The 9/11 Commission Report - "In November 2002 the United States Congress and President George W. Bush established by law the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission. This independent, bipartisan panel was directed to examine the facts and circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks, identify lessons learned, and provide recommendations to safeguard against future acts of terrorism."
Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - Ali Ahmad Jalali and Lester Grau. "... more than 100 first-hand reports from Mujahideen combat veterans and maps illustrating locations and disposition of forces, this book is a tactical look at a decentralized army of foot-mobile guerrillas as they wage war against a superior force."
Africa's Wars and Prospects for Peace - Raymond Copson. "Copson heads the Africa section of the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. He says that the seemingly endemic wars in African countries are only exacerbated by the continent's continued poverty, but are ultimately due to the failure of governments to respond to the needs and demands of their people."
Against Islamic Extremism: the Writings of Muhammad - Said al-Ashmawy; edited Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban. " Trained in comparative law and Islamic law, al-Ashmawy served as judge, chief prosecutor, and the Chief Justice of the courts of Egypt in various stages of his career. An early critic of radical Islam, he has lived under government-provided armed guard since 1980 when the first of a series of death threats was made against him. This book is an overview of his detailed arguments against Islamic extremism and the dangers of politicizing Islam."
The Age of Sacred Terror - Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon. "From two of the world’s foremost experts on the new terrorism comes the definitive book on the rise of al-Qaeda and America’s efforts to combat the most innovative and dangerous terrorist group ever. Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon trace the growth of radical Islam from its medieval origins and, drawing on their years of counter-terrorism work at the National Security Council, provide essential insights into the thinking of Usama bin Laden and his followers."
Airpower in Small Wars - James Corum and Wray Johnson. "Airpower in Small Wars presents over nine examples of Small Wars... The ideal aircraft in a counter insurgency war has to be able to fly low and slow enough to detect insurgents and terrorists... also have the capability to stay over the target long enough..."
American Casear - William Manchester. "William Manchester's superbly crafted and supremely well researched biography of Douglas MacArthur, one of the greatest but most controversial military leaders in American history. MacArthur has been praised for his brilliant strategic and tactical abilities during both world wars and accomplishments as Military Governor in post-World War II Japan, and criticized for his overweening egoism and inability to subordinate himself to the wishes of his civilian superiors."
American Gunboat Diplomacy and the Old Navy, 1877-1889 - Kenneth Hagan. "A most thorough and scholarly study of the relationship between the post-Civil War American Navy and the mercantile expansionists of that period....The author has succeeded notably in relating the growth of American mercantilism in the 1870s and 1880s to the corresponding development of naval strategy and power in that period. The U.S. was started on the road to empire in those times, and the author tells us how."
American Soldier - Tommy Franks. "In this riveting memoir, General Franks retraces his journey from a small-town boyhood in Oklahoma and Midland, Texas, through a lifetime of military service -- including his heroic tour as an Artillery officer in Vietnam, where he was wounded three times. A reform-minded Cold War commander and a shrewd tactician during Operation Desert Storm, Franks took command of CENTCOM at the dawn of what he calls a "crease in history" -- becoming the senior American military officer in the most dangerous region on earth."
The American Way of War - Russell Frank Weigley. "An exploration of the way America has conducted war, from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam. Weigley attempts to show the development of American military thought, from hit-and-run tactics of the Revolution to global policing and the containment of communism in the mid twentieth-century."
America's First Battles, 1776-1965 - Charles Heller and William Stoffi. "This volume, a collection of eleven original essays by many of the foremost U.S. military historians, focuses on the transition of the Army from parade ground to battleground in each of nine wars the United States has fought. Through careful analysis of organization, training, and tactical doctrine, each essay seeks to explain the strengths and weaknesses evidenced by the outcome of the first significant engagement or campaign of the war."
America's Role in Nation-Building - James Dobbins, John G. McGinn, Keith Crane, Seth G. Jones, Rollie Lal, Andrew Rathmell, Rachel Swanger, and Anga Timilsina. " This book present an excellent policy analysis of USA-led enforced democratization. Based on historic-comparative study of seven such cases (Germany, Japan, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosova and Afghanistan), striking policy recommendations are derived on military and police presence over time, humanitarian help, economic reconstruction, building of civil society, holding of elections and more, as as to maximize success in democratization."
