Immagine dell'autore.
27 opere 1,156 membri 8 recensioni 1 preferito

Sull'Autore

Albert A. Nofi is a prolific author and has served as a defense and military affairs consultant to CNBC, CNN, and the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour. He lives in Austin, TX and New York City. (Bowker Author Biography)

Comprende i nomi: A. Nofi, Albert Nofi, Albert Nofti

Fonte dell'immagine: Al Nofi

Serie

Opere di Albert A. Nofi

The Gettysburg Campaign (1986) 127 copie
Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific (1995) — Autore — 107 copie
Bloody Struggle: The Civil War in the East, 1862 (1989) — A cura di — 23 copie

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mostly a collection of unfamiliar information about the war, presented in some 300 briefs. Typical of the entries in these entertaining pages is a succinct account of the German ``counterfeit offensive,'' in which an attempt was made to flood Britain with fake pound notes; and a comparison between American and German armies at squad, battalion and division level. In the intriguing trivia section, one learns that Gen. Douglas MacArthur was related to President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and that participants in the battle for Guadalcanal included a 12-year-old American sailor. As to the dirty little secrets, here are a few examples: Australian stevedores deliberately obstructed the U.S. war effort at times; disease was responsible for nearly half the war deaths; Allied bombers caused far less damage to the enemy than is generally supposed. Dunnigan is the author of The Complete Wargames Handbook; Nofi wrote Napoleon at War. REVIEW https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780688122355… (altro)
 
Segnalato
MasseyLibrary | 3 altre recensioni | Feb 21, 2024 |
This was gifted to me by my friend's father when I mentioned I that I'm interested in reading more about American history. Given that he's originally from Texas, I suppose he thought that Texan War for Independence was a very significant part of American history.

The book was a chronological account leading up to the war, and key stages of the war itself, with bios of key members on the Mexican and Texan sides. The author took a balanced approach, drawing from various sources, but didn't interpret the effects of the war as much as I would have liked. Military history is not something I've actively sought reading about, so the accounts of the battles were a little tedious, and I'm glad that the book was quite short.

Some interesting tidbits I learnt:

1. The Indian Removal Act – the fact that this exists in human history is mind boggling, but says a lot about America's current relationship with humans who don't suffer from melanin deficiency.

2. Guns in the 19th Century – in this context, the Second Amendment makes sense. There's a nice explanation of how to load 19th century rifles (it takes fucking ages. Too long for the average millennial's attention span.), and how accurate they were (not very). All the rifles used on Mexican and Texan sides had 1-3 RPM – highly ineffective if you want to massacre 50 black people peacefully praying at church.

3. The American Dream was real – the majority of the Texan bios went something like this:

James W. Collingworth (aka Stinky Pete) was born to a poor family in Tennessee and was so poorly educated that he couldn't even write dates in the correct format. He left for New Orleans sometimes in his 20s, where he earned his first fortune as a pirate. After capture and imprisonment for 18 months, he joined the New Orleans Greys, which were deployed to Texas as volunteers to the war. He very quickly rose to the rank of Brigadier Lieutenant Major General Captain due to his skill in killing a lot of Mexicans. After the war, he received 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 acres in land (seriously, how fucking big is Texas????), and $10000 (worth £20m today). He spent the rest of his life active in Texas, and made some lady birth 50 of his progeny. He had height, hair, eyes, and a personality.

4. Everyone was hugely incompetent – the war very easily could have been won by either side if not for the idiots.

5. The Pastry War – hilarious name, but I was disappointed to learn that this had nothing to do with pastry. I was imagining the Mexicans and French hurling croissants at each other, but it was marginally more serious than that.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
meerapatel | Dec 29, 2020 |
Absolutely awful. I made it through 188 pages before giving up. I'd not even stick it in my bathroom. The introduction pretty much sums it up with:

"This is not a history of World War II , but revelations about many of the lesser-known details. Because it is a book of facts, you don't read it from beginning to end, but rather you jump in wherever it srikes your fancy."

This book is badly written and heavily biased towards the US. For instance the chapter entitled 'The Road to War' includes events all the way up to December 1941...clearly a lot of the rest of the world had been at war for a couple of years prior to this. Rather this chapter should be entitled 'The Road to the American Involvement in War'.

If the author had employed a decent editor, then a lot of the facts presented in this book would have been far more interesting and better presented than page long tables of numbers or rambling snippets of information that have no structure.

Unfortunately my fancy was not struck for very long. I was expecting a book on secret weapon manufacture or delving into mind control techniques or clandestine operations. It seems to me that the reason 'no one told you' about the little secrets in this book is that they would have dropped dead from boredom or astonishment at the overinflated opinion the author has of Americans.

Anyway, enough said, I would not recommend this book.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
KatiaMDavis | 3 altre recensioni | Dec 19, 2017 |
A useful set of charts and tables. Having encounter this pair while wargaming I expected accurate information, and a clear presentation. I got it.
½
 
Segnalato
DinadansFriend | Sep 13, 2013 |

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Statistiche

Opere
27
Utenti
1,156
Popolarità
#22,231
Voto
½ 3.4
Recensioni
8
ISBN
56
Lingue
1
Preferito da
1

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