Archives for History - Page 4
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…
Steel & Lace edited by Francine Howarth [Book Review]
Steel & Lace - Anthology of 17th-18th century stories. by Francine Howarth My rating: 5 of 5 stars I occasionally stray into genres that aren't my preferred ones, usually to widen my reading experience and learn a little more about writing different sort of stories. Historical romance is one of the areas that I have entirely avoided, until now. I've had a prejudice against it, worrying that there will be a pinkwash over the history from the rose-tinted spectacles of damsel heroine lusting after her bare chested highlander. There was none of that in Steel & Lace, all the history was spot on, although there was just a little bit of lust. Steel & Lace I picked up Steel & Lace on kindle because it was free and I had previously read one of the authors historical fiction and really…
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…
Dunkirk – A different sort of war movie [movie review]
I went to see Dunkirk with my 11 year old son last week. I'd read some reviews beforehand and chose the IMAX version. It's an amazing movie that I think will bear watching again. I'll try to avoid spoilers. Dunkirk English: Royal Navy gunner covering the troops retreat at Dunkirk (France, 1940). Screenhot taken from the 1943 United States Army propaganda film Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra and partially based on, news archives, animations, restaged scenes and captured propaganda material from both sides. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The movie focuses on three stories, one on Land (over a week), one on the Sea (a day) and in the Air (an hour). The three stories are very personal perspectives and are interwoven, coming together near the end of the movie. There's no overview, or explanation of…
Since I Bore Arms by Robert Holding [book review]
Since I Bore Arms by Robert Holding My rating: 5 of 5 stars Since I Bore Arms is an anonymised personal account of the France 1940 campaign by an infantry private soldier. The author was a private in an infantry battalion sent to France in late April 1940. The account is unusual in that very few ordinary soldiers wrote about their experiences. Since I Bore Arms The narrative is a day by day account from getting orders to embark for France until his return to the depot in the UK after being evacuated from the beach at Dunkirk. Holding doesn't name his battalion, and he has changed the names of all those mentioned. As an ordinary soldier he didn't know much of the big picture, and usually didn't know where his unit was. What he does cover is how far…