Posted on 01/10/2014 5:48:26 PM PST by dynachrome
War is unquestionably mankind at his worst. Yet, paradoxically, it is in war that men individual men often show the very best of themselves. War is often the result of greed, stupidity, or depravity. But in it, men are often brave, loyal, and selfless.
I am not a soldier. I have no plans to become one. But Ive studied war for a long time. I am not alone in this.
The greats have been writing and reading about war its causes, its effects, its heroes, its victims since the beginning of written text. Some of our most powerful literature is either overtly about war or profoundly influenced by it. Homers epic poems are about war first, ten years of battle against Troy and then ten years of battle against nature and the gods. Thucydides, our first great historian, wrote about the Peloponnesian War the great war between Sparta and Athens. Rome was built by war and literature, and the world has been influenced by that ever since. The American Empire is no different our men came home and wrote about the Civil War, about the Spanish-American War, about WWI, about WWII. A new generation has come home and has written (and is still writing) powerful books about the counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The study of war is the study of life, because war is life in the rawest sense. It is death, fear, power, love, adrenaline, sacrifice, glory, and the will to survive.
(Excerpt) Read more at artofmanliness.com ...
Lost Victories by von Manstein. One of the most brilliant German generals speaks about what it was like obeying a fool and playing with a losing hand.
The Real War, 1914-1918 by B. Liddell Hart. A guy who interviewed all of the WWII generals on an even basis. This is his take on WWI.
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. Astonishing.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer. Take your time with this one. It's worth it.
The Second World War Six volumes by somebody named Churchill. If you have to ask you'll never know.
Anything by John Keegan, Victor Davis Hanson, or Bruce Catton.
It isn't so much war, I think, it's about war as a facet of the overall human condition. Why can we not do this? What is it about war that is so inextricably linked with what we are? Good stuff...
I’m disappointed that Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo didn’t make the list.
At the very least the opening paragraph, where Ted Lawson mentions that he watched as a friend sawed off one of his legs, makes it a worthy contender.
Victor Davis Hanson is controversial? Right away I have to disregard whatever this person has to say.
He also has a book by vicious, anti-American, NY Slimes writer Chris Hedges. Anything by Hedges is guaranteed to slime the U.S. It looks like there are some good books on this list, but I’d beware a lot of them.
The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer
Try not to be on the losing side. (I guess debunked, but even if mostly fiction,a very good depiction of the horrors on the eastern front. You might try Siege, A Novel of the Eastern Front. about the siege of Cholm. pretty depressing to be a common soldier for Hitler. http://www.amazon.com/Siege-Novel-Eastern-Front-1942/dp/1582880468/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389407054&sr=1-1&keywords=siege+a+novel+of+the+eastern+front )
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption - Laura Hillenbrand
Just did a search on it. Yep, will hit the library to see if I can get it.
The Forgotten Solder by Sajer, is really something.
Everyone should read that.
After the first shot all plans go to hell.
Cripes. A swipe of 43 titles. That’ll take 15 min just to scroll past.
Face of Battle by John Keegan is a book that follows a handful of important battles. Each is from the view of an actual specific soldier or low officer fighting it. Fascinating and sobering. Needs to be in the top five here.
J.F.C. Fuller’s classic two volume tome: Decisive Battles of the Western World is important in that it contradicts the modern psuedo-wisdom that the tides of history are such that the battles are unimportant. No, often it is a closely won battle that changes the tides.
I’m surprised, but I’ve read about half of these listed books.
Oldplayer
He also wrote the movie "Operation Dumbo Drop" for Disney.
Anyone else notice that nearly all of his Civil War books are by Union Generals. None by Confederate ones.
+1 for Unbroken! It is like three books in one. Each segment of Louis Zamperini’s life could be a book in itself. Good thing this is non-fiction. Were it a novel, no one would buy into it because the story is too fantastic to believe.
Oldplayer
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