Among Insurgents - Shelby Tucker. "Describes the author's journey into Burma through a border area of China closed to foreigners, through the Shan and Kachin States, and out of Burma via an area of India closed to foreigners. En route, he was detained by Communist insurgents, handed over to Kachin insurgents and arrested by the Indian Army."
The Army and Vietnam - Andrew Krepinevich. "Krepinevich, a major with the Strategic Plans and Policy Division of the Army, raises serious questions about the military's ability to learn from its mistakes in Vietnam. The emphasis here is on the Army's stubborn insistence on pursuing a strategy of attrition, through large-unit operations and heavy firepower, and largely ignoring the political and social dimensions that form the foundation of successful counterinsurgency warfare. The result was a high-cost, low-payoff strategy which the Army stuck with until civilian leaders in the defense establishment openly challenged the policy after the Tet Offensive. Krepinevich praises the pacification programs of the Marines and suggests that their methods could have been profitably employed by the Army. More significantly, he suggests that the Vietnam experience has had little effect on the doctrine by which the Army is currently preparing for future low-intensity engagements." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
The Art of Counter-revolutionary War; the Strategy of Counter-insurgency - John McCuen.
The Art of War - Sun Tzu. "The ancient Chinese general Sun Tzu is universally recognized as the greatest military strategist in history, a master of warfare interpretation. This condensed version of his influential classic imparts the knowledge and skills to overcome every adversary in war, at the office, or in everyday life."
The Art of Insurgency - Donald Hamilton. "In his analysis of insurgency war, Donald Hamilton first attempts to provide insight into a strategic concept he believes is little understood today, and to explain its complicated relationship to American policy failures in Southeast Asia during the post-1945 era of containment. The study develops a working model of insurgency, explaining it as both a unique method and type of war-making."
The Banana Wars - Lester Langley. "A sweeping panorama of America's tropical empire in the age spanned by the two Roosevelts and a detailed narrative of U.S. military intervention in the Caribbean and Mexico. In this new edition, Professor Langley provides an updated introduction, placing the scholarship in current historical context. From the perspective of the Americans involved, the empire carved out by the banana warriors was a domain of bickering Latin American politicians, warring tropical countries, and lawless societies that the American military-army, navy, and marines-had been dispatched to police and tutor."
The Battle for the Falklands - Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins. "This book is an in-depth study of the war fought between the United Kingdom and Argentina over the Falkland Islands from April to June 1982. The book begins with a highly informative history of the islands, focusing on the two countries' claims to the islands. The war is recounted in excellent depth, focusing heavily on the British side."
Battle Leadership - Adolf Von Schell. "In the mid 1930's German soldier and First World War veteran, Captain Adolf Von Schell, found himself on an exchange program at Fort Benning, Ga. During his tenure there he lectured extensivley on his wartime experiences which included first hand knowledge of the maneuver battles that had characterized the war against Russia and the earley stages of the war in the west. These lectures and two contemporaneously written articles on the U.S. Army and the Army of the Weimar Republic have been compiled into a remarkably provocative little book that should interest scholars and warriors alike."
Battle Ready - Tom Clancy and Anthony Zinni. "Marine General Tony Zinni was known as the "Warrior Diplomat" during his nearly forty years of service. As a soldier, his credentials were impeccable, whether leading troops in Vietnam, commanding hair-raising rescue operations in Somalia, or-as Commander in Chief of CENTCOM-directing strikes against Iraq and Al Qaeda. But it was as a peacemaker that he made just as great a mark-conducting dangerous troubleshooting missions all over Africa, Asia, and Europe; and then serving as Secretary of State Colin Powell's special envoy to the Middle East, before disagreements over the 2003 Iraq War and its probable aftermath caused him to resign."
The Bear Went Over the Mountain - Lester Grau. "The Soviets experienced in Afghanistan the slow death of a thousand cuts... Lester Grau carefully examines some of those small cuts. The book consists of a number of short vignettes written principally by Soviet Platoon and Company Leaders. In these short narratives, these leaders describe their combat experiences in such realms as ambush, convoy escort and urban fighting."
A Bell for Adano - John Hersey. "Published in 1944 and awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1945. The novel's action takes place during World War II after the occupation of Sicily by Allied forces. Major Victor Joppolo, an American army officer of Italian descent, is part of the Allied military government ruling the town of Adano. In his attempts to reform the town and bring democracy to the people by treating them with respect and decency, Joppolo comes into conflict with his commanding officer, a hard-nosed general who eventually has Joppolo transferred because of his refusal to follow orders. Joppolo's concern for the town is epitomized by his efforts to replace a bell that the fascists had melted down to use for ammunition."
