New Addition…

The latest book to fall through onto the doormat is…

Michael Neifield and Michael Berenbaum (Eds.) The Bombing of Auschwitz: Should the Allies Have Attempted It? (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2003) – This book combines two interests of mine; Air Power History and the Holocaust. It is a good collection of essays and document examining the contentious issue of once they knew about Auschwitz should the Allies have attempted to bomb it. An interesting debate that will never be reconciled I think.

On the blog front I came across the blog of Nicholas Sarantakas who is an Assistant Professor at the US Army Command and General Staff College. His blog, In the Service of Clio, is very interesting as it is not about the subject of History but much rather about the profession and what one can do with a History PhD. There are some very interesting posts especially for those of us who have either just finished or embarking on doctoral studies. The only issue I see if that at the moment in is US centric but I think some general points can be related to experiences elsewhere. Take a read.

New Book and a New(ish) Blog

Another book to fall on my doormat is:

Edward Westermann Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945 (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2001) – This book looks at the other side of the bombing campaign against Germany, namely the use of Anti-Aircraft artillery in the defence of Germany. It examines the numerous problems that befell this arm in its attempt to defend Germany cities and helps illustrates the problems that was faced in this period.

A blog I have stumbled across is How it Really Was by Christopher Knowles, a part-time PhD student at the Centre for Contemporary British History. It has some interesting posts about the British Occupation of post-war Germany. An interesting subject and after reading Sholto Douglas’ autobiography, Years of Command, and reading the problems he had during his time as Military Governor of the British Zone of Occupation, I am looking forward to reading more.

A while ago I mentioned podcasts that are popping up over the net well the National Archives have started some video podcasts entitled War on Film. Each one explores the truth behind popular war films. To quote from the website:

The National Archives holds a large number of records about the events featured in six of the most popular war films of all time. In our ‘War on Film’ videocast series William Spencer, one of our military records specialists, explores the true stories behind these films and uses original records to depict actual events.

The latest looks at the truth behind the ‘Longest Day’.

A Trip to London…and Books

Yesterday saw me take a run into London. The purpose of this visit was to meet up with Brett Holman of Airminded who is over in the UK on holiday. For anyone who has followed Brett’s blog you will be aware that it is one of the better history blogs on the net. For me it has the added advantage of being abaout Air Power History. It is always great to put a name to the face. Several other bloggers came along to so it was a meeting of the blogosphere. It was also great to meet Jakob, who runs the blog Thrust Vector. I think each of our blogs, and by default research interests, highlights the diversity of Air Power History. Good luck to Breet in getting his thesis published and finding that much vaunted job that we all desire at the of our PhD’s.

Seeing as I was in London it seemed rude of me not to visit the bookshops and peruse the bookshelves. This of course meant that some purchasing was done. This is what I picked up yesterday.

Stephen Bungay The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain (London: Aurum Press, 2009) – This is the new 2009 edition of this work on the Battle. I have not had the chance to read it so it will be interesting to see what he has to add to the historiography.

Noble Frankland History at War: The Campaign of a Historian (London: Giles de Mare, 1998) – This is Franklands account of his life as a historian and deals with many aspects of the historical profession and in particular the issues relating to the publication of the Official History of the Strategic Air Offensive against Germany.

Alfred Hurley Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Air Power (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975) – A useful early biography of one of the most important men in American air power history.

Harry Yeide and Mark Stout First to the Rhine: The 6th Army Group in World War II (St Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2007) – I picked this up as I have always wondered about the operation of Devers command, which has recieved scant attention from historians.

Seeing as I was in London I decided to make a day of it and I popped up to the RAF Museum and took some pictures of the exhibits. Always a favourite of mine but I do wish that they would imporve the lighting for photography. As I was in the area  also popped to Hannants and picked up a model. I did not need to but I felt the need.

New(ish) Blogs…Well they are to me!

Its been a while since I posted about new blogs but over the past few months I have become aware of a couple of interesting new blogs.

First up is a blog by Military Historian Paul Reed. Paul is well known in British circles especially for his role in working with the BBC. Paul is also in the process of forming the WW2 Society, a project that I was involved in at the start but I could stick with for various reasons. This project deserves peoples support.

Another blog is from Robert Thompson. Robert is about to begin his PhD at the University of Southern Mississippi and hopefully we shall see some interesting posts very soon. In actual fact we may see some dual posts from me and Robert on our PhD experiences in the US and UK.

Towards Terrormindedness is an interesting blog from Mats Fridlund and deals with how our culture has evolved to deal with the issue of Terrorism and its historical antecedents.

Allan Allport launched a blog the other months as a compliment to his new book on the demobilisation process in Britain at the end of the war. He is post-blogging the process with some interesting posts being made every day.

Finally a blog I spotted a while back but never mentioned is a blog about Ernst Junger’s work Storm of Steel, one of the key works that came out of the First World War. Some interesting posts being made about the work.

So more Military History in the blogosphere. Excellent.

Blogging the Second World War

I have just gotten involved with a new project led by Jeff Demers called Blogging the Second World War. It was announced on H-War last November and I am pleased to be getting involved with this new venture in Second World War history. It is a new way of promoting scholarly debate and discussion and should be supported by both academic and non-academics alike. Many of us run blogs but unfortunately they are sideshows to our main research. However, this blog is being funded and supported, which is a very positive sign. The first post should be going up very soon.

Jeff has stated that:

The goal of the project will be to create an on-line community (and presence) that promotes the study of the war and tracks the latest trends in research. The website will feature book, film and journal reviews, insights into ongoing scholarly debates, explorations of contributors’ research, and general commentary on a whole host of issues relevant to the study of the war.