The Italian Great War and the roots of Facism

I have just finished reading "The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front 1915-1918 by Mark Thompson which is a study of a 1st World War front that is often forgotten but where Italy lost 689, 000 solders( Britain lost 662,000 + 140, 000 reported as missing). That we tend to associate the infantry war with the plains of Flanders and Russia reveals the common myth as this part of the struggle was mountain warfare albeit also with trenches.<br /><br />The conduct of the war exposed the weak hold of liberal structures and politics on the Italian population and the defeat of victory quickly let in 20 years of fascist government. The collapse of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, and take over the successor national states by the communists has made it difficult to get a sense of what really went on: Italians and other non Germanic nationals did fight for the Emperor, many of the feature of Fascism (a puppet parliament, a muzzled press, a romantic nationalism, a militarised state) had their roots on the political conduct of the war.<br /><br />What made the book an interesting read is that Mark Thomas does more then hold to the historical arc of the events from the turmoil in Italy leading to its ripping up of a long standing agreement to be allied with the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary ( It took on a secret 30 pieces of silver territorial deal with the Allies). And ending with the desperate mad dash to occupy land vacated by the collapsing Hapsburg armies-it made the most of the cock-up where as the armistice agreement ended the war one day earlier for Austria-Hungary. What he does is switch the narrative in cinematographic terms from wide/long shots, medium to close-ups as the narrative unfolds. So we take the long view at the ideas affecting Italian practice in politics, art and military such as Romantic Vitalism or the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche. Or the impact of how Italian unification actually unfolded. We then have medium shot accounts of how individual battles unfolded from both of the combatant's perspectives or the power struggles and conduct at military and political levels. And finally the close-up accounts of artists, reporters, and survivors that expose the official accounts or help to explain the mindset of the elites.<br /><br />It was this rounded and varied explanation that held my attention, as I tended to wander in the step by step of accounts of the battles(my attention span rather then the quality of the writing, although these are necessary to understand the appalling and arrogant way that the soldiers were used. For example, Military discipline justified the ancient Roman practice of randomly killing 1 in 10 solders if the platoon had infringed any rules which could be just turning up late from leave. The fact, with no interest shown in the reason was enough for summary execution. This is because the Italian army leadership took the most extreme view of all the armed forces in the 1st world war that the solders were only cannon fodder to do the will of the supreme commander. An attitude they paid for when Austria-Hungarian forces with direct support of Germany developed a forerunner of Blitzkrieg and took back all the territory fought over in the past three years and swept down to the pre 1866 national boundaries. <br /><br />The resource imbalance between the foes and the deteriorating political realties for the Central Powers meant that this could not be turned into a knock-out blow. But with Russia out and embroiled in Revolution and no significant Allied victories, the collapse of the Central Powers as Germany struggled to avoid the fate of Austria- Hungary created the German Nazis myth of a stab in the back. It also confirmed the lack of democratic populist support for liberalism.<br /><br />So why should you read this book? Well it gives you a clear account of one part of the wider First World War front that is only now becoming clear and even possible to study. (Attempts to clear the names of those summarily executed is still politically sensitive in Italy.) But a more important reason is that it offers insights into the conduct of events now. If History has anything to teach, its that we the ordinary people wont get a true picture what our masters have been doing in our name until we are pushing up the daisies.. In knowing what was going on behind closed doors then, we can question what the media, cultural elites, military strategists, politicians are doing now. But of course if you think we have the straight line on the War on Terror, then give it a miss.<br />

What a legend!

This is a must read for everyone who needs motivation <br />Fiennes tells his story with brutal honesty and his adventures are amazing achievements

Fascinating. Eclectic. Readable.

This is one of the most enjoyable books i have read in recent years, written in a wonderful accessible style, it contains marvellous detail, and unusual facts about all aspects of France. This is really a first class book, and a great summer read.

Very interesting but a bit disappointed at first glance...

Just got this as a Christmas present for someone, and looking through, it makes a very interesting read, with lots of unusual and entertaining nuggets of information and facts. The illustrations are good too.<br /><br />However I was a bit disappointed to find 3 mistakes in the space of as many pages when I looked at my own local area (Suffolk), which could have been corrected by anyone with Google and an extra 30 seconds to check each one... It was Sir Robert Watson-Watt who was instrumental in the development of RADAR at Bawdsey just before WW2 (not Robin), it's the River Deben (not Debden), and Grimston Hall is in Trimley St Martin (not the adjacent parish of Trimley St Mary). Which just makes me slightly question the veracity of the rest of the book. But it's still a good read, and probably the rest of it's all true!

making sense of africa

I have always been fascinated by Africa. My parents met there as vso volunteers in the 70s and that was how the author first experienced Africa. My parents talked often about their time there but they had such mixed views - love and hate. I bought this because of review and knew I was travelling to Australia so had time to read it. I have not been disappointed. It is passionately written yet highly informed. Above all it makes sense of something I never quite understood. It will be my parents' Christmas present! I must now go to Africa.

