Peer feedback on Book review

  Give Feedback on these students book reviews- Student 1 Darren: Hitler’s Panzers: The Lightnin" rel="nofollow">ing Attacks That Revolutionized Warfare (Penguin" rel="nofollow">in Group, 2009), authored by award win" rel="nofollow">innin" rel="nofollow">ing, established professor of history, Dennis Showalter is the book I chose to review. In terms of a thesis defin" rel="nofollow">inition there really is not a direct argument for this book- After contactin" rel="nofollow">ing Dr. Showalter, the poin" rel="nofollow">ints that he wanted to achieve in" rel="nofollow">in this book were, explain" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing the political and military matrix of the panzer creation, the changin" rel="nofollow">ing role of the armored force from offensive to defensive with it becomin" rel="nofollow">ing the ‘backbone’ of the army and why it was so vital in" rel="nofollow">in technical and operational terms as balancin" rel="nofollow">ing speed, gun power, protection and reliability. There are very few references cited as, unlike many historical books, Showalter opted not to in" rel="nofollow">include a ‘reference’ section to list his sources- As he states there are “the massive body of prin" rel="nofollow">inted and archival sources available on each of these subjects" and that that would cover almost every sentence- The references he does credit are the likes of Hein" rel="nofollow">inz Gurderian, Achtung - Panzer (first published in" rel="nofollow">in 1937), Friedrich von Mellenthin" rel="nofollow">in, Panzer Battles (first prin" rel="nofollow">inted in" rel="nofollow">in english 1956), Fridolin" rel="nofollow">in von Senger und Etterlin" rel="nofollow">in, Neither Fear Nor Hope (1963) and Hermann Balck, Order in" rel="nofollow">in Chaos: The Memoirs of General of Panzer Troops (1957 origin" rel="nofollow">inally)- Showalter’s timelin" rel="nofollow">ine, from first witnessin" rel="nofollow">ing a tank in" rel="nofollow">in World War I through to the conclusion and fall of Germany, expertly explain" rel="nofollow">ins all the poin" rel="nofollow">int he was to make in" rel="nofollow">in easy-to-follow detail- The acquisition and buildup of the Panzers through either side steppin" rel="nofollow">ing the Treaty of Versailles and eventually openly buildin" rel="nofollow">ing tanks, explain" rel="nofollow">ins, in" rel="nofollow">in great detail, how Germany, a defeated, punished, loser of WI was to have some of the best tanks rated to date- The train" rel="nofollow">inin" rel="nofollow">ing, battle experience (Spanish Civil War), in" rel="nofollow">invasion of Poland and through to the end, bein" rel="nofollow">ing so heavily relied upon especially in" rel="nofollow">in the defense is an aspect that is documented- However, the book delves in" rel="nofollow">into the men that commanded, operated these machin" rel="nofollow">ines and what became of them after WWII as the Cold War came in" rel="nofollow">into bein" rel="nofollow">ing- This is essential in" rel="nofollow">in Showalter’s conclusion- The warjust didn’t end and the tanks all stopped- The German tanks ended much like they began- “Hitler’s Panzers ended their careers at random, whenever they had been washed up by the war’s fin" rel="nofollow">inal tides-"1 Not everyone surrendered at once- Russia forced units to surrender at different poin" rel="nofollow">ints- The Americans accepted many tanks runnin" rel="nofollow">ing for the west to avoid Russia- The detail in" rel="nofollow">in many of the min" rel="nofollow">inute stories are unique and outcomes are varied- These variations throughout the book only enhances it as a book that read and relied upon as a great book of history.     Student 2 Thomas: A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War, How World War II Taught Americans to Get Along Thomas Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tennessee, 2010- ISBN 978-1-57233-695-7- In A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War, How World War II Taught Americans to Get Along the author, Thomas Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino, asserts and attempts to prove “The experience of military service in" rel="nofollow">in World War II caused a dramatic shift from in" rel="nofollow">intolerance to tolerance in" rel="nofollow">in ethnic white and religious relations in" rel="nofollow">in America-"[1] and “After midcentury.-.The differences among white ethnic and religious groups just did not matter as much to Americans as they had before- Military service in" rel="nofollow">in World War II led to this shift"[2] Thomas Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino is an assistant professor of history at the School of Advanced Military Studies, US. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft Leavenworth, Kansas-[3] Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino begin" rel="nofollow">ins A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War by providin" rel="nofollow">ing the reader with a background of white ethnic and religious tensions which existed in" rel="nofollow">in the United States at the turn of the 2oth Century. He outlin" rel="nofollow">ines ethic and religious tensions between “Traditional Americans"[4] and “immigrants and ethnic and religious min" rel="nofollow">inorities"[5], with the “animosity cut[tin" rel="nofollow">ing] both ways"-[6] Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino then contin" rel="nofollow">inues providin" rel="nofollow">ing background in" rel="nofollow">information on the thawin" rel="nofollow">ing of white ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">intolerance durin" rel="nofollow">ing World War I due to US. Army units bein" rel="nofollow">ing ethnically in" rel="nofollow">integrated and how this thaw evaporated after the War. Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino uses the anti-Catholic rhetoric aimed at the 1928 Democratic Presidential Candidate Al Smith as an example of the contin" rel="nofollow">inued white ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">intolerance   and the ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">intolerances in" rel="nofollow">in the workplace and employment opportunities in" rel="nofollow">in the times between World War I and World War II- As Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino moves in" rel="nofollow">into the meat of his thesis he discusses the rationale behin" rel="nofollow">ind the creation of a white ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">integrated U-S- Amy. Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino lays out two underlyin" rel="nofollow">ing factors for this ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">integration- The first bein" rel="nofollow">ing pragmatism[7], the second, and stressed as more import by Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino, was that this in" rel="nofollow">integration “had less to do with efficiency and more to do with idealistic notions of what America was-"[8] No matter the actual reason(s) for the white ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">integration of the US. Army, Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino then lays out the impact of this in" rel="nofollow">integration upon the soldiers- Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino discusses how military health and hygiene issues and policies[9], standardized haircuts and uniforms[10], plus lack of privacy in" rel="nofollow">in communal/open latrin" rel="nofollow">ines and showers[11] all contributed to the ethnically diverse soldiers learnin" rel="nofollow">ing that they are all, essentially, the same- Soldiers from diverse backgrounds learnin" rel="nofollow">ing about each other due to the lonelin" rel="nofollow">iness of bein" rel="nofollow">ing away from home combin" rel="nofollow">ined with the growin" rel="nofollow">ing unit comradery is also cited by Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino as a contributin" rel="nofollow">ing factor to the shift growin" rel="nofollow">ing ethnic tolerance-[12] Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino further provides details concernin" rel="nofollow">ing military benefrts, especially in" rel="nofollow">in service and post service education benefrt and home loans as additional factors in" rel="nofollow">in the thawin" rel="nofollow">ing ow ethnic and religious tensions-[13] Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino concludes A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War with analysis of post-World War II society, politics, and economics in" rel="nofollow">in the United States in" rel="nofollow">in terms of the contin" rel="nofollow">inued thawin" rel="nofollow">ing of white ethnic and religious tensions, to in" rel="nofollow">include the election of a Catholic as President in" rel="nofollow">in 1960, somethin" rel="nofollow">ing that was not possible just 32 years previously. Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino credits this social, political, and economic shift to the World War II veterans- He cites them as “a large demographic bloc...who were listened to"[14] and were now in" rel="nofollow">in “positions of power’[15] economically, politically and socially. Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino ends his book with a brief discussion of the evolvin" rel="nofollow">ing nature of how U-S- society viewed ethnicity, religion, and race in" rel="nofollow">in the 1960’s- Interestin" rel="nofollow">ingly, Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino discusses how religion and ethnicity were viewed not as immaterial as WWII and post WWII society thought but that each race, religion and ethnicity was in" rel="nofollow">in fact different and unique and should be viewed in" rel="nofollow">in terms of each’s contribution to America and American society. A 1960’s trend toward “celebratin" rel="nofollow">ing diversity"[16] as opposed to the acknowledgment that everyone is the same, regardless of ethnic or religious background which developed durin" rel="nofollow">ing and after World War II- Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino’s in" rel="nofollow">in-depth use of US. military journals and histories, public media archives, to in" rel="nofollow">include newsprin" rel="nofollow">int, radio transcripts, and movies along with previous studies of the issues within" rel="nofollow">in the US. and its military durin" rel="nofollow">ing both World War I and World War II provide the reader with a well-documented analysis- Although I found A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War to be very in" rel="nofollow">informative in" rel="nofollow">in terms of the history of white ethnic and religious tensions in" rel="nofollow">in the United States, the US. Military, and the impact of the military’s ethnic in" rel="nofollow">integration upon post-war America I found two major shortcomin" rel="nofollow">ings in" rel="nofollow">in this work- First, although purposeful in" rel="nofollow">in nature, Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino limits his discussions to white ethnic and religious tensions- Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino only very briefly discusses racial segregation, specifically segregation of African-American soldiers and the lack of social progress this segregation caused- The second shortcomin" rel="nofollow">ing I found in" rel="nofollow">in A Nation Forged in" rel="nofollow">in War is Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino’s overly positive review of white ethnic and religious in" rel="nofollow">integration un the US. military durin" rel="nofollow">ing World War II- Bruscin" rel="nofollow">ino portrays the military’s ethnic in" rel="nofollow">integration as havin" rel="nofollow">ing little or no issues or challenges contrary to problems and issues identified by other writers and historians-[17]