Even allowing for the destruction of the German WW I military archives during the allied bombing of Potsdam, the absence of studies of the German side of that war has been remarkable—a deficiency, however, excellently remedied here by noted military- historian Asprey (Frederick the Great, 1986, etc.). Though his focus is on Hindenburg and Ludendorff, Asprey deals with the strategy and to some extent the tactics employed by the Germans throughout the war. Some of this is well-known; much is not. At the outbreak of war, he says, Hindenburg was an obscure general already in retirement, while Ludendorff was the celebrated quartermaster general to the Second Army. The two were transferred to the Russian Front, and there Hindenburg made his reputation—or had it made for him—in the battle of Tannenburg. As Asprey reports, one of Hindenburg's staff, when later showing visitors the headquarters at Tannenburg, became accustomed to saying that ``the Field Marshal slept here before and after the battle, and between us, also during the battle.'' Hindenburg became a household god and, according to Asprey, scarcely more useful: The actual work was done by Ludendorff. The fame of the ``Duo'' expanded until they were able to dominate German policy-making, but while they had a superb machine at their command, Asprey says, they lacked any clear conception as to how the war was to be won. They accepted, for example, totally unrealistic estimates as to what unrestricted submarine warfare could achieve. And their ultimate contribution to Germany history was to conceal their own mistakes, and to give rise to the legend that Germany's defeat had been caused by a stab in the back—a legend that led directly to the rise of Hitler. Though his prose is sometimes florid, Asprey has made splendid use of newfound materials and given us the best account yet of WW I German strategy. (Thirty-two pages of b&w photographs—not seen.)
Pub Date: Dec. 16, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-08226-2
Page Count: 600
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
IN THE NEWS
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
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