This is simply a great book! Exceptionally well-written and well-researched. A pleasure to read. Provides a history of human civilization around the mediterranean from the early stone-age settlers of Malta to the late 20th and early 21st century. Abulafia definitely knows the subject as well as how to convey it! Highly recommended!!!
This is an interesting book about a subject that's not mentioned often. The interviews collected and translated by Hoyt make it very vivid and original, proving the viewpoint of the japanese civilians on the receiving end of the firebombing. Still, it is poorly written, the parts containing the testimonies of the firebombing survivors are somewhat dull despite the shocking tales. Hoyt seems openly aggressive against the US, and although his arguments are absolutely right most of the time, his style is too provocative and openly aggressive for a historical account.
I bought this book expecting an exciting and clever alternative history novel featuring time-travel, something like the movie "The final countdown". However, I was disappointed to discover that it was a poorly-written book with an amazingly weak plot. Character development is kept to a minimum and the narration of battles is poor and boring. Maybe the greatest weakness of all is that no explanation is that no explanation is provided at all as to why or how the two central characters travelled back in time.
