The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

David McNay · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2011 11:38 am Post subject: Free books!

I hoped that the title would grab you...

Yes, I'm offering some free books. There is, however, a small catch.

From time to time Adam and I are sent books to review for the blog. Unfortunately in recent months time has not been our friend, and we have several books sitting waiting to be read for review which unfortunately we don't have time for.

So, in an effort to "share the workload", I'm offering you the opportunity to read the book on our behalf anf furnish us with a short review. We're not loking for a long masterpiece, a couple of papragraphs will be quite sufficient.

You will, of course, get to keep the book once you have read it.

We have three books to be read and reviewed at the moment. They are:

Another Life: Lawrence After Arabia

Synopsis from the publishers website:

‘There was a craving to be famous; and a horror of being known to like being famous.’

Lawrence’s confession sums up so much of this book. The story of his remarkable life after the horror, grandeur and ultimate betrayal of the Arabian adventure is one of headlong flight from fame. Why did one of the most famous military heroes of the First World War become Aircraftsman 2nd Class Ross, an erk, an AC plonk, a nobody? And when this hiding place was exposed, Private Shaw of the Tank Corps?

Then it was back to the RAF, still without rank insignia, whilst Churchill offered him exalted diplomatic positions and Nancy Astor implored him to re-enter the fray as the Nazi threat grew. Yet this ‘other life’ was in fact amazingly productive, producing Seven Pillars of Wisdom, The Mint – a controversial inside story of the RAF – and a translation of the Odyssey. Simultaneously, Lawrence made significant contributions to the development of marine rescue craft and the understanding of ground effect. With interviews of people who knew Lawrence and study of primary sources, Andrew Simpson explores the later life and mysterious death of one of the most charismatic figures of the 20th century.

Artillery: A History

Synopsis

By the time the guns fell silent on 11 November 1918, vast tracts of the European landscape had been so utterly devastated by artillery fire that they were virtually unrecognisable. Of all the many weapons invented by man for the purpose of waging war, artillery must rank among the most destructive of all.

Through detailed research, John Norris has traced the development of artillery through the ages and up to the dawn of the twenty-first century, to provide a fascinating study of this principal weapon of warfare. From its earliest recorded use in battle about a millennium ago, up to the recent Gulf War, Balkan and Afghanistan conflicts, artillery has often been the deciding factor in battle. And yet its origins are somewhat vague. The Chinese had been working with gunpowder since the tenth century, yet it was another 200 years before the compound was used to propel a projectile from a long-barrelled bamboo piece of apparatus. Not long after this, the use of artillery spread to Europe and changed the art of warfare. This book traces the development of artillery and its use in battle through the ages.

U-Boats Attack!: The Battle of the Atlantic Witnessed by the Wolf Packs

Synopsis

The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign of the Second World War, raging from 1939 to 1945. It saw the might of the Royal Navy pitted against the Kriegsmarine.

Germany’s secret weapon was their fleet of U-boats. They had the largest fleet of submarines in the world and this enabled them to play cat and mouse with the Allied forces to devastating effect. Hunting in ‘wolf-packs’ they would prey on merchant shipping and naval vessels.

In this startling new book, Jak P. Mallmann Showell tells the story of this battle as viewed through the conning towers of these U-boats. Using surviving logs, written as the action unfolded. Taste the salt, smell the nauseating stench of the U-boats and hear the orders of kill or be killed whispered quietly while diving back in time to the horrendous inhumanity of the Battle of the Atlantic.

If you are interested in reviewing any of these please let me know by Private Message (or by emailing scottishmilitaryresearch@live.co.uk). I will then post the book out to you.

Please only request a book if you will be able to review it.

If we receive further books in future I will post information on them here and will offer them out to interested parties.