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Re: 'Castles of Steel' by Robert K. Massie
Posted by:
Michael Lowrey
()
Date: October 30, 2007 03:28AM
Phil,
I haven't read Castles of Steel but I do have Dreadnaught. Massie is a first-class writer, who gives a great sense of the feel of the period, but as a historian he's largely repackaging what's appeared before while not adding a lot of new information or analysis.
And when writing about the WWI U-boat war, that can be a problem, as it's underreseaerched to begin with and a lot of the older works are, to put it bluntly, questionable. A lot of highly, er, "remarkable" with very "colorful" accounts were published in 1920s that just don't make much sense when you look at them closely. My guess is that Massie ran with one of those, probably describing the sinking of a U-boat off Dover. Such material would fit in nicely with Massie overall style and presentation.
Best wishes,
Michael
I haven't read Castles of Steel but I do have Dreadnaught. Massie is a first-class writer, who gives a great sense of the feel of the period, but as a historian he's largely repackaging what's appeared before while not adding a lot of new information or analysis.
And when writing about the WWI U-boat war, that can be a problem, as it's underreseaerched to begin with and a lot of the older works are, to put it bluntly, questionable. A lot of highly, er, "remarkable" with very "colorful" accounts were published in 1920s that just don't make much sense when you look at them closely. My guess is that Massie ran with one of those, probably describing the sinking of a U-boat off Dover. Such material would fit in nicely with Massie overall style and presentation.
Best wishes,
Michael
Subject | Written By | Posted |
---|---|---|
'Castles of Steel' by Robert K. Massie | Phil Johnson | 10/29/2007 10:31PM |
Re: 'Castles of Steel' by Robert K. Massie | Michael Lowrey | 10/30/2007 03:28AM |