A Chain of Thunder (Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater #2) by Jeff Shaara takes place in and around Vicksburg, Mississippi during the American Civil War.

Discover the true essence of Teddy Roosevelt in “The Old Lion,” a novel by Jeff Shaara that captures the President’s persona, manners, & vulnerabilities

The first novel in an American Civil War trilogy, focuses on Robert E. Lee, Winfield Scott Hancock, Stonewall Jackson, and Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain

Tomorrow will be the birthday of Pulitzer Prize winning Author Michael Shaara (23 Jun, 1928 – 5 May, 1988). Mr. Shaara’s book, The Killer Angels has been one of my favorites American Civil War novels and his son, Jeff, continues with the tradition. Books by Michael Shaara 1 ) Michael Shaara was born to Italian immigrants who spelled their name Sciarra (pronounced the same). 2 ) Mr. Shaara was born in Jersey City, NJ and graduated from Rutgers, the state university. 3 ) He served in the 82nd Airborne Division during The Korean War. 4 ) Before he started selling stories, Mr. Shaara was an amateur boxer and a police officer. 5 ) in the 1950s Mr. Shaara sold science fiction stories to magazines of the genre. 6 ) Mr. Shaara taught literature in Florida State University. 7 ) Michael Shaara wrote 5 novels (The Broken Place (1968), The Killer Angels (1974), The Noah Conspiracy, (also known as The Herald – 1981), Soldier Boy (1982) and For Love of the Game which was published posthumously in 1991. 8 ) In 1972 Mr. shaara had a horrible car accident in which he was nearly killed and never fully recovered. 9 ) After…

After the Normandy invasion. Told through the eyes of Eisenhower, Patton, private Eddie Benson as well as Germans Gerd von Rundstedt and Albert Speer.

The Allies believe that Italy will be a piece of cake and they could move on the Germany. Italy did surrender but the Nazis kept on fighting.

The story is certainly captivating, but not as focused on the most interesting characters. The narrative does flow, and it’s an easy read

Here are the books I enjoyed the most this year. This list is of books I read, not only published in 2011. First and foremost – this is THE best book I’ve read this year. From some reason it didn’t get much attention in the US. We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen “We, The Drowned” (Web­site) by Carsten Jensen is a spell­bind­ing, award win­ning (Danske Banks Lit­ter­atur­pris) fic­tional book which spans 100 years in the lives of the inhab­i­tants of the small Dan­ish coastal town Marstal. Jensen’s debut novel is already hailed as an instant clas­sic and right­fully so. Non-Fiction: Auschwitz by Dr. Miklós Nyiszli Auschwitz: A Doctor’s Eye­wit­ness Account by Dr. Mik­lós Nyis­zli is a non-fiction mem­oir of a Jew­ish Hun­gar­ian med­ical doc­tor who per­formed “research” on other Jews with the evil Dr. Josef Men­gele aka “Angel of Death”. This is not an easy book to read, but an impor­tant one. Elizabeth and Hazel by David Margolick Eliz­a­beth and Hazel: Two Women of Lit­tle Rock by David Mar­golick is a non fic­tion book about two ladies who were made famous by the press. The book looks his­tory square in the eye and doesn’t flinch. Gated Grief by Leila Levinson “Gated Grief: The Daugh­ter of a GI Con­cen­tra­tion Camp Lib­er­a­tor Dis­cov­ers a Legacy of Trauma” by Leila Levin­son who started the…