WWII history book – “Escape from Paris” (Da Capo, 2019) – Stephen Harding interview

Stephen Harding is currently editor of Military History Magazine. He’s been an Army staff historian, a magazine writer and editor and he’s written numerous popular books on World War II. We talk about his latest book “Escape from Paris” which focuses on three B-17 gunners shot down over France and the young French woman and her family who help them evade capture in German-held Paris.

0:44 – Stephen talks about how he got into studying and writing on WWII.

4:47 – Stephen talks about his book “Escape from Paris.”

10:20 – Stephen talks about he mixes the big picture and the personal stories in the book.

11:51 – Stephen talks about the American aerial gunners he focused on in the book.

12:54 – Stephen talks about how this book is similar to his previous books on the real people who fought in WWII.

14:29 – Stephen talks about the French Resistance and how many women were involved with it.

18:34 – Stephen talks some more about how many women in France were engaged in combat action.

20:29 – Stephen talks about what the story of the American gunners involves and how they got shot down.

24:33 – Stephen talks about the Hotel Les Invalides.

25:51 – Stephen talks about where he went to research the book and what he found.

30:10 – Stephen talks about an unusual 11th man on one of the B-17s that was shot down in this story.

32:34 – Stephen talks about how the French reacted to his research for this book.

33:33 – Stephen talks about some of the interesting documents and photographs he came across in his research.

39:07 – Stephen talks about some of the research he did with german documents.

43:56 – Stephen can be found at StephenHardingbooks.com and on facebook under Stephen Harding. He’s also editor of Military History Magazine. Readers can also go to historynet.com.

Links of interest

https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/stephen-harding/escape-from-paris/9780306922145/

http://Stephenhardingbooks.com

https://www.historynet.com/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me at www.warscholar.org, on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: Stephen Harding

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, infantry, WWII, world war 2, WW2, military journalism, castle itter, paris, france, air force, escape, evasion, england, gunners, French Resistance, abwehr, gestapo, Virginia Hall, OSS, SOE, parachute, napoleon’s Tomb, aviator, united nations, united states

WWI history book – “The Polar Bear Expedition” (William Morrow, 2019) – James Carl Nelson interview

James Carl Nelson is a writer who focuses on military history subjects. We spoke about his latest book on the participation of the U.S. in the WWI Allied invasion of Russia; the only time U.S. troops have fought Russian troops on Russian soil.

0:46 – James talks about how he got into studying and writing on WWI.

2:29 – James talk about the focus of the book.

3:13 – James talks about the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and how it affected WWI.

9:40 – James talks about the equipping and supplying of these troops.

15:17 – James talks about the type of warfare these troops used in northern Russia.

17:00 – James talk about the little bit of air warfare that was going on around these troops.

19:50 – James joked about how some of the U.S. troops were taking on Bolshevik tendencies.

20:19 – James talks about medical and supply support.

22:20 – James mentions the Polar Bear Memorial Association.

24:15 – James talks about how Russia still teaches this event to students.

25:10 – James talks about the resources he used for research.

28:22 – James talks about militaria collected about this event and a museum in Frankenmuth, Michigan with some more artifacts.

38:09 – James has a James Carl Nelson facebook page.

Links of Interest

https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062852779/the-polar-bear-expedition/

https://www.facebook.com/JamesCarlNelsonAuthor/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: James Carl Nelson

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: military, history, military history, conflict, war, interview, non-fiction book, bolshevik, russia, britain, france, US, Slovak, WWI, world war one, petersburg, moscow, woodrow wilson, western front, eastern front, 85th division, murmansk, detroit, spanish flu, mutiny, polar bear association, arkangel, frankenmuth, vickers machine gun

NASA history book – “The Space-Age Presidency of John F. Kennedy” (University of New Mexico Press, 2019) – John Bisney interview

John Bisney has worked as a reporter, on news radio, in public relations and is a NASA enthusiast. We talked about the latest book he has co-authored “The Space Age presidency of John F. Kennedy” which is a photographic history of NASA’s work during JFK’s presidency.

1:03 – John talks about how he got into studying and writing on this subject.

7:35 – John talks briefly about NASA illustration art.

7808 – John talks about how they lay out the book.

11:23 – John talks about doing research at the Kennedy library.

13:34 – John talks about his favorite photos in the collection. He touches on Alan Shepherd in the White House Rose Garden.

15:24 – John talks about how he chose the pictures they used.

18:03 – John talks about the companies that worked on the space program.

22:21 – John talks about other important people found in the photos.

23:43 – John talks about interesting people who also show up in the pictures.

36:54 – John talks about video of JFK’s travels.

43:35 – The other co-author of the book has a website Retrospaceimages.com

Links of interest

https://unmpress.com/books/space-age-presidency-john-f-kennedy/9780826358097

https://retrospaceimages.com/

For more “Military History Inside Out” please follow me on Facebook at warscholar, on twitter at Warscholar, on youtube at warscholar1945 and on Instagram @crisalvarezswarscholar

Guests: John Bisney

Host: Cris Alvarez

Tags: science, NASA, gemini, apollo, cape canaveral, jfk, space program, LBJ, congress, john glenn, white house, air force