The Challenges of Writing a Military History Book

War correspondente's whole skill is to try and bring a bit of color. It always staggered me how some of these reporters that make it to the front lines, and in new guinea, for instance, no one bothered bringing a typewriter cause the topof it was raining so heavily Typewriters just didn't work. The quality of some of these despatches really is astonishing. As an historian who tries to write from the safety of my bookline, we all know how difficult it is to write anything. But for these characters to actually produce what is sometimes very vivid accounts of battles minutes or hours after they've taken place has been incredible.