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Link Posted: 5/10/2008 8:49:33 AM EDT
[#1]
height=8
Originally Posted By nihilsum:
The Future of Freedom by Fareed Zakaria for a class. Good book nonetheless.


Just finished The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne about Verdun. Probably one of the best written/entertaining monographs I have ever read.



If you likes The Price of Glory, YOu may like A savage War for PEace also by Horne ist is about Algiers also Dennis Winters Deathsmen  I think thats the title is a great read

I just finished THe Last Season about Gary Magneson a back coutry Ranger for the NOS that disapeared
Link Posted: 5/15/2008 12:20:22 PM EDT
[#2]
Starting "Not A Good Day To Die" by Sean Naylor
Link Posted: 5/15/2008 6:51:49 PM EDT
[#3]
"American Spartans The U.S. Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq"

Its a great read, I've learned a lot.  For example, did you know that the Marine Corps were the first to pioneer using helicopters to insert troops?  I didn't.
Link Posted: 5/18/2008 12:37:38 PM EDT
[#4]
Just finished Hell on Belle Isle.  It's the diary of J. Osborn Coburn of Co. I, 6th Michigan, who was captured in Charleston, Virginia and incarcerated at Belle Isle in Richmond, Virginia.  Cheerful and confident that he would be paroled, Coburn dies of starvation on Belle Isle and never marries the girl to whom he was engaged.  His diary was returned to his father by the hospital steward who attended to him on his last days.  It's all too common a story of an American PoW (either Union or Confederate) during 1864 when the exchange policy was largely abandoned (except in the case of the very sick and near dead).
Link Posted: 5/22/2008 9:57:12 PM EDT
[#5]
Just starting the "Foundations of Freedom." Wilder Publications
A collection of:
"Common Sense"
"The Declaration of Independence"
"The Articles of Confederation"
"The Federalist Papers" and " The US Constitution"

all in one book!
Still Learning
Link Posted: 5/23/2008 3:15:43 AM EDT
[#6]
Most recently,  “Carnage and Culture”, basically a rebuttal to “Guns, Germs and Steel.” It is an excellent read. And a very good rebuttal to Jared Diamond's work..
Link Posted: 5/23/2008 3:21:08 AM EDT
[#7]
Night Probe by Clive Cussler

Dirk Pitt novels are always a good read.
Link Posted: 5/23/2008 8:22:15 AM EDT
[#8]
To the Sound of Musketry and Tap of the Drum.  It's the Civil War letters of Harry Bartlett, Battery D, 1st Michigan Light Infantry.  Bartlett was an artificier, equivalent to a technician in today's army.  Artificiers included furriers, blacksmiths, carpenters, wheelwrights, saddlemakers, shoemakers and harness makers like Bartlett.  His unit served with George Thomas whose division arrived too late for Shiloh.  They were with Thomas when he advanced on Corinth, Mississippi and later with Rosecrans at Murfreesboro where they were sent to stop Wheeler's cavalry which was raiding the wagon train (and thankfully missed the bloodbath at Murfreesboro).  They lost most of their guns at Chickamauga (5 out of 6) and were reequipped at Chattanooga during the siege.  
Link Posted: 5/24/2008 11:48:39 AM EDT
[#9]
I am now reading Cocaine an Unauthorized Biography. It gives a great look into the early history of coca leaves thus far, and explores the first users of cocaine thoroughly.
Link Posted: 5/24/2008 11:51:58 AM EDT
[Last Edit: twonami] [#10]
on order:




Link Posted: 5/25/2008 2:25:45 PM EDT
[Last Edit: Kalahnikid] [#11]
I just got out of college....no more boring books I have to force myself to read! Wo0t!

Right now: Two Sides of the Moon: Our Story of the Cold War Space Race ETA: That was a damn good book!

