The Civil War Custer

Hatch, Thom.  Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer.  New York:
         St. Martin's Press, December 2013.  ISBN: 978-1-250-02850-1

Today, George Armstrong Custer is best remembered for his actions at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 that wiped out half of the U.S. 7th Cavalry.  But in 1876, General Custer was better known as a Civil War hero for actions at Gettysburg, Brandy Station, Yellow Tavern, and Appomattox.  Glorious War tells the tale of Custer's Civil War adventures.

Thom Hatch provides a heroic partial biography of George Armstrong Custer that covers his time at West Point and during the Civil War, ending with the Army of the Potomac marching through Washington, D.C.  He discusses the part played by Custer in numerous battles,  his time as aide-de-camp for McClellan, his wooing of Elizabeth Bacon, and his meteoric rise in rank from 2nd Lieutenant at Bull Run to Major General at Appomattox.  He also illustrates that Custer was a leader that men adored, willingly following him during charges against seemingly unbeatable odds.

Hatch provides a Custer that has some warts, but he does not dig into all the known faults and issues that other officers had with Custer.  He also spends a number of pages on Jeb Stuart that seen to have no bearing on Custer except to contrast the two cavalry icons.  But, if you want a hero to lead you through most of the Eastern Civil War battles, Glorious War will satisfy that itch.

Battle Winning Strategies or Maybe Not

Overy, Richard.  A History of War in 100 Battles.  New York, Oxford University Press, 2014.
         ISBN: 9780199390717

 Richard Overy seeks to provide a summary history of war through the ages by focusing on one hundred battles.  He opens with a introductory chapter (The Truth of Battle) and then dives into the battles, placing each in  one of five categories (Leadership, Against the Odds, Innovation, Deception, and In the Nick of Time).  For each battle, he provides a summary of the battle, concentrating on one of the "winning" strategies, and provides a piece of artwork that illustrated the battle or the general.

In each category, Overy cherry-picks the battles that he feels best illustrates the "winning" strategy.  He uses the summary to point out how that strategy lead to victory for one side or the other.  He uses battles from ancient to modern times which brings up the question of sources.  He provides a bibliography of sources used, but does not document which book was used for individual battles. Some of the sources are summaries of campaigns which he mines for quotes rather than battle histories.  He includes some errors of fact in the summaries (for instance the Argentine naval warship General Belgrano being listed as a troopship).   He also equates a campaign and/or war with a battle in regard to The Battle of the Atlantic, The Six Day War, and The Battle of the Falklands. 

Despite the above caveats, A History of War in 100 Battles provides a decent, readable, general history of these one hundred battles.  You do not need to agree with Overy's premises or  conclusions to understand the battles found in this book.

Have you read Galatians recently?

Oakes, Peter.  Galatians.  Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015.  ISBN: 978-1-4412-4651-6

Commentaries are by nature books written about other books.  While many works of literature have commentaries (think of all that has been written discussing Shakespeare or Chaucer), when you think of  individual commentaries, you are likely thinking of a book on individual books of the Bible.  That is the case here.  Peter Oakes has written a commentary on Galatians that works on many levels.  He provides a nice overview of the book, highlights the major themes that he sees in Paul's letter, and then he digs into the individual chapters and verses.

Peter Oaks does a very credible job of setting Galatians in context of its time and location while relating the letter to the rest of Paul's letters.  He provides his own translation of the text and setts the major themes in relation to each other.  He works on developing the reader's understanding of how each part of the letter interacts and reflects with the rest of the letter.  He syntheses and documents other commentaries on Galatians without losing his own vision of the book.  The major quibble I have with Oakes' commentary is the abrupt ending.  An afterword would have been a nice addition.  Otherwise, a good choice for developing your understanding of Paul's Letter to the Galatians.

WW II Bombing Reassessed, Again

Overy, Richard.  The Bombers and The Bombed: The Allied Air War Over Europe, 1940-1945.
        New York: Viking, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0670025152

Years ago,when I was about 12, I got hold of my dad's Compact History of  the United States Air Force and managed to read it from the beginning with the Wright Flyers to the end of the Korean War and developments to 1960.  A large portion of that book dealt with the bombing of Germany and other locations in Europe and Asia during WWII.  So when I started reading The Bombers and The Bombed, I was entering semi-familiar ground. 

