Gavin MortimerReseñas

This was actually pretty good - I just put it down because I had other things to read with deadlines, and I never got back to it. Hope to finish it sometime.

Jeep and Land Rover

In October of 1910, only four years before the outbreak of World War I, nobody knew whether planes, dirigibles, or balloons would prevail. Within a period of seventeen days, this question was on prime display, as the dirigible America tried to cross the Atlantic; huge crowds gathered at horse-racing tracks to watch airplanes race around overhead; and ballooning teams from around the world took off from St. Louis in pursuit of the Bennett International Balloon Cup, given to the balloon that traveled the farthest. The dramatic denouement would stun the country and lay the foundation for the air force. In Chasing Icarus, Gavin Mortimer has plumbed original and primary sources to paint a vivid picture of the launching point of flight, and an indelible portrait of the late-Edwardian world about to explode into war.

A great starting point if you're not sure what a googly is, or why jazz-hats are the best kind of cricketers. Neither for those who care not, nor those that think 'tis droll.

A History of Football in 100 Objects – Fun and Informative

Gavin Mortimer In A History of Football in 100 Objects has written a beautiful, funny insightful history of the beautiful game through various objects which helps to bring the history alive. It mainly is a clever and quirky history that rather than another boring book about football’s history but a unique and interesting account of the games history.

While the history starts in a typical way, at the beginning, from the public school roots of the game with the school bench and a cricket bat through to modern day wad of Euros. Mortimer has taken the timeline of the game and has interpreted it for the reader in a way that they can associate and understand the history. While understanding that history they can retell various parts of that history via the humour and objects in this book.

Object 46 the typewriter took me back to the days when I used to race home from Maine Road (now gone) to get home for the arrival of the Pink Final which had the match report plus all the results of the day. Now we have the internet and it is not just the same, now smell of the ink the bright pink newspaper long gone.

Today when we think of the world cup we think of the money spent the security around the trophy and England’s constant failure since 1966. Who would think that the trophy was once carried to the tournament in a suitcase all the way to the first world cup over in Uruguay? We all know about England not going to that tournament because there is nothing Johnny Foreigner can teach us.

This is a fabulous book for any football fan because we all love our facts and stats to quote at others as if we have a Masters degree in the game. This is a well researched, well thought out incisive history of the beautiful game one that can be read and reread at will.

The Blitz - the German attempt to gain a voluntary surrender from Great Britain by bombing her cities during WWII – has long been a symbol of British stubbornness and resilience. Gavin Mortimer’s new (and oversized) book on the subject is riveting in that it brings the time and place to life with descriptive narrative, firsthand accounts and, above all, photographs: one on nearly every page and some of them never before published.

Wartime censors were apparently responsible for keeping some of these photos a secret for the purposes of morale (though why they were kept secret for decades after the war is puzzling). Mortimer points out that the wartime editorial board of the Daily Mirror – the archive from which these photos emanated – was initially responsible for creating the image of the stiff, undefeatable Briton who would never surrender to the Nazi destruction.

However, it is patently obvious from this book that the British stiff upper lip was not merely the creation of an editorial board. Mortimer illuminates this clearly while describing the effects on the populace of the bombing of London:

“Remarkably, far from demoralizing Londoners such horrific incidents unified them, bringing them closer together. By the end of October [1940]... the only social division that existed after a month of continual bombing was between those who had remained in the capital, defiant in the face of the bombing, and those who had fled to the safety of the countryside... All those who carried on as normal, all those who could ‘Take It,’ experienced a camaraderie the like of which London had never before known. The Blitz, literally and metaphorically, was a great leveler. A person’s wealth or accent no longer mattered..”

But how the wartime Brits maintained that legendary spine is quite amazing, especially as the bombing continued with wearying regularity and even more so when the sprees became terrifyingly sporadic. Throughout, Mortimer describes in detail the different types of bombs (i.e. firebombs, then later in the timeline, V-1 buzz bombs and V-2 rockets) and their effects on the structures and people of Britain.

Covering in detail all the major bombing sprees geographically and chronologically, The Blitz: An Illustrated History combines compelling prose, reams of personal testimony, and most importantly photographs, to bring the reader nearly into the experience and will leave them with a deep respect for WWII-era city-dwelling Britons.

The subtitle - 'that forever changed American aviation' - would suggest an academic study of early USA aviation, but this is a well written story of three events brought together. The author has done extensive research in contemporary newspapers and archives to base his almost novel like story about the ill fated Atlantic crossing of Walter Wellman with the dirigible America, the free balloon contest (International Balloon Cup) starting from St. Louis and the heavier-than-air aviation contest in Belmont race park near New York, all in 1910. It is blood curling to read the events of the balloonists who came down in the barren territory of Northern Canada (Quebec) and just made it back in safety. Mortimer has a great eye of detail (especially for the behaviour of newspaper reporters) and sometimes of suspense, reading the book feels almost like being there in person in 1910 !! Illustrations are somewhat sparse, but the bonus is in the text. A book when started that is not easily put down.

A must for anyone who is interested in Civil War or spy history. The reader will not only find thoroughly researched and detailed information on the life and activities of Pryce Lewis but also of all people and places involved. An orderly extensive list of sources makes it easy for anyone to see where Mortimer obtained his information but will also aid in any personal searches.

Companion reading to _South_, Ernest Shackleton’s memoir from his 1914-1916 Antarctic expedition. This book is not only about Shackleton, but about English exploration of Antarctica in general. Initially I thought it was a children’s book, because of the big format it is in, but the text is definitely for adults. Good information, interesting comments, with good maps and pictures.