With Rifle and Pack
  • Home
  • Archives
    • All Dispatches
    • Battle Formation
    • Black Hand of History
    • Eyes Right - podcasts
    • Fife and Drum - Songs
    • Fix Bayonets - personal accounts
    • Forward March - book reviews
    • Left Turn - game reviews
    • Present Arms - articles
    • Temporal Chronicles - short stories
  • The WRAP Team
    • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Military Misdemeanours - A Review (Osprey)

6/3/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Military Misdemeanours - Corruption, Incompetence, lust and downright stupidity, by Terry Crowd. A review by Chris.

It's always nice to see a QI-esque book hitting the shelves that provides an insightful look into the hidden facts of history that much of the mainstream history books leave behind. Terry Crowd's short book 'Military Misdemeanours' takes a sideswipe examination of the corruption, incompetence and downright daft things leaders, political figures and civilians have achieved throughout our history. From a witch trial that took place a few days before a Second World War engagement to a spy that was actually a transvestite, the reader is subjected to a plethora of witty and amusing anecdotes of history that should not be forgotten. The scope of research Crowd incorporates into the book is vast but what he selects to use as sources is rich. One of my personal favourites is the story of the Zimmerman Telegram - A German conspiracy plot to initiate the Mexican Goverment to invade the US in order to prohibit them from entering on the side of the allies in World War One. Although this is a story I am familiar with, Crowd provides a take on the incident that is fresh and new. This could possibly apply to many of the anecdotes throughout the book that have over time become common knowledge, but nonetheless, with the way Crowd uses the sources that are available to him, he provides a new spin on a familiar tale.

Apart from the book being slightly on the short side  it makes an interesting read on a quiet train journey.

***/3 Star

Chris

1 Comment
Ann Robertson link
6/3/2014 09:02:15 pm

Excellent review - does what a critique should do, that is make the Reader want to go out and get the Book.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    BOOK REVIEWS

    topics

    All
    16th C
    19th C
    Communism
    Lincoln
    London
    Medieval
    Military
    Mongol
    Osprey
    Scotland
    Spanish Civil War
    Spies
    Vietnam
    Wars Of The Roses
    Weaponry
    World War II

    Archives

    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014

    RSS Feed

    Photo credit: mathrong / Foter / Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)

To view our site's privacy policy click here