SO many great books this year...interesting that for the first time since I can remember, almost 50% of the books I read this year were fiction.
Strangely, this was a much tougher choice than my fiction selection. As I continue my awesome relationship with the New York Journal of Books, I have had the chance to review some really outstanding works of history this year, ranging from a history of the Great Plains Indian Wars to the current fighting in Afghanistan.
They really are a great bunch of folks to work with and I look forward to continuing this relationship into 2017.
In addition, I have had the direct opportunity to work with the great team at Rowan Technology, who are currently working on a multi-volume history of war and warfare for my old nemesis, West Point.
Strangely, this was a much tougher choice than my fiction selection. As I continue my awesome relationship with the New York Journal of Books, I have had the chance to review some really outstanding works of history this year, ranging from a history of the Great Plains Indian Wars to the current fighting in Afghanistan.
They really are a great bunch of folks to work with and I look forward to continuing this relationship into 2017.
In addition, I have had the direct opportunity to work with the great team at Rowan Technology, who are currently working on a multi-volume history of war and warfare for my old nemesis, West Point.
Football aside, the whoops on the Hudson have always done an excellent job of teaching military history, and the complete hi-tech overhaul of their curriculum has resulted in my choice for favorite non-fiction book of 2016-- The West Point History of World War II, Vol. 2 (The West Point History of Warfare Series) .
Appearing in both hardcover and advanced e-book forms, this wonderful volume really redefines what an undergraduate text can be, particularly the e-book, which is aimed at the current crop of cadets weaned on the internet and interactive books, with an amazing but well placed amount of animated maps, video clips, and other technology marvels to keep the attention of today's college students.
But these whiz bangs do not come at the expense of solid scholarship and excellent writing from some of the top military historians in the world. I was lucky to be able to review both versions and found each of them equally enthralling, even though I have a penchant for hardcover books that I can browse.
One can only hope that upcoming volumes on World War I, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan maintain the high quality of work.
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