Kenneth Macksey (1923–2005)

This book did not start well for me. Tightly bound, I do not like the fussy typeface and the use of the European number seven - 7 with a cross bar. Poor proof reading means there are already too many typographical errors in the first chapters.

Once I got over this disappointment, I then found another - more evidence of poor editing and proof reading. Some of the sentences are far too long, such that the reader has to go back over the same words having lost one's way - sentences that are six or seven lines long are not uncommon, it seems, for this writer!

Anyway, the first chapter, entitled Events Before 1940, was interesting. Trying to ignore long sentences, typeface and typesetting errors, I enjoyed the book and learned a fair amount.… (mere)

Kesselring-commander, leader, administrator; the only senior German officer to start and finish the Second World War holding a high command appointment. There was scarcely a major campaign in which he was not at some time deeply involved: he flew in the forefront of the battle over Poland, Holland, Britain, Russia and the Western Desert and was shot down five times; as a field commander he defended Tunisia, Italy and, ultimately, Germany. But it is as much for his role in the formation and development of the Luftwaffe that Kesselring is remembered-his were many of the ideas, plans and insights about the part played by aircraft in the land battle. They were central to the careful, systematic reorganization and building up of the German military machine in the 1920s and 30s. This first complete biography presents the complex, fascinating personality of a man whose qualities of utter determination, charm and good humor, harnessed to outstanding training and experience, enabled him to cope with both victory and defeat and, finally, when placed on trial for his life, to face his judges with dignity, equanimity and a staunch defense.… (mere)