May.08.2008
7:58 pm
by Chet

Reviews in progress

A couple in the pipeline:

First, Steven Pressfield has a new historical novel out about special ops in North Africa. The author of Gates of Fire, about Thermopylae, and The Virtues of War, on Alexander, leaps two millenia ahead to take on Rommel, or more accurately, the folks who took on Rommel in 1942 and early 1943. We meet the SAS, the LRDG, and my favorite, Popski’s Private Army.

As with all of Pressfield’s work, the historical characters do what they actually did, while the fictional personages weave them together into another page-turner. I’m about half way through, but first impressions are that Killing Rommel may be his best work. While you’re waiting for your copy, play The Full Monty (no, not that one) at www.killingrommel.com. Turning from special ops to covert ops, I’m also about half way through Pat Lang’s The Butcher’s Cleaver.

Confederate spies in DC — it doesn’t get better than this. Lang is an expert in the Civil War and a guru of intelligence (I crossed a path or two with him when we were both in DIA). The two make an irresistible combination. Stay tuned.

Filed in DNI Reviews |

3 Responses to “Reviews in progress”

  1. mike99on 11 May 2008 at 12:37 am 1

    All of Pressfield’s works are a good read. And he has a great imagination. But for the real lowdown on the SAS in North Africa, you need to read Ken Connor’s “Ghost Force”. It is no longer in print, but is still available from Amazon, Powells, Alibris, or other online booksellers.

    Connor, a 23-year veteran, gives a total history of the SAS up to 1998 when the book was published. But the jewel is the first chapter which covers 1941 through 1945. He tells of David Stirling’s frustrations with 200+ man commando raids which were impossible to conceal. So Stirling proposed and later led the effort to break down those 200 man commando groups into 30 to 40 five man teams which could achieve the element of surprise and then melt into the desert.

  2. Mycophagiston 16 May 2008 at 4:30 pm 2

    I’ve only read one of Pressfields novels, and yes a good read. My problem with Pressfield is that he uses his imagination to reconstruct ancient scenario’s and makes these scenarios’s believeable.

    So the one book I read was “Tides of War,” which is about the Peloponnisian war. His description of battle is very believable, until you read a book by a scholar whose really studied the subject. His description of life in a Greek City is very believable until you read the works of a scholar.

    That’s my problem with historical novels in general, and his in particular.

    Since my expertise is limited, I am leary of reading such an exciting and believable writer - Because I easily confuse reading this with true knowledge.

    Dave

  3. Cheton 16 May 2008 at 4:53 pm 3

    Dear Mycophagist,

    That is, of course, a risk with historical fiction — there have to be invented elements or it wouldn’t be fiction. A good author, like Pressfield or Bernard Cornwell, will tell you what’s real and what’s invented, but if you’re interested in history, you’ve got to do your research.

    I have not read The Tides of War, but I have reviewed both The Afghan Campaign and The Virtues of War and found them to be quite accurate. The Marines, incidentally, also thought highly of The Virtues of War and invited Pressfield to lecture at Quantico.

    Here’s what retired Marine Colonel T. X. Hammes, author of the classic study of 4GW, The Sling and the Stone, wrote about The Afghan Campaign in The Marine Corps Gazette:

    Pressfield has done it again. The Afghan Campaign is yet another gripping historical novel … Although set in ancient times, Pressfield’s narration of the Macedonians’ efforts reveals remarkable parallels to later efforts by the Romans, British, Soviets, and Americans … an intense, fun, and thought-provoking read.

    Fiction is fiction and history is history. Enjoy them both.

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