Obsessive Reader
1. Starters
Books have been the staple of my intellectual diet since fourth grade. In 1961,
In 1961, the centennial of the start of the Civil War was being observed very vigorously, especially in schools. The effect on my classmates, in particular, was so strong that many of us, during recess, divided into Union and Confederate sides and wore the respective headgear. No swords or weapons, some physical aggression typical of boys in the schoolyard, that is, plenty of running and chasing.
Around this time, my uncle, Trevor N. Dupuy, a professor at West Point, a Colonel in Burma during World War II, published two books: Civil War Land Battles and Civil War Naval Actions. In 1962, I was given both books, which started my interest in History, especially the Civil War.
More, I became my uncle's most fervid reader and in the next four years read his 18 volume History of World War II. they were short, about 120 pages and had an abundance of photos. Then in 1967, he published a 12 volume history of World War I. It wasn't long before I moved on from the Civil War and WWII and made World War I my favorite war. I read as many books as I could find on the Great War, especially from the library, but one stands out: The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horne. One of the bloodiest battles in History, six months long, with little ground gained by the attacking German forces, over a million men killed. It got to the heart of my fascination with the Great War, especially the Western Front. The trench warfare, the battleline moving very little from October 1914 to July 1918. Other fronts of the war also proved engaging if not quite odd or eccentric. The British fought the Germans in Tanganika and during a British attack on that colony, most of the casualties came from bee stings. And the fighting on the continent lasted until June 1919, with the British troops, under General Smuts, pursuing the remnant of German forces, out of communication with the world, into central Africa. There was also the fighting against the Turks on Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. The latter interest was stoked by the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and I may have read about T.E. Lawrence but would not get through The Seven Pillars of Wisdom until the 1980s.
In 1965, I read Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, which had ignited my interest in WW I, which I followed up with her The Zimmermann Telegram, but waited a decade before I bought The Proud Tower. The events leading to the war bad become more interesting than the campaigns, fronts, and battles. And it wouldn't be long before I became critical of the monarchies, whom I believed to be most responsible for starting the war, as well as the strategies of the military leaders: Haig: the Battle of the Somme; Joffre and von Falkenhayn: Verdun; Ludendorf, a successful commander, leading to the victory over Russia.
Then, I turned my attention to the ancient world. For my 8th grade graduation, I received a copy of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (a 600 page condensed version). And that summer, I discovered a copy of Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War.
But books on Wars and Empires actually made up but a small percentage of reading.
Books have been the staple of my intellectual diet since fourth grade. In 1961,
In 1961, the centennial of the start of the Civil War was being observed very vigorously, especially in schools. The effect on my classmates, in particular, was so strong that many of us, during recess, divided into Union and Confederate sides and wore the respective headgear. No swords or weapons, some physical aggression typical of boys in the schoolyard, that is, plenty of running and chasing.
Around this time, my uncle, Trevor N. Dupuy, a professor at West Point, a Colonel in Burma during World War II, published two books: Civil War Land Battles and Civil War Naval Actions. In 1962, I was given both books, which started my interest in History, especially the Civil War.
More, I became my uncle's most fervid reader and in the next four years read his 18 volume History of World War II. they were short, about 120 pages and had an abundance of photos. Then in 1967, he published a 12 volume history of World War I. It wasn't long before I moved on from the Civil War and WWII and made World War I my favorite war. I read as many books as I could find on the Great War, especially from the library, but one stands out: The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916 by Alistair Horne. One of the bloodiest battles in History, six months long, with little ground gained by the attacking German forces, over a million men killed. It got to the heart of my fascination with the Great War, especially the Western Front. The trench warfare, the battleline moving very little from October 1914 to July 1918. Other fronts of the war also proved engaging if not quite odd or eccentric. The British fought the Germans in Tanganika and during a British attack on that colony, most of the casualties came from bee stings. And the fighting on the continent lasted until June 1919, with the British troops, under General Smuts, pursuing the remnant of German forces, out of communication with the world, into central Africa. There was also the fighting against the Turks on Gallipoli, Mesopotamia, and Palestine. The latter interest was stoked by the film Lawrence of Arabia (1962) and I may have read about T.E. Lawrence but would not get through The Seven Pillars of Wisdom until the 1980s.
In 1965, I read Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August, which had ignited my interest in WW I, which I followed up with her The Zimmermann Telegram, but waited a decade before I bought The Proud Tower. The events leading to the war bad become more interesting than the campaigns, fronts, and battles. And it wouldn't be long before I became critical of the monarchies, whom I believed to be most responsible for starting the war, as well as the strategies of the military leaders: Haig: the Battle of the Somme; Joffre and von Falkenhayn: Verdun; Ludendorf, a successful commander, leading to the victory over Russia.
Then, I turned my attention to the ancient world. For my 8th grade graduation, I received a copy of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (a 600 page condensed version). And that summer, I discovered a copy of Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War.
But books on Wars and Empires actually made up but a small percentage of reading.
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