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Read "Serenade to the Big Bird" by Bert Stiles. It was mentioned on the We have ways of making you talk podcast. He was a B17 co-pilot for 35 missions before switching to fighters.

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I read this book and it's very good. It pretty much ends in the middle of the narrative, and says nothing of why, until you google it and find out that he was killed.

As for the United Nations thing, that was a general name for the alliance against the Axis that was in common usage long before it became an official organization. I think he adopted the terminology from media (radio and newspapers) which used it in that form, and probably from the command public affairs folks. I don't think the book was edited much after he died, as it doesn't even have a one-sentence explanation for ending in the middle of the action.

Just finished Masters of the Air by Donald Miller. I wanted to read it before watching the show/mini-series

It was a good, thorough history of the Allied European bombing campaigns of WWII but, based on the fact that Spielberg and Hanks based their next saga on it, my expectation was more along the lines of Band of Brothers or With the Old Breed.....it just didnt have the character development I was hoping for.

I was going to read some fiction for a bit after Masters of the Air feeling a bit more of a slog than I liked but I ended up grabbing The Lion's Gate by Steven Pressfield. I've had it on my bookshelf for years but have been so fixated on WWII, the frontier, and Texas history that I didnt want to jump into a new area of history....but I figured with what is going on in Israel right now, this was probably a good time.

It's a fantastic book. He has woven together a historical narrative of the Six Day War in Israel through interviews and research. Highly recommend.

Any recommendations on best book about Arik Sharon?

Just finished Studio: Europe by John Groth. Published 1944, out of print, but used copies are available on Amazon. First hand account of an artist/journalist imbedded with US Army units from Normandy to Paris to Berlin. He wasn't a historian but an excellent observer and tells many interesting tales. Encounters Picasso, Hemingway, as well as Parisian girls. The guy was literally the first American journalist to enter liberated Paris. He climbed the flag pole at the top of the Eiffel Tower, He was with the earliest meet up with the Russians around Berlin. A unique perspective on the last days of the war in Europe.

Almost finished with "The House of Morgan" by Ron Chernow. I love all of his books. You'll love this if you're interested in banking and finance from mid-19th century to the present. This book was published in 1990 so a lot has happened even since then.

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Almost finished with "The House of Morgan" by Ron Chernow. I love all of his books. You'll love this if you're interested in banking and finance from mid-19th century to the present. This book was published in 1990 so a lot has happened even since then.

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Great book. I have read Titan and the Warburgs as well. The economic and financial history is first rate, but Chernow manages to tie it all in to more general historic events.

One page that stood out to me was that JP Morgan was suffering from a bad cold while coordinating the 1907 rescue of failing banks. He treated it with cigars and whisky.

Medicine was more fun back then.

Unless you were given a "cure." It usually involved purgatives.

Thanks for the suggestion. I bought it and will read it.

I hope that it's better than most history books that cover finance and financiers. Usually, historians suck royally at describing economics and finance. Typically, they just wave their hands and write "then stuff happened". I ran into that when I tried to dive deeply into how the Rothschilds made their immense fortune. The books on them were laughably bad in trying to explain their rise.

The best I can tell is that the Rothschilds became bond traders for European monarchs and governments. Apparently, they were the ones that floated the bonds that the Prince of Hesse used to finance his Hessian troops, which he leased to the Brits, during the American Revolution. However, that explanation is so broad that it really provides little information. Questions I still have, for example, are who the Rothschilds' main competitors in the various European capitals were and what did the competition look like? For example, how were the Rothschilds able to overcome their British counterparts in handling sales of British bonds?

Given that economics/finance is typically one of the most powerful, if not absolutely the most powerful, force that drives history, you'd think that historians would be better trained in the subject and devote more time and words to it. Putting my tinfoil hat firmly in place, I've wondered if the Rothschilds helped foment that wars that plagued Europe for most of the 18th-20th centuries because those wars were so unbelievably profitable for them?

