Coffey, Michael
Description
Product Description
This compendium fleshes out the century's best known military mishaps. In a series of short chapters, Coffey shows how even relat
...
ively small misjudgments have become historical turning points, such as a driver's poor knowledge of Sarajevo's streets in 1914 helped lead to World War I. He reminds us of some of the bigger blunders, including detailing how the Treaty of Versailles laid the groundwork for the Second World War. More recent events receive coverage, too. Here is the Bay of Pigs and Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Also underscored are the unexpected ways things go wrong, either from the design of a weapon, friendly fire, or complacency.
This book is the official companion volume to the reviting HISTORY CHANNEL 26-part documentary series.
"Mistakes are endemic in war, and victory often goes not to leaders who execute brilliantly planned maneuvers but those who simply avoid error." (amazon.com)
From the Publisher
6 1.5-hour cassettes
From AudioFile
Reader Robert Abia does an adequate, if somewhat unpolished, job here, but his set suffers from lack of sizzle. The book accompanies the informative and entertaining series on The History Channel and contains many photos. The sparse but detail-rich text, read with little emotion by Abia, would have benefited from some sound effects, actual sounds or radio broadcasts from the conflicts detailed. Coffey's text concentrates on the World Wars (four of the six tapes) but also includes some lesser-known blunders from the Cold War, Vietnam and even the Gulf War. These stories truly illustrate the military definition of the word "SNAFU." T.F. © AudioFile 2000, Portland, Maine--
Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Read more
Books on Tape, Inc.