Cant make him out. Works America, 1968: The Fire This Time (Gollancz, 1969) ISBN 0-575-00234-4 Ulster 1969: The Fight for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland (Gollancz, 1970) ISBN 0-575-00482-7 Montrose: The King's Champion (Gollancz, 1977) ISBN 0-575-02226-4 Bomber Command (Michael Joseph, 1979) ISBN 0-7181-1603-8 Battle of Britain by Len Deighton, Max Hastings (Jonathan Cape, 1980) ISBN 0-224-01826-4 Yoni - Hero of Entebbe: Life of Yonathan Netanyahu (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980) ISBN 0-297-77565-0 Das Reich: Resistance and the March of the Second SS Panzer Division Through France, June 1944 (Michael Joseph, 1981) ISBN 0-7181-2074-4 Das Reich: March of the Second SS Panzer Division Through France (Henry Holt & Co, 1982) ISBN 0-03-057059-X The Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings, Simon Jenkins (W W Norton, 1983) ISBN 0-393-01761-3, (Michael Joseph, 1983) ISBN 0-7181-2228-3 Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy (Simon & Schuster, 1984) ISBN 0-671-46029-3 The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes (ed.) (Oxford University Press, 1985) ISBN 0-19-214107-4 Victory in Europe (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1985) ISBN 0-297-78650-4 The Korean War (Michael Joseph, 1987) ISBN 0-7181-2068-X, (Simon & Schuster, 1987) ISBN 0-671-52823-8 Outside Days (Michael Joseph, 1989) ISBN 0-7181-3330-7 Victory in Europe: D-Day to V-E Day (Little Brown & C, 1992) ISBN 0-316-81334-6 Scattered Shots (Macmillan, 1999) ISBN 0-333-77103-6 Going to the Wars (Macmillan, 2000) ISBN 0-333-77104-4 Editor: A Memoir (Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 0-333-90837-6 Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45 (Macmillan, 2004) ISBN 0-333-90836-8 Warriors: Exceptional Tales from the Battlefield (HarperPress [UK], 2005) ISBN 978-0-00-719756-9 Country Fair (HarperCollins, October 2005) ISBN 0007198868. 288pp Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 (HarperPress [UK], October 2007) ISBN 0-00-7219822 (re-titled Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45 for US release)
Me neither, hence haven't read a jot by him. Tbh I've always been put off him by his nickname in Private Eye, which is "Hitler".
I've only read the Falklands book and that was good from what I remember (20 odd years ago). He seemed to do a spell on TV not so long ago and he came across ok on the programmes. I'm sure one was Question Time.
KFZ He got it right yesterday Regards Les General-Dannatt-principle-man-guilty-telling-truth.html#ixzz0Lvr8K3Z5 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1200509/MAX-HASTINGS-General-Dannatt-principle-man-guilty-telling-truth.html#ixzz0Lvr8K3Z5
I worked for Max Hastings for a number of years when he was Editor of the London Evening Standard. We all found him a very pleasant chap and boss, with a mind of knowledge on military history (would be an asset to the forum) The boys and I did miss him when he left the company to be replaced by another D--k Head. Only read Das Reich which truthfully I found a bit boring. Cheers Rob.
I have that problem with a LOT of the "current" crop of high or public profile historians. I've had to give up on anything written by James Lucas after Storming Eagles after only a few pages, and only my own interest in the events carried me through to the end of Beevor's Crete. Maybe I've just read too MUCH history over the years - it's possibly that that has made me overly-critical of STYLE and attitude...
I have only read two of Max hastings , like Drew his Falklands book ( 20 plus years ago) , which I found readable and quite good from memory and more recemtly his "Das Reich" which I was not altogether too fond of he seemed to lose his objectivity on occasions. He is easy to listen to on TV and speaks very well of modern historians / authors I would prefer Martin Middlebrook. Perhaps not totally different from what Andy , Rob and Owen have said. In respect of James Lucas his style of writing just does not appeal , and his Das Reich book was extremely poor - just didn't impress.
