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One disappointment was in the very brief epilogue. The author discusses how the speed of the Prussian victory raised the stakes for all European powers, Germany in particular, but the author does not really discuss the aftermath of the war in France or explain how France formed a post-war government given the fractious way it had fought the war. Every history needs to stop at some point, of course, but a brief explanation of France's recovery seems in order.
You must understand the difficult internal political climate of France at the time to get the grip of some of the consequences of it, the author puts that in perspective brilliantly.
For the Germans (hard to believe mind!) IT WAS A PURE DEFENSIVE preemptive strike... (Sounds bloody actual is'nt it).
One of the best XIX'th Military History Books around.
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Linda Howard's Lake of Dreams is a haunting, romantic, sexual tale which is definitely worth tracking down. I read the other stories once only, but I've reread Lake of Dreams many times and it is definitely a keeper... So buy all five, but you'll keep it for the one.
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Howard provides the clear and erudite prose that befits a man who will probably be remembered as one of the class military historians of the last century. I recommend this book as an introduction to military tactics and history; with it, Earle or Paret's 'Makers of Modern Strategy' and John Keegan's 'A History of War' at least an outline of questions to investigate will start to form.....
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The chapters written by the four professors have a strong academic/pedagogic orientation. Dealing with basic issues in extreme analytic detail, they frequently belabor the obvious and often come across as though they have all the answers (chapters written by Sahlman were especially bad for this). The book does, however, provide some thought-provoking discussion and a reasonable introduction to the issues of assessing viability, planning and managing a new business, and of attracting resources. Some of the chapters not written by the professors provide a good "textbook" reference for subjects such as patent law, raising venture capital, and management technique in checklist style.
I give the book three stars for its rigorous analysis but not five because of its presumptuous tone and the fact that too many of the chapters lean toward the hypothetical. It lacks the genuine, practitioner-based input this subject deserves.
However, I often felt that it was missing more on the practical side. For example, there are a few case studies, but only on certain topics. It was missing more of the "been there, done that" perspective. Definitely there were stories, but in those there was more of a strategic analysis rather than visionary or inspirational.
Overall, this is a very good book to use as reference to certain topics, especially in an academic environment.
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This 450-page book consists of 27 chapters, grouped in 5 parts, namely The Framework of the Century, The Eurocentric World 1900-1945, The Cold War 1945-1900, The Wider World, and finally Envoi.
Part 1 is an overall review of the century from different points of views, science, technology, economy, politics, culture and art. This gives you a very brief yet concise idea of what the century is like, what happened, and what were eventually the consequences.
Part 2, a very exciting part, tells about the politic and military situations in the two world wars.
Part 3 is on the post-war period after the second World War. This tells you about the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, and its influences.
Part 4 is dedicated to the development of areas other than Europe and the U.S. If you are interested in the history of a specific area other than those dominant countries in the century, or if you would like to look wider than just those countries, this part surely gives you what you want.
And finally Part 5 concludes the 20th century and looks forward to the 21st century.
This book did a very good job in trying to gather different opinions. The 27 chapters were actually written by 26 leading professionals, including Nobel prize winner Steven Weinberg. As each chapter is dedicated to one particular interest, you can easily jump to where you are interested - if that's what you prefer.
In conclusion, this book is a very good choice for anyone, who want to widen their world view and know more about the 20th century, a remarkable century in human history that makes today's world the way it is.
It is organized both by period and by geographical areas, and commences with an excellent social, economic, and political snapshot of the world as the new century dawns. By employing a number of different essayists to describe various aspects of the unfolding drama, it provides the reader with relatively concise overviews of salient topics without having to muck about in the mind-boggling details some more expansive histories would. In essence, the text neatly describes the major events and phenomena of the century, discussing the various aspects of each, and analyzing the particulars of both social disruptions via shifts of power as well as the remaining elements of social cohesion and continuity. As the reader soon discovers, however, the former far outweigh the latter in the events and trends characterizing the times.
