WWI – Cannonball Read 11

Chief of Staff Reading List #15-17

The Guns of August; World Order; The Face of Battle by Barbara Tuchman; Henry Kissinger; John Keegan

December 31, 2018 by thewheelbarrow Leave a Comment

Ok, this is crappy and I know it but I am finishing the cannonball. Last year I finished book 52 on the 31st but I was a dozen reviews behind. This year, I got to 64 books and I’m still behind on my reviews but I can get there and I read all of these books for the same reason and that is professional development at work which makes them inherently less interesting to those who do not share my profession. Anyway, here I go. The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman I read this book for a few reasons […]

12/31/2018 thewheelbarrow's CBR10 Review No:51 |

World War I Novels Never End Happily

The Ghost Road by Pat Barker

October 4, 2018 by ElCicco 5 Comments

#cbr10bingo This is the End The Ghost Road is the third and final volume in Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy. Set during WWI in England, the trilogy tells the story of both real and fictional characters trying to make sense of a senseless war. The first book focused on the patients at Craiglockhart Hospital, an asylum for soldiers suffering from shell shock and being treated so as to be sent back to the front. Book two centered on the fictional character Billy Prior, a soldier recovering from both physical and psychological injury in an England in the throes of raging homophobia […]

10/4/2018 ElCicco's CBR10 Review No:40 |

Psychological Conflict Management

The Eye in the Door by Pat Barker

September 28, 2018 by ElCicco 2 Comments

In volume one of Pat Barker’s award winning Regeneration Trilogy, readers experienced life in a hospital for English soldiers suffering from “war neurosis” (PTSD) during WWI. Barker uses both fictional and real historical characters (Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Dr. Rivers) to show the trauma of war for soldiers expected to heal and return to action, and the impact of their experiences upon the doctor treating them. At the end of that novel, Rivers’ patients are being released back to action, which was his goal, but he is questioning whether or not this is right. Sassoon’s anti-war ideas are beginning to […]

9/28/2018 ElCicco's CBR10 Review No:39 |

What Happens After the War?

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

July 31, 2018 by Jen K Leave a Comment

I listened to this one on Audible – figured it’s the kind of story I’m usually interested in but also am more hesitant to pick up nowadays because the genre does sometimes blend together so it seemed like the perfect selection for, “damn, how did I end up with so many Audible credits, I have no idea what I want!” The novel begins in 1947 with nineteen-year-old Charlie on her way to Switzerland for a procedure to take care of “her little problem.” The last few years have been a bit hard on her family – her mother is originally […]

7/31/2018 Jen K's CBR10 Review No:140 |

Women & Espionage in the World Wars

The Alice Network: A Novel by Kate Quinn

April 12, 2018 by ElCicco 3 Comments

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn is an ambitious work of historical fiction that straddles two world wars and their aftermath, and that shines a light on the heroic work of female spies. Quinn uses a solid base of historical fact and real people to create her fictional heroine Eve (aka Evelyn Gardiner, aka Marguerite Le Francois), a spy for England in WWI who made shattering sacrifices and has never healed from her tragic and brutal experiences. Eve is an alcoholic recluse when, in the spring of 1947, an assertive and unrelenting American girl named Charlie (Charlotte), who is single […]

4/12/2018 ElCicco's CBR10 Review No:15 |

Army Chief of Staff Reading List #11

The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark

April 10, 2018 by thewheelbarrow 1 Comment

The Sleepwalkers is one of the most thorough books I have recently read. It attempts to describe and make sense of the factors that led to WWI. The author attempts to discover the real causes beyond the notion that the war was inevitable. It’s a nearly impossible task that I think Christopher Clark does quite well. His findings do not provide a clear or simple answer but it is comprehensive and much better than the tired tropes we learned about in high school history class. I think that one of the most interesting, and also depressing, aspects of the lead […]

4/10/2018 thewheelbarrow's CBR10 Review No:18 |

The Greatest Work That Four Men Have Ever Done

Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan

February 1, 2018 by emmalita 5 Comments

Note: This review is long. The book was long and interesting, so the review is long, but may not be interesting. I love history, but I’m not a diligent scholar. My history knowledge is thin and wide spread with occasional deep dives. I have been fascinated by the events that led to World War 1, but didn’t know much about the Paris Peace Conference that dealt with the end of the war. Last year I listened to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History series, “Blueprint for Armageddon.” At the end of it I wanted to know more about the end of WWI. […]

2/1/2018 emmalita's CBR10 Review No:3 |

Army Chief of Staff Reading List #3

The First World War by Hew Strachan

January 12, 2018 by thewheelbarrow 3 Comments

I read The First World War by Hew Strachan mostly because it was recommended by the Army Chief of Staff. I also realized that my knowledge of WWI is woefully inept considering I have a history degree. I took a class on World War II and the US Civil War. There are dozens of movies about WWII and the Civil War. We joke about the days in which the History Channel showed only profiles of Hitler, as opposed to Ancient Aliens, as a sign of the times. Outside of of the tales of Diana, Princess of Themiscyra, I know very […]

1/12/2018 thewheelbarrow's CBR10 Review No:3 |

janet snakehole on I don’t want to review this book.Loved this review. I like Rob Delaney's twitter, which does not necessarily mean I would enjoy a full book by him. I found this out...
janet snakehole on White Feminism: A NovelGood review! As a white feminist lady I was intrigued by this book but skeptical of its relevance. Your review confirmed pretty much what I...
Scootsa1000 on Just Because It’s Brief Doesn’t Mean It Isn’t PainfulA+ use of Jack Tripper.
Scootsa1000 on You, Sir, Are No Colin FirthI read this ages ago, maybe for CBR3. Hands down, the worst Austen-related book I’ve ever come across. Everyone was awful and the sex scenes...
emmalita on This is where we learn it’s not a good idea to throw your GF into a bottomless pitEmotional satisfaction and political outcomes rarely seem to go hand in hand. I guess I’ll stick to voting and protesting.