request for indulgence
January 2nd, 2009 From
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>Date: Tue, 11 Nov 1997 23:30:30 -0500 (EST)
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>To: mahan@microworks.net
>From: rickt@cris.com (Eric Bergerud)
>Subject: Re: request for indulgence
>Precendence: bulk
>Sender: mahan-owner@microworks.net
>Reply-To: mahan@microworks.net
>
> >I think this is the kind of thing Mahan is for.
> >
> >By the way, I taped a few weeks ago a C-SPAN show of a lecture by
> >Keegan. he mentioned that his Naval warfare book was not well
> >received, asserting that the Naval Historian writers formed rather
> >a closed club and that if you made a few small errors you were raked
> >over the coals by them.
> >
> >I would assert that if you get details wrong, to what extent can we
> >trust you in the big picture too? At any rate, I would be interested
> >in seeing your comments.
> >
> >Brooks A Rowlett
> >brooksar@indy.net
>
>Frankly I think Keegan has a point. Both naval and aviation history has
>become overly specialized in my humble opinion. Keegan’s _Face of Battle_
>contained a host of assumptions that a military historian could question but
>it was a brilliant book nevertheless. There is a priesthood of military
>minutia in every field and it can have a stifling effect, especially if it
>keeps non-specialists out of things. It also leads people to stress either a
>certain type of technical study (damn, I’d KILL for more good books on basic
>military sub-systems in World War II: bombs, gunsights, self-sealing fuel
>tanks, fire control or damage control on ships etc etc) or first person
>accounts from the “bottom of the fish bowl.” What is getting lost is the
>fabric of operations: the intersection of technology, military doctrine and
>the human psyche. And we should be glad that someone is reaching a large
>audiance in print. I knew the subject a little too well to like the World
>War II sections in _Admiralty_ but sure considered some segments contained
>in the chapters on Trafalgar and Jutland worth the price of admission. I’ve
>done three books and believe me I am convinced that no one is perfect but
>Allah. Mistakes of one kind or another are built into the game. (A good
>editor is worth their weight in gold. In my first Vietnam book I almost had
>Troung Chinh, chief ideological guide of Hanoi’s politburo, commanding the
>ARVN 25th Division. Odd things happen at 3:00 AM). Obviously this is a
>matter of degree. Nobody can support sloppy research. Yet it’s worth it to
>paint with a broad brush sometimes but when you do it’s a lot easier to
>dribble paint on the carpet.
>Eric Bergerud, 531 Kains Ave, Albany CA 94706, 510-525-0930