To the Last Man (Jeff Shaara, 2004)

Shaara has written several Civil War books (as did his father). I believe this was his first World War I book. I've been working my way through a number of WWI books. The war was basically unbelievable, and the aftermath - in terms of map-drawing, political structures, etc. - is with us still. Shaara computes the numbers at 5,000 young men dead per day through the entire war - how did anyone cope with this?

In some ways it felt like Shaara was imitating "All Quiet on the Western Front" (per immediately below). I liked the book and it was well worth the time even if longish (600+ pages). He tells the story through the eyes of a group of characters - ground infantry, Lafayette Escadrille, Manfred von Richtofen, Pershing, Patton, Ludendorff, etc. I think he tried to pick up too many vantage points, and I preferred the way David Robbins uses this technique in his WWII novels. But it was helpful that he focused on just the last year+ of the war. I'm glad I read this. A fine diversion when on the stairmaster.

All Quiet on the Western Front (Erick Maria Remarque, 1928)

I've been reading several WWI items recently and don't quite know what to say about this one. The author was in the German army, so it offers a different perspective than the Allied viewponit. It clearly is an anti-war novel, but that doesn't remove the ring of authenticity in the descriptions of the trench warfare, the bleakness of German civilian life as the blockade pinched supplies, etc. Though the characters look out for one another, the book otherwise is completely devoid of the usual strains of military romanticism and heroism.

The lead character along with several of his high school pals went right in the army and spent a bunch of time at the front. There are stories of martinet drill sergeants, efforts to treat the wounded, the challenge of going home on leave, the loss over the years of most of his original group. The battle descriptions - closeness of the front lines, trips back and forth across the no man's land, ability to distinguish each type of shell - are pretty much unbelievable. Near the end of the story the lead character dives into a huge shell hole for cover; a French soldier also ends up there and is knifed to death by the lead character, who is struck with the realization of killing someone with whom he would have had a great deal in common, and no reason at all to fight.

Depressing. Really good. I've heard this described as one of (if not) the greatest war novels of all time, and I can see why.

Lots more information here, which I recommend. They made this into a movie in 1930 that won Best Picture. Apparently they did a TV version in 1979 starring John-Boy from the Waltons (sounds dicey).

:07 Seconds or Less (Jack McCallum, 2006)

This book was a Christmas gift from Christopher (he being aware of my enjoyment of our local NBA team). The premise was that a SI writer would stick around the team for the entire season - not a particularly original idea, but it is unusual for a professional sports team to allow this sort of thing these days. The author has done a bunch of NBA writing over the years. And I liked it because the subject matter is highly interesting to me (last year's Phoenix Suns team was surprisingly successful playing an unorthodox style through a bunch of injuries).

McCallum finds guys like Eddie House (now exiled to New Jersey) pretty entertaining, and I did too. The author mostly hung around with the coaching staff so it was interesting to have that perspective. The head coach (Mike D'Antoni) is at the Tatum & Shea Starbucks like clockwork; last year he hired his brother (Dan) as an assistant. And Dan likes me, because he gave me a sweet autograph (via CPG intervention).

Part deux of the gift was two tickets to the Mavericks game on April 1. Should be v. good.

Over Here (David Kennedy, 1980)

Kennedy writes in depth about the domestic front in the World War I era. I liked this book a bunch. Some concepts it helped put in perspective:

-- The scale of the undertaking involved in managing WWI - building an army, developing transportation, getting industry in shape to support the war, mobilizing public opinion - was massive compared to anything that had preceded it (especially in the relative calm of the preceding 50 years). It took "big government" methods to get the job done, including an income tax and a draft. Pretty much no going back once we headed down this path.

--The country was packed with immigrants, including folks from Axis powers. Lots of effort made to get their minds right.


--The Civil War was actually pretty fresh in everyone's minds in terms of tactics and heritage. It had "only" ended 52 years prior to entering WW I (by comparison, WWII ended 62 years ago
and doesn't seem all that distant). In the meantime, the Army had pretty much shut down, just chasing Native Americans around and doing jobs in places like the Phillipines. Army structure had to be built.

--The politicians feel no different than what could be happening today. And industry figured plenty ofways to profit.

--So many Americans got out of their locale for the first time. Alvin York as played by Gary Cooper may have been a somewhat extreme case, but it seems there was lots of this.

The Last King of Scotland

Patricia and I went to this movie at Camelview in Scottsdale. We went mostly because the guy playing Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) had received so much favorable attention for his role. He definitely did a very fine job, though much of the time the Amin character was cartoonish.

The story revolved around a fictional Scottish doctor who went to Africa to do good and have some fun, and ended up as Amin's personal physician and overall confidante. The movie placed the action around various events in Uganda during Amin's day, including the Entebbe airport situation.

Name of movie was derived from a supposed affinity of Amin for all things Scottish, stemming from his early military days in the British colonial military. More on Amin here.

Good but not great.