Lately I have been thinking a good deal about the role of Walter J. Christie in pre-WWII tank development.  As I have been attempting to assemble as much information concerning Christie as I can, I discovered that in the mid 1980’s, Christie’s son Edward wrote a short book about his father’s career called “Steel Steeds Christie.”  This book was published by a vanity press and is now quite rare and expensive.  Fortunately, ARMOR magazine featured a review of this book back in the Jan-Feb 1986 issue.  The review, by retired Col, Leo D. Johns, is quite negative, prompting a number of replies from both Edward Christie defending his book, and other readers posting even harsher reviews than the original one by Col, Johns.  I have reprinted the original review below as well as the various letters to the editor concerning the book.  I have provided these letters in part as a warning to anyone thinking about shelling out the dough to purchase a copy of this rare book, but primarily because I think these letters are really quite entertaining.

[Read more…]