Tank by Patrick Wright

This is a history book with the tank as its subject. But don't come looking for models or calibres; it is about the iconography of the tank.

The book is divided into five parts, chronolgically ordered. WWI, inter-war, WWII, Israel, and future. The WWI and inter-war parts revolves around the writings of JFC Fuller, visionary and one-time mystic, and Staff Officer to the Heavy Section of the Machine-Gun Corps, the first tank unit in history. In the WWII part it revolves around the writing of Curzio Malaparte, an Italian war correspondent who visited the Russian Front. The Israel part focuses on General Isael Tal, who turned the Israeli tanks into its modern form.

Images expored:
• First impressions of the tank on the Western Front.
• The lonely protestor stopping the column of advancing tanks on Tiananmen Sqaure.
• Polish Cavalry charging German Panzer.
Pink memorial tanks in Eastern Europe.

The Crimean War: The truth behind the myth by Clive Ponting

This is the 150th anniversary of the Crimean War - in many senses a prototype for the World Wars. This book is a simple narrative history, beautifully summarizing the causes and conduct of the war. Famous battles and names get put in context:

• The death rate at Florence Nightingale's hospital was higher than at other field hospitals.
• The charge of the Light Brigade made an inconclusive battle famous.

This is a British-viewpoint narrative, and the British conduct of the war is roundly criticized. The French performed much better, but the Ottomans are hardly mentioned.

Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett

Another of the Diskworld stories, but this time there is a new monster. It has no face. It has no mind. It wants yours. But if you are a young and talented witch, protected by nasty little blue men, monsters are only a temporary problem.

Colossus: The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. by Niall Ferguson

I was first attracted to Ferguson when I read his book "The Pity of War", a politico-economical analysis of WW1, which contained many fresh ideas. He's not stopped writing, and this is his latest work. Ferguson is a believer in Liberal Empire. He shows that the economies of the British colonies were better than the independent states that followed them. As a non- or anti-imperialist, I have to say that his reasoning on this is absolutely correct; most colonies did not gain economically from independence. But then pro-independence politics was never about the economy, but about inequality, exploitation and dignity. It is very interesting to note that the more succesful colonies (Australia, New Zealand, Canada) were places where the indigenous populations were ignored or wiped out. This, in the final reconing, is the argument against imperialism: it is optional. The British Empire came to an end because the English were no longer interested.