Beyond Baghdad - Ralph Peters. "The boldest, most visionary work yet by Ralph Peters, this hard-hitting book explains what really happened on the battlefields of Iraq--and what the implications are for our security."
The Big Story - Peter Braestrup. "This isn't your usual focus on the events of Vietnam: rather, it's a refreshing examination of how the American press reported the Crisis of Tet in 1968, revealing the underlying politics influencing reporting styles and choices. This has been abridged and updated to appear in a new edition to reach new audiences, and is an excellent pick."
Black Hawk Down - Mark Bowden. "A strikingly detailed account of the 1993 nightmare operation in Mogadishu that left 18 American soldiers dead and many more wounded. This early foreign-policy disaster for the Clinton administration led to the resignation of Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and a total troop withdrawal from Somalia. Bowden does not spend much time considering the context; instead he provides a moment-by-moment chronicle of what happened in the air and on the ground. His gritty narrative tells of how Rangers and elite Delta Force troops embarked on a mission to capture a pair of high-ranking deputies to warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid only to find themselves surrounded in a hostile African city."
The Boer War - Thomas Pakenham. "The Boers of South Africa responded to Britain's annexation of the gold-and-diamond-rich Transvaal region by declaring war on October 11, 1899. The English believed the fighting would be over by Christmas -- never dreaming they were on the brink of one of the longest, bloodiest, most costly and humiliating military campaigns in their history."
The Book of War - John Keegan. "From Thucydides' classic account of ancient Greek phalanx warfare to a blow-by-blow description of ground--fighting against the Iraqi forces during the Gulf War, The Book of War presents the face of battle over the course of more than 2,000 years. Acclaimed historian John Keegan brings together an amazing array of war writings, largely drawn from the protagonists themselves or firsthand accounts of the battles they describe. Here are Caesar's Commentaires on the Roman Invasion of Britain; Wellington on the Battle of Waterloo; Hemingway after Copretto, Ernie Pyle at Normandy; and James Fenton at the Fall of Saigon. Weaving the various pieces together, with a brilliant introductory essay and substantial headnotes, John Keegan has created a rich tapestry that epitomizes the warrior spirit."
Boots on the Ground - Karl Zinsmeister. "This is a riveting account of the war in Iraq moving north with the 82nd Airborne. Units of the 82nd depart Kuwait and convoy to Iraq's Tallil Air Base en route to night-and-day battles within the major city of Samawah and its intact bridges across the Euphrates. Boots on the Ground quickly becomes an action-filled microcosm of the new kinds of ultramodern war fighting showcased in the overall battle for Iraq. At the same time it remains specific to the daily travails of the soldiers. Karl Zinsmeister, a frontline reporter who traveled with the 82nd, vividly conveys the careful planning and technical wizardry that go into today's warfare, even local firefights, and he brings to life the constant air-ground interactions that are the great innovation of modern precision combat. What exactly does it feel like to travel with a spirited body of fighting men? To come under fire? To cope with the battlefield stresses of sleep-deprivation, and a steady diet of field rations for weeks on end? Readers of this day-to-day diary are left with not only a flashing sequence of strong mental images, but also a notion of the sounds and smells and physical sensations that make modern military action unforgettable. Ultimately, Boots on the Ground is a human story: a moving portrayal of the powerful bonds of affection, trust, fear, and dedication that bind real soldiers involved in battle. There are unexpected elements: The humor that bubbles up amidst dangerous fighting. The pathos of a badly wounded young boy. The affection openly exhibited by many American soldiers--love of country, love of family and hometown, love of each other. This is a true-life tale of superbly trained men in extraordinary circumstances, packed with concrete detail, often surpassing fiction for sheer drama."
A Bright Shining Lie - Neil Sheehan. "This passionate, epic account of the Vietnam War centers on Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, whose story illuminates America's failures and disillusionment in Southeast Asia. Vann was a field adviser to the army when American involvement was just beginning."
Burma - Martin Smith. "Burma remains a land in deep crisis. The popular uprising of 1988 swept away 26 years of military rule under General Ne Win in name only. The National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi won a landslide victory in the 1990 election. But, as this book relates, the military remained in control and the future of Burma looks more problematic than ever."
The Challenge of Command - Roger Nye. "Essential reading for those who are... military leaders. The Challenge of Command utilizes philosophy, ethics and morals in its discussion of an ideal leader. This book is versatile... can be used early in an officer's career to guide him; or later, to refine him."
The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder - Bassam Tibi. "A complex read but worth the effort, by this Syrian-born Sunni author who teaches at the University of Gottingen in Germany. A Middle East and international relations professor, Tibi documented Arab nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and militant Islam – and sounding warnings about these dangerous trends – years before September 11."
Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton - Edward Rice. "Rice's biography is the gripping story of a fierce, magnetic, and brilliant man whose real-life accomplishments are the stuff of legend. Rice retraces Burton's steps as the first European adventurer to search for the source of the Nile; to enter, disguised, the forbidden cities of Mecca and Medina; and to travel through remote stretches of India, the Near East, and Africa. From his spying exploits to his startling literary accomplishments (the discovery and translation of the Kama Sutra and his seventeen-volume translation of Arabian Nights), Burton was an engrossing, larger-than-life Victorian figure, and Rice's splendid biography lays open a portrayal as dramatic, complicated, and compelling as the man himself."
Civil War in Lebanon, 1975-92 - Edgar O'Ballance. "This is an account of the turbulent saga of the only Arab state that has a nominal Christian majority. Packed with rival religious sects, feudal chieftains, war lords, squabbling political leaders, and in-house and foreign militias, Lebanon has suffered not only periods of civil war and internal infighting, but also invasions by Palestinians, Syrians and Israelis. It has survived as a republican entity, although shattered, exhausted and bankrupt. The 16-year long civil war in which Christian militias fought to eject Palestinian armed forces began in 1975. Western intervention was repelled by suicide-bombing attacks, and Lebanese Christians and Muslims sub-divided to fight each other. This book tells the story of a civil war was notable for massacres, treachery, atrocities, kidnapping, assassination, changing alliances of convenience, and invasions."
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order - Samuel Huntington. "A provocative and prescient analysis of the state of world politics after the fall of communism. In this incisive work, the renowned political scientist explains how "civilizations" have replaced nations and ideologies as the driving force in global politics today and offers a brilliant analysis of the current climate and future possibilities of our world's volatile political culture."
Cobra II - Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor. "Informed by unparalleled access to still–secret documents, interviews with top field commanders, and a review of the military’s own internal after–action reports, Cobra II is the definitive chronicle of America’s invasion and occupation of Iraq—a conflict that could not be lost but one that the United States failed to win decisively. From the Pentagon to the White House to the American command centers in the field, the book reveals the inside story of how the war was actually planned and fought. Drawing on classified United States government intelligence, it also provides a unique account of how Saddam Hussein and his high command developed and prosecuted their war strategy. Written by Michael R. Gordon, the chief military correspondent for The New York Times, who spent the war with the Allied land command, and Bernard E. Trainor, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and former director of the National Security Program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cobra II traces the interactions among the generals, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and President George W. Bush. It dramatically reconstructs the principal battles from interviews with those who fought them, providing reliable accounts of the clashes waged by conventional and Special Operations forces. It documents with precision the failures of American intelligence and the mistakes in administering postwar Iraq. Unimpeachably sourced, Cobra II describes how the American rush to Baghdad provided the opportunity for the virulent insurgency that followed. The brutal aftermath in Iraq was not inevitable and was a surprise to the generals on both sides; Cobra II provides the first authoritative account as to why. It is a book of enduring importance and incisive analysis—a comprehensive account of the most reported yet least understood war in American history."
The Colombian Civil War - Bert Ruiz. "Bert Ruiz has written a needed primer for those desiring to understand Colombia's raging war. His extensive research has untangled, as best as humanly possible, Colombia's convoluted problems."
The Colombian Labyrinth - Angel Rabasa and Peter Chalk. "Drug trafficking and political disintegration in Colombia could confront the United States, if present trends continue, with the most serious foreign and security policy crisis in the Western Hemisphere since the Central American wars of the 1980s. The first question is why Colombia matters. U.S. policy toward Colombia has been driven to a large extent by counter-narcotics considerations, but the situation in that South American country is a national security as much as a drug policy problem. Colombia is a strategically important country. It is South America's fourth largest country in area and the second largest in population. It is the only South American country with coastlines on both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and it is contiguous to the Caribbean basin, Central America, Venezuela and its oil fields, and Panama and the Canal. Colombia also has some of the largest untapped petroleum reserves in the Western Hemisphere."
