Eagle Days: Life and Death for the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain

[edwest2]

Originally Posted by Adriano Baumgartner

Carsten, I believe this is a milestone too, but in a broader sense and aspect. When the OLD EAGLES like John Vasco, Chris Goss, Nick Beale, Christer Bergström, J-L Roba, J-Y Lorant, Dilip Sarkar, Erick Monbeeck and others like them, who HAD direct access to the RAF, LW and WW2 aircrew veterans will make their "last landing" (and I do hope they will reach 100+ like some Bomber Command and LW veterans, so we can enjoy reading more from them); who is gonna take the flame and toch? This Miss, even with her PhD and other Academical tittles seems to have not matched the "Old" standard, as far as I have read here...so we are talking about the futur of Aeronautical and Military Aviation Publication (and research)....and for me this is the "face" of the new Generation, although we have seen some FANTASTIC and "outside the curve" writers and researchers, like OLROG, BREKKEN, KJETIL, some French writers....so I see a good futur in the hands of those who will take care of, and inherit the "flame" and tradition of the old eagles (Bowman, Middlebrook, Bolitho, etc.) and those who are still on the "circuit", but not so young....

As a researcher of many subjects outside this field, I had to learn to do proper research by the seat of my pants. I have no college degree. But the basics never change, it only requires that willingness to learn and dedication.

In this field, the basics are always the same. Original witnesses was one, but those individuals have passed. What remains are photos, original documents, and diaries. Perhaps crash sites might yield other clues.

I am wary of books produced by known academic publishers. They tend to be more general when covering a topic or go on tangents that don't interest me. New writers entering the field need a wide range of sources and contact with other, established writers, or to at least read their work as a template of how it's done. I have read a number of master's theses online and they tend to lack a depth of understanding of the subject matter. They don't read very well in general. Research is one skill and learning how to write well is another.

Back to this book, it appears to suffer from an overabundance of breathless praise. This suggests to me that those quoted missed the fact that a substantial portion of this book does not cover the Battle of Britain. Or that they were so enthralled that someone completed a book like this that the actual contents were less important than the final book as a whole. That said, I shudder to think that the reviewers quoted are in any way representative of this field or military history publishing in general.