DWD's Reviews

A slow start but don't let that deter you Although I am a history teacher, I have to admit that I am woefully under-informed on the Korean War - at least when compared to our other wars. Sadly, I am not alone in this fact - there's a reason why the Korean War is called "The Forgotten War". Drury and Clavin start off slowly, in part because there is no context as to why the soldiers are marching around in the subzero weather in northern Korea. However, once they explain the purpose of this particular campaign in the war as a whole and show the reader a few maps I got a lot more comfortable with how they were telling the story and appreciated it a lot more. Marines during the Chosin Campaign in the Korean War The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat is not a fancy history - it is told from the ground level perspective of the the Marines on the hill and is full of tales of bodily fluids, men too young to actually join t

Villi the Clown A fascinating look at the Soviet Union from the 1930s to the late 1970s William Campbell was the stepson of John Ross Campbell, a noted international communist from Scotland. William Campbell decided to move to the Soviet Union in 1932 since he could not find work in London. Villi the Clown is the story of his time in the USSR, from 1932 until his defection in 1977 and it is a fascinating ground-level look at the USSR during the Stalinist years, the Purges, World War II and the Cold War years of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Campbell's first job in the USSR is at an airplane factory. He has no qualification except that he is familiar with how a car is put together, which makes him a relative expert in the mechanical engineering when compared to most of his colleagues at the factory. His musical and acting skills are noticed and soon enough he leaves the factory and joins a number of touring musical acts. This gives the reader a chance to see behind the Iron C