Feldgrau Author: Stephan Hamilton

[Stephan H.]

David,

Thanks for the link, and good luck wishes. I came across the Axis Forum link a while ago during early research, and like many posts on many different forums, they are often a wealth of useful information. I am constantly amazed at the nuanced knowledge many people have on these topics!

When I went to Berlin and the Oder River valley in April 2005, I was able to trace Müncheberg's retreat back to Berlin - that was a trip back in time!

What strikes you when you are standing on the Seelow Heights and looking east toward the ancient Prussian fortress of Küstrin (now a ruin) is how absolutely exposed Zhukov's forces were when they launched their offensive. If you haven't visited the Seelow Heights War Memorial Museum, I strongly suggest you do as it is well worth the trip.

Here is the link: http://www.gedenkstaette-seelower-hoehen.de/

They also have a great selection of books to buy. I highly recommend Widersinn 1945, which covers the combat actions of the 9.Fallschrimjager Division, another key and very interesting unit in the fight for the Seelow Heights and Berlin.

Stephan

[Uncle Joe]

Any update on the publication date?

[Stephan H.]

Publisher says I'll have the first reviewr copy in my hands end of August, with a final publication date of sometime in October. . .apologies for the delay, not sure why it's been pushed off several times.

Thanks for the continued interest. . .trust me when I say I want to see this in print as much as you

Stephan

[Stephan H.]

Update:

For those interested, Bloody Streets has gone to the printer! After 6 years of research and writing, this monster is done. The last 3-4 weeks were spent reviewing, re-editing, but most importantly fitting in over 100 new photos that were obtained from a variety of sources--many never published in the west--of the fighting in and around Berlin. Thanks, goes to Kamen for digging many of these up! Due to the size and complexity of the book, a few last minute edits may not have made it, but these issues were beyond my control.

Also beyond my control was the final book cover, which looks good, but is radically different than what you see on Amazon. Also, my maps had to be printed in B&W but Helion did a great job with them.

So the books will start shipping in about 3-4 weeks at the most.

I'll appreciate feedback (good or bad). As good 'ole Winston Churchill once said:

Writing a book is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement; then it becomes a mistress, and then it becomes a master, and then a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster, and fling him out to the public.

Now it's on to finish up the next book, Germany's Last Battle: Gotthard Heinrici and the Defense of the Oderfront!

Stephan

[Uncle Joe]

How´s the layout? I hope Helion did not repeat the mistakes of either Melnyk´s book (main text on single wide column, really stupid) or de Bruyne´s book (too latge font plus plenty of blank spaces).

[John P. Moore]

Uncle Joe - For someone who has never written a book himself, you certainly are critical of the work of others and seldom have anything positive to say. I have both of the books that you mentioned and I was completely satisfied with them. You should also note that "For Rex and Belgium" was co-authored by Eddy de Bruyne and Marc Rikmenspoel. Before that you didn't like the binding of Doug Nash's latest book and then it was the photo quality in Charles Trang's books. Is there anything out there that you do like? As a researcher, I'm more interested in content than presentation. Of course, when both content and graphics/binding are good, that's even better.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Uncle Joe's a massive fan of Beevor, John.

Actually, the points about Doug's Victory... and Gunther's Last Laurels are worth making. The binding on Victory makes it very hard to read without breaking it (the content, however, is absolutely first-rate). Last Laurels is a beautifully-produced work but for one major flaw; it's an oversize book and the text is set over a single column which makes it extremely hard on the eye to read. As a typographer and page setter in my day job, I never set text over more than columns of 10cms wide to make it easier on the eye. It's a pretty basic element of typesetting! I pray Helion have got it right for Stephan's book, for Stephan's sake.

As for my own magnum opus, P&S took out a lot of my deliberate paragraph breaks (I think to cut down on pagination) which I would have preferred left in for stylistic reasons. Hopefully, people will still persevere with reading it because as John says, at the end day, content must triumph over style.

[Richard Hargreaves]

Uncle Joe's a massive fan of Beevor, John.

Actually, the points about Doug's Victory... and Gunther's Last Laurels are worth making. The binding on Victory makes it very hard to read without breaking it (the content, however, is absolutely first-rate). Last Laurels is a beautifully-produced work but for one major flaw; it's an oversize book and the text is set over a single column which makes it extremely hard on the eye to read. As a typographer and page setter in my day job, I never set text over more than columns of 10cms wide to make it easier on the eye. It's a pretty basic element of typesetting! I pray Helion have got it right for Stephan's book, for Stephan's sake.

As for my own magnum opus, P&S took out a lot of my deliberate paragraph breaks (I think to cut down on pagination) which I would have preferred left in for stylistic reasons. Hopefully, people will still persevere with reading it because as John says, at the end day, content must triumph over style.

[Stephan H.]

UJ - based on what I see in the PDFs it seems that the formatting is very similar to Last Laurel's, though you should add another 100+ pages.

[Uncle Joe]

Uncle Joe - For someone who has never written a book himself, you certainly are critical of the work of others and seldom have anything positive to say. I have both of the books that you mentioned and I was completely satisfied with them. You should also note that "For Rex and Belgium" was co-authored by Eddy de Bruyne and Marc Rikmenspoel. Before that you didn't like the binding of Doug Nash's latest book and then it was the photo quality in Charles Trang's books. Is there anything out there that you do like? As a researcher, I'm more interested in content than presentation. Of course, when both content and graphics/binding are good, that's even better.

John, how many do you need to be listed? Here are some books I like:
-Soldiers of the Leibstandarte/Fischer (excellent content+first class layout)
-Face of Courage/Berger (ditto)
-Hold the Westwall/Haasler (ditto)
-Das Reich Tigers
-all After the Battle books (excellent content plus excellent, no space wasted layout with nearly perfect readability)
-Spitfire-The History
-Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War
-Russian and Soviet BBs
-Waffen-SS Commanders

As for column width, extensive readability studies have demonstrated that the ideal column width for readability is 2-3 inches. When reading large amounts of text daily, readability does matter a great deal.

[Uncle Joe]

UJ - based on what I see in the PDFs it seems that the formatting is very similar to Last Laurel's, though you should add another 100+ pages.

If that is true, then Helion´s designers should be shot without mercy!

[Rohrbach]

Hi Stephan,

Do you have any further updates on the availability of "Bloody Streets"? I've had it on pre-order with Amazon since the summer and they tell me it will ship on 3 December, but I've noticed Amazon isn't accepting pre-orders at this time and Helion doesn't show a publishing date either. Looking forward to reading it.

Thanks

Rohrbach

[Stephan H.]

Do you have any further updates on the availability of "Bloody Streets"?

I've been told by Helion it will start shipping in another week. The printer finished with the book last week. If you check out www.helion.co.uk you will see the new Publisher designed cover. Can't say why Amazon dropped it from pre-order unless they were told that the release was imminent.

Thanks for the interest and I hope you enjoy the book!!

Stephan

[Rohrbach]

Great news! I also like the new cover design.

Thanks for the update.

Rohrbach

[rommel170]

Hi,
I have read this book.WOOW! it is really a masterpiece about battle of berlin.Authors disscussion on defece plan,detals on combat power of AGV and 56 panzer korps ,as well as many aerial photos striking me but it will be perfect if more details on the final fate of 9 army and 12 army after the capture of berlin .
So it is no exaggernation to say it is the ulitmate reference book for this issue over the decade or above and the best military book in 2008!
It is really worth money and dont let you down!
congraulations to A.Stephan HAMILTONS for doing great job! I will looking forward to his next book.
Regards