Book Reports

This is an esoteric book about a WWI victory against German forces by a consolidated Canadian force ensconced within the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and how that victory has been massaged over the last one hundred years to serve as a symbol for Canadian national unity.

"We have left everything, but I don't care for that. We ave got through with our lives. Don't let this letter dishearten anybody. Remember, never take no cutoffs and hurry along as fast as you can."

Virginia Reed (Letter to cousin from Donner Party survivor).

By the way, I remain an inveterate supporter of buying real books from independent bookstores. I prefer reading real books... as opposed to reading e-books.

I had a hard time restraining my schadenfreude (but, I did!) in reading the book's riveting accounts of the shock, tears and disappointment of Hillary's supporters on learning that she would lose the election.

The account of Carmack and Skookum Jim coming upon the gold is thrilling to read.

The book has more of a human face than most of the WWI accounts I have read, to date, by focusing on the experience of individuals. The book covers a diverse array of subjects, yet brings the far flung events together putting the war in understandable context.

Keegan's "The First World War" ties it all together.

I knew a fair amount about the Pacific War when it involved the United States. But, the Brit's fiasco in Singapore had eluded me... until this trip.

Behind the scenes was developing a long and passionate love affair between Jawaharlal Nehru and Edwina Mountbatten.

The two young men, Churchill and Gandhi, together on the South African veld during the Boer War, would go on to become two of the most recognizable icons of the twentieth century. Their forty-year rivalry would seal the fate of India and the British Empire.