On deck: Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power
Link Posted: 5/26/2008 9:33:43 AM EDT
[#12]
Year of the Hangman by Glenn F. Williams.  It's about the expedition ordered by Washington against the Six Nations.  Washington was tired of the Indian/Tory raids in New York and ordered General Sullivan not only to march through their territory but to destroy it.  He burned towns, destroyed crops and wrought wholesale destruction that drove many Indians to starvation.  War is Hell.
Link Posted: 5/28/2008 5:10:41 PM EDT
[#13]
Just finished J.H. Elliott's "Empires of the Atlantic World."
Halfway through Richard Rhodes's "The Making of the Atomic Bomb."  I'll probably read his "Dark Sun" next.  After that, probably back to the XVIIth century.  
Link Posted: 5/28/2008 5:23:32 PM EDT
[#14]
Just finished "On Call In Hell" - CDR Richard Jadick - about the battalion surgeon who traveled into Falluja during Operation Phantom Furry to set up a forward aid station in the middle of the battle.  It was awesome and a quick read (only about 250 pages).

Also just finished Michael Yon's "Moment of Truth in Iraq".  Equally good.
Link Posted: 5/30/2008 1:28:57 PM EDT
[#15]
China Marine: An Infantryman's Life after World War II
Link Posted: 5/30/2008 1:39:53 PM EDT
[#16]
Rereading "The Killer Angels" by Michael Shaara.
Link Posted: 5/30/2008 1:42:32 PM EDT
[Last Edit: twonami] [#17]
"Buck" Compton, Call of Duty
eta: done. good read
Link Posted: 5/30/2008 8:23:54 PM EDT
[#18]
Just started reading Reclaiming History by Vincent Bugliosi.  So far I've read 181 of the 1489 pages.
Link Posted: 5/31/2008 5:33:42 PM EDT
[#19]
Just finished "Mig Pilot: The Final Escape of Lt. Belenko"

Fascinating account of what life was like in the Soviet Union during the 50s/60s/early 70's.  I had no idea those people lived like that. Made the think the whole time I was reading how lucky I was to be born here; that is the greatest gift ever bestowed on me.
Link Posted: 6/4/2008 2:31:21 PM EDT
[#20]
Just finished Gettysburg: The First Day - Harry Pfanz and am currently reading Panzer Leader - Heinz Guderian.  On deck is, 1776 - David McCullough.
Link Posted: 6/4/2008 2:36:29 PM EDT
[#21]
Unintended Consequences
Link Posted: 6/5/2008 2:34:35 PM EDT
[Last Edit: dcs12345] [#22]
I'm reading a signed copy of Beyond the Rhine by Donald R. Burgett,

I have already own and have read Currahee!, Seven Roads to Hell.
All I am missing is The Road to Arnhem.
These are great books and would recommend them to anyone.

I picked this book to read for my US military History Class in college: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
Link Posted: 6/5/2008 2:37:15 PM EDT
[#23]

Originally Posted By ToddB:
Just finished Gettysburg: The First Day - Harry Pfanz and am currently reading Panzer Leader - Heinz Guderian.  On deck is, 1776 - David McCullough.


I read Panzer Leader while I was in college, good book.
Link Posted: 6/5/2008 4:50:15 PM EDT
[#24]
almost done with Easy company soldier by Don Malarkey.
another good read
Link Posted: 6/5/2008 5:56:38 PM EDT
[#25]

Originally Posted By dcs12345:
I picked this book to read for my US military History Class in college: With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge


I had to read that for my US mil history in college too!

Hell of a book, really made me all the more pissed off that the Marines are giving Oki back to Japan. Sonofabitch Japs should be the ones moving all their people off that island, not us.
Link Posted: 6/6/2008 11:22:07 AM EDT
[#26]
Just started Better to Beg Forgivness by Michael Z. Williamson.
Link Posted: 6/11/2008 3:59:07 AM EDT
[#27]
Right now I'm reading, Nothing Like It In the World : The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869 by Stephen Ambrose.   Almost done, awesome so far.
Link Posted: 6/11/2008 9:03:52 AM EDT
[#28]
"With the Old Breed"  Excellent book.
Link Posted: 6/12/2008 8:47:02 PM EDT
[#29]
The Hour of Our Nation's Agony: The Civil War Letters of Lt. William Cowper Nelson of Mississippi.  About 1/3rd the way through right now.  Typical sybil wa-oh soljer stuff so far.  Lots of drill, lots of picketing, lots of labor.  
Link Posted: 6/13/2008 7:54:56 PM EDT
[#30]
"This Man's Army" by Andrew Exum

