"Battle of the Bulge large picture book" Topic
4 Posts
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historygamer | 31 Dec 2012 1:08 p.m. PST |
I recently came purchased the large picture book on the Battle of the Bulge. I got it at a discount. Some new pictures in it (at least I hadn't seen). The forward by the author said that since there were already so many books on the subject he was offering a picture book with some rare photos (along with some not so rare), as he really couldn't add much to the millions of books already covering the topic. Okay so far. First the upside – there are indeed some rare photos in there, many I hadn't seen before. Since the book is so large, the detail was quite good. Nice addition. Now the downside – as I have leafed through most of the book, and I have found at least 10, possiblly more, photos misidentifying equipment and units. Things such as calling a Sherman tanks an M5 Stuart, or a 105 howitzer a 76mm antitank gun. For a picture book, I find these kinds of mistakes (and they are many), inexcusable. If you are going to write and pubish a book, perhaps it is a good idea you know what you are talking about. I was wondering if others purchased this book and what they thought? |
Cloudy | 31 Dec 2012 3:03 p.m. PST |
It would be useful when you are soliciting opinions on a book to provide the title and author :-) |
Sundance | 31 Dec 2012 8:06 p.m. PST |
MisIDing of photos in books really irks me also, however, it is my understanding that that is not necessarily the author's responsibility – oftentimes the publisher provides the photos and captions from photo libraries. Either way, however, there is no excuse IMO for having such basic information be erroneous. I won't purchase books, though, when I know there are problems like that with it. |
historygamer | 02 Jan 2013 5:05 p.m. PST |
"The Battle of the Bulge: The photographic history of an American Triumph" by John R Bruning. I find it riddled with photographic misIDs, which is especially annoying since this is a picture book. There are some great photos in here, but given the nature of the book, and Preface by the author, they are kind of inexcusable. Heck, if I can ID this stuff as wrong, the author should be able to. The first photo bobo is on page 48, and IDs a side photo of a Mark III and a Mark IV. That is elementary stuff. The next one is page 82m which mis-IDs a line up of M-18 Hellcats as Chaffees. The next one is page 153 which mis-IDs an M4A3 as am M36 Jackson TD. Then on page 154 he mis-IDs an M10 as a Sherman. Then on page 171 a 105mm Howitzer is mis-IDed as a 3 inch anti-tank gun (which he comments was developed from the British 17 lber, which is just plain wrong). He then IDs a Sherman M4A3 as a Sherman M4 on page 173. The kicker as IDing a Tiger II as belonging to the Fuhrer Begleit Brigade, which had no Tigers. Oh, he goes on that Tiger Is were part of the Fuhrer Beleit Brigade – which they were not. This unit have been covered in depth in many books, as have Tiger Is. I'm gonne stop there. Great photos, lousy authorship. For goodness sakes man, ask someone who knows. :-) |
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