Not recommended.

I have read several of Alison Weir's non-fiction work, and also her first novel, Innocent Traitor. I thought Innocent Traitor was OK, and hoped that her second would be better.<br /><br />Unfortunately, I feel it was worse. I found it quite difficult to read through to the end. The characters are quite wooden, and I didn't find the dialogue believable, particularly at the beginning. Elizabeth as a toddler certainly doesn't act or sound like a toddler! I know she is supposed to be intelligent, but I just couldn't find it believable. The dialogue could also have been a little bit more historically accurate at times (less modern colloquial terms).<br /><br />There are also inaccuracies, which I found disappointing for a historian - Anne Boleyn's necklace was a 'B', not an 'A'. She also did not have a sixth finger; if she had, there is no way that she would have been allowed to (let alone popular at!) the French and English courts.<br /><br />And, sometimes, she is perhaps too accurate - name-dropping titles of books that Elizabeth is reading. Maybe this was to 'set the scene' a litte, but I found it irritating, and felt like the author was showing off her historical knowledge of the period, rather than developing the description or story further. I've not read any other books that do this.<br /><br />Personally, I feel that the subject, for a second novel, was a poor choice, especially as popular Tudor fiction author Philippa Gregory has had one published recently. (And does it better too, in my opinion!) Overall this is quite a clunky, wooden and slow read, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it. I will be avoiding any of Weir's future fiction works.

Great gift for anyone interested in sport or British history

I bought this book for my Dad for Christmas, but have dipped into it myself a lot already. It is very readable, with lots of amusing anecdotes, while at the same time it has some genuinely interesting themes about the invention of sport and the British psyche. I'd heartily recommend it to anyone with a love of sport, an interest in social commentary, or who just wants to mug up on some trivia for pub quizes.

There is more to supporting a football team than football

Starting from the day in 1965 when his father took him to see Liverpool play at Bolton, Brian Reade has been a Liverpool supporter. In the 43 years since then although he as witnessed many highs - 47 trophies, which supporters of most other clubs can only dream about - but also extreme lows in the 80's with the tragedies at Heysel and Hillsborough.<br /><br />The books strongest chapters are regarding these two events and their aftermath. Reade passionately describes the guilt and shame felt by Liverpool supporters after Heysel in 1985 and also the anger felt by these same people after the authorities attempted to make them the scapegoats for the disaster at Hillsborough four years later.<br /><br />When it comes to football, Brian Reade writes as a Liverpool fan and his views are therefore very biased and unobjective. Whilst this makes some of his recollections entertaining, there were too many times when I, as a Bradford City fan, found it a bit annoying when he moans about 'a bad season' after Liverpool had only finished third or fourth in the league! We should be so lucky. <br /><br />Making up for this though are the excellent chapters about Reades meeting the charismatic Bill Shankly and a very poignant one where he interviews Bob Paisley just as Alzheimers was starting to take a hold. Also worth reading are the bile filled chapters about ex-Chairman Noel White and Graeme Souness, who Reade concedes was a brilliant player for Liverpool but a lousy manager.<br /><br />Although I suspect that to obtain maximum enjoyment from this book the reader would have to be a Liverpool supporter but anybody that has followed a football team through good times and bad will be able to empathise with much of it and therefore enjoy it. All except Everton and Manchester United fans, that is. <br />

Agnes Humbert, Resistance

The diary: each day recorded is an at-this-moment experience for us, as it was for her. Her natural incredulity of events, the indignance, action when angered, practicality, strength of character, complete lack of sentiment, humour for the absurd even in the the most dire situations, even detached admiration for the"fairness" of the presiding Judge at the trial. With the flair for description that she had as an art historian, and her own remakable personality, she managed to record events daily until when she was forced to store in her head the events of the last few years. We are proud of you, Agnes!<br /><br />There are over 20 good-quality black-and-white photographs of people and places. My favourite is the portrait of her at the seaside with her arm round her son Jean, the sun on her face and her hair in her eyes.<br /><br />There are sincere Acknowledgements by the translator and editor; a Preface by William Boyd; an Afterword by Julien Blanc with a commentary on the documents, some family history, and what happened after the War; an Appendix of documents which includes the citation for the Croix de Guerre; a chapter of interesting and relevant Translator's Notes; and of course a bibliography and an index.<br /><br />Congratulations to Barbara Mellor, Bloomsbury Publications, and her team of collaborators for this marvellously produced and presented book. I cannot praise this book enough.<br />

