Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Favorite war books
Hey, who’s this Tom Ricks guy putting out a list of his favorite U.S. war books? He ought to stick to writing war books, leaving favorite war-related lists to us bar pros. … Obviously, his list is quite good. No surprise. I’ve read some of them – and want to dive into Thunder Below and This Kind of War, both on his reading list.
I’d add my own small list of suggestions: Bruce Catton’s Grant series (Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command), Charles McDonald’s Company Commander, and Neil Sheehan’s A Bright Shining Lie. I’d love to include Robert Grave’s Good-bye to All That, but extending the list beyond U.S. military history might lead to spitting matches like this.
BTW - Ricks’ own The Gamble, which I’m just finishing, is a mini-classic for describing how intellectually hard it is for military institutions to recognize and replace flawed strategy, tactics and leaders. The same applies to just about any institution, though not nearly on the bloody, high-stakes level of an army at war. … BTW II: Ricks, at his blog, might have the title for his third book on Iraq – The Unraveling. You can also read his “memo to the ale-addled hacks of Sunday Times of London.”
Hey, who’s this Tom Ricks guy putting out a list of his favorite U.S. war books? He ought to stick to writing war books, leaving favorite war-related lists to us bar pros. … Obviously, his list is quite good. No surprise. I’ve read some of them – and want to dive into Thunder Below and This Kind of War, both on his reading list.
I’d add my own small list of suggestions: Bruce Catton’s Grant series (Grant Moves South and Grant Takes Command), Charles McDonald’s Company Commander, and Neil Sheehan’s A Bright Shining Lie. I’d love to include Robert Grave’s Good-bye to All That, but extending the list beyond U.S. military history might lead to spitting matches like this.
BTW - Ricks’ own The Gamble, which I’m just finishing, is a mini-classic for describing how intellectually hard it is for military institutions to recognize and replace flawed strategy, tactics and leaders. The same applies to just about any institution, though not nearly on the bloody, high-stakes level of an army at war. … BTW II: Ricks, at his blog, might have the title for his third book on Iraq – The Unraveling. You can also read his “memo to the ale-addled hacks of Sunday Times of London.”
