<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and thoughtful
Review: I enjoyed this book tremendously. Entertaining and thoughtful -- I found it reminiscent of John Keegan's work. I look forward to Mr. Perry's next.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent history.
Review: Military history is replete with brilliant campaigns by celebrated commanders. Less well known are the debacles of ignorance, carelessness, and plain racism which have besmirched the names of once-proud generals and wasted the lives of thousands of soldiers.
Perry, a seasoned Wall Street Journal political writer, recounts twelve such disasters, from the French and Indian Wars to Mogadishu; such prime example of arrogance, poor planning, and stupidity that they should be required reading for student-officers everywhere. A highly readable trek off the beaten path for military history buffs.(The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and educational
Review: This is a wonderful book. The author has a great sense of irony. He skillfully blends contemporary records and journals written by soldiers at all levels of the hierarchy to show the incompetence of the "arrogant armies" he's describing. This book goes very well with "March of Folly" by Barbara Tuchman. It's unfortunate that amazon.com does not list this book as a suggestion on this page. I just wish he would include more examples from 1914-1989 years. I don't really understand why there's a gap between the old European imperial period all the way up to Somalia. There were plenty of wars that would qualify for this book in between.
<< 1 >>
| 
