28.04.2011, 06:33
Hi Gentlemen,
we opened this forum because we felt it might be very interesting to review and discuss various books - about whatever you're reading or wish to read!
I may start: at the moment I'm reading "The Civil War: A Narrative" by Shelby Foote.
You might remember the documentary "The Civil War" by Ken Burns from 1990?
Shelby Foote was the man with a pipe between his lips and talking about the Civil War, like he was there and knows all these people involved in it, personally.
It it not so easy for an foreigner and with limited knowledge of the English language to read and understand - I have to concentrate a lot and have to use my dictionary once in a while.
I bought these books because Shelby Foote said at the beginning in the documentary that this Civil War is central to our (Americans) life, so he believed.
And because I like to understand America, the American way of life, their point of view a bit, I'm starting at this point. I can't afford to travel through the US..
After reading the first 50 pages of book 1 I learned more about the time before 1861 and about the life of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln than I ever knew.
I'm eager to learn and discover more about this time - in a way concerning all of us.
------
To rest my mind I'm reading as well a new German book called Soldaten.
This book is about German POW in England and the US in WW2. When they thought they were alone and could talk, the military intelligence service would monitor and record their conversations, at the end a couple of thousands of documents.
They talked about things only soldier can understand, because only they know the true harrowing experience of war. Some talked about of the horror and some talked about having fun...
The author, a professor in the university of my town, tries to explain these experiences and characters and whats behind, from every branch and every rank of the military .
I don't know if you can buy it in English or any other language - it's a very interesting book about Humans at war, we might don't understood and never understand.
So, what are you reading at the moment?
Jambo :wink:
we opened this forum because we felt it might be very interesting to review and discuss various books - about whatever you're reading or wish to read!
I may start: at the moment I'm reading "The Civil War: A Narrative" by Shelby Foote.
You might remember the documentary "The Civil War" by Ken Burns from 1990?
Shelby Foote was the man with a pipe between his lips and talking about the Civil War, like he was there and knows all these people involved in it, personally.
It it not so easy for an foreigner and with limited knowledge of the English language to read and understand - I have to concentrate a lot and have to use my dictionary once in a while.
I bought these books because Shelby Foote said at the beginning in the documentary that this Civil War is central to our (Americans) life, so he believed.
And because I like to understand America, the American way of life, their point of view a bit, I'm starting at this point. I can't afford to travel through the US..
After reading the first 50 pages of book 1 I learned more about the time before 1861 and about the life of Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln than I ever knew.
I'm eager to learn and discover more about this time - in a way concerning all of us.
------
To rest my mind I'm reading as well a new German book called Soldaten.
This book is about German POW in England and the US in WW2. When they thought they were alone and could talk, the military intelligence service would monitor and record their conversations, at the end a couple of thousands of documents.
They talked about things only soldier can understand, because only they know the true harrowing experience of war. Some talked about of the horror and some talked about having fun...
The author, a professor in the university of my town, tries to explain these experiences and characters and whats behind, from every branch and every rank of the military .
I don't know if you can buy it in English or any other language - it's a very interesting book about Humans at war, we might don't understood and never understand.
So, what are you reading at the moment?
Jambo :wink: