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Book Review Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
This is a well-written history by Ian W. Toll of the earliest days of the Second World War in the Pacific as Japan begins its expansion across that sea. Toll provides detailed discussion of the men and efforts on both sides of the war, including the interactions with the US allies in that theatre, Britain, Australia, and others. There is good information about the personal lives of the major players on each side and the politics involved in the US Navy ranks and in the Japanese military. A good read that covers the period from just before the Pearl Harbor attack by Japan through the Battle of Midway. The writing is clear and interesting without too much of the dry detail that can put you to sleep.Read More
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Ode to John Baker of Hartford
Ode to John Baker of Hartford By F.G. Baker 6/21/15 He came far across the sea of storms alone, To Massachusetts’ shore and Boston Town, As many before had ‘or the water passed, To find a new home among the Blessed. Our John Baker left England’s western lands, To find freedom from God-like King’s demands, Leaving the lessor fortune of family, Arrived with promised opportunity. From fair Boston, he did travel westward, To the Protestor’s new town of Hartford. To settle with Burgers wise, land carved, From Native forests, dense, verdant and wild. Among the Founders, he pursued their path, Entered First Church and there found a true lass, Daughter of John, wooed Lydia Baysey, And with his approval did her marry.Read More
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Connecticut Society of Genealogy Grand Prize
The Connecticut Society of Genealogy awarded Dr. Fred G. Baker the Grand Prize for Literature in Genealogy for their 2015 Awards Contest. The award was made to Fred at the Annual Meeting on May 16, 2015 in New Britain, Connecticut. The Grand Prize recognizes the research leading to and publication of the book The Descendants of John Baker (ca. 1640-1704) of Hartford, Connecticut, Through Thirteen Generations, Volumes I and II, by Fred G. Baker, which was published in 2013 by Other Voices Press, Golden, Co. The book traces the descendants of John Baker, who lived in Hartford, Connecticut as early as 1665, the earliest known Baker in Fred’s Baker family line.Read More
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Book Review of the Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, by Masha Geesen, (New York, Riverhead Books, Penguin Group, 2012), 314 p.
By F. G. Baker, March 23, 2014 Masha Gessen has written a very interesting summary of the conditions and politics that helped bring Vladimir Putin to his position as President of the Russian Federation. She provides a summary of Putin’s personal, professional and political life, based on the limited information that is available for such a secretive man. There was actually little known about his life and activities before his rise to prominence in 1999 when he was appointed as Prime Minister by the Yeltsin government. Much of the book focuses on what is known about his relationships with some of Russia’s notable politicians and his murky oligarch associates.Read More
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Book Review: The Czech and Slovak Legion in Siberia
Book Review by Fred G. Baker: Dr. Joan McGuire Mohr, The Czech and Slovak Legion in Siberia, 1917-1922, (Jefferson, N. Carolina, McFarland & Co., Inc., 2012), 254 p. During the First World War a number of Czech and Slovak leaders saw an opportunity to create their own independent nation from the controlling Austro-Hungarian Empire. They sought to form a common country from the Bohemian, Moravian and Slovak portions of that empire. They created an international movement for their new country, negotiated with Britain, France, the United States and Russia to provide a fighting force of Czechs and Slovaks to fight with the Allies against the Central Powers of Germany, Austro-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.Read More