Command in War - Martin van Creveld. "Van Creveld traces the history of command systems in organized warfare. His conclusion is that successful command systems did not employ breakthrough technology but, rather, so organized themselves that they could function with less information flow. They did this by either compressing the organization so less communication was needed (e.g., the phalanx) or decentralizing decision making so that information did not have to flow as far up or down the organization."
The Counterinsurgency Era - Douglas Blaufarb. The best "how-to" guide to counterinsurgency warfare - Bernard Fall - author of Street Without Joy.
Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror: Military Culture and Irregular War - Robert Cassidy. "Counterinsurgency and the Global War on Terror is a must-read for academics, military professionals, and national security practitioners. The author combines his unique perspective as a military professional with his academic credentials to create a cogent work that explains how embedded military cultural preferences can influence or impede the preparation for and conduct of counterinsurgency. In a contemporary security environment that sees the U.S. military prosecuting multiple counterinsurgencies, and where the future may hold more of the same, this well written book is very relevant. Overall, the book is balanced, insightful, and well researched. For military professionals and security experts involved in employing our armed forces in this era, this is a book to read."
Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam - John Nagl. "Armies are invariably accused of preparing to fight the last war. Nagl examines how armies learn during the course of conflicts for which they are initially unprepared in organization, training, and mindset. He compares the development of counterinsurgency doctrine and practice in the Malayan Emergency from 1948-1960 with that developed in the Vietnam Conflict from 1950-1975, through use of archival sources and interviews with participants in both conflicts. In examining these two events, he argues that organizational culture is the key variable in determining the success or failure of attempts to adapt to changing circumstances."
The Counterinsurgency Manual - Leroy Thompson. "Counterinsurgency is fast becoming one of the most important aspects of police and military work around the world, with forces often deployed at short notice to fight against an ill-defined enemy. With this in mind, Leroy Thompson describes the techniques best employed in a variety of situations, all illustrated with pictures and explained with examples of their use. He stresses that the primary concern in every situation ought to be a 'Hearts and Minds' style operation comprising an attempt to achieve objectives without the use of force-it is only after all such possibilities have failed that the use of force should be considered, and then only by highly trained special forces operatives."
Counterinsurgency Warfare - David Galula. The best "how-to" guide to counterinsurgency warfare - Bernard Fall - author of Street Without Joy.
The Crisis of Islam - Bernard Lewis. "In his first book since What Went Wrong? Bernard Lewis examines the historical roots of the resentments that dominate the Islamic world today and that are increasingly being expressed in acts of terrorism. He looks at the theological origins of political Islam and takes us through the rise of militant Islam in Iran, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, examining the impact of radical Wahhabi proselytizing, and Saudi oil money, on the rest of the Islamic world. The Crisis of Islam ranges widely through thirteen centuries of history, but in particular it charts the key events of the twentieth century leading up to the violent confrontations of today: the creation of the state of Israel, the Cold War, the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet defeat in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, and the September 11th attacks on the United States."
Defeating Communist Insurgency - Robert Thompson. "Experiences from Malaya and Vietnam (Studies in International Security)."
Deliver Us from Evil - William Shawcross. "The Cold War has been followed by a decade of regional and ethnic conflicts, massacres, and forced exiles. Should America assume the role of peacekeeper and chief humanitarian in a world of endless wars and human disasters? Eminent foreign correspondent William Shawcross has spent much of his career in war zones and has had unrivaled access to diplomats, peacekeepers, and global policymakers at the highest levels, including UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, for whom he has high regard. In Deliver Us from Evil, which has a new epilogue for the paperback edition, Shawcross takes us behind the lines with him to Cambodia, Bosnia, Somalia, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Rwanda, and Kosovo to show us how complex and costly Western interventions are and how naïve are our hopes of peacemaking without bloodshed."
Dereliction of Duty - H. R. McMaster. "The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field, nor was it lost on the front pages of the New York Times or the college campuses. It was lost in Washington, D.C."
The Devil Drives - Fawn Brodie. "A short biography of Victorian-era British Army officer Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821 – 1890). Burton was the pre-eminent soldier-scholar at the height of the British Empire. Burton’s adventures make T. E. Lawrence’s experiences pale in comparison.