CPT Exum is a Chattanooga native who graduated from U Penn's ROTC program and was commissioned an Infantry officer.  Following Ranger School, he was assigned to the 10th Mountain Division, at Ft. Drum, NY.  CPT Exum deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, before leaving the service.
Link Posted: 6/15/2008 12:36:36 AM EDT
[#31]
As a history major I HAVE to read allot of books but between classes I am reading:

40 ways to Look at Winston Churchill

Masters of Chaos

The Decline and Fall of the roman Empire (6 vols)

The American Way of War

British Imperialism

The Rise and Fall of the British Empire
Link Posted: 6/15/2008 3:48:04 AM EDT
[#32]
Terry Texas Ranger Trilogy

good read about Terry's Texas Rangers of Civil War fame, pretty good, its three sets of memoirs of three members of the unit. As part of the Army of the Tennessee they were under the command of Nathan Bedford Forrest and Joe Wheeler( come on we got them damn yankees on the run)
Link Posted: 6/21/2008 5:04:48 PM EDT
[#33]
Beamy - Years ago I bought the hardback version from the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco.  It was a good read, but not useful for my research.

Just finished reading The Rescue by Steven Smith.  It's about the Americans trapped behind Japanese lines in Cebu (Phillipines) during WW II and their rescue by the American submarine Carvalla.  Smith did excellent research and The Rescue is a page turner.

I'm now reading Count Zinzendorf and The Indians 1742.  If you want a 18th Century European's look at the Indians (some of which is misinformed), this is the book to read.
Link Posted: 6/22/2008 4:30:19 PM EDT
[#34]
Hunter-Killer.  It's about the jeep carriers (CVEs) and their war against the U-boats.
Link Posted: 6/24/2008 4:52:19 AM EDT
[#35]
Masters of Chaos

Some parts aren't too bad, but much of it reads like an essay.
Link Posted: 6/26/2008 10:47:37 PM EDT
[#36]
Just finished My Father's Secret War by Lucinda Franks.  Tom Franks was in the Bureau of Ordnance and helped set up radar stations in the Pacific (often on an island just stormed by the Marines) which helped detect Japanese airplane movements and could direct fighter interceptors.  He was also sent to assist SOE in Sweden where they worked on smuggling ball bearings from Sweden to England.  In Europe, Franks broke into Gestapo HQ to learn the names of wanted individuals and was interrupted by a German sergeant.  He killed the sergeant.  Franks was also one of the first to enter a concentration camp and wrote a report which helped convince Eisenhower to visit the camps.  Franks kept his secret past from his family and his daughter used her skills as a journalist to pry it out from him.  It's an exciting read for anyone interested in cloak 'n dagger operations or research.
Link Posted: 6/28/2008 2:34:22 PM EDT
[#37]
Didn't even know Band of Brothers was a book, I'll have to check that out.  Anyway I just finished 'With the Old Breed' by E. B. Sledge, awesome first hand account of the battles at Peleliu and Okinawa during WWII.  Just started 'The Revolution A Manifesto' by Ron Paul and so far it is great.
Link Posted: 6/29/2008 4:02:29 AM EDT
[#38]
Eastward to Tartary
Link Posted: 6/30/2008 3:00:02 PM EDT
[#39]
Link Posted: 7/2/2008 12:07:42 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Riter] [#40]
Just finished Quest For A Star about General Francis Sherman.

History of the 124th Regiment of New York State Volunteers.  It's a reprint of a Civil War regimental history.
Link Posted: 7/2/2008 1:39:00 AM EDT
[#41]
Bible.

Rubicon - Tom Holland

The third Reich in Power - Richard Evans
Link Posted: 7/3/2008 7:22:30 PM EDT
[#42]
Terror at Beslan by John Giduck
Link Posted: 7/3/2008 11:08:08 PM EDT
[#43]

Originally Posted By code99:
Terror at Beslan by John Giduck



Hated that book.  Self-promoting drivel with almost no useful information.
Link Posted: 7/4/2008 10:12:36 AM EDT
[#44]

Originally Posted By Lumpy196:

Originally Posted By code99:
Terror at Beslan by John Giduck



Hated that book.  Self-promoting drivel with almost no useful information.