Indeed, when one considers the radical departure between what existed throughout the world at the onset of the century as opposed to what prevails at its close, one is moved by the sense that the world had been literally transformed over the hundred-year span. Where once proud and autocratic kings, tyrants and potentates ruled with despotic indifference, now indifferent democracies, uncertain dictatorships, and benignly ignorant despots rule the stage. We've moved from unreliable telegraphs to instant wireless phones, from horse and buggy to space travel, and from death to an early age to whole societies of seniors planning to live well into their eighties and nineties. Where once people lived in splendid isolation from the outside world in a sphere only painfully connected from one community to another by mail, telegraph, and slow travel, we now have instant awareness of all that happens around the globe. So, if some of us are not entirely convinced of the progressive nature of this change, even we have to admit that W. B. Yeats captured the kernel of the times by warning things had "changed utterly".
As I mentioned above, this book provides the reader with a quite handy reference tool and a terrific overview, and is organized both in terms of time periods, geographical area, and also thematically around several key master processes that were instrumental influences in the century. It is expressly not the sort of expansive, detailed, and authoritative source for understanding or researching particular events such as the Depression or the Cold War. For those kinds of discussions one must turn elsewhere. But for its intended purpose of providing the serious student with an approachable, readable, and useful guide to understanding the main currents and highlights (or perhaps low points) of this explosive century, this is a wonderful book that belongs on every 20th century history student's bookshelf. Enjoy!
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But, to be honest, the book does what it proposes to do: tell the story of British deception practices from an organizational standpoint, all of which is very boring to the average reader looking for spy adventure, but perhaps quite valuable to a serious student of World War II or a person who themselves participated in the British deception practices since the book mentions every possible name, committee, group, office, MI5, MI6, Sir this, Sir that, people such as Lt. Col. Strangeways, Major General Sir Frederick Morgan, etc. involved in the effort . (Very dry stuff, I dare say...) On top of that, on every page occurs the word notional or notionally, which is very strange usage of English to an American reader, as is the use of the word Schwerpunkt, used occasionally.
Overall - for the average reader this is a TWO STAR book - there is some very interesting information in this book which will expand your knowledge of World War II deception practices by our friends the Brits; however, I found myself skipping a paragraph here and there, and then a page or two, and several times my eyes glazed over. But, for the professional researcher, this is a FIVE STAR BOOK containing a lot of basic information about the spy business. What worked and what didn't, and why. How is strategy developed, coordinated, implemented. Can it come back and bite you? How do you confirm the effectiveness of your deception efforts. And so on. I should think it would be a required reading (text) for a course given by the CIA or NSA.
What distinguishes these volumes from deception accounts is their analysis of the deception process. That is, they go beyond simply detailing deception history to explain how deception planners adjusted and adapted their gambits throughout the war based on their successes and failures in fooling their Nazi enemy.
Basically, the Americans and British succeeded in convincing the Nazis throughout the war that they were far stronger than they truly were, while the Russians continually fooled the Nazis into thinking they were far weaker than was the fact.
Publication of Howard's official WWII deception history was held up for a decade by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who, according the M.R.D. Foot, "saw no reason to explain to potential enemies how Britain might fight them." Once (now) Lady Thatcher left office, the deception history was published.
Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of Howard's history is its account of deception's deep roots in British tradition. Both Professor Handel and Sir Michael credit General Edmund Allenby in the First World War with laying the groundwork for the remarkably successful strategic deceptions of the Second World War. Handel wrote "For Allenby, unlike almost every other general of the Great War, [deception] plans were a key element of every operational plan. As T.E Lawrence [i.e., "Lawrence of Arabia;" Colonel Lawrence's Arab Desert Strike Force executed many of Allenby's deceptive stratagems] remarked, 'Deceptions, which for the ordinary general were just witty hors d'oeuvres before battle, had become for Allenby a main point in strategy.'...Allenby's ... operations closely resembled the more complex schemes devised during the Second World War." Howard notes that Allenby's deception staff in WWI included General Archibald Wavell, who in World War II used Allenby's methods successfully against the Italians and Germans in the Western Desert, at one point defeating 250,000 of the enemy with a British force of only 50,000. General Wavell and his deception planner, Brigadier Dudley Clarke, recommended these methods, leading to establishment of the London Controlling Section (LCS), the Allied D-day deceivers. Allenby is truly the father of the 20th century grand military deception.
There is some underlying humor, especially with the depiction of Agent Garbo wild imagination and the credulity of supposed senior German Intelligence officers.
I understood that deception and spycraft is a very thorough work with little place for intuition. It introduce a scientific approach to the art of lying.
If you have a politician amongst your friends, do not give him this book!
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