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#1
10-15-2005, 07:40 PM
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I Like To Read Books About War
"I like football and porno and books about war...coz I'm an assh*le" - Leary.
Some of you must be able to give me some suggestions for a couple of good new war reads. Why you like the book would be helpful, I'll google the rest, and I'll seriously go grab two or three that I think are winners. Any era, or war, but I think I like the ones that concentrate on specific battles less. I've read lots of books about US Civil War battles and "smaller" WWII battles, for example, but I don't find them as good as well written books about larger campaigns. Here's a few that I think have stood out that I have read recently, within the last couple of years anyway, and would recommend to anyone interested, most of which you've probably at least heard of. Tks. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943 - Antony Beevor The Fall of Berlin 1945 - Antony Beevor I actually enjoyed the Fall of Berlin more as I think the final Soviet campaigns against Germany get overlooked. Both very well written. The First Hundred Thousand - Ian Hay One of the few older (1917!) accounts of the Great War that I find reads very well. Account of the training and bloodying of the first divisions raised in Britain. Scottish viewpoint. Hitler's Willing Executioners - Daniel Jonah Goldhagen I read lots of holocaust literature. This one, pretty much ANTI-revisionist, gets quite academic but he argues his points well and there is plenty of new stuff here particularly about the Einsatzgruppen killing squads. The Guns of August - Barbara Tuchman Your day by day account of World War One is not enough. The opening battles before trench warfare, described intricately, decide the rest. Bit tougher read though. (Just saw 13 Days for the first time, the JFK references to this book were cool but not necessarily an accurate reflection about what I think this book tries to accomplish.) Great War at Sea: 1914-1918 - Richard Hough Decent. The Ten Thousand Day War - Michael MacLear Some of you who have read this, or seen the series, probably think this is too much of a left-wing approach to covering the Vietnam conflict. I think the ideas presented, especially the pre-US involvement stuff is laid down quite well. definitely good for a start, and I keep coming back to it after reading different Vietnam histories. 
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#2
10-15-2005, 09:11 PM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
Couple of good historical fiction about WWII:
Winds of War War and Rememberance (sequel) both by Herman Wouk
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#3
10-15-2005, 09:35 PM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
I've read both of these but quite like them. I especially enjoy the book within a book by the German general with his dissection of the war, some thought provoking stuff in there.
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#4
10-15-2005, 11:35 PM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
The Road to Berlin - John Erickson
the Russo-German War- Albert Seaton Enemy at the Gates - William Craig (much better than the movie) Any of David Glantz's books
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#5
10-16-2005, 03:52 AM
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Command
[ QUOTE ]
Some of you must be able to give me some suggestions for a couple of good new war reads. Why you like the book would be helpful, I'll google the rest, and I'll seriously go grab two or three that I think are winners. Any era, or war, but I think I like the ones that concentrate on specific battles less. [/ QUOTE ] Look, believe me, it is better, i.e. more interesting, when a book makes general points while drawing them out of speficic battles or wars than when a book is simply a text of general critique. The ancient Chinese warrior wrote a timeless treatise, yes, but the lessons from Thucidides are equally valid even though he was reporting about a war between only two cities. My suggestion? Start with John Keegan immediately. Do not pass Go. The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme The Mask of Command : Alexander the Great, Wellington, U.S. Grant and Hitler Six Armies in Normandy: From D-Day to the Liberation at Paris
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#6
10-16-2005, 06:21 AM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
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#8
10-16-2005, 01:17 PM
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Re: Command
[ QUOTE ]
My suggestion? Start with John Keegan immediately. Do not pass Go. [/ QUOTE ] Sorry, I should have said previously to assume that I've been reading Keegan since I was 12.
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#9
10-16-2005, 01:29 PM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
Rites of Spring : The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
I've got this. Very good. Definitely an original slant. Putting the war into cultural and artistic context puts this kind of work, I think, a stepping stone past more pure historical writers. I don't think I've seen The Great War and Modern Memory but it looks, in a similiar vein, quite good.
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#10
10-16-2005, 02:48 PM
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Re: I Like To Read Books About War
The Killer Angels is great (Pulitzer Prize), but battle-specific (Gettysburg).
Blackhawk Down is even more battle specific, but is one of the best desciptions of modern urban combat you will read. It is also the best desciption I have ever read of how a few minor mistakes or mishaps in the heat of battle can snowball and turn a precise plan into a full-blown disaster.
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