Standard Catalog of U.S. Military Vehicles

Rating:
Summary: OK but could be much better
Review: Similar in scope and thoroughness to most Krause books, The Standard Catalog of US Military Vehicles represents a fairly lengthy but hasty assemblage of US-wheeled, motorcycle, and track-laying vehicles. It is an interesting and unique collection of pictures, data, and a few stories but it falls far short of becoming an indispensable resource. Many listings lack value and rarity information with no satisfactory explanation for these omissions. The book also suffers from a lack of consistent production data and is missing an index and bibliography. The most frustrating omission is that of the military jargon and nicknames that are essential in discussing and describing these vehicles. Weak editing is evidenced by an inaccurate table of contents. The detailed information on military trailers is something most readers will not find valuable or interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference, great photos
Review: This book is advertised to show and describe all major wheeled and tracked tactical vehicles used by US Forces from WWII through Desert Storm; and it succesfully does just that. Most of the photos are period images, with only a few of restored or museum vehicles. Values are given for the bulk of these vehicles, however in some cases there is a notation that too few of a given vehicle exist on the collector circuit to establish a value. Most of these omitted values tend to be for newer, heavy tracked vehicles such as the Bradley and the Abrams, values are shown for all the common Jeeps, trucks and motorcycles, as well as most tracked vehicles. I noticed a few typos, but the books only real shortcoming is the lack of an index. An added bonus is the inclusion of two bonus chapters, one describing the various machine gun mounts used on Jeeps and trucks and the other describing the various paint and marking schemes used by the US Army from WWII to present. It is a profound improvement over the previous edition.

Rating:
Summary: Great reference, great photos
Review: This book is advertised to show and describe all major wheeled and tracked tactical vehicles used by US Forces from WWII through Desert Storm; and it succesfully does just that. Most of the photos are period images, with only a few of restored or museum vehicles. Values are given for the bulk of these vehicles, however in some cases there is a notation that too few of a given vehicle exist on the collector circuit to establish a value. Most of these omitted values tend to be for newer, heavy tracked vehicles such as the Bradley and the Abrams, values are shown for all the common Jeeps, trucks and motorcycles, as well as most tracked vehicles. I noticed a few typos, but the books only real shortcoming is the lack of an index. An added bonus is the inclusion of two bonus chapters, one describing the various machine gun mounts used on Jeeps and trucks and the other describing the various paint and marking schemes used by the US Army from WWII to present. It is a profound improvement over the previous edition.