Mud, Blood and Glory

what was the great war like from the perspective of the officer in the trenches, well here you have got the chance to find out for yourselves, the entries are only rough and brief but they tell an incredible story of courage and bravery, the diary includes commentry written by the author it wasn't meant to be widely published, only to be read by his family and perhaps therein lies its charm

A long overdue general history and introduction

Periodically books are written on the subject of the parish churches in England. The wealth of beautiful churches that this country has is one of the most unappreciated aspects of England's architectural heritage and many urban and rural parishes are struggling in the upkeep of these edifices, some of which are of cathedral like proportions to services villages of a few hundred. This is the motivation that Roy Strong states in his introduction for writing this book - to highlight the country church's plight and highlight the challenges we will face to preserve them in the twenty first century. Whereas the twentieth century saw the preservation of the country house, the twenty first century will have to deal with the challenge of preserving the parish church building. <br /><br />The book is however mainly an overview of the way that the building and in particular the furnishings of English parish churches have changed from the early medieval era which saw church interiors lavishly decorates and furnished through the period of the Reformation and the Commonwealth which saw the destruction of a massive amount of church art and furnishings which tracked the interpretation of Protestant theology in its manifestation in the decoration and liturgy of the parish church. The book describes in vivid detail the rituals and ceremonies at the heart of the parish throughout history tracing their changes with the contemporary religious and political events that occurred in England, particularly momentous events such as the Reformation and subtle changes brought about by the Oxford Movement in the mid nineteenth century which has shaped the liturgy and decoration of modern parish churches to this day.<br /><br />The book however is popularist rather than academic. In that sense it is a pretty easy read and the plethora of illustrations including well know examples of surviving medieval furnishings makes this a solid read. However, the academics may wince a little bit at the presumptions that are made and conclusions that are drawn. However, reading the book does not really answer the issues raised in the introduction - namely how will the English parish church survive in the twenty-first century and beyond? Strong has a one or two ideas in the epilogue - namely more of a community use for the building. But this does leave the reader a little unsatisfied, making the book feel like a good overall history of the parish church surrounded by an introduction and conclusion which does not fit the subject matter in the middle of the book.<br />

an intriguing follow-up to 'Schindler's Ark/List'

I remember Thomas Keneally telling the story of how he came across the Schindler story when 'Schindler's Ark' ('List' in the USA) was first published. Then it won the Booker Prize and eventually, though after a long delay, was filmed by Steven Spielberg. This book covers that territory, from the moment Schindler walked into a Los Angeles bags, briefcases and leather goods shop and thereby met the extraordinary 'Leopold Page', in reality Leopold (or Poldek) Pfefferberg, to the making of the film and its success. The book is partly the story of Keneally's growing involvement in the tale and the search for other Schindlerjuden, the Jews Schindler saved, partly reflections on the Holocaust, the writing of the book, the making of the film and the moral ambiguities which surfaced in various ways at various stages of the process. <br /><br /> If this perhaps makes it seem a little dry, it's not. It is a highly personal book - this was often not an easy process for Keneally or his family - whose two 'heroes' are Pfefferberg, a truly remarkable man, and I think Keneally himself, though he would probably squirm in denial at that conclusion. There are interesting facts and anecdotes throughout, and many, many remarkable characters emerge, most of them other survivors. The process of getting the film made is absorbing - Keneally meeting Spielberg, the rights eventually being bought, time elasping and Spielberg working on other films, Keneally being contracted to write a screenplay, a new writer and then another being found, eventually the actual making of the film onset, meeting the actors, the first screening, the adulation - not unmixed with bitter and vociferous criticism - that it received. It's not a long book, but it covers a great deal of ground in a most involving way, and towards the end it becomes very moving. I enjoyed it very much, and I recommend it highly.<br /><br /> I would simply add that any who are moved and drawn in by the Schindler story, as well as seeing Spielberg's film should seek out Jon Blair's TV documentary, voiced by Dirk Bogarde and available sadly at present only in VHS form, which Keneally mentions with approval and which includes chilling interview film of Majola, Amon Goeth's mistress, close to death, whom Keneally and Pfefferbeg failed to find when they visited Vienna. Her ambivalent testimony, whispered in the pained rasp of a terminal emphysemia sufferer, is well worth hearing, and there are many, many excellent and moving interviews with DEF and Brinnlitz survivors as well. I think, in its different way, it is just as good as Spielberg's film.

