Tag archives for History
A Dark History: Vikings by Martin J. Dougherty [book review]
A Dark History: Vikings by Martin J. Dougherty My rating: 4 of 5 stars A Dark History: Vikings is a really good introduction for grown ups interested in Vikings. It's fairly modern and has lots of illustrations to bring the text to life. Way more informative than the stuff your kids might read, but also easily accessible compared to some of the more academic histories. A Dark History: Vikings What I enjoyed about it was that there was a mix of social and cultural history along with the usual timelines. It also gave me a sense of 'Viking' being a product of lazy thinking in the same way that 'Celts' are. The reality was that there were lots of people over a vast geographic area and a couple of centuries. There's no central drive or common ethos for the entire…
The Last Hundred Days a Hundred Years On
Wednesday 8th August 2018 marks the hundredth anniversary of the start of the last hundred days of the first world war. Although the Hundred Days Campaign didn't actually last 100 days, it was five days short! The last hundred days are a little studied period of the war, and that's a shame because they represent the high point of the transformation of the British Army. In 1914 there were 100,000 regulars organised as an Imperial expeditionary force. By August 1918 there were millions of men under arms operating in a recognisably modern fashion in large scale operations. Mobile combined arms, not mud and blood Canadian vehicles preparing to move forwards during the Battle of Amiens 1918 (photo: Yukon Archives, Canada) There is a totally different narrative, Britain was the main participant in the allied campaign. Three British Armies (which included…
Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets by Sarah Helm [Book Review]
A Life in Secrets: Vera Atkins and the Missing Agents of WWII. by Sarah Helm My rating: 5 of 5 stars A Life in Secrets has been on my shelf for a few years. I've had an interest in SOE since I read Carve Her Name With Pride when I was about 11. Since writing Hunting Nazis I've collected more and more material about SOE with the background thought that I might write some more historical fiction with the same characters. Vera Atkins: A Life in Secrets Vera Atkins in 1945 as a WAAF officer (but still serving with SOE) I found A Life in Secrets a very thorough piece of investigation by Sarah Helm. It builds on what has come before, especially the work of Jean Overton Fuller and adds to it using primary research with documents, interviews and…
Woman in Arms by Russell Braddon [Book Review]
Woman in Arms by Russell Braddon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Nancy Wake (Photo credit: Wikipedia) I re-read this over the holidays. Woman in Arms is one of the books I've owned the longest of those on my shelves. The story is just as remarkable now as it was when I first read Woman in Arms around 1990. Nancy Wake was born in NZ, grew up in Australia and moved to France where she worked as a journalist before WW2. She married a frenchman just after the outbreak of WW2 and worked to help people escape from the nazis. Eventually the Gestapo were after her and she too escaped to London. She then trained as an SOE agent and went back in 1944 to wreak havoc between the invasion and liberation. Woman in Arms Woman in Arms was originally…
This Deceitful Light by Jemahl Evans [Book Review]
This Deceitful Light by Jemahl Evans My rating: 5 of 5 stars This Deceitful Light is the sequel to The Last Roundhead and was well worth the wait. Reading it was like being back in the 17th Century. More than just history though, there's a strong mystery to it which drives the first half of the book. There's also a strong sense of underlying treachery which I'm sure drives the title of This Deceitful Light. The whole volume is held together with the background and context to Candy fighting his only duel, with Sir John Hurry, who we first met in the Last Roundhead. This Deceitful Light English: Battle of Marston Moor, 1644 by John Barker (Photo credit: Wikipedia) This Deceitful Light carries on the story of Sir Blandford Candy, his warts and all autobiography set down in his twilight…