The Lords of War: Supreme Command 1861-1945

This page turner just keeps on giving. The joy of it is you can read each chapter separately and come back as it suits you. It made an ideal read for my commute on the train into London. But the important thing to keep in sight is where the appreciation of the subjects comes from. You can't write books like this overnight, they take years of experience and a strong element of bloody mindedness. This is a magnificent book and having read a number of reviews by supposedly worthier people than me I can take heart from getting my impressions bang on correct. I couldn't have read this book when I was fourteen and I suspect Correlli Barnett might not have been able to write it, But here we are, and I have to tell you this is the book of 2012 I would have picked had I done one of those "best of" things before Crimbo. This book will help you place a lot of people and armies in context. It will burst bubbles and I hope it will squash some tired, nasty old myths. You simply have to read it. War History Online One of the country's foremost military historians, at 86, Bill Barnett, as he is better known, remains the great controversialist with a wry sense of humour and, what is more, shows absolutely no sign of pandering to popular sentiment. Whilst recognising Haig's flaws and mistakes, Barnett insists in characteristically forthright fashion that the popular view of the army's senior officer on the Western Front is entirely 'one-sided' and 'unjust'. Eastern Daily Press