Luckily, I purchased this book used after eyeing it for a while.  Having collected medals for 20 years now, I hoped that this would shine some more light on the subject. Well, it didn't.  You would expect a decent return on an investment like this one, however what is between the covers is lackluster to say the least. The book is essentially a photo album of medals from various countries.  It doesn't come anywhere close to being a complete catalog of medals, as you would expect.  Sure, I wouldn't expect each and every medal to be shown, but major holes in even common medals are evident.  The photos come from various sources and many look to be color plates from books published 40+ years ago. Alarmingly, huge gaps between photos and huge blow-up shots graphically demonstrate that the authors were hurting for material to fill the book.  If this was the case, at least some additional historical information or information useful to collectors on the medals could of been included.  Except for hit-or-miss identification of medals, this book is nothing more than a really expensive coffee table variety.  I would look elsewhere for definitive coverage.  Or, if you can get it for $10 like I did, go for it.  It's not worth much more than that.

Military Medals, Decorations, and Orders of the United States and Europe: A Photographic Study to the Beginning of WWII PDF

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