Books Written by My Friends
Some Suggestions for Holiday Reading
Brendan B. McBreen, who wrote the most popular (by far) of the 1,300 or so articles published by the current manifestation of The Tactical Notebook, has published his first novel. Called The Last Kennedy Girl, its offers readers a first-class opportunity to ‘get lost in, that wild town of Boston’. (Readers who would prefer to explore the more martial products of the pen of Lieutenant Colonel McBreen will find many of them at his website, Articles for 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines.)
Robert Cowley, who spent sixty years supporting, promoting, and encouraging other writers of military history, has written a substantial study of the forgotten months of 1914, the period culminating in the First Battle of Ypres that he calls The Killing Season. If you are looking for the perfect follow-on to Hew Strachan’s To Arms, this is it.
Speaking of the First World War … the maiden monograph of Tony Cowan, late of the Foreign Office, will provide an insider’s view of the battlefield bureaucracy of the German Empire. So, if you enjoyed any of the many pieces that The Tactical Notebook has published about various German general staffs, Holding Out: The German Army and Operational Command in 1917, is the book for you.
to be continued …