What books have you been reading?

[Ranched]

The Bible.

 

[yimyammer]

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

This is about a real serial killer who inspired the movie Saw, his crimes were horrific and infuriating

 

[kskboys]

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America

This is about a real serial killer who inspired the movie Saw, his crimes were horrific and infuriating

Awesome!!! I read that about a year ago. Wicked.

 

[kskboys]

Shoe Dog-Phil Knight.

Excellent thus far.

Excellent read. Someone gave it to me, and I wasn't all that enthused, but read it anyway, and found it to be a very good read!!!!

 

[kskboys]

The more I read about the German "military machine" the more impressed I become.

They simply had an amazing military in both world wars.

The critical mistake for both wars was the two-front issue. If they hadn't dealt with two fronts, things may have turned out much different.

The second challenge they had was the slow ramp up of military hardware in WWII. Hitler & co. were banking on short campaigns and didn't focus on a full military economy until later on in the war– And by then it was too late.

Maaaannn, Germany would've conquered Europe if Hitler had stayed out of the military and let his generals run the war. Don't know that they'd have held it, but they would've won. Dunkirk evacuation would've never happened if handled correctly. Hitler messed that up good.

 

[kskboys]

"The Road to 1914–The War The Ended Peace" by Margaret MacMillan.

A stunning book.

After reading it I'm left with the feeling that if the caused of WWII could be likened to a kids puzzle of about 6 pieces, the causes of WWI would be like a puzzle of a 1,000 pieces.

So many twists and turns. And a multitude of players– far more players than the few that drove Europe into WWII.

I can't help but think that war it's offspring, WWII set Europe back for decades and doomed it to become a follower– It's leadership days long gone. Prior to WWI the pacifists were seeing Europe somewhat as it is today... Kind of one entity.

But it was the nationalists that drove the military buildup within each country. The result was no one was going to back down and IMO the alliance of France, Russia and the UK was set soon enough and said strongly enough to cause Germany to pull back on Austrio Hungary's leash.

While the assination of the Archduke set things into motion, there were about a half-dozen crisis and incidents that could have triggered a major war from 1905 on. That fuse was always there and came close to being lit more than once.

Part of the problem is that most took the idea of war as being too much of a good thing... They thought it would make their nation (fill in the name of any of the nations) and that the destruction would be limited because it would be a "short war".

Ha-ha-ha!

A few thought otherwise– they thought it would be a devasting war that would kill many and last a long time. Much of which was based on the power of then modern weapons and giving the defenders such an advantage that an offensive army would need overwhelming numbers to win– And neither side could muster that advantage for most of the war.

Those folks were few and far between. Most others thought the war would be over by Christmas 1914.

Ernest Shackleton, the explorer set off in 1914. When he came back to a whaling station in the spring of 1916 he asked who won the European was and was amazed to be told that it ws still going on.

Many of the leaders underestimated how much man-power the various nations could muster and funnel into the conflict. The result was for then, monsterous armies and countries went broke keeping those armies in the field. But still seeing how long Germany, Austro Hungary and Russia were able to "stay in the game" is eye-opeing.

Often overlooked as an igniter to the war was Germany's attack on Belgium. That pushed Great Britain over the edge and into committing. Without Belgium's stubborness at the very beginning and Great Britain jumping in, Germany may well have overwhelmed France.

I think if you were to blame one party for the war it would have been Germany. Austro-Hungary wouldn't have moved toware war with Serbia if it had not been given a "blank check" by Germany to do so.

The leaders of Germany such as the Kaiser seemed to want to play the "victim's card". "Oh we're surrounded by enemies so we need to keep our military on the readiness". "Oh we can't defend our sealanes so we need to be the equal of Great Britain's navy".

Germany was constantly itching to pitch into Russia. They, like Hitler later on, were scared of the resources Russia could muster once properly channeled. Germany felt that left unatended Russia would be too powerful to defeat by 1917 so they needed to initiate a war before then.

Germany was sneaky, with one leader hoping to persuade the United States to come in as an ally by promising Canada.

On top of this many of the participants had serious issues at home with variety of political and social issues– So the thought was a war would unite them.

What was left of Europe after 1918 was little more than tatters and enough hard feelings that another world war would be starting in 21 years.

Great stuff. I haven't studied about WWI near as much as I've read about WWII.

 

[kskboys]

Sounds like a heck of a book. Amazing we had two despots, Hitler and Stalin during the same time period and living basically next to each other. Both were responsible for an obscene number of deaths... Not too mention both thought they were better strategists than what they actually were.

When I was younger I thought Hitler was the worst person ever... Now I'm not so sure.

We mostly forget that Hitler was coming out of a time when seizing property and land through violent means was considered a good thing.

Our own Indians wiped out several other tribes to the man.

 

[Melonfeud]

Yeah,well,,, they really only groove to their own tribes drum beat,,,just sayin'

 

[kskboys]

Also, WWII would've never happened on such a grand scale if not for the wimpiness of France and Neville Chamberlin. It's no coincidence that Neville resembles sniveling.

They kept backing down and backing down from Hitler, and he kept lying and pushing.

Czechoslovakia had a major front that Hitler was not going to get past easily. It would've taken much time and effort. Thing is, the Czechs could not hold this front by themselves. So, they called on the agreed alliance w/ France. France, in turn, said they would only help the Czechs if England also helped. Neville refused, and instead they made an agreement w/ Germany giving them Czechoslovakia. Of all the cowardice, this might be the most cowardly act of all time. If ENG and FRANCE join in w/ the Czechs on this front, there's a good chance WWII doesn't go any further.

 

[CouchCoach]

None...I am awaiting all the movies.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I've been on a Pro-wrestling tear lately...

Read Bob Backlund's autobiography, "Backlund" which was much better than I had originally thought. I was never a fan of the former WWWF/WWF champion when I was growing up... He was too much of a "baby face" for my tastes. But reading the book I've gained a new appreciation of his talents and a better understanding of what was going on in the WWF just prior to Hulkamania.

And just finished the "Mid Atlantic Championship" which was the regional championship of Mid Atlantic Wrestling in the 70's and 80's. It chronicles each of the champions along with the various title changes through the years. If you were a fan of Jim Crockett promotions it is a suggested read.

 

[Denim Chicken]

About halfway through The Winter King: A Novel of Arthur. It's been good so far, so I'll likely finish the trilogy.

It written by Bernard Cornwell, who wrote The Last Kingdom series which the Netflix show (which I really liked) was based on.

 

[The Fonz]

Windswept House by Malachi Martin

 

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Just finished The Border Trilogy by Cormack McCarthy including All The Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities Of The Plains. As with all things McCarthy they were beautifully written and fantastic books. They all take place in the part of the country I grew up in which resonates. Very dark gut wrenching books but fantastic nonetheless.

Staring Boone A Biography by Robert Morgan about the life of frontiersman Daniel Boone and it's been really good so far.