by Constantine Pleshakov ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 15, 2002
Fascinating stuff. A boon for students of military history and naval warfare.
A stirring reconstruction of one of history’s great—and least-known—naval battles.
On May 14 and 15, 1905, a Japanese fleet destroyed much of Russia’s navy in a pitched battle in the Tsushima Straits, between Japan and Korea. It was the last of many indignities for the Russian fleet, writes Russian historian Pleshakov (The Flight of the Romanovs, 1999), which had traveled halfway around the world to find safe anchorage at Vladivostok but had been dogged by bad luck and misadventure, including an attack on a group of British fishing boats off the coast of Spain; moreover, the Russian ships, though commanded by the renowned Admiral Zinovy Petrovich Rozhestvensky, were badly equipped and antiquated, staffed by ineffective line officers and rebellious sailors, and backed by incomplete and sometimes erroneous intelligence. The Japanese fleet that awaited them in the straits made short work of the Russians, who struggled vainly “to shake off the pursuers like a hunted bear shakes off hounds.” Of 38 Russian ships, only 3 made it to Vladivostok. Imprisoned for a time in Japan, Rozhestvensky and other survivors faced court-martial on their return home; four captains were given death sentences (later reduced to imprisonment), while Rozhestvensky was allowed to resign his commission. Pleshakov does a fine job of explaining the military and political complexities of the conflict and of introducing small-scale but telling details into the big picture of history. He notes, for example, that at least some of Tsar Nicholas II’s animosity toward Japan, which led to the Russo-Japanese War, could be traced back to an incident whereupon the then-prince, visiting the city of Otsu in 1891, was attacked by an insane samurai. Pleshakov also vividly describes the battle itself, which, understandably, does not figure widely in many Russian textbooks.
Fascinating stuff. A boon for students of military history and naval warfare.Pub Date: April 15, 2002
ISBN: 0-465-05791-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2002
Share your opinion of this book
More by Constantine Pleshakov
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by Ozzy Osbourne with Chris Ayres ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 2010
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
IN THE NEWS
by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.