Diplomacy - Henry Kissinger. "Moving from a sweeping overview of history to blow-by-blow accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Henry Kissinger describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America's approach to foreign affairs has always differed vastly from that of other nations. Brilliant, controversial, and profoundly incisive, Diplomacy stands as the culmination of a lifetime of diplomatic service and scholarship. It is vital reading for anyone concerned with the forces that have shaped our world today and will impact upon it tomorrow."
European Armies and the Conduct of War - Hew Strachan. "'The moderns, who have undertaken to write the history of different wars, or of some renowned Commanders, being chiefly men of learning only, and utterly unacquainted with the nature of military operations, have given us indeed agreeable, but useless productions."
Every War Must End - Fred Charles Ikle. "How are wars brought to an end? Fred Charles Iklé argues that historians, students of military strategy, and experts on foreign affairs have tended to neglect this question. Much attention, by contrast, has been devoted to the question of how wars begin. Throughout his work, Iklé uses historical examples to discuss the reasoning of strategic analysis. For this revised edition, a new chapter on the Gulf War has been added."
The Face of Battle - John Keegan. "What is it like to be in battle? John Keegan, a senior instructor at Sandhurst, the British Military Academy, speaks for soldiers who were present in the fray. For examples, Keegan selects Agincourt in 1415, Waterloo in 1815, and the Somme in 1916. What is common about them, what is different? Agincourt was hand-to-hand combat, thrust and cut--a fearful and personal encounter. At Waterloo, 400 years later, the battle was still largely personal. As it swayed back and forth, men on opposite sides came to recognize the same individuals they had fought off in previous charges. Keegan closes his book with the Somme. For him it stands as the distillation of wars in the industrial age: long-distance killing of faceless men by others who merely activate the instruments of destruction."
The Fatal Knot - John Tone. "The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain."
Fiasco - Thomas Ricks. "The definitive military chronicle of the Iraq war and a searing judgment on the strategic blindness with which America has conducted it, drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time. Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondent Thomas E. Ricks's Fiasco is masterful and explosive reckoning with the planning and execution of the American military invasion and occupation of Iraq, based on the unprecedented candor of key participants. The American military is a tightly sealed community, and few outsiders have reason to know that a great many senior officers view the Iraq war with incredulity and dismay. But many officers have shared their anger with renowned military reporter Thomas E. Ricks, and in Fiasco, Ricks combines these astonishing on-the-record military accounts with his own extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to create a spellbinding account of an epic disaster."
Fields of Fire - James Webb. "James Webb’s classic, searing novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, this book captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell — until each man finds his fate."
Fighting in the Streets - Urbano. "The only available comprehensive manual on urban guerilla warfare. It describes proven methods of street combat that have been tested in countless struggles worldwide. It is a no-nonsense "how-to" manual for armed resistance in today's urbanized 'cement jungles.' Includes: Principles of Urban Guerilla Warfare, The Urban Base of Operations, Improvised Explosives and Chemicals Ambushes, and Security and Communications."
Fire in the Lake - Frances FitzGerald. "This landmark work... takes us inside Vietnam-into the traditional, ancestor-worshiping villages and the corrupt crowded cities, into the conflicts between Communists and anti-Communists, Catholics and Buddhists, generals and monks -and reveals the country as seen through Vietnamese eyes. With a clarity and authority unrivaled by any book before it or since, Fire in the Lake shows how America utterly and tragically misinterpreted the realities of Vietnam."
Fire in the Night - John Bierman and Colin Smith. "This enlightening and rigorous biography of Orde Wingate amply demonstrates how the conservative establishment of the British Army could come to adopt such an ungracious attitude to one of their most dynamic sons, who contributed so much to the war effort with dazzling performances in Abyssinia and Burma, and so much to future strategic thinking with his bold formulation of new methods. He ruffled feathers with his uncompromising style, unconventional thinking, and eccentric nature."
Fire in the Streets - Eric Hammel. "The definitive combat narrative of the bitter, hard-fought, running battle of the 1968 Communist Tet Offensive. Fire In The Streets is the vivid account of the only building-by-building, street-by-street city battle of the Vietnam War involving American troops. Readers will travel the mean, bloody streets of war-shattered Hue with veteran bush Marines who must learn the deadly cat-and-mouse game one terrifying step at a time, and join two outnumbered Air Cavalry battalions as they struggle and die to cut off Hue's embattled Communist fighters from outside help. Both a primer for modern war in an urban environment and a thundering testament to the brave Marines and soldiers who wrested Vietnam's hallowed royal city from the best troops North Vietnam ever fielded, Fire In The Streets is a thrilling read that cannot be put down until the final objective has been secured and the final shot has been fired. Fire In The Streets is the definitive book on the the battle for Hue."
