Reviews of Podcasts and Books


Franz Seraph von Lenbach, Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke, 1885
The Tactical Notebook
MCDP-4 Logistics
Philosophy appeals to the young and the old, to those looking for a comprehensive map to a world that is still new to them and those making sense of a shapeless mass of information acquired over the course of five or six decades. Practitioners in the middle years of life, however, prefer pedestrian pronouncements. If honest craftsmen, they want to know what they need to know to solve the problems in front of them. If craven careerists, they covet cognizance of “the latest thing…
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The Tactical Notebook
Blitzkrieg: From the Ground Up
The first work of Niklas Zetterling that I ever encountered was his review of Shimon Naveh’s In Pursuit of Military Excellence. Posted on the internet in 2002 as a working paper, this critique took General Naveh to task for a number of shortfalls. Of the latter, the allegation that made a particularly strong impression on me concerned the falsification of footnotes…
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The Tactical Notebook
The Worthy House
The episodes of The Worthy House, nearly all of which are book reviews, cover a variety of subjects. This appreciation, however, will deal only with the programs that deal with military subjects. Charles Haywood, the host of the Worthy House, casts a wide net over Clio’s realm. Thus, he reviews books that range from Xenophon’s…
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The Tactical Notebook
History of the Second World War
First the bad news: I am, thanks to the dreaded lurgy, like unto King Harry’s “gentlemen of England, still abed.” Now for the good news: I’ve been making use of my enforced leisure to listen to podcasts, and, in particular, the History of the Second World War…
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The Tactical Notebook
A History of Europe, Key Battles
Readers who like the Tactical Notebook will love the way that Carl Rylett selects the subjects for each episode of A History of Europe, Key Battles. Rather than retelling familiar tales of famous events, he brings to life personalities, crises, and encounters that, while important in all sorts of ways, have probably escaped the attention of his readers. Thus, he devotes as much air time to the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 and the Burgundian wars of the late Middle Ages as he does to the campaigns of Napoleon I…
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The Tactical Notebook
History of the Germans
History of the Germans does for Holy Roman Emperors who followed Charlemagne what Thugs and Miracles did for the Frankish kings who preceded him. Indeed, in style as well as substance, quality of production and pace of presentation, it is the perfect sequel to the latter podcast…
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The Tactical Notebook
A History of Italy
A History of Italy begins with the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and, in particular, the reign of Odoacer, the first monarch to style himself King of Italy. From there the host, Mike Corradi, tells tales of successive invasions by Germanic peoples, each of which, after a century or two of rule, found itself absorbed into the melting pot of the broader Italian population. This done, Mr. Corradi lavishes attention on the many interesting people, few of whom attained much fame in the English-speaking world, who shaped the fates of the various cities and regions into which Italy is divided…
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The Tactical Notebook
Armies in Retreat
While the library shelves groan under the weight of tales of glorious victories, well-written accounts of grand withdrawals, skillful and otherwise, are hard to find. For that reason alone, serious students of military history will welcome the publication of…
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