THE WARBIRD'S BOOKSHELF
A great wartime flick
Defiance (DVD)
I hugely enjoyed this film about some tough Jews (and hundreds not so tough) who banded together in the forest of Belorussia and survived the Holocaust on their own terms. It ought to be shown in every civics class worldwide, but it won't be, because its message isn't palatable to the Good People who program those classes: sometimes, if good is to prevail, it's necessary to pick up a gun and blow the brains out of your oppressor, who may even be your neighbor or the local policeman. An unsparing look at the cruelty of peasant communities, of the virtues of being a tough farm boy instead of a chess-playing schoolmaster, and (to a much lesser extent) of the pitiless way in which the Germans waged war from 1939 to 1945 ... and the pitiless way we brought them down.
The paradoxical logic of strategy
Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace (Edward Luttwak)
A brilliant book, not exactly easy to read, and (judging by the reviews on Amazon.com) somewhat easy to misunderstand. Among other things, he channels John Boyd: 'With Rommel leading them in person, the Germans could act must faster than the British could, much as a better fighter pilot with a better machine can turn inside the circle of a more sluggish opponent in a classic dogfight, to fire at his tail with impunity and then turn to fire again, while his opponent is still trying to react to the first turn.' Here are my notes.
E-books for your computer or digital device
I'm gradually making my books and short pieces available in digital form, most especially for Amazon's elegant new Kindle reader. (You can also read Kindle e-books on Apple's iPhone or--my favorite--the Apple iPod Touch.) At left: A Rebel in the County Cork, 1915-1923, my final 'long essay' (aka research paper) for War in the Modern World at King's College, London. Here's a website bringing together all these e-books, from full-length novels to short pieces. The cost of course is much less than for a paper edition, typically $5 for a book-length text, $2 for an article or monograph. Blue skies! -- Dan Ford
More great Warbird books
Dan Ford's books:
- Autographed books from the author
- Digital editions for reading on-screen
- Flying Tigers: Claire Chennault & His American Volunteers
- Michael's War (a story of the Irish Republican Army)
- The Lady and the Tigers (with Olga Greenlaw)
- The Only War We've Got: Early Days in South Vietnam
- Remains (a story of the Flying Tigers)
- Incident at Muc Wa (a story of the Vietnam War)
- Half price: Glen Edwards: Diary of a Bomber Pilot
