PA's Official Book Lovers Thread

Er... which one? LOL... At any rate, just finished another page turner:

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

• Hardcover: 414 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1st edition (September 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316105848
• ISBN-13: 978-0316105842
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds

Available used from Amazon starting from about USD$ 0.01 (that's right, a penny).

Spoiler: Description From Amazons Web Site

From Publishers Weekly
The author of Flags of Our Fathers achieves considerable but not equal success in this new Pacific War-themed history. Again he approaches the conflict focused on a small group of men: nine American Navy and Marine aviators who were shot down off the Japanese-held island of Chichi Jima in February 1945. All of them were eventually executed by the Japanese; several of the guilty parties were tried and condemned as war criminals. When the book keeps its eye on the aviators-growing up under a variety of conditions before the war, entering service, serving as the U. S. Navy's spearhead aboard the fast carriers, or facing captivity and death-it is as compelling as its predecessor. However, a chapter on prewar aviation is an uncritical panegyric to WWI aerial bombing advocate Billy Mitchell, who was eventually court-martialed for criticizing armed forces brass. More problematic is that Bradley tries to encompass not only the whole history of the Pacific War, but the whole history of the cultures of the two opposing countries that led to the racial attitudes which both sides brought to the war. Those attitudes, Bradley argues, played a large role in the brutal training of the Japanese army, which led to atrocities that in turn sharpened already keen American hostility. Some readers' hackles will rise at the discussion of the guilt of both sides, but, despite some missteps, Bradley attempts to strike an informed balance with the perspective of more than half a century. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Bradley's phenomenal best-seller, Flags of Our Fathers (2000), was rejected by about 20 publishing houses before Bantam took a chance. His new publisher is not leaving the popularity of the encore to chance, launching it with an intense promotional campaign. Structured similarly to Flags, which concerned the flag-raisers of Iwo Jima, this work reconstructs the lives of several young men at war. Eight pilots and airmen were shot down by the Japanese military at Chichi Jima in 1944-45, George H. W. Bush among them. A well-known part of his political biography, Bush's story of escape is recounted somberly (Bush's crewmates died). The fates of the others shot down, who were captured, Bradley gathered in part from a source that was secret until a few years ago: records of a war-crimes trial of Japanese officers in command at Chichi Jima. Bradley sensitively builds the trial's unpleasant evidence (concealed, presumably, to spare pain to the airmen's relatives) into the narrative, which he frames with a portrayal of the Japanese military mind-set, which condoned the commission of atrocities. There are many brutally graphic passages about the torture and slaying of the American prisoners, which may prove too daunting for some readers, but Bradley succeeds in restoring dignity to the American airmen. Sure to command a large audience. Gilbert Taylor Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

An amazing tale that not only reads like a crime novel but imparts extensive knowledge of social, political and military history in a way that unflinchingly looks beyond any pretense of moral high ground on either side leading up to the second world war. A compelling and brutally honest work, demonstrating that ethics often fell onto a sword of expedience, especially during armed conflicts. I read many negative reviews that panned this book on the basis of 'revisionism' from Bradley's 'trashing' of America's untarnished sanitized version of history. But, IMHO, this was likely the most accurate rendering of US pre-war Pacific involvement, that I've read in a long while; it is guaranteed to make the average flag waving Yankee very uncomfortable. My personal rating of 5/5 stars.

 

A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (February 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809071878
• ISBN-13: 978-0809071876
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds

Available used from Amazon starting from about USD$ 3.56 for the Paperback version.

Spoiler: Description From Amazon Website

From Publishers Weekly

Silbey, a historian at Alvernia College, merits praise for the best brief introduction to the complex subject of the U.S. conquest of the Philippines now available. Synthesizing a broad spectrum of published scholarship from both Philippine and American sources, he convincingly establishes that the Philippine-American War included three separate conflicts. The first was a Filipino-American war against Spain, which the Filipinos were on the point of winning by themselves. In the second, the U.S. decisively outfought the embryonic Philippine Republic. Silbey establishes the U.S. decision to annex the Philippines as a transition from a frontier to a global ethos, incorporating spiritual, modernist and Darwinian elements, aided by the American army. However, that lost war defined Filipino national identity—far more so than the third war, which was a guerrilla conflict between the U.S. armed forces and an increasingly locally focused insurgency. Though the American victory involved episodes of brutality, Silbey demonstrates that it was sufficiently quick, decisive and humane, and the former opponents cooperated so amicably, that Americans were arguably deceived regarding the general prospects of reconciling enemies. As America contributed to Philippine nationalism by establishing economic, social and linguistic connections, he shows that Filipino defeat came to look like victory. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

After the overwhelming American victory in the Spanish-American War, President McKinley, after considerable (he claimed) soul-searching, decided to annex the Philippine Islands. His move provoked considerable opposition from anti-imperialist Americans. More importantly, it provoked outrage among various Filipino nationalist groups, who had been struggling to liberate the islands from Spanish control. The result was a complicated, confusing, and brutal war that kept the Philippines under American control and solidified the nation's role as a Pacific power. Silbey's chronicle of that conflict is fair and frequently surprising. As Silbey indicates, the Americans were hardly brutal imperialists; their motives for holding the islands were a mixture of self-interest and altruism. Although Filipino nationalists fought bravely, they were hindered by a fragmented political movement and erratic leadership. Silbey's portrait of the personality and career of Filipino icon Emilio Aguinaldo is particularly interesting. This is a well-researched examination of a struggle that, ultimately, helped forge a new nation out of disparate elements. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

A short but captivating history of how the United States came to be involved in the Philippines at the end of Spanish colonial dominion, along with a review of the political, military and social climate of the times. Silbey is able to present a concise snapshot of the turn of the previous century, and show how a peculiar confluence of events ultimately deeded an unwanted set of islands to the US. Importantly, this was arguably the US's first imperialist adventure (if one discounts Hawaii) and it set the tenor for later US involvement in other Asian nations. My personal rating of 4/5 stars.

Serendipitously, I found several videos with the author giving lectures based on this book. Interested persons can just listen to his talk and get the highlights (Warning: he's not the best public speaker, but nonetheless informative; both versions are similar, each about one hour long).

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/197531-1

[video=youtube;0KulM23bEIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KulM23bEIA[/video]

 

The Art of War
Sun Tzu

There's really no need to add details to this classic is there?

I have to say, I regret not finishing The Art of War in the past. There's a reason why The Art of War is now used in business and the professional life, and I believe it can be used anywhere. Rather than think one-dimensionally and state that this only applies in wars of the past, this book teaches the idea of "Strategic logic". I think thinking about strategy in general is very foreign to many people, due to the mind set it requires.

There are many variations of The Art of War. Depending on the translator and publisher, this book could be life changing, or absolutely useless.

If I may make a suggestion when buying this book, look through the book and see if it's easy to read for you. Find the version in which is NOT a direct translation of the poems, but rather, provides an analysis of the passage, and teach you how to apply it in your current life.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this book. I might pick up Musashi's Book of Five Rings next.

 

ISBN-10: 007174875X
ISBN-13: 978-0071748759

I highly highly recommend this book for those with entrepreneurial ambitions, in fact, everyone for that matter.

 

Currently reading this.

Great trilogy. My favourite is still Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It can be boring, with too much back story of a very small character, but it is still very interesting.