Your Favorite Books on War
Now that we're in a semi-respite from the Republican cat fight, how about we turn our thoughts to other issues? I love great books on war (knowing, of course, that this is not politically correct, as I should be engaging in "Peace Studies"). It is a subject that has produced some of our greatest literature, both non-fiction and fiction.
To get things rolling, here are a few of my non-fiction favorites: E. B. Sledge, With the Old Breed (VDH says--and he's right--that this is the single best personal memoir of a soldier--in Sledge's case, one at Pelelieu and Okinawa); Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers (demonstrating that if you don't have good company commanders, you don't have a good army); Andrew Roberts' The Storm of War (the best new one volume history of World War II--Roberts was recently interviewed by Peter on "Uncommon Knowledge"), and James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom and Tried by War (the first is the go-to single volume history of the war and the second is a brilliant examination of Lincoln as war president). Each is readable and each illuminates its subject, from the intimate to the strategic.
In fiction, Vasily Grossman's Life and Fate stands alone: a great war book, but also one of the greatest pieces of literature of the twentieth century. Less great, but nonetheless powerful, is The Black Flower, by Howard Bahr, a relatively obscure southern writer who has written three great civil war novels. Black Flower, which is set during and after the Battle of Franklin, will break your heart.
The question: What are your favorite books in which war is either the main subject or a central element? And why?
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Comments:
Jun '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
LowcountryJoe: I don't make it a habit of reading about war; it's not really my thing [and that's not for any particular reason, either, other than I have other interests]. But I did read one book and enjoyed it -- mainly because I served in the same battalion as the author and also because it was pretty good.
Tip of the Spear: U.S. Marine Light Armor in the Gulf War by G.J. Michaels · 0 minutes ago
It may be that those who served have less of a desire to be reminded of war. I was a bit too young for Vietnam, so I never spent any time in uniform. It took my Dad thirty years after WWII (where he served in an armored division in Europe) to start reading about it, and then he became quite a scholar.
Everyone has their interests and reading about war certainly shouldn't be deemed a litmus test for anything. Some people love poetry, but other than the old epics, I have a hard time with it.
I do, however, have a problem with some of the peaceniks who say that anyone who studies war must be a perverse warmonger.
Oct '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
tabula rasa
Drew: We suffer an embarrassment of riches on good histories of WWII. And there's also the Rick Atkinson Liberation Trilogy. The first two volumes were terrific.
Sears is the best historian of specific battles. Landscape is about Antietam, but he's also written books on the Seven-Days (1862), Chancellorsville (1863), and Gettysburg (1863), each of them superb, and all written for the general reader. I really liked his book on the Seven-Days, To the Gates of Richmond. · 2 minutes ago
I loved Atkinson's An Army at Dawn. I knew very little about the North Africa theater, so it was a real treat to read. It was amazing how poorly equipped and prepared our military was and how within 3 years their were the dominant force on the planet. Day of Battle was great too. I have been eagerly awaiting the third volume.
The only Sears book I have not read is on the Seven Days, but it somewhere in the many piles of books around my house waiting to be read.....
Feb '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
tabula rasa
LowcountryJoe:
I do, however, have a problem with some of the peaceniks who say that anyone who studies war must be a perverse warmonger. · 3 minutes ago
I study war for the same reason I study anything -- to learn more about it, to learn more about humankind, to avoid mistakes, and to seek wisdom. Those who refuse to study war because of their elevated moral sensibilities are ill-educated and likely to be bamboozled.
Jun '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Mama Toad
tabula rasa
LowcountryJoe:
I do, however, have a problem with some of the peaceniks who say that anyone who studies war must be a perverse warmonger. · 3 minutes ago
I study war for the same reason I study anything -- to learn more about it, to learn more about humankind, to avoid mistakes, and to seek wisdom. Those who refuse to study war because of their elevated moral sensibilities are ill-educated and likely to be bamboozled. · 2 minutes ago
Mama: You said what I meant. Thanks.