I had actually forgotten I had Lucas' Storming Eagles! When I found it on my shelves and went back to it, the quality disappointed me second time around, it was no better than a "good" Charles Whiting. As for Whiting - while I agree with all the normal comments on his lack of depth and detail, his founding a book on a handful of anecdotes etc...I've always found him easy to read - and when I was a LOT younger he could be found in "easy access" locations; supermarket corner stands, remnant shelves etc. Some of my first self-bought military history as a teenager was Charles Whiting, bought in Supermac in Belfast, for those that remember it! Nowadays I find him still useful at times; a bit like a Wiki entry, not for his OWN merit - but he's full of buzzwords on particular topics for onward researching And gratifyingly free of desperate attempts to drum up controversy out of nothing, Like Beevor.
I've read Aramageddon and am currently reading Nemesis by Hastings. I've found these two to be fairly accessible and am enjoying the reading of them. They are good for general overviews only though but again, like Phylo with Whiting, can be useful. Mind you, some of his statements in Nemesis would generate a fair bit of discussion here
I have several of his books and in the main found them to be quite good. In terms of accuracy and objectiveness it must be remembered that the research and writing is his so it will be subjective. Most, if not all authors can be found wanting in some area or other but one of the reasons we read many authors is to get a balanced view. The bottom line is of course that they are doing it to make 'dosh'!
I like him. He's not in the 'academic' bracket, but he tells a damned good tale. Seem to recall he's publicly pulled back a bit from his Das Reich book, admitting that he was perhaps a little dazzled at the time of writing - his weakest WW2 book I feel. Bomber Command seemed an excellent introduction to the subject for an air war knowlessman like myself. Overlord had me pretty much hooked when I was a kid (and I believe was a bit of a new approach to Normandy when first published?). Quite liked the anecdotal stuff in Armageddon, but still mildly confused as to the overall 'point' of the book. Victory in Europe - sure I've read it, but remember nothing about it... picture book? Korean War seemed very solid (I'm no expert), and filled a bit of a gap in coverage of that conflict, I think probably his best book. Warriors - Basically rollocking tales of derring-do; good fun. Falklands - seemed alright as a bit of journalism when I read it, again, I don't remember it well. 'Readability' counts for a lot in the 'Popular History' market, and Hastings actually has decent style while knowing how to pace a story, certainly a damned site more than the turgid Beevor for my taste - Max H may not be the absolute dogs for full in-depth history, but I bet he's set a fair few off on reading more of the genre. His books nearly always cause some sort of outraged splash when released, often out of all proportion to the actual content on reading - something perhaps not unrelated to him being an old newsman that knows a thing or two about publicity .
I always teach my Advanced Higher kids that Hastings is a modern historian with a fairly traditional viewpoint on most WW2 related ideas eg Bomber Command-- necessity of campaign, Battle of Britain---importance of the Few, 'Blitz' mentality --- we're all in it together, fair share of the cake etc. Compared to say Angus Calder whose books have a more revisionist viewpoint. Hastings also produces easy to read narrative history which suits most people's reading habits especially school kids. Len
not a great deal i can add to the overall view ...the few books i have read of his i have enjoyed .he comes over as a decent bloke ..i also enjoy his columns in the press without always agreeing with him ..
I seem to be having a Hastings season and have just started Bomber Command. I read John Terraine's Right of the Line some years ago and hope I remember enough of that to be able to make a comparison.
Bomber Command is a superb work that stands up today, with--in my opinion--an academic standard of research. Read alongside Len Deighton's Bomber and you have a distilled essence of the experience at both ends.
Is my memory playing tricks or is 'Charles Whiting' a nom de plume? Even though he has a decent length bibliography, I've a feeling that he has also published under another name. Edit: Wiki agrees that there are other names, but Charles Whiting is the real one: Charles Henry Whiting (18 December 1926 – 24 July 2007), was a British writer and military historian and with some 350 books of fiction and non-fiction to his credit, under his own name and a variety of pseudonyms including Duncan Harding, Ian Harding, John Kerrigan, Leo Kessler, Klaus Konrad, K.N. Kostov, and Duncan Stirling.
Based on 'Inferno' I vote for Sensationalist Modern Historian. He throws one bombshell after another, all without sources or footnotes, that seem designed to shock the reader into saying "WOW!". Complete waste of 20 bucks
