Reviews for Militarism and Israeli Society

The average rating for Militarism and Israeli Society based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-11-05 00:00:00 Ezzie Dubs Average book. Rich on information, a bit dry. This is an interesting piece on German's secret technology development in WW2, exposing some of the crazy, ambitious and highly successful projects undertaken in the Third Reich during the war. The book sections are as follows: ballistic weapons, aircraft, rockets and guided missiles, artillery, and finally, NBC weapons. Not bad, but the book is very uneven. There's a lot of focus given to V-X weapons, probably because the author is British, so there's obvious bias and depth of knowledge, but then, there's hardly any mention of the jet and rocket powered fighters. We get detailed explanations into the thickness of steel plates, welding, flanges, and nozzles, but not enough on the political scheming, the technical difficulties, and the raw performance data, where it is available. For instance, no mention of V-2's range or terminal speed. No mention of the Me-262 armament or air kills. No mention of the actual combat use of some of the pieces, like the Dora cannon. Yes, it was used in the siege of Sevastopol, but it missed the critical piece where the Soviets kept their ammunition under 7 meters of concrete, and that a huge armor-piercing round was needed to try to pierce this slab. And so forth. The book is probably more interesting to those who like mechanical detail than those interested in the story and the facts. Also, the author is an ex-artillery guy, so he may just not have been comfortable enough talking about other domains, as it's not his expertise. He also sometimes sidelines and argues with other historians, following up a feud that does not belong in the book, nor does it interest or concern the reader. A less combatative approach would work just as well. Now, it's not bad, and there's a lot of good stuff. It's just not as exciting as I expected, and I wish it gave more focus to the listed weaponry, maybe even a simple fact sheet for each, and definitely some of the saucier detail. The fact something is made from stainless steel this that is less fun than how and when it was used, how accurate, fast, lethal, successful, or stupid it was, and of course, the human intrigue. This does get some mention, especially the very rigid structure of the German scientific community, and the political ping-pong as to what gets most spotlight with the Reich's leadership. Again, not enough. Recommended, but I wish it explored this Area 51 topic with more flair, color and COOL facts. Igor

Review # 2 was written on 2010-03-09 00:00:00 Belinda Bustamante In January 1941 staff officers of the U.S., British, and Canadian militaries met in Washington D.C.. Though the United States was still a year from declaring war, planning was already underway in anticipation of that prospect, and the decisions they reached shaped much of the war that followed. Among the most important of these was that Germany was the primary opponent in any war involving the Axis powers. While there were several excellent reasons for this, one of them was that the Germans possessed the greatest capacity for developing weapons which might radically transform the war, and thus needed to be defeated before they did. Ian Hogg's book provides evidence of the wisdom of this decision. In it he provides an overview of the major weapons research bring undertaken by the Third Reich before and during the war. Diving his examination into categories, he summarizes the major projects to design new aircraft and air-launched weapons, air defense weapons, naval weapons, and the Wunderwaffen and nuclear and chemical weapons programs. His focus throughout is on their development, providing technical details and accounts of the decisions whether to undertake or abandon them and avoiding more than a brief mention of their deployment in the cases where the weapons were introduced. As befits a former artilleryman in the Royal Army, his section discussing the "big guns" is the best, but he provides interesting details throughout about the technical and bureaucratic challenges that slowed or stopped the development of weapons that might have changed the course of the war. The result is a work that is an excellent introduction to Germany's secret weapons programs, one best suited for the reader familiar with military technology but an informative read for anyone interested in an overview of the topic.