Submitted by AutoModerator t3_zx7tnv in history
dropbear123 t1_j2123s3 wrote
Last two history books of the year. They are those old fashioned massive hardbacks with loads of pictures, as I wanted a clean slate for the history books I got for Christmas. Only really mentioning them as they are my last history books of 2022 and I'm now just reading fiction till next year.
Uniforms and Decorations of World Wars I & II by John Batchelor (Illustrator), Bernard Fitzsimons (Editor)
>2.5/5. Charity shop find. Nothing wrong with it but overall just not for me. Read it very quickly as it is mostly pictures and captions.
>Rather old book, published in the 1970s. 170 pages, one of those big hardcover style books that don't seem to get made nowadays. Collection of artwork depicting the uniforms of soldiers from both the world wars. Surprisingly in-depth as it included many of the colonial troops and for WWI the various Balkan troops. For WWII it also had a section just for ties (which I skipped but it shows the level of detail). Additionally it has pictures of medals, decorations on aircraft, various insignia like all the SS division symbols plus some propaganda posters. There were some diagrams that displayed the unit organisation (division, batallion etc) in an easy to understand way and I did take photos of those so I could refer to them when reading other books. The artwork is decent but dated and the photos, while not that high in quality, are good enough to easily see.
>While it is in-depth and I do like military history, I personally am not that into learning about every single uniform or medal so I didn't get that much out of the book I'll remember but that is on me. If you are into that level of detail this book might be worth a read if you can find a very cheap copy (although there are probably newer easier to find books on the topic with higher quality images considering this book is nearly 50 years old)
Great Battles of World War 1 by Anthony Livesey
>3/5
>Writing was ok, not good but got the point across. Good quality maps and photos despite the age of the book. Decent mix of areas and battles, not just the Western Front. Some subsections with information about specific things like artillery, equipment or short biographies of the generals. But the main content is VERY focused on the operational side of things, very little on the experience of ordinary soldiers or the broader political context.
>Overall, only read on the small chance you see a cheap charity shop copy, not worth specifically seeking out
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