The Great Book of Tanks: The World's Most Important Tanks from World War I to the Present Day

"The Great Book of Tanks" is a wonderful old-fashioned giant illustrated reference on the world's great battle tanks, ready to be enjoyed in the spirit of an older generation of library tomes on battleships and armored vehicles and such that I used to pour over as a kid. In fact, this book even has the same smell that I remember fondly from those books! True, this is not some kind of CIA dossier with all the classified information, nor does it raise much of an argument on the sorts of 'what would happen if a Challenger II faced an Abrams mono-e-mono' debates that chatroom military enthusiasts like to shout over. It gives greater pictorial space and representation to American and British tanks, at least from the Cold War on, which is understandable, but also gives fair coverage for such modern entries as the Leclerc, Ariete, and the much-lamented Brazilian Engesa Osorio design (a relative lightweight, and never deployed, but mentioned approvingly here for its efficient design and good performance in trials). Of course the classic WWII designs are well-represented, along with the long line of Soviet entries-- though I do lament that the T-80, now the mainstay of Russia's most modern divisions as well as of Ukraine and Pakistan, is passed over; but since we have the T-72 and T-90 here, this is forgiveable. People who want all the specifications can turn to volumes from Jane's, but for great illustrations with some good info and generalized commentary this is a very enjoyable book.

The photos of tanks in action are superb. However the brief technical description of the tanks leaves you with more questions than answers as you read the book. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for historical photos of tanks. Look somewhere else if you want a detailed reference on tanks.

Sub-Title: The World's Most Important Tanks from World War I to the Present Day As the title says, this is a big book, 500+ pages that are nine and a half by twelve and a half inches. Lots of color pictures, lots of pictures showing the tanks in action. The author, a former British Army officer clearly knows his tank history. He pulls out some very obscure details about the various models, the troubles that model gave when it was new and far more. In the book the tanks are listed in the order in which they entered service. The last tank mentioned is the British Challenger that began service in 1991. This implies that no new tanks have been designed in fourteen years. To be sure, there have been upgrades, and he discusses these in some depth, but no new ones. I didn't count them, but I'd guess that the book covers about a hundred different tanks. Of course it begins with the World War I developments and it spends a lot of time on the World War II designs. It's one of the more complete books I've seen.