Firepower in Limited Wars - Robert Scales. "Examines how the United States can employ its massive, high-tech firepower in an effective manner when future conflicts are likely to be limited and of low intensity."
The First Casualty - Phillip Knight and John Pilger. "The first casualty when war comes, is truth, said American Senator Hiram Johnson in 1917, and in his gripping, now-classic history of war journalism, Phillip Knightley shows just how right Johnson was. From William Howard Russell, who described the appalling conditions of the Crimean War in Times [London], to the ranks of reporters, photographers, and cameramen who captured the realities of war in Vietnam, The First Casualty tells a fascinating story of heroism and collusion, censorship and suppression, myth-making and propaganda. Since Vietnam, Knightley finds, governments have become much more adept at managing the media, and in new chapters on the Falklands, the Gulf War, and the former Yugoslavia, he concludes that the war correspondent's role as a seeker of truth is now in jeopardy."
For the Common Defense - Allan Millett and Peter Maslowski. "Now, for the first time, we have an American military history on the grand scale, and what a grand book it is."
From Beirut to Jerusalem - Thomas Friedman. "Winner of the 1989 National Book Award for nonfiction, this extraordinary bestseller is still the most incisive, thought-provoking book ever written about the Middle East."
From People's War to People's Rule - Timothy Lomperis. "Lomperis, a former army intelligence officer in Vietnam and currently an instructor in political science at West Point, places the war within the broader context of Communist insurgency against Western-supported regimes throughout the Cold War. Lomperis examines and compares the Chinese liberation struggle; civil wars in Greece, Cambodia, and Laos; rebellion in the Philippines; and the carnage in Peru so that the sophisticated reader can see the similarities and differences among these conflicts and the pivotal roles played by insurgents, local governments, and foreign powers. Each insurrection is well documented with conclusions buttressed by Lomperis's obvious expertise in his field. Marred only by a tendency to lapse into technical jargon, his work belongs in academic libraries, but only public libraries with strong Vietnam collections should consider adding a scholarly work such as this." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
From Vietnam to 9/11 - John Murtha and John Plashal. "On the front lines of national security with a new epilogue on the Iraq War."
Gallipoli - Alan Moorehead. "When Turkey unexpectedly sided with Germany in World War I, Winston Churchill, as Sea Lord for the British, conceived a plan: smash through the Dardanelles, reopen the Straits to Russia, and immobilize the Turks. On the night of March 18, 1915, this plan nearly succeeded -- the Turks were virtually beaten. But poor communication left the Allies in the dark, allowing the Turks to prevail and the Allies to suffer a crushing quarter-million casualties."
Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield. "Thus reads an ancient stone at Thermopylae in northern Greece, the site of one of the world's greatest battles for freedom. Here, in 480 B.C., on a narrow mountain pass above the crystalline Aegean, 300 Spartan knights and their allies faced the massive forces of Xerxes, King of Persia. From the start, there was no question but that the Spartans would perish. In Gates of Fire, however, Steven Pressfield makes their courageous defense--and eventual extinction--unbearably suspenseful."
Generation Kill - Evan Wright. "A powerhouse work of nonfiction, Generation Kill expands on Evan Wright's acclaimed three-part series that appeared in Rolling Stone during the summer of 2003. His narrative follows the twenty-three marines of First Recon who spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Iraq. This elite unit, nicknamed "First Suicide Battalion," searched out enemy fighters by racing ahead of American battle forces and literally driving into suspected ambush points. Evan Wright lived on the front lines with this platoon from the opening hours of combat, to the fall of Baghdad, through the start of the guerrilla war. He was welcomed into their ranks, and from this bird's-eye perspective he tells the unsettling story of young men trained by their country to be ruthless killers. He chronicles the triumphs and horrors-physical, moral, emotional, and spiritual-that these marines endured while achieving victory in a war many questioned before it began. Wright's book is a timely account of war; even more important, it is a timeless description of the human drama taking place on today's battlefields. Written with brutal honesty, raw intensity, and startling intimacy, Generation Kill is destined to become a classic and take its place in the canon of the most captivating and authentic works of war literature."Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy - Richard Brownlee. "Excellent foray into a chapter of the Civil