[Consim-l] Re: What I bought and what I played in 2006

[bieksza at erols.com]

I did hardly any gaming all year long but 2006 was a great year for 
reading military history.  In 2005 I read only three books, but last 
year the list was:

- N. A. M. Rodger, "The Wooden World"

A description and analysis of the Royal Navy in the Seven Years' 
War.  I read tons of age-of-fighting-sail novels, and mostly they 
concentrate on the Napoleonic Wars with some series including the 
AWI.  So it was interesting to find that earlier in the 18th Century the 
Royal Navy had some significant differences.

- Robert Kurson, "Shadow Divers"

Wreck divers find a U-boat off the coast of New Jersey where none 
is documented to be.  The book described the herculean efforts to 
identify it both below and above the waves.  BTW, the two most 
involved wreck divers later went on to host a US cable show, 
"Deepsea Detectives."

- William F. Andrews, "Airpower Against an Army"

A paper from the Air University describing the air offensive against 
the Republican Guard in Desert Storm.  This was interesting 
because it had a considerably less optimistic view of the efficiency 
of the air war compared to "Every Man a Tiger."

- Life Magazine, "The War in Iraq: The Illustrated History"

Operation Iraqi Freedom.  Almost completely useless as a 
reference source.  My fault, really -- I should have realized that Life 
was noted for its pretty pictures, not its insightful analysis  ... and 
here the pictures weren't all that good

- E. Bartlett Kerr, "Flames Over Tokyo"

The bombing campaign against the Japanese homeland in WW2.  
The biggest surprise was that Gen. LeMay was not the first to have 
the idea of low-level incindiary bombing.

- Peter Wyden, "Day One: Before Hiroshima and After"

A leftist account of how an evil America inflicted nuclear weapons 
on an innocent and unsuspecting world.  I had known that the Bomb 
had been an incredible technical achievement, but I hadn't 
appreciated the amount of difficulties that had to be overcome.  
Unfortunately the author either was uninterested in the details or 
had insufficient technical background to explain more fully.

- Gerald F. Linderman, "Embattled Courage"

The experience of combat in the ACW by common soldiers on both 
sides.  Mostly it was a process of disillusionment because of 
unrealistic expectations when first enlisting.

- Gerald F. Linderman, "The World Within War"

The experience of combat in WW2 focusing on the Army 
infantryman and the Marine rifleman.  A different process than the 
previous book because of a less sentimental age but more intense 
battles particularly against the Japanese.

- James F. Dunnigan and Austin Bay, "From Shield to Storm"

Like reading 500 pages of S&T, and I don't mean that as a 
compliment.

- NBC News, "Operation Iraqi Freedom"

Better than the Life Magazine book, but limited in scope because it 
focused only on the NBC reporters embedded with the units.


Still on the backlog are:

"Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan"
"Jayhawk: The VII Corps in the Persian Gulf War"
"The Rape of Nanking"
"The Darkest Days of the War"
"No Better Place to Die"
"The Shipwreck of Their Hopes"
"Covered with Glory"
"Return to Bull Run"
"Shield and Sword"
"Gettysburg -- Culps Hill & Cemetery Hill"
"Gettysburg -- the Second Day"
"Chancellorsville"
"The Whirlwind War"
"Climb to Conquer"
"The Confederacy's Last Hurrah"
"Mosby's Rangers"