"43 books about warfare every man should read...." Topic

Found this interesting:
link

haven't read a single on of those

Some interesting choices, not too keen on selecting novels but it's not my list. I have read 10 on the list and have a couple others waiting in the wings. I find the Art of War hard to read and who knows if I'll ever get around to reading that one.

Well, I've read eleven, but my list would certainly be very different. Clausewitz is a bear to read, though it contains some good (and summarizable) ideas. Where's Bruce Catton? Where's Benet's JOHN BROWN'S BODY? Where Crane? Where's Caesar? Where's Kipling? These sorts of lists are too personal to be of much use, though perhaps fun to argue about.

Well, I read 2 of them.

I've read a dozen of them. Some I've sampled and
decided not to pursue.

Don't know that I would have included fiction were I to
create such a list.

I think there are a lot of omissions that could better replace some of these books, but an interesting list nonetheless. Still, it seems a bit heavy in yankees, but at least there is Shelby Foote to balance things out.

I am sorry to see no Keegan, and if you are going to include fiction, where is Catch-22? And for that matter, Evelyn Waugh´s trilogy?

Yes Jack, its a completly subjective and somewhat US biased list. Not much about the dark ages or medieval periods for which there are countless great books. Still, I found it an interesting selection. I've read about 12.

43, huh? Well, I guess that's not the question then, is it?

Okay, back to the point.
I've read 9 of them. Gave up on Clausewitz as being a slog I really didn't want to pursue at the time.
I think he's gone a bit over the top with his list; some of the ones I have read I wouldn't consider to be "must reads" regarding war, though nevertheless good books.
I think he's also missing some key works as well. Livy's The War With Hannibal comes to mind, as does Caesar's Wars and much of Shakespeare. Even in modern novels he fails to mention anything by Patrick O'Brian, or Michael Shaara's incomparable The Killer Angels. And, off ours, as the good doc pointed out, no Crane, no Kipling? To which I might add no Cooper? No Scott? No Tolstoy?
But it's his list of recommendations, and there are certainly some good ones there (Grant's Memoirs are on my list). So certainly worth a look, and it's not a statement of "best," just "others to consider."

hmm 2 for me, but then id add others to the list ( panzer leader, mailed fist to name but 2)

Are women not allowed to read them?

12.5 – The Euripides collection lists several plays. A few I have read and know very well, the rest I haven't.

Blah, blah … not my list … blah blah … subjective … blah blah … [insert standard disclaimer here] … blah.

So:
* Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dee Brown
* The Savage Wars of Peace, Max Boot
* Alexander the Great, Paul Cartledge
* War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells

… blah blah … biased … blah blah … also very army biased

* The Influence of Sea Power Upon History, 1660–1783, A. T. Mahan
* The Battle of Salamis, Carol Ottolenghi

… and other biases … blah blah

* Aisha: The Beloved of Mohammed, Nabia Abbott

I've read about a dozen of those titles, and a few more are still on my to-be-read shelves.

I'm glad he included Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel. If you can read that book and not have your heart broken, you probably have no heart.

Duh!

* Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley

Got too distracted and forgot it. … So why isn't this a poll now? I bet the generated list would take three rounds of voting, at least…

Ive read 3 of them and 100s of others not on that list. :) "the art of maneuver" link one of the books I find myself applying to war games the most.

Are women not allowed to read them?

The blog is The Art of Manliness. I suppose women could read the same books, but in an artfully feminine way.

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.

I can relate to that. But.

Why do you pontificate about something of which you have no actual knowledge?

And why does anyone pay attention to you?

I have read 10, poked and prodded at 5, and heard of 10 more.
And some I have absolutely no clue about.

Why do you pontificate about something of which you have no actual knowledge?

And why does anyone pay attention to you?

Blogs are like s. Everybody has one.
Well, I don't. A blog that is…

Reminds me of the time a friend, nice guy but not entirely there, asked *me* what combat was like, based on my knowledge as a *wargamer*. "Jeezul Pete, how would I know? I've never been in a serious fight in my life. Go ask Norbert. He was in 'Nam. People tried to kill him."

12 for me. Many, many others not on his list that I would think would be required reading. Way too many to mention.

@Ron W DuBray,
Now there's one that I have read and own.

And really not to include "The Art of War" on any such list is just scandalous.

The Art of War is included on the list. I have read it, as well as The Book of Five Rings.

I would add another Art of War, this one by Helmuth von Moltke the Elder.

link

Was the ACW really so important as a war ? Causes & outcomes – yes very much so, the actual fighting – less so. And that's speaking as the owner of ACW armies for both sides and loads of ACW warships. And a shed load of boardgames. And "20thMaine" – ring any bells ??? Even given all that I would question if the ACW should dominate the list as, up to that point, only Ancient Greece managed to.

Would expect more on The Napoleonic Wars. And the British Empire. And WWI.

The ACW was our (humanity's) second chance to learn the lessons of the Crimean War that we missed which resulted in the unexpected devastation of WWI. In that (roughly) decade year period, we saw the emergence of most of what would characterize fourth generation warfare, yet in 1914 we began fighting what we though was going to be yet another Napoleonic style campaign.

Opinon. YMMV. Feel free to field insults offline via PM.

That said, I never really got into studying the ACW the same way the Crimean War fascenates me. Again, I attribute that to some odd personal preference.

I've read 6 of them & there's nothing manly about me.

I think wo-manly counts.

what, only men?

I have 12 of them and heard of several more. As stated above better choices are out there.

5 of them for me, but certainly not the list I would have made up.

Another recommendation:

Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

link

It seems pretty clear to me that this is not a list of books everyone should read, it's a list designed to impress hoi polloi with how very literate and knowledgeable the list-compiler is.

It has been noted that the list is absurdly biased towards ancient Greece and the ACW. A couple of the remarks in the notes beside the books seem to indicate a greater-than-average degree of ignorance about WW2.

I have only read four of the books on the list (plus reading the essay that was linked to, which is most certainly not the best essay ever written, and technically is not even an essay). Still, I beg to doubt that some of the titles would teach people much about the nature of warfare, at any level -- and in particular I consider the Book of Five Rings to be obscure twaddle.

For a literary comprehension of the experience of modern warfare, Sledge and Grossman are both good; I would also include "Brains and Bullets", "War on the Mind", "The Face of Battle", "Mean Against Fire", "The Soldier's Load" and the original "Etudes sur le Combat" for technical expanations, and, for first-hand experience, "Mailed Fist", "Quartered Safe Out Here", "18 Platoon", "The Recollections of Rifleman Bowlby", "Goodbye to All That", Temkin's "My Just War", and Tolstoy's "Sebastopol Stories". For fiction, "The Red Badge of Courage" and J P W Mallalieu's "Very Ordinary Seaman" would merit inclusion.

All the best,

John.