I felt the same way about Lone Survivor---------Luttrell came off as a pompous ass.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way in on Terror but I can kinda see your point on the self-promoting part already...
Link Posted: 7/4/2008 11:54:08 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Lumpy196] [#45]
See how many time he uses a phrase similar to "training like we conduct at Archangel."

His book supposedly is great because it has tons of info the media didn't have.  OK, great, but NONE of it was useful from a tactical knowledge standpoint.  Most of it was just what unit's were there, which I guess matters to someone like the duck who gets a fucking woody over Russian special forces.

His solutions to the tactical problems caused by a terrorist attack on a school are laughable and almost childish.  Oddly enough, the LE community seems to lap his vomit up.

On top of that, whoever his editor was needs to be fired.  A book thats supposed to teach a lesson and inform should have an order and flow to the information.  That thing reads like the random thoughts of a meth-head.  No particular order and you hear the same shit over and over.  Maybe that was intentional filler.
Link Posted: 7/5/2008 1:25:14 PM EDT
[#46]
The Union Must Stand: The Civil War Diary of John Quincy Adams Campbell, Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry.  It's from the Univ. of Tenn series, Voices of the Civil War.  The UoT concentrates on soldiers who served in the midwest and trans-Mississippi region.  That region was neglected for years by scholars who suffered from VD (Virginia Disease - if it didn't happen in Virginia or didn't involve Bobby Lee, it wasn't worth reading about).  

Campbell began as sergeant in one of the first regiments to respond to Lincoln's call to defend the Union and its form of republican government.  Remember that until then, all other democratic governments had failed including that of the French Revolution.  There were many revolutions in early 19th Century Europe which the ruling monarchies managed to suppress.  The failed 1848 revolution led to the large influx of Germans to America.  Hence, America was seen by many Americans as unique and to allow the Confederacy to secede would mean the failure of the noble experiment and the failure of democracy itself.  Campbell felt this way and unlike many other soldiers, was also an abolitionist.

His regiment was at Island No. 10 which, when captured, opened New Madrid (Misery) for capture.  They fight under Rosecrans at Iuka where the Confederates under Sterling Price are defeated.  As part of the encircling army of Grant, they help capture Pemberton and the garrison of Vicksburg.  Afterwards the Fifth Iowa is part of the Army of Tennessee and marches as part of Sherman's Army to relieve Chattanooga.  They're whipped badly at Tunnel Hill by Cleburne and Campbell has some harsh words for Sherman.  After Bragg retreats from Missionary Ridge, they join in the pursuit towards Atlanta.

I can't tell you guys what happens after that.  I'm not that fast of a reader.
Link Posted: 7/7/2008 9:22:22 PM EDT
[#47]
Yesterday (7/6) I started A Yankee at Arms.
Link Posted: 7/7/2008 9:32:53 PM EDT
[#48]
Landing Page Optimization: The Definitive Guide to Testing and Tuning for Conversions
&
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?
Link Posted: 7/8/2008 11:16:22 PM EDT
[#49]
The Boys from Rockville: Civil War Narratives of Sgt. Benjamin Hirst, Company D, 14th Connecticut Volunteers.  

The editor, Robert Bee, has a PhD in anthropology and if you're interested in an analysis of Hirst's views through an anthropologist, this book will be most enlightening.  He addresses the mindset of people of the period, their relation with their employers and with different races, the function of the military unit within that context and how the whole shebang goes together.  It would be very useful for a reenactor who is trying to interpret a person of that period.

Oh, by the way, Hirst's letters published in the papers as well as his personal letters and journal entries are included.  You'll read about Hirst's daily life as a soldier (drill, drill and more drill), long marches, sleeping in mud and of course, the occasional battle including Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg.  At Gettysburg, they are in the middle of the II Corps and were the men who stormed the Bliss Barn (and burned it) before the Pickett/Pettigrew/Trimble charge.  They captured five flags (WOW) and spend the next day picking up guns and burying the dead.  

Hirst survived the war, but I'm 38 pages short of finishing it.  
Link Posted: 7/8/2008 11:23:57 PM EDT
[#50]
Marine Sniper......again
Page / 39
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