What are we reading?

[Gusington]

You're welcome WallysWorld. I've read the Roman World book as well - both are excellent. I don't have the 19th century one.

[Jarhead0331]

You're welcome WallysWorld. I've read the Roman World book as well - both are excellent. I don't have the 19th century one.

Shit...I might need to pick those up. Not cheap though.

[Gusington]

I can't believe you didn't have them already!

[Staggerwing]

I just finished Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II by Jeffrey Cox.

It examines the naval aspects of the early war Japanese campaign to take the Philippines, Singapore, and the Dutch East Indies.

I knew the highlights like the sinking of the Repulse and the Prince of Wales, the defeat of the ABDACOM ships,  and dugout Doug's flight from the Philippines to Australia but I knew almost nothing about the details or personalities involved, especially the Dutch.   I found it very informative and easy to read.  The author readily admits his anti-Japanese bias in the preface and that bias does surface repeatedly which j personally found to be somewhat detrimental to the book but I'd still say its well worth reading.

I'll have to check that book out. I read 'The Lonely Ships' by Edwin Hoyt a decade or two ago and it really brought out the hopelessness of the ABDA fleet's situation, cut off from the support of their home countries and right in the path of the Japanese steamroller. It will be interesting to see what research has been added in the 30 years since Hoyt's book came out.

[Gusington]

I read a ton of Hoyt back 25+ years ago when I was still in college - he was one of my favorite authors.

[WallysWorld]

I read "Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II" early last year. Excellent book and truly shows what long odds ABDA faced in early 1942. Interesting, but also depressing at the same time.

"The Lonely Ships" is a good title for what happened to the ADBA vessels.

[Gusington]

Now reading Wolves of the North by Harry Sidebottom, Book 5 in the ancient Roman adventure series featuring everyone's favorite grumpy agent of the Emperor, the fabulously named Ballista.

[Sir Slash]

I hear he's a real Big Shot. 

[Gusington]

 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

In Passage Perilous: Malta and the Convoy Battles of June 1942 by Vincent O'Hara.  I'm about 4 chapters in.  It's very interesting so far. 

[solops]

Still reading "The Wandering Inn" web serial!

https://wanderinginn.com/

[Tripoli]

I've started Ezra Carman's 3 volume set "The Maryland Campaign of September 1862."  He led a regiment at Antietam, and after the war spent much of his adult life studying the battle.  It is a very detailed account of the campaign, particularly from the Union side.

[ArizonaTank]

I just finished "The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero"

https://www.amazon.com/The-Immortal-Irishman-audiobook/dp/B01B57R8PQ/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=immortal+irishman&qid=1614306703&sr=8-1

This book is a biography of Thomas Francis Meagher (pronounced ma'r) who is best known as the Commanding General of the Union's Irish Brigade during the Civil War.

The book starts with his life as a well-to-do, educated young man in 1840s Ireland, who was appalled by Britain's callous response to the potato famine. He soon ran afoul of British law by writing and giving Irish patriot speeches. He was arrested and given a death sentence, that was commuted to lifetime banishment to Tasmania along with other Irish rebels.

After a few years, he managed to escape and found himself in New York. By the advent of the Civil War, he was a famous orator and lawyer. He joined the "Fighting 69th," a pre-war regiment of mostly Irish immigrants from New York. Meagher fought with the 69th at Bull Run, distinguished himself, and soon found himself leading the regiment. He then put his influence into helping to raise Irish immigrants into a full brigade of mostly Irish regiments. He soon found himself leading this 'Irish Brigade,' and fought with his unit at Antietam.

He also led the Irish up the slope at Fredericksburg to attack Marye's Heights. The brigade took 60% casualties. By this time, the Irish immigrants were losing faith in the war, and Meagher could not raise many more Irish troops. Casualties had whittled the Irish brigade down to the size of a weak regiment (the Irish Brigade was actually disbanded after Gettysburg due to casualties) and General Meagher took a staff position in Tennessee for the rest of the war. Politics also likely played a part, since while Meagher got along famously with McClellan and Lincoln, he always clashed with Sherman and got a bit of a cold shoulder from Grant (probably because of his association with McClellan).

After the war, Meagher was appointed to a senior Federal post in the Montana territory. As the senior official in the territory, Meagher became Acting Governor, and held that position for nearly two years. He immediately clashed with anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic vigilantes who ruled the territory through lynch mobs. He gradually started to get the upper-hand. But one evening, he was on a river boat, and either was pushed, or fell into the river, never to be seen again. Years later, a dying criminal confessed to having been paid by vigilantes to push Meagher in...but after a short while, he recanted his story. By the turn of the century, Butte, Montana had become the largest Irish town west of the Mississippi and Meagher's story and relation to Montana, made his local fame grow. There is a statue of Meagher outside of the State Capitol in Helena.       

While I enjoyed the book, I can only give it a guarded recommendation. For someone interested in the story of the Irish in America, or the Irish rebels of the 1840s, this book is an no brainer. But if you are interested in the Fighting 69th or the Irish Brigade, the book will likely leave you feeling a little cheated. I felt the description of the battles, and the role of these Irish units to be somewhat rushed. The book probably spends more words on his imprisonment in Tasmania than it does on the Civil War. To be fair, the book covers his entire life, but still, Meagher's leadership in the Civil War was one of his great contributions to the nation and deserves more space (IMHO) than the author gives.

But like any good book, it did teach me things. The book paints vivid pictures of Ireland in the 1830s, of Tasmania and of New York in the 1840s and 1850s. For me, these were good reasons to keep reading on.

One interesting piece of information in the book was that Meagher insisted on having the Irish Brigade use smooth bore muskets. This was so that the troops could load buck and ball loads for a shotgun effect. This also meant the Irish had to get very close for their fire to be telling.

[Gusington]

^Thanks for the writeup, sounds like a great title.

[Toonces]

I've been on a bit of a reading tear lately, although as usual I'm slow to actually finish a book.  Kinda like my gaming....   ::)

Most recently, though, I finished a book called Outrage by Vincent Bugliosi.  The book is about the OJ Simpson trial and Bugliosi absolutely eviscerates the prosecution.  I read this book a long time ago, maybe as much as 20 years ago? and for some reason decided to give it a second read a few weeks ago.  I remember truly enjoying the book the first time I read it (which is why I've been lugging it around for the last 20 years I suppose) but I didn't enjoy it nearly as much this time around.  In a way, Bugliosi reminds me of our own Groghead, Jarhead.  He pulls no punches, doesn't sugarcoat things, and tells it like it is.  However, in Bugliosi's case in Outrage, I felt he came across quite arrogant.  Not so much an after-the-fact quarterback, he still has the strong benefit of hindsight, and his "example" arguments to the jury are, to my mind, annoying.  If a lawyer spoke to me like he speaks in his scripts, I'd be very annoyed very quickly.

Still, Bugliosi makes a very, very strong case on how OJ could have been convicted on his statement to the police alone.  The fact that there was just so much overwhelming evidence of his guilt, and yet he was still found not-guilty, remains mind-boggling.  I find my curiosity of this trial piqued all over again, and I just checked out The Run of His Life by Toobin to read some more about this trial.

Outrage is a good book, but you have to go into it knowing what you're getting yourself into.  It's very much an opinion book, and Bugliosi is a bit full of himself.