While Richard Overy does not write a justification for the Allied/German bombing campaigns; neither does he write a scathing condemnation of the bombing campaigns.  Rather Overy seeks to provide background on what Allied and German air forces concepts of bombing were in context of that time, the goals they thought achievable, the resources they had, and what was actually accomplished.  Alongside the bombers, Overy provides description and statistics on the effect the bombing had on the various populations being bombed, covering, England, Germany, Italy, and the rest of Europe in six chapters and an epilogue. 

Richard Overy writes serviceable prose with a purpose; he aims to show via the evidence presented that bombing does not win wars alone despite the stories told by air force generals and air power advocates.  He provides plenty of statistics and documents his assertions.  If you have an interest in World War II air war or air power in general, you are likely to enjoy reading The Bombers and The Bombed.

Planning for Overlord

Symonds, Craig L.  Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings.  New York:
        Oxford University Press, 2014.  ISBN: 978-0-19-998611-8

Craig L. Symonds opens Neptune with President Roosevelt receiving word about Pearl Harbor.  He closes the book with the capture of Cherbourg and a summoning up of major personalities.  In between, he documents Operation Neptune which covers the planning and execution of the Allied invasion of continental Europe, specifically France.

Symonds provides the  documentation in this readable account of the planning that ended with Operation Overlord without overwhelming the reader.  He traces the evidence that shows how the "Germany First" objective was established.  He then demonstrates how the need to do something lead first to Operation Torch, and then the invasions of Sicily and Italy before Operation Overlord would take place.  He uses quotes, personal narratives, official documents and newly declassified material to provide the reader a sense of the decision making and planning at all levels that lead to the invasion of France on June 6, 1944.  He briefly covers the training for D-Day and the fiascoes that ensued.  He ends the book with a brief examination on how the planned operation compared to the actual operation (with more emphasis on events on Utah and Omaha than on Juno, Gold, or Sword).

In the final analysis, Symonds writes a very credible popular history of the back story of Operation Overlord.  Readers will appreciate the care Symonds used in crafting this book.

Google and the Librarians

Palfrey, John.  Biblio Tech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google.  New
        York: Basic Books, 2015.  ISBN: 978-0-465-04299-9

John Palfrey channels passion and desire in making his case as to why libraries are relevant and more needed in this age of Google then ever.  He works on presenting a rational, yet passionate plea for the role libraries played in America's past and the part he thinks it needs to play in the present and future for the betterment of society.

Palfrey provides a list of what he considers the problems facing today's libraries: public use (and understanding of libraries); physical space versus virtual space; a desire to change libraries from locations to platforms (although he does acknowledge that hybrid libraries will be a necessity for the near future); networking for collection and preservation; and a decent chapter on copyright.  He ends the book with a ten item list of what he thinks need to be done to make libraries relevant in the future.

Despite his dry, passionate arguments, Palfrey's list strike this reader (a veteran librarian for 30 years) as well meaning, overdone, and often contradictory.  They resonate with similar calls of action that have rung out over the years, been applauded by librarians and done little but deforest the land.  Despite all the pleas and posturing, I foresee libraries continue to astound critics and supporters in the future despite all the grandiose plans made by library honchos because of the front line librarians' impact on students and patrons. 

It all started with Sabrina!

Epstein, Edward Z.  Audrey and Bill: A Romantic Biography of Audrey Hepburn & William 
       Holden.  Philadelphia, PA: Running Press, 2015.  ISBN: 978-0-7624-5597-3

The Introduction to Audrey and Bill clues in the discerning reader that Epstein is providing a biography of the "romance" of Audrey Hepburn and Bill Holden rather than a complete biography of their entwined lives.  Epstein using published accounts and interviews then proceeds to document how their shared connection affected the rest of their lives.

The movie Sabrina served as the catalyst for bringing Audrey and Bill into each others lives.  Some of the romance played by their characters bled into real life, or maybe it was the other way around.  And as in the movie, Bill did not get Audrey in the end.  But that fact did not end the connection between the two.  Epstein takes sixteen more chapters to tell how Audrey and Bill found other arms to comfort and support them.  They even worked together on another movie, but the spark found in Sabrina could not be flamed back to again as too much time and experience had shaped each of them. 

Epstein wrote a very readable account of the entwined lives of Audrey and Bill, providing plenty of stories, movie details, and glimpses of Hollywood life all through a rose-colored filtered lens of romance.  The book starts with the filming of Sabrina with little backstory on how Bill Holden and Audrey Hepburn arrived at that point in history.  The tale continues through the romantic lives and movies of each person ending with their death, followed by a brief look at their place in movie history.   Audrey and Bill works best for readers interested in the interaction of stars and their movies who do not expect too much analysis on the way.