of Sickle's Third Corp, came the closest to splitting the Army of the Potomac which could have led to its defeat in detail.

 Tucker did not write your standard book on the Battle of Gettysburg.  Instead, he wrote a well-documented study of on particular unit (Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade of McLaws' Division in Longstreet's Corp) and the pivotal, but forgotten, role it played in almost defeating the Army of the Potomac.  Tucker sets the stage with two chapters discussing Barksdale and the other leaders of the Mississippi regiments, the units and their men.  He follows this with a chapter on the previous engagements of the Mississippi Brigade.  Chapter four sets the scene with narration of the battle for July 1 and July 2, 1863, as all the actors take their places.  Finally, in chapter five, the Mississippi Brigade is unleashed upon Sickle's men.  For the next eight chapters, Tucker uses quotes from letters and diaries, well-laced with maps to put the reader on the battlefield with the participants.  We can thrill with the enthusiasm of the Confederates as they overcome one obstacle after another only to fall into grief as the Confederates finally ran into a fresh unit they just could not overcome.  Then the "romantic" disaster of Pickett's Charge, state prejudice in the Army of Northern Virginia, and the death of Barksdale cast the role of the Mississippi Brigade into obscurity.

Take the time to read the book.  Your understanding of the Battle of Gettysburg will be changed as a result.

Not Just Another Battle of the Bulge Title

Collins, Michael, and Martin King.  The Tigers of Bastogne: Voices of the 10th Armored Division
     in the Battle of the Bulge.  Philadelphia: Casemate, June 2013.

The Tigers of Bastogne is about the fight conducted by Combat Command B of the 10th Armored Division alongside the 101st Airborne Division against hordes of Germans that laid siege to Bastogne.  The tale is told in largely in the words of the veterans that the authors had interviewed supplemented by unit after-action reports and citations for medals earned during the fight.  The authors provided a framing chapter that provided background on the 10th Armored and introduced some of the veterans.  The heart of the book is the day by day description of events beginning with December 15th and lasting to December 28th.  A final chapter provides a brief summary of the part played by the 10th Armored in the rest of World War II.

Michael Collins and Martin King have done Battle of the Bulge aficionados a great service by highlighting the role played by the 10th Armored in defending Bastogne with the 101st Airborne especially using the voices of the veterans.  However, there are issues of fact checking (mislabeling Panthers as Mark IV's for example) and proofreading (using fair instead of fare when referring to food) in the framing portions  written by the authors that should have been caught.  Non-aficionados will not grasp the full significance of this tale as the authors present the fight for Bastogne in isolation without relating it to the whole Battle of the Bulge campaign.  Also novices to the battle will be disconcerted regarding the disjointedness of the tale as one brief portion of a fire-fight is given, then there is a quick switch to another location with a different veteran with very little connection provided.  The maps provided are helpful, but few. 

Overall, despite the short-comings listed,  Michael Collins and Martin King are to be greatly commended for writing this book and letting the readers in on a little heard story.

Who Lost America?

O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson.  The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American
        Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire.  New Haven: Yale UP, 2013.  ISBN: 978-0-300-19107-3

This title provides an interesting take on the War for American Independence by providing a collective biography of all the major players on the British side in this debacle  that nearly lead to the destruction of the British Empire.

 Starting at top with King George III and working his way down through government officials (Lord North, Lord Germain, and the Earl of Sandwich) to generals (Howe, Burgoyne, Clinton, and Cornwallis) and admirals (Howe and Rodney), O'Shaughnessy provides a brief life story of each man  placing their life in context before concentrating on the role each played in the war.  He also provides information regarding what happened to each person after the war.

By the end of this well documented and illustrated book, the reader has more understanding of the role each British leader played in the conflict and sympathy for their difficulties during the War for American Independence than one would think possible out of one book.

Not just another Arthur book

Halsall, Guy.  Worlds of Arthur: Facts and Fictions of the Dark Ages.  Oxford: Oxford UP, 
      2013.  ISBN: 9780199658176

 Guy Halsall sets out to provide a cure-all for the books that purport to reveal "new" knowledge about King Arthur.  Since the medieval times, tales and stories of Arthur has grown until he is a cult figure starring in numerous books, movies and legends.  But what is actually know is minimal.  The sources from close to his time period provide little concrete information and, as Guy Halsall points out, are not the most credible of witness.

The book presents four worlds of Arthur.  Part I is the world of post-Roman Britain leading into Anglo-Saxon Britain looking at the medieval sources that form so much a part of "pseudo-histories" of Arthur.  Part II is a look at the present knowledge that scholars have of the medieval sources and archeological evidence of the period.  Part II is an examination of how the writers of the "pseudo-histories" seek to avoid the evidence of scholars.  Part IV is Guy Halsall using the evidence currently available to provide his take on Arthur.

Overall, Guy Halsall provides a scholarly, readable look at what is currently known about 5th century Britain.  The book is recommended for academic and public libraries as well as for all readers wanting more than the latest pseudo-history on Arthur.

What is a librarian to do?

What is a librarian to do whose ambition (at least one of his ambitions) is to have book reviews published in academic review sources?

Well, that has been one of my goal listed in my annual review for several years.  Sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don't.  But I keep trying.  Now review source editors want to know what a possible reviewer has done in the past, so a want-to-be reviewer had better have material to share.   So my blog here is in part place for my practice reviews. 

So where can you get the books to review?  Well, there is always the local library, but those are already published, so reviews already exist.  Conundrum, conundrum, what to do?  These days, sites such as NetGallery allow many the opportunity to read and review forthcoming titles. So that is my source for the reviews found on this site.  I hope you will read, enjoy and join in any conversation that may ensue.