"The Guns of Navarone" by Alistair MacLean (1922-1987)

 

Publisher: Collins

Copyright: 1957

ISBN: None

This is a novel that I have had in my collection for many years but for some reason haven't read for a long time. I decided to do so however after watching the 1961 movie with Gregory Peck, David Niven, Gia Scala, Anthony Quinn. I was pleased to note that they stayed quite close to the book. They of course made a few changes such as casting two women as the Greek contacts on the island of Navarone, but aside from this Hollywood was quite faithful to the story.

For those who are interested the island of Navarone is fictional, but the overall storyline is based on the history of the war in the Ægean Islands of Greece. 

The story itself revolves around a top secret commando raid, that is essentially a last ditch effort to silence the two guns on the island of Navarone, and thereby allow the Allied forces to rescue some 1200 soldiers stranded on a nearby island. The detail in this story is fantastic and it is obvious that Alastair MacLean knew his subject well and his skill at writing easily takes the reader right into the heart of the story.

An excellent read.

"The End is Always Near: Apocalyptic moments, From the Bronze Age Collapse to Nuclear Near Misses" by Dan Carlin

 

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Copyright Date:©2019

ISBN: 9780062868046 

Dan Carlin for those of you who don't know is the host of the "Hardcore History" Podcast which has been running for close to 15 years if I'm not mistaken. Mr. Carlin is a fantastic storyteller who blends real history, but not always the way you were told into both his podcasts, and now his first book. The podcast and now this book invites the listener and reader to think about what really happened in history, what people were thinking, and where we as supposedly rational humans might be headed.

"The End is Always Near" takes the reader on a journey that examines the Bronze Age collapse, the way children were raised historically, the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the Roman Empire vs. the Barbarians (everyone who wasn't Roman), the various epidemics and pandemics that have scourged the world over time (which as I am writing this we are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic is rather frightening), the nuclear age and the attacks on Japan in 1945, the horrors of the wars in Europe and how they can be compared to what happened in Japan.

This book is absolutely full of fascinating information, but the information may at times be a little shocking, especially to people who have gone through the school system in the last 30 years when the material being taught has been sanitized.

This would make a fantastic text book for a high school or a 1st year University history class.