Quartered Safe Out Here, by George MacDonald Fraser (the author of the Flashman books). His memories as a 19 year old infantryman fighting the Japanese in Burma. A very close up and personal account of a close up and personal war from brilliant story teller.
Defeat into Victory, by Sir William Slim. The other end of the war in Burma, told by Bill Slim, the General commanding the 14th Army. You would be hard pressed to find a more honest (and well written) memoir from a retired General.
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Two excellent and related books!
I got into reading Quartered Safe Out Here because of the author’s other works, and as a direct result, read Slim’s book.
If you liked those, please check out the “McAuslin” books by Fraser.
Fictionalized accounts based on his post-war army service - and truly hilarious.
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan, by Ronald Spector. A pretty concise overview attempting to get a handle on the vastness of the Pacific War.
Also, I’d like to nominate the opening chapter(s) of Keegan’s The Second World War, “Every Man a Soldier,” for as cogent and concise a summing-up of the currents that drove Europe into the First World War, which Keegan rightly notes begat the Second. It sheds a lot of light.
Implicit in my earlier post, but I’ll spell it out: Shelby Foote’s great narrative trilogy on the American Civil War.
Rommel’s papers regarding strategy and tactics were printed in German in 1937. There are several English translations around now. This one seems to be highly rated. It was considered seminal reading at the time, and his insights shaped the German blitzkrieg attacks. I’ve only read bits of it and would love to actually read through the whole thing sometime.
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For a Finnish perspective on the second world war, i recommend the novel The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna. The Winter War is probably the best Finnish war movie.
[QUOTE=Malthus]
I’d say that the “essential” Keegan, one one has read his “set-piece” stuff, is his A History of Warfare. Though I’d have edited down his rant on Clausewitz.
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For an understanding of the history of war, I would suggest Gwynne Dyer’s “War,” which gives, IMHO, a much more insightful, and psycholocially and anthropologically interesting, view of the changes in the fundamental nature of human conflict, although it’s not that far removed from Keegan in a lot of respects.
Norman Dixon’s “On The Psychology of Military Incompetence” is also required reading for anyone looking to understand why war unfolds as it does.
[QUOTE=straight man] Black Hawk Down (Mark Bowden): This book really isn’t literature, but I think it belongs here anyway. Why? 1) Influence – it actually had a real effect on American attitudes. 2) Detail – no other non-fiction work that I have read contains the level of detail, brought about thanks to the massive amount of resources available to Bowden. 3) Age (or lack thereof) – it’s still very recent.
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I once heard that this movie is a great anti-war film because it shows just how violent and deadly actual conflict is. When I saw it I couldn’t help but think, “Dude, I wanna be a Ranger!.”
But then I remembered that I am way too lazy to even attempt to be one.
[QUOTE=RickJay]
For an understanding of the history of war, I would suggest Gwynne Dyer’s “War,” which gives, IMHO, a much more insightful, and psycholocially and anthropologically interesting, view of the changes in the fundamental nature of human conflict, although it’s not that far removed from Keegan in a lot of respects.
Norman Dixon’s “On The Psychology of Military Incompetence” is also required reading for anyone looking to understand why war unfolds as it does.
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Is the Gwynne Dyer book the one based on the TV series? If so, I read it many years ago and liked it. Maybe time for a re-read; can’t remember it too well.