This is definitely deep in to the weeds of multiple generations of seminal financing events starting from J.P.'s dad though the children of J.P. as they dealt with a more activist congressional presence and the eventual Glass Steagall act separating commercial and investment banking.

You should also check out Niall Ferguson's. The Ascent of Money is a more condensed and interesting read. His tome on the Rothschild's is really dense but chronicles in exacting detail how important the banking franchise was to governments throughout Europe.

They were not bond traders but lenders and correspondent bankers. The brothers all lived in different cities ranging from Vienna to Naples to London to Frankfurt. The bank was the first truly international financial institution and because of that they were able to manage and underwrite loans from the British Government to their continental allies as well as process the flow of gold bullion across international boundaries during the Napoleonic wars.

They built on that to be the major global player through the late 1800s to the early 1900s. They financed the Suez Canal, help fund the split of Brazil from Portugal. The Japanese government relied on them for fund-raising during the Russo-Japanese war.

This occurred because much of what we take for granted in modern finance - global central banks, strong competition between a large number of international financial institutions, a more democratic financial system that provides great depth of customer demand for financial instruments and securities - didn't exist back then. They were the only player that could do certain things, so the biggest customers in the world back then (governments) relied on them heavily and paid huge fees to access their services.

Thanks very much! I'll get and read that one by Ferguson as well.

The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc by Brinkley. He winds together the training of the Rangers, their action on D Day, and the Reagan speech there in 1984 written by Peggy Noonan.

I found this book at a used bookstore at the Milwaukee airport. I had never seen a used bookstore at an airport before but it makes sense. I had been in/out of this airport quite a few times without noticing it. It had a great number of books and prices were fair. Highly recommend if you are passing through.

Read Catcher in the Wry by Bob Uecker. If you had seen his work on the Tonight Show or any number of other appearances a number of the jokes are in the book as well. I had seen the documentary on him a few years ago(MLB Presents I think? or maybe ESPN 30/30?) but one thing I did learn is that he was an Army veteran.

Overall a fun read even if many of the jokes weren't new. There is no doubt he comes across as a guy you would want to share a beer with.

It never snows in September: the German story of Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem
September 1944
Robert Kershaw

Arnhem 1944
The airborne battle 17-26 September
Martin Middlebrook

Storms Brewed In Other Men's Worlds by Elizabeth John. It's an exhaustively researched overview of Indian interactions with the Spanish in New Mexico and Texas, with a dash of French interactions thrown in for good measure. It focuses mostly on the major tribes encountered by the Europeans in Texas, New Mexico, and surrounding areas from the 1500s-1800.

It's really interesting to get a bit more history of the tribes present in Texas and see previously opaque events become a little more clear, like the emergence of the Comanche in the Southwest and their long, successful war against the Apache. There is also a sustained focus on the Wichita and Caddo peoples in North Texas and their constant war against the Osage coming out of Missouri and the Ohio Valley.

I was also surprised to see the success the Spanish had in conquering, holding, and projecting power on the far frontier of their empire in North America with ridiculously scant resources. They were pushing 10 man garrisons into Apacheria and experiencing success, even after the Indians gained horses and guns. Given the often bumbling responses by the leadership down in Mexico, it was quite a feat that their colonies in Santa Fe and San Antonio survived. Overall a fascinating, if lengthy, read (~700 pages).

I'm listening to The Big Rich by Bryan Burrough....just getting started but it is way more interesting than I initially thought it would be.

I'm reading Charles Goodnight: Cowman and Plainsman by J. Evetts

A couple of chapters in to the book Iron Coffins: A Personal Account of The German U-boat Battles of World War II by Herbert Werner. Interesting so far.

I started Jack Carrs new book on Beruit two days ago. Hoping it gives me a better understanding of current events, specifically of events over the last several hours.

Ag In Ok said:

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I started Jack Carrs new book on Beruit two days ago. Hoping it gives me a better understanding of current events, specifically of events over the last several hours.

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You're looking for A Peace To End All Peace.

Anybody have any good recommendations for books about the War of 1812 ?

Borneman 1812
Lord Dawn's Early Light
Hickey War of 1812