Fascinating book

This is a fascinating book for anyone who loves London, and an eye-opener if you have ever wondered whether cities have any folklore apart from ghost stories. Steve Roud divides London into seven regions, and finds an amazing variety of tales and customs (past and present) to discuss in each one, and links them to the buildings and streets. In the section on the City of Westminster, for instance, you get gruesome tales of hangings at Tyburn, conspiracy theories surrounding the fate of Cromwell's corpse, the custom of wife-selling, May Day celebrations by chimney sweeps, plague pits, the fair at Mayfair, gypsy fortune tellers, a school Pancake Day custom, the famous ghosts of 50 Berkeley Square and Newgate Gaol, and much more.<br /><br />Roud doesn't just tell the story or describe the custom. He looks into its history and assesses the evidence, quoting directly from old or influential accounts. He has a rational, often amusing, way of dealing with nonsense and wild theories. We may have to wave goodbye to some favourite notions (about Sweeney Todd, or the Tower ravens, or Ring a Ring o' Roses), but the reasons behind them are always interesting. London's real traditions are even more entertaining than the fictions.

3 Para

This book is not written by a soldier but an author who wasn't there and who didn't experience it first hand. It therefore seems to lack the observations or humour of books like"Sniper One". However, it still contains a lot of useful insight and facts about the day to day life of the UK forces in Afghanistan.<br /><br />The book identifies a variety of issues that our troops have had to contend with. Everything from running low on ammo to screwed up chains of command and all topped off with Afghan forces phoning up the Taliban and tipping them off. It is obvious that our boys have done an admirable job in very testing conditions.<br /><br />The big problem I have with this book is the way it explains the loss of soldiers from the Parachute Regiment compared to other UK troop losses. One particular episode where two signallers were killed really concerned me. It was almost as if the author didn't think there deaths mattered and for that fact I think the Author failed dismally. The book may have been about 3 Para but to not pay credit to those who served right alongside them and lost their lives is shameful.<br /><br />

London in all its glory

I love London and am constantly excited about learning more about this, in my opinion, the best city in the world. This book is fascinating and if you can't get through it all in one go (it's a monster of a book) then you can dip in and out of it. I would recommend it to anyone whether or not you know the city well.

A study of warmth and humanity

One of Julie Summer's strengths as a biographer is her capacity to allow her subjects to speak for themselves - but at the same time, throughout this fine book, the reader always has a reassuring sense of the author's guiding hand.<br />These stories of the women so directly affected by the last war are often deeply moving, full of their humanity and strength. The author successfully conveys the complexity of their feelings, the ambivalence felt by many of these women - glad to have their menfolk back home, and yet reluctant to give up the hard-fought-for freedom and independence they had gained during the war years.<br />The depth and quality of research is never in question, allowing the reader to feel safe in the author's hands. The chapter on the Army Postal Service, for example, and the vital role it played in maintaining morale, was excellent: a dry subject brought vividly to life.<br />The author's understanding of and empathy with the awfulness of the experiences of some of the returning men is exemplified in the chapter on returning POWs from the Far East: men forever damaged by their horrendous ordeal in Japanese camps. An ordeal that was literally unspeakable - which is to say because of the understood agreement that no-one would mention those lost years afterwards, neither the men, nor their families. That so much further damage was caused to the men and to their families by this inhuman silence is movingly evoked in this section of the book.<br />My only reservation is that this book feels slightly incomplete - certainly as a social history study. There is a predominance of stories from soldiers serving in the Far East, and particularly those who were unfortunate enough to be taken prisoner; there is also a seeming bias towards returning officers and career soldiers. Perhaps these reflect the author's own areas of expertise - and to be fair, she never does claim this book to offer a representative section of society, nor that it is a comprehensive study of post-war British society.<br />Finally, I would have to say that this is a hugely readable book - the writing style and presentation is beautifully clear, warm and full of confidence. It was a pleasure to pick up, and a pity to finish it.

Pretty good - but dwarfed by others in the genre

If you like Bear then you'll like this book. He's obviously made of strong stuff and he has a story to tell but unfortunately he isn't really a writer and doesn't capture the real essence of high altitude mountaineering and its inherent risks as succinctly as other writers within the genre.<br /><br />The book holds its own but never grips in the same manner as Into Thin Air, The Climb or Forever On The Mountain (to give but 3 examples). It's a worthy addition to any mountain enthusiast's bookshelf but if you are looking for just one mountaineering book you'd walk past this one to get to others.

Good, but not Brysons best

This book is slightly disspointing, given the very high standards that we are used to from BB. Still, it is a probably a worthwhile read.<br /><br />Some other reviewers have commented on the book being full of mistakes and false claims. There are several, and it was dissappointing that someone of BB's quality should feel the need to embelish his book with these. However, the reader should not treat this as a serious work on linguistics, but rather as a popular and light hearted overview.<br /><br />BB does provide some good insights into the history of English and the English. For example, he rightly casatigates the public school obsession with applying Latin grammar to a Germanic language as trying to apply the rules of baseball to football.<br /><br />For anyone who wants a serious read on this topic I can most strongly recomend Melvyn Bragg's"The Adventure of English".<br /><br />