43 Books About War Every Man Should Read

Art of Manliness ^ | 12-2-13 | Ryan Holiday.

[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 I’ve 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. Homer’s 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.

[bakeneko]

To understand 20th Century warfare you must study the Battle of Stalingrad, the absolute deathstruggle of the worst of totalitarianism. Read “Life and Fate” by Vassily Grossman. He was a Red Army News reporter during the war and followed the Red Army all the way to Berlin. After the War the KGB attempted to confiscate all copies including typewriter ribbons of this book. This, because he was the first to equate Hitler and Stalin as co-equal Demons.

One of the main characters is a particle physicist; much of the book deals with his theories and how the Party Apparatus attempts to suppress him. It is chilling.

[OKSooner]

The German advance in the Bulge was halted by American soldiers, most of them conscripts, who did their duty.

Thousands of them died in the bulge.

[redangus]

Own three and have read a few more. None of the later stuff though more the classics. Reading anything by Victor-Hansen is a good start.

[yarddog]

I have read that we lost more men in the battle of the bulge than in the entire Pacific campaign. I have no idea if that is right or not.

Actually I don’t think we fought them to a standstill in the Bulge unless you consider the combat engineers to have stopped them by blowing bridges, often just before the Germans were to cross them.

Running out of fuel also helped to stop them but that was because they got behind on their timetable.

At first they were planning on by-passing Bastogne but after it got so much publicity, Hitler ordered them to take it. Of course they never did but they went way beyond it.

[Monterrosa-24]

Mackinlay Kantor produced so many books including the one made into the film, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. It was a great story of servicemen adjusting to civilian life after WWII. Kantor was from Iowa and thus a Yankee but I can almost forgive him for that...Ha!

[Nervous Tick]

Great homepage, by the way.
FRegards

[Errant]

Thanks for the recommendation. I made a note to check it out. I found Notes of a Russian Sniper - by Vassili Zaitsev to be fascinating! It took weeks to get some of the pictures he painted out of my head, and some have never left.

[pa_dweller]

Recently read The Deserters

A different kind of war book.

[Nervous Tick]

>> I have read that we lost more men in the battle of the bulge than in the entire Pacific campaign. I have no idea if that is right or not.

Good question.

Battle of the Bulge: 19,000 killed,47,500 wounded,23,000 captured.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bulge

Pacific war: 111,606 killed, 253,142 wounded, 21,580 POW.

Source: http://pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/a/Casualties.htm

So it appears that we did NOT lose more men in the BotB than in the Pacific campaign.

[rlmorel]

I read many of the ones in the article, but...his tastes are clearly different from mine. I’ve read Art of War, The Influence of Seapower Upon History, The History of The Peloponnesian War, Gates of Fire and more, but...those books were, to my taste, very dry and I had to work at them.

These books below are some that I have read that had a lasting effect on me because I didn’t have to work as hard to absorb what they had in them.

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

No True Glory

Once an Eagle

Cold As Hell

P.O.W.: A Definitive History of the American Prisoner-of-War Experience in Vietnam

The Last Battle

Neptune’s Inferno

The Two Ocean War

Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle

The Second World War Series (by Winston Churchill)

Reach For The Sky (Douglas Bader)

When Hell Was In Session

In Love and War

At Dawn We Slept

Halsey’s Typhoon

Phase Line Green: The Battle for Hue

1776

The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire,

Yeager: An Autobiography

The Guns of August

The Longest Day

Guadalcanal Diary

Airwar (Volumes 1-4 by Edward Jablonski)

Escape From Coldiz

With The Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa

Goodbye Darkness

Blackhawk Down

The Pacific Campaign (van der Vat)

One Day In A Long War

Breakout

Lemay

Fighter Pilot (Robin Olds)

The Admirals

Patton

Band of Brothers

I Cannot Forgive

Lone Survivor

The Caine Mutiny (Okay, this is a novel, but...it has a lot of lessons)

[yarddog]

Thanks for that info. I probably should have looked it up myself at some time.

[rlmorel]

I had an issue with that one as well. Also, Charlie Wilson’s War, Junger’s War, On Killing, and a few others like those that the author listed.

[wku man]

Real men read books about war that start with "FM" or "TM". Civilians wouldn't understand that, though.

Scouts Out! Cavalry Ho!

[Mears]

“Army 1st Brigade photo 1stBDEArghandabAfghanis.jpg Mackinlay Kantor produced so many books including the one made into the film, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES. It was a great story of servicemen adjusting to civilian life after WWII. Kantor was from Iowa and thus a Yankee but I can almost forgive him for that...Ha!”

---

I saw that movie in our neighborhood theater the year it came out. Yep,I’m old.

By the way,I’m from MA and don’t consider an Iowan a bona fide Yankee. :-)

.

[Nervous Tick]

You’re welcome.

Note that it’s interwebz quickie “research”, so weight the outcome appropriately. :-)

[rlmorel]

Ah! I forgot that one...GREAT book. What a trial...also, there is a book “The Raft: The Courageous Struggle of Three Naval Airmen against the Sea” which is along the same lines...

[rlmorel]

Excellent book!

[publius911]

Why do I need 43 books about war?

Reading more than three is informative, but like beating a dead horse.
Sun Tzu's The Art of War.
Clausewitz' On War
Victor Davis Hanson's Carnage and Culture.

The underlying essence is irrefutable :
Any war ever not fought to win by all means necessary, has failed.
Including, most likely, cultures which failed to learn the obvious, and consequently left no historical trace.

[rlmorel]

“The Best Years Of Our Lives” is my all time favorite movie.

Timeless.

[GeronL]

bump