"The Projection Room: Two from the Cubist Mist" by Carol Golembiewski

Master story-teller Carol Golembiewski hooked me from the opening World War One battlefield scene. She weaves a thriller making excellent use of her subject matter expertise in the field of art with technology. She beautifully visualized scenes. This is a rare skill. Her use of technology had this geek intrigued.

Meet struggling artist George Bosque. He has a brush with death while attacking the German soldiers during World War One. During his charge toward the enemy lines, he sees two men collecting the souls of those killed in action. Obsessed by what he saw, Bosque draws them in his sketchbook. In late life, he does two large paintings, one of each of them.

His widow sold both paintings many years later. The purchaser is a Milwaukee museum. The museum has in the testing phase a new technology projecting images and allowing patrons to experience art in 3-D. They see great potential. However, a mutinous employee and his friend experiment on the two paintings with the technology. The results are horrific.

The men recognize that artist George Bosque incarcerated something from the other side of the grave. Dreadful consequences await everybody who cross the threshold into the Projection Room.

In this spellbinding account, two paintings out of sight from humankind for years let loose their powers onto an unwary museum and community absolutely not ready for what lies ahead for them.

I give it five-stars. It would make an amazing movie. I hope Carol’s agent is shopping it with Hollywood.

The Kindle version of "The Projection Room: Two from the Cubist Mist" by Carol Golembiewski was purchased, read and reviewed by Jimmie A. Kepler.

"Black Faces of War: A Legacy of Honor From the American Revolution to Today" by Robert V. Morris

With Black History Month just a couple of weeks away "Black Faces of War: A Legacy of Honor From the American Revolution to Today" commemorates the achievements by African Americans in the United States military from the American Revolution to the present. I loved the perfect blend of paintings, photography and prose to tell this story. The book includes contributions from prominent historian Hal Chase, W. Stephen Morris, and Luther H. Smith, one of the celebrated Tuskegee Airmen.

My own education of "The Black Faces of War" began when I was a college history major I visited Fort Davis, Texas and first learned of the Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Davis from 1867-1885. It showed a gap in my education concerning the role of African-American's in the US military.

Author Robert V. Morris' work includes black military heroes such as Crispus Attucks, the first man to die in the Revolutionary War. We learn the story of Lieutenant James Reese Europe. He brought jazz music to Europe in 1918. Lieutenant Charity Adams, commander of the only all-black Women's Army Corps unit during World War II narrative is told. The book also includes General Colin Powell, who served with merit in Vietnam. He became the first African-American Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. He also retired a four-star general before becoming the first African-American Secretary of State.

This is a must addition to any military historian’s library as well as community library. The history of African-Americans in the US military is a too often neglected history. It is necessary that not only African-Americans, but also all Americans know of the import contributions made throughout history.

The German Wars: A Concise History, 1859-1945 by Michael A. Palmer

This is not another book on the history of the German military. Instead, Michael A. Palmer’s excellent volume takes a wide-ranging approach looking at political, social, economic, and military developments across Europe, and the United States of the period. He outlines the history of the European political and military landscape.  Between 1859 –1945 the German were engaged in the War of German Unification, Franco-Prussian War, World War I and World II. They won two of wars and lost two wars.   

Dr. Palmer’s book is a small volume. Including indexes, it is only 248 pages. There is an amazing amount of information contained in this small space. While not a detailed tome, the author supplies enough information for you to get the general picture of a subject.  For example, he surveys the reasons for World War II, including the role of the Treaty of Versailles and the Kellogg-Brand Pact but does not get bogged down in the finer points.

Dr. Palmer's book has a wonderful blend of scholarship and readability. He communicates the information in an interesting manner. I loved the sidebars he has throughout the book. They cover a variety of subjects relevant to the wars. They expand and explain various points. For example, he does an excellent job of explaining the strategic bombing in World War II. In February 1944, the around the clock bombing of the Eighth sand Fifteen Air Forces quickly ground down the Luftwaffe to their knees. Learning of the role the air war hard in reducing German production output by as much as forty percent amazed me.

Excellent critical thinking is demonstrated in the last chapter title “Conclusions”. The focus of the chapter is conclusions that can be drawn from the wars.  He shows an innate error in the German plans for World War I and World War II. He shows how the leadership anticipated the wars quick conclusion. They failed to plan for a war that lasted more than a few weeks. For instance, German war production for World War II did not reach maximum efficiency until the war was several years along. Why? The Germans thought their prewar supplies would be sufficient for a short war.

The origination of the index at the book’s end is very helpful. First, there is traditional index. Next, battles, military units, organizations, people, places/geography, wars, and weapons organize the index. This makes it easy to locate information.

This is an excellent book  - well done, Dr. Palmer. It is highly readable. It would be an excellent addition to the library of any military historian, public library, university library as well as personal collection of persons with interest in European or Trans-Atlantic History. 

Burden Of Guilt: How Germany Shattered the Last Days of Peace, Summer 1914 by Daniel Allen Butler

Many persons knowledge of history is lacking when it comes to World War One and its origins. Daniel Allen Butler’s book “The Burden of Guilt” fills this void. It also challenges what you previously understood concerning World War One and its origins.

You receive the reasons behind why the war happened. You gain an in-depth understanding of the political state of affairs of the time. You learn of the military circumstances that led to the outbreak of war in Europe. You get a very good understanding of political coalitions, pledges, and guarantees of support during the emergency following Archduke Franz Ferdinand assassination. I particularly found the socio-political alliances intriguing.

Butler argues effectively that Imperial Germany and no-one else possessed the opportunity and the clout to give a go or no go for war in Eastern Europe. He shows that Germany held the key which determined war would engulf Europe. The resulting war nearly ruined known European civilization.

Daniel Allen Butler did an excellent job writing the book. It would be an excellent addition to any military historian’s library. I highly recommend for any university or community library as well. After reading this book, you will no longer lack knowledge when it comes to World War One.

The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War by David Laskin

David Laskin's "The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War" tells the story of the millions of immigrants who came to the United States at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries. He focuses on twelve men beginning with the back stories of their families’ plight in Europe. We learn of the struggles they had with daily survival in Europe. We experience their decisions to immigrate and the gauntlet of risks they encountered just getting out of their country to the USA. We feel the crowding and share the smells they meet on the ships that transport them to America. We learn of the fears they have going through the in-processing at Ellis Island.

From Ellis Island we see the immigrants span out over the US continent. We are there with them as they cling to and rely on assistance from extended and distant family to help them get a foot-hold in America and learn the streets are not paved with gold. We learn how each of the language and ethnic groups holds tightly to their customs and traditions such as church services and newspapers in their native languages. We see and feel the racism they endured.

We go on the adventures that each of the twelve experiences as they move toward their meeting with history and destiny called World War One. We see the hope and the longing to obtain their United States citizenship. We learn how many return to their homeland to fight for their home country. An example is over 90,000 Italians returned to Italy to fight in the Italian army.

We learn that as the induction of draftees began forty-three different languages were represented in the US Army and that 3/4 of the recruits that showed up at Camp Gordon, Georgia spoke no English! We discover the development of the Camp Gordon Plan to deal with the language difficulties.

We see how the soldiers despite these difficulties are shipped to Europe whether or not they were trained. Mr. Laskin does a very good job using the immigrants' testimonies as taken from letters to their families, personal diaries, and interviews to include a veteran of 107 years of age. He paints a vividly in-depth account of the horrors and the heroic carrying out of duty in the war.

David Laskin's "The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War" is more than just a book for military history buffs. It is an excellent work covering the experience of immigration from 1880 to World War One and delivers the immigrants point of view on US History for that period. The genius of the book is in the thought provoking chronicle of the generation of foreign-born immigrants who are the focus of this book. You will look at this period of US and world history with better understanding after reading the book. I strongly recommend the book for those interested in immigrant and social history, general US History and US military history.