Brodie, Howard. Drawing Fire: A Combat Artist at War: Pacific, Europe, Korea, Indochina, Vietnam. [Walter Cronkite, foreword] Portala Pr. 1996
Broze, Jay. Portraits of Combat: The World War II Art of James Dietz. Friedman/Fairfax [dist. by Sterling] 2001 [This book assembles seventy-five color paintings and over two-dozen preliminary sketches by noted artist James Dietz. Historian Jay Broze provides historical commentary for each piece of artwork. The book uses an oversized landscape format on quality glossy paper to present the paintings. Dietz's work covers land, sea, and air combat -- and the scenes behind the war, e.g., the painting "July 20" depicting the Wolf's Lair with Hitler and his staff at a table while von Stauffenberg places his bomb, or the liberation of French villages in "Le Grand Moment," or a pilot's desk in "Letter from China." I particularly favor a number of naval paintings, e.g., "Philippines PT," "High Seas U-Boat" and "Arctic Convey" which all show the power of the sea and/or the hazards of naval duty. He does not glamorize war as his powerful painting "Wrath of the Red Devils" shows. Although I would personally not rate Dietz as skilled as William S. Phillips and Robert Taylor, I did like a number of the paintings in this book. Unfortunately, I often found too many of them too crowded and/or too detailed for my taste, e.g., "Incredible 305th at Schweinfurt," "Last Hurrah," and "Too Late in the Day."]
Freeman, Roger A. The Mighty Eighth in Art. Arms and Armour Pr. (UK)/Sterling (US) 1998 ["This is the newly released trade paper edition of a book that first appeared in hardcover in 1996 (and is sadly out of print). Freeman has brought together in this landscape-formatted work 75 paintings from 34 different artists. Their work, much of it truly stunning, covers U.S. Eighth Air Force operations over Europe in broadly chronological fashion from 1942-1945. Freeman has chosen a variety of artistic approaches that present some sense of the scope of missions flown by the roughly 200 units that composed the Eighth. Veteran painters, e.g., Robert Taylor, Frank Wootton, and Keith Ferris, and relative newcomers show the planes at war, the crews preparing for missions, and torn up aircraft and aviators desperately trying to land safely at a base. This is an artistic tribute to one of America's most formidable fighting forces." -- Fritz Heinzen, St. Petersburg Times.]
Lucas, James. Rommel's Year of Victory: The Wartime Illustrations of the Afrika Korps by Kurt Caesar. Erwin Rommel, foreword; Barrie Pitt, preface] Greenhill Books (UK)/Stackpole (US) 1998 [This book combines over seventy original drawings of the Afrika Korps on campaign by the skilled German combat artist Kurt Caesar with a new text by James Lucas. Caesar's illustrations are first-rate, they convey a feel for combat in a harsh clime. They were originally published in 1943 (Rommel's short foreword to that edition is included). Lucas, a WW II veteran of the Tunisian campaign, wrote a wide-ranging look at the campaign for this new edition. He covers the historical background, strategy, the battleground, Rommel and other German commanders, and the five campaigns from March 1941 up through November 1942, primarily from a German perspective.]
Phiiips, William. The Art of William S. Phillips: The Glory of Flight. Howell Press 1994 [William Phillips is my favorite aviation artist and more than 80 pieces of his work are beautifully reproduced here and supported with text by Edwards Park.]
Smith, Carl. Osprey Illustrated Military Diary 1999. Osprey Military (UK)/Stackpole Books (US)1998 [This book is filled with the best color artwork of Osprey's illustrators. There is a soldier featured on each weekly page, plus a full-page illustration at the beginning of each month. Each day shows a significant military event that happened previously on that day in history. A 1999 and 2000 yearly planner are also included. Some of the artists include: Angus McBride, Richard Hook, Christa Hook, Gerry Embleton, Adam Hook, Mike Chappell, and Graham Turner.]
Troiani, Don. Don Troiani's Soldiers in America 1754-1865. [Earl J. Coates & James L. Kochan, text; Brian Pohanka, foreword] Stackpole Books 1998 ["One of America's top military artists has his work nicely displayed in this large, 9-by12-inch book which examines the soldiers who fought in the colonial wars, the American Revolution, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Civil War. Troiani, known for attention to historical accuracy as well as his painting skills, provides 75 illustrations, including both powerful scenes of battle and detailed watercolors of individual soldiers, all supplemented with thorough descriptive text. Nearly 200 photographs of rare uniforms and accoutrements from TroianiÕs personal collections are presented along with detailed discussions by Coates and Kochan, noted artifact experts. I enjoyed this fine book's blending of history, art, and artifacts, and consider it a treasure for those interested in America's military past." -- Fritz Heinzen, St. Petersburg Times.]
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