No comment other than I'm so jealous! I'm looking forward to getting this one for my library, and Steve said it's not a book geared directly towards modelers. I'm interested in some pervasive myths being brought up and perhaps put to rest - and some insights about how the vehicles performed and were used to be brought out into the light.

I had pre-ordered Armored Thunderbolt: The US Army Sherman in World War II from Amazon.com which arrived last week. After flipping through it a bit I must say it's a very nice work. I'll have a book review posted soon.

Steve Zaloga's self-assessment is too harsh--modelers will find there are plenty of excellent photos of Shermans on almost every page, and like Zaloga's other works, the captions usually note the exact vehicle type, unit, time period and location. It's not as ample a selection as the dedicated Concord photo books, but the background information and operational histories are far more detailed. It even has a few pics of the USMC M4A2 large hatch versions seen in the Pacific in 1944 (like the recent PTO M4A2 Dragon release)--most photo histories aimed at the modeler jump straight from Tarawa to Iwo Jima and Okinawa). My only complaint with the graphics is that the chapter heading pages each include a full page photo, but it has been grayed-out with Photoshop as an artistic affectation. Aargh! Note to all publishers: NEVER waste a photo page!

I have almost finished reading this since getting mine yesterday and could not recommend it more. It is thorough and examines the Sherman from all angles, from it predescessors to the need, the situation at the time, the Doctrine that influenced it, the politics, the development, employement, lessons learnt, battles faught, successors etc. it is simply brilliant and at the price Amazon are asking for it the bargain of the century. I have no doubt this will rank alongside the must haves like Hunnicutts. No Shermaholic should be without a copy Cheers Al