A Procession of Powerful Men

A Procession of Powerful Men

by | Oct 6, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku

Philip J. Potter, The Mighty Warrior Kings (Pen & Sword, 2020)
The Mighty Warrior Kings takes readers on a journey from the Dark Ages to the early modern era through the lives of nine powerful leaders each of whom changed their part of Europe in significant ways. It also reveals by omission the importance of an introduction to establish connections and propose a thesis. Potter seems to think this is self-evident with this book. It isn’t.
No introduction then, only a prelude from Julius Caesar’s assassination in 44BCE to the 8th Century CE and the reign of Charlemagne where the chapters begin. The nine chapters in this book each follow a separate warrior king: Charlemagne, Alfred of Wessex, Cnut, William I, Frederick I Barbarossa, Richard I, Frederick II, Louis IX, and Robert I the Bruce. Potter narrates their biographies in a straightforward manner, ending each chapter with a selection of sources relating to that warrior king. He ends with a postscript that continues the general narrative into the 16th Century and the end of the period of the warrior kings. His bibliography gives the complete references for the sources cited at the end of each chapter.
The Mighty Warrior Kings is a collection of solid but unremarkable biographies of undoubtedly great men if measured in terms of their military and political power. The assemblage of these warrior kings holds few surprises, though Richard I and Robert the Bruce are placed in higher company than they probably deserve. From that perspective, The Mighty Warrior Kings is a good read, but the jacket claim that “the warrior kings created a new Europe with a centralized power base” is more than a stretch. It is difficult, therefore, to determine the intended audience for this book, particularly in an era when the ‘great’ men school of history is beyond resuscitation.
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Just a Job?

Just a Job?

by | Oct 1, 2020 | Beating Tsundoku

Dan Brookes, Cameras, Combat and Courage (Pen & Sword, 2020)
How do we know what happened during the Vietnam War? The usual written sources, of course, but Vietnam was also the first televised war and it was heavily photographed by a cloud of cameramen from all walks of life – two of the most iconic photographs of the 20th Century were taken during Vietnam. Cameras, Combat and Courage describes the War as experienced by military photographers whose job it was to record the war, but also to fight when necessary. They took millions of pictures; some of them died in combat while doing so.
Cameras, Combat and Courage is episodic for the most part with different photographers taking a chapter to tell their story. And what tales they share: William Muchler spooked while walking through a deserted VC village; Roy McClellan under fire in a paddy field; Christopher Jensen dodging mortar shells at Firebase Ripcord; Marvin Wolf’s encounter with VC snipers. Those were men that survived. Bill Perkins did not; he gave his life saving his comrades from a grenade and was awarded the Medal of Honor. His story is movingly told by his friend. Five others died when their helicopter was shot down near Pleiku. Brooks ends his book with an essay on what photographs meant to the Vietnam War and a eulogy for the men that took them.
As you might expect, Cameras, Combat and Courage is seeded with dozens of photographs covering all aspects of the Vietnam War. Some of them are incredibly poignant like the GI with the classic thousand-yard stare who will die in combat, others seem mundane, pictures of everyday life, but all tell a little part of the remarkable story that casts a long shadow over American history. The pictures, stories, and the men make this a remarkable book worth reading. 8/10
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