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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 11/10/2026

Arrived in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend! Already sopping up Star Pilots and spending time with my favourite #StarWars character: the survivor himself, Wedge Antilles. @chriskempshall.bsky.social has mastered the in-universe history. There are so many awesome Easter eggs in here!

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Fields of Fire is probably more impactful but I've always found Cinderella Army to be something special as well. Plus I had a Normandy book in Stopping the Panzers.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 10/10/2026

Agreed. This was very hard. Still thinking on some of my picks/exclusions that just missed the cut. #myninebooks

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I used to watch dystopian films about America and think that their iterations on an American future were laughable... Not so much any more.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

They don't really, but I think we'd be open to welcoming NY to our side.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Jon's book basically examines the trainwrecks the Allies had at the start of the year, and how they turned these around to carve a path to victory. I especially appreciated the amount of content on the Royal Canadian Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic sections. Well-deserved recognition!

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Three months and over 1,000 pages later I have finished Jon Parshall's Crux of War. It may be one of the best books on #WW2 I have ever read. Certainly one of the most enjoyable, even considering its length. It is whimsical in the way it engages with the reader, self-depreciating at times.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Moi aussi! I want to have it with me on vacation later this month. I've been re-reading the X-Wing series all year for this.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

The Battle of the quarter-Atlantic.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Waiting for my signed Inkstone copy to cross the Atlantic!

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Reposted by Alex Black

Chris Kempshall @chriskempshall.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Today is the day! ‘Star Wars: Star Pilots’ has officially published by @dkbooks.bsky.social in the UK! Only a few more days to wait across the Atlantic! I am so excited for you all to now get the chance to go on this reflective adventure with Wedge Antilles & a whole bunch of new & familiar faces!

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Oh, you're missing out on the grand finale!

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Reposted by Alex Black

Chris Camfield (AlliedArmour) @alliedarmour.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

I'm no air historian, but I very much enjoyed this book by @alexfitzblack.bsky.social

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

That's super kind, Chris! And on the anniversary of the battle's conclusion no less.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Do you know of any Canadians at Singapore? I know of some RCAF types who got stuck out there.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Looking for ideas for Canadian #WW2 stories set in 1942, not including Dieppe. Any ideas, Canadian military historians and buffs?

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

The one he endorses lost. Or so we thought.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

One of the best descriptors of the PIAT I've ever heard: "Absolute British-guy-in-a-shed energy." - John Keess, RMC of Canada Things heard at the 36th Canadian Military History Colloquium.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Invasion stripes could help, but likely only during a day jump.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

Today is Battle of the Atlantic Sunday in Canada. We remember the sailors, aircrew, and merchant mariners who kept the lifeline to victory in Europe open. Please consider supporting my fundraiser to keep this story alive through the Alberni: the-juno-beach-challenge.raiselysite.com/a-fitzgerald...

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Canadian teams would always kick British butt in baseball during the war.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

Visited friends in St. Catharines, Ontario today and stopped to explore the local cenotaph. The tulips symbolizing Canada's role in the Liberation of the Netherlands aren't quite in bloom yet, though a few bulbs have shown their colour. #LestWeForget

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

I'll just be there the days of the conference. It's my birthday on Saturday, so I'll be out of there right when it wraps. Friday is best.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Oof! It's not every day you are examining a service file and come across a report that the poor bloke's wife cheated on him back in Canada with an RAF trainee. I wonder if L/Cpl Herman ever found out before he was killed in the D-Day landing on Juno Beach.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

New warplane on display in my office: 430 Squadron RCAF Mustang Mk I (AG 455) as flown by Francis Goring when he was shot down and killed by anti-aircraft fire near Falaise on 12 August 1944. Built by @flypastrush.bsky.social for a recent Juno BeCh Centre exhibition on the RCAF and #WWII.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

I thought Iranian civilians were supposed to be like the French, not the Germans.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

Really excited for this, Chris! Awesome to see a historian like yourself writing these sorts of books, especially during our own 'dark times'.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 04/03/2026

What a brilliant concept for a book! An in-universe collection of starfighter pilot memoirs by the pre-eminent rebel pilot of the Galactic Civil War. Wedge Antilles was always a survivor, both in Legends and Canon. Great to see him used here. I can't say I've had a more anticipated #StarWars book!

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Well, the royal you combined to elect the guy for a second term. At least there's hope at the midterms. His pigs breakfast is bad enough.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

I hear where you are coming from, but there's some scary stuff happening inside the US as well. Not to mention how much your current leadership seems to be enabling other threats to act however they please. The country that did the most to set one world order (c.1945) is now unraveling it.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

I recall Ted Barris has the story of an RCAF pilot flying a Mosquito meteorological aircraft to help put together the weather report in his book.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

Am taking bets on whether the Canadians will even Garner a mention. Still, I missed the stage play so I am looking forward to this.

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Reposted by Alex Black

Andrea Junker @strandjunker.com · 24/01/2026

“Get it all on record now — get the films — get the witnesses — because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, after visiting liberated concentration camps in April 1945

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Back off, Brits. He's ours again.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Pretty darn good they may be, but Trump really wants the resources. He doesn't actually care about security.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Yeah, I figured as much. The billion dollar gift (not sure what the final total was) plus Canada basically covered UK's share of the BCATP. Canada's weight in the war wasn't just on the frontlines.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Finished @alanallport.bsky.social's Advance Britannia this weekend. Quite the achievement (him, not me). I would have liked a bit more about certain Dominion contributions - including to help the Britain financially at the end of the war. But at almost 500 pages of text there's so much there.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

When researching Canadians who fought and died in WW2, I want to learn their backgrounds. To help the audience connect. To humanize the story. As a historian, one thing that troubles me about recent events in the US is how many use the victim's background to villianize rather than empathize.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

When does the IIHF kick the US out of hockey competitions, like they did Russia for Ukraine?

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Richard Hammond's Strangling the Axis is very good on the specific subject of interdicting Axis logistics across the middle sea.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

The Mediterranean Air War by Robert S. Ehlers Jr. was quite good from about a decade ago.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

I have some ideas, but they are more air war in focus, or more air-land-sea + diplomacy. For the latter, there is Douglas Porch's The Path to Victory.

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Alex Black @alexfitzblack.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

I'm already seeing plenty of parallels with Milner's Second Front (a more focused study, of course) regarding US-UK relations. I guess the more likely comparison will be Daniel Todman's duology. I did appreciate his dives into popular culture and social history.

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