Feb '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
I also suggest William A. Frassanito to anyone especially interested in the Civil War.
For example Antietam: The photographic Legacy of America's Bloodiest Day.
Frassanito forensically investigates Civil War photographs and discovers fascinating details. Almost always he includes a modern photograph taken from the exact same position as the Civil War original he is discussing.
Jun '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Scanning through my Kindle:
- The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David Hoffman -- about the Soviet nuclear and biological weapons programs; subtitle sounds preachy but it isn't
- The Cold War: A New History by John Lewis Gaddis -- the introductory book already mentioned
- Winston's War by Max Hastings -- Winston Churchill biography that focuses on every decision he made through World War II
- A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev by Zladislav M. Zubok
- The Firm: The Inside Story of the Stasi by Gary Bruce -- prepare to be creeped out
- Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren
- One Minute to Midnight by Michael Dobbs -- the Cuban Missile Crisis
- The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchmann -- duh
- A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapon by Neil Sheehan -- I don't normally read straight biographies, but this one about the development of the ICBM is excellent (and the context of the larger Cold War is unavoidable)
Edited on February 10, 2012 at 10:46pmJun '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
tabula rasa
Gaddis also wrote an excellent short history of the Cold War. I lived through it, but am encouraging my children (all adults now) to read it. It's pretty hard to understand today's world without at least a working knowledge of the Cold War. This volume will soon be replaced by Peter Robinson's book on the Cold War. · 5 hours ago
The book you're referring to is The Cold War: A New History. It is indeed good, but, as you, say, introductory (I didn't realize that when I started reading it). The introduction to Chapter 2 gets bonus points for really grabbing your attention. Unfortunately, We Now Know isn't available on Kindle yet.
I, too, am looking forward to Mr. Robinson's book the Cold War.
Edited on February 10, 2012 at 10:45pmMar '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Mama Toad
tabula rasa
I do, however, have a problem with some of the peaceniks who say that anyone who studies war must be a perverse warmonger. · 3 minutes ago
I study war for the same reason I study anything -- to learn more about it, to learn more about humankind, to avoid mistakes, and to seek wisdom. Those who refuse to study war because of their elevated moral sensibilities are ill-educated and likely to be bamboozled. · 18 minutes ago
I've been on the receiving end of that from time to time, and I always ask "are oncologists pro-cancer?"
Jul '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
A few to add:
Jul '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Percival
Mama Toad
tabula rasa
I do, however, have a problem with some of the peaceniks who say that anyone who studies war must be a perverse warmonger. · 3 minutes ago
I study war for the same reason I study anything -- to learn more about it, to learn more about humankind, to avoid mistakes, and to seek wisdom. Those who refuse to study war because of their elevated moral sensibilities are ill-educated and likely to be bamboozled. · 18 minutes ago
I've been on the receiving end of that from time to time, and I always ask "are oncologists pro-cancer?" · 11 minutes ago
Check out any Barnes and Noble. All the clientele are squishy liberals, but look how massive the military history sections are! Peace Studies? Couldn't even tell you if there was a section for that.
Oct '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Jonathan Spence - and anything else by Jonathan Spence - is good. I seem to remember that the In Our Time programme on the Taiping Rebellion wasn't so bad, either. (This is a usually great programme, by the way.)
Sep '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
One of my current favorites is The Most Dangerous Enemy by Stephen Bungay. Well written and very readable history of the Battle of Britain. He argues (persuasively, to my mind) that this was one of the most important events of WWII; and he overturns some of the conventional wisdom with historical archive data.
As you might guess from my Ricochet icon, I'm very happy to read accounts of the RAF beating the tar out of the Germans, so here's another classic: Spitfire Pilot by David Crook, an account pretty much out of a fighter pilot's diary from the time.
Nov '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
The Right Kind of War - John McCormick
A fictional account, but reads almost like memoirs. It's about a Marine and his squad during the Pacific campaign, but mostly focuses on the non-battle stuff. Almost a comedy, really, and a rather dark one.
It's one of my favorite books, period. There aren't many books I've read more than once, and I've read this several times.
Feb '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
genferei
God's Chinese Son: The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan by Jonathan Spence - and anything else by Jonathan Spence - is good. I seem to remember that the In Our Time programme on the Taiping Rebellion wasn't so bad, either. (This is a usually great programme, by the way.) · 2 hours ago
Thank you -- I'll try to check those out. I had asked the library system for books on the Taiping Rebellion, if I recall correctly, and got this title... so I don't have it on recommendation, merely it being in the system.
Dec '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
I would recommend all of William Manchester's biographies of Sir Winston Churchill; most particularly, The Last Lion and Alone.
Oct '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Some that I did not see mentioned:
Attacks by Erwin Rommel
War As I Knew It by George S. Patton
Personal Memoirs by Ulysses S. Grant
Lee's Lieutenants by Stephen W. Sears
and on the required rather then enjoyable:
On War Carl Von clausewitz
The Art of War Sun Tzu
Aug '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
tabula rasa:
So, with that in mind, can anyone on this thread name a single book on "peace studies" or a single professor who has contributed anything of value on the subject? I can't, but I can name scores of war historians and greatu books on war that have helped shape my view of the world.
How about studying war to know how to keep peace? While I was at Patrick Henry College, I was introduced to Donald Kagan's On the Origins of War: And the Preservation of Peace, which digs into the causes of war as articulated by Thucydides and examines causes of the Peloponnesian War, Punic Wars, WWI, WWII, and Cuban Missile Crisis. I found it absolutely fascinating.
I also have really enjoyed Max Boot's The Savage Wars of Peace, which examines America's small wars beginning with Tripoli and ending with 20th century conflicts in Latin America. Many of the lessons found in that book regarding winning over the populace and anti-guerrilla tactics are directly applicable to our recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I am looking for a good fictional work that covers the Punic Wars (Hannibal, Carthage, etc.). Any suggestions?
Edited on February 11, 2012 at 1:50pmApr '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Well, this will require a couple comments...
I incline more towards battles or campaigns, so:
Juvenile fiction: Robb White's books: Up Periscope!; Silent Ship, Silent Sea; Flight Deck; The Survivor; etc. And of course Heinlein's Starship Troopers.
I suppose the preferred term now is "teen" fiction, or "young adults". Because these aren't juvenile.
Fiction: James Jones, the From Here to Eternity trilogy; James Bassett's Harm's Way; David Drake's Redliners, William Turner Huggett's Body Count.
The military life is apt to end suddenly and violently, and usually(?) uncleanly. But not necessarily unhonorably.
Cartoons: Bill Mauldin's Up Front.
Kind of The Best Years of Our Lives in cartoons, comic & tragic.
Over-arching: Samuel Eliot Morison's History of United States Naval Operations in World War II; A. J. P. Taylor's (I'm not sure which, but I think one or the other): A History of World War Two, or, The Second World War: an Illustrated History.
I found two of Morison's volumes particularly interesting, on Guadalcanal and Leyte. And I think Taylor had a well-reasoned point about Russian paranoia. He discounts Russian expansion, but, yeah. I can see it.
Mar '11
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
I was in The Army 61-63. There were a lot of WWII and Korea vets around. Lots of war stories, but rarely from the guys who wore a CBI (Combat Infantry Man's Badge). Those guys talked about whorehouses and bars. Most popular war book? Catch 22 by Joseph Heller.
Jul '10
Re: Your Favorite Books on War
Daniel Turner
I am looking for a good fictional work that covers the Punic Wars (Hannibal, Carthage, etc.). Any suggestions? · 4 hours ago
Edited 4 hours ago
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See Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by B.H. Lidell Hart. A great examination of the Roman general who defeated Hannibal. Also, I've heard Ghosts of Cannae is really good as well.