Author Wheatcroft on Book `Enemy at the Gate': Lewis Lapham from Bloomberg - All Podcasts

Check the Bloomberg podcast of the interview with the author, here. Also, The Telegraph recently reviewed the book; the review itself is excellent, and serves as a great primer for those that are studying the topic (say in high school or college, for some project). In the article, Noel Malcom writes:

[...] Andrew Wheatcroft shows, an Ottoman army moving forward on campaign had two major advantages: the Ottomans' logistics were much better than those of the West European armies, and they also derived great benefit from their use of Tatar auxiliaries - large numbers of highly mobile light cavalry, ideally adapted for raiding, foraging and reconnaissance. Once they had arrived at the theatre of war, however, there were two quite different forms of fighting to be undertaken. Siege warfare played to their strengths: efficient logistics on a huge scale, disciplined (and relatively hygienic) camps, and highly skilled miners and engineers. A stronghold well stocked with food, water and ammunition (as Vienna was) could hold out for a long time, but tunnels could reach under even the mightiest bastions, and gunpowder would then bring them down.

See that review, here. See also: Victory at Vienna: The Ottoman siege of 1683 : a historical essay and a selective list of reading materials, The Islamic World in Ascendancy: From the Arab Conquests to the Siege of Vienna, Historic Print (L): [Siege and relief of Vienna in 1683, with portraits of Ernst Rudiger von Starhemberg, Em, The Siege of Vienna: The Last Great Trial Between Cross & Crescent

Kosovo PM Seeks To Sue European Investigator by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Marty, a Swiss senator, led a team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009, following allegations of organ trafficking published in a book by former U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte who said she was given information by Western journalists. Marty's investigation found that there were a number of detention facilities in Albania, where both Kosovan opponents of the KLA and Serbs were allegedly held once the hostilities in Kosovo were over in 1999, including a "state-of-the-art reception center for the organized crime of organ trafficking." EU investigators looking into claims that organ harvesting took place in northern Albania have said they found no proof of the allegations. The EU police force in Kosovo on Wednesday called for those with evidence to come forward.

NPR posted this AP story; read it here. The Telegraph said this about the alleged organ trafficking:

Allegations of the Kosovo Liberation Army's alleged trade in civilian organs stem from a book by U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, based on information she has said she received from Western journalists. In response to the allegations, Swiss senator Dick Marty led a Council of Europe team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009. The council's report is to be released to the public in France on Thursday.

Read that Telegraph report and story here. See also: U.S. Department of State Press Briefing for Dec 15, 2010.

"Washington: A life by Ron Chernow: review: Ron Chernow's fine biography of George Washington reveals a man who was inspirational despite lacking charisma" from The Telegraphy by Brendan Simms

The remarkable thing, as Ron Chernow shows in his Washington: A Life, is that he was all these things, at different times, and sometimes even simultaneously. This, of course, is well known, and purists may wonder whether we really need another Washington biography. Strictly speaking, the answer has to be: not this one. The author brings no new evidence to bear and advances no fundamentally new interpretation. The justification for Chernow’s book lies elsewhere: in the fluency of the argument, the wisdom of the author’s judgments, and – despite its length – the tautness of the narrative, which keeps the reader engrossed from the first to the last page. Some stylistic slips and a tendency towards the homespun aside, the author writes well, and has a remarkable eye for telling anecdotes and quotations. He takes us deftly through the familiar set-pieces of Washington’s career, beginning with his struggle with his overbearing mother and the disastrous expedition against the French and Indians that nearly brought his career to a premature end in the mid-1750s. [...] Wisely, Chernow does not explicitly set out to write a biography 'for our times’. All the same, his account bears an obvious message for American readers: big government, far from being a betrayal of the Founding Fathers, is as American as pecan pie. The final chapters show that Washington was deeply concerned after independence by the weakness of the bonds holding the 13 states together.

Read that review from The Telegraph, here. Additionally, WNYC Radio's Leonard Lopate Show had Chernow over, as a guest. Listen to that show, here.
See also: Alexander Hamilton, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., The Warburgs: The Twentieth-Century Odyssey of a Remarkable Jewish Family

Gift Books for Christmas‎ from Telegraph.co.uk - Philip Womack - 2 Dec 2010

... covering everything from inkblot tests, via glow-in-the dark jelly, ... present for any one of them is The Redstone Inkblot Test (Redstone, £11.95). ...

See the full feature, and the full list of books for Christmas here. See also: The Psychobox: A Box of Psychological Games, Rorschach: The Inkblot Party Game, The Inkblot Record

Seven apologies for an apology Telegraph.co.uk - Max Davidson - ‎Nov 19, 2010‎

When did you last receive a gracious apology? When did you last hear a public figure make a convincing apology? Come to that, when did you last make a gracious apology yourself? The British used to excel at saying sorry. If grovelling were an Olympic sport, we would win gold, silver and bronze. But saying sorry in words that ring true is another matter. The norm these days is a half-baked apology for an apology, couched in weasel words that have been run past a lawyer. Sorry… The Hardest Word and How to Use It by Max Davidson (Constable and Robinson, £9.99) is available for £9.99 plus 99p post & packing from Telegraph ...

Check the Telegraph piece out, here. See also: Sorry, Wrong Answer: Trivia Questions That Even Know-It-Alls Get Wrong, A Bad Day for Sorry: A Crime Novel