The World’s Highest War … in Comics ‘Siachen: The Cold War’ depicts a pointless conflict In 1984, India and Pakistan went to war over the Siachen Glacier. A 2003 ceasefire halted most of the fighting, but troops from both sides are still facing off and losing more soldiers every year to the climate, altitude and…
Category: Book Reviews
Military History: “Stalingrad on the Yangtze”, The Battle of Shanghai 1937
Today Shanghai is a hub of international trade and culture and one of the world’s great cities. But in 1937, it was a battlefield. Imperial Japanese troops fought the Chinese Nationalist army in the seaside metropolis in one of history’s most terrible battles. Westerners watched from their neighborhoods as two ancient rivals fought a new…
WW2 Book Review Combo
Today I will be reviewing two books that deal with “Behind-the-Lines” Operations during World War Two. I have been doing quite a bit of research lately on the OSS and SOE Operations throughout the War, and both of these book are rich with material. It is amazing to me that even after 60+ years after…
World War Two Non-Fiction Book Review: The Winter Fortress by Neil Bascomb
As both a student of World War Two and of the SOE and OSS, this book marks one of the high points of the SOE’s plan to “Set Europe Ablaze”. There was no other operation as important as this one in stopping Hiters War Machine from getting The Atomic Bomb in the early years of…
Cold War Non-Fiction Book Review: Special Tasks – The Memoirs of an Unwanted Witness – A Soviet Spymaster
Published in 1994 by Little Brown and Co.; 509 pp My Administration for Special Tasks,” Sudoplatov begins, “was responsible for sabotage, kidnapping and assassination of our enemies beyond the country’s borders.” The administration to which he refers was one of the key divisions in Stalin’s security police, an agency he headed from the summer of…
Espionage Non-Fiction Book Review: The Rice Paddy Navy
Osprey Publishing; November 2012; 316 pp. Before Navy SEALs stormed mansions in Pakistan, the notion of sailors waging war on land sounded ludicrous to many. So when Gen. George C. Marshall learned that Navy captain Milton Miles intended to train an army of Chinese guerillas to disrupt Japanese army operations in China and create a…
Historical Fiction Book of the Month Suggestion: Halestorm by Becky Akers
Author Becky Akers has long lived in the eighteenth century—or at least she wishes she had. Now readers can join the excitement via her debut novel, Halestorm. They’ll meet such icons as General George Washington, who must learn the British Army’s plans for quashing the rebellion or perish with his troops; Sir William Howe, the…
The Literary Corner: Bernard Cornwell’s Professional Fictions
As a writer, I am also a prolific reader. My two favorite genres for fiction are without a doubt spy thrillers and historical fiction. I was introduced to Bernard Cornwell a few years ago by my good friend, Mr. A. We both share a keen interest in Viking history and lore and he suggested I…
Espionage Files: The CIA’s Phoenix Program in Vietnam and the “War on Terror”
The Phoenix Program in Vietnam in many ways provides a blue print for our own times. Assassinations and torture are the essence of the war on terror. As are death squads and false flag terror attacks. As are mass surveillance of the populace. Thanks to the work of Douglas Valentine in his classic book “The Phoenix…
Terminal Lance Creator sais He’s Just Getting Started with White Donkey
For all Veterans out there who served in Iraq, in particular, the Marines, you need to buy this book and read it a couple times. Fantastic is the only word that comes to mind. -SF Terminal Lance creator Max Uriarte talks about his long-awaited graphic novel “White Donkey” with Task & Purpose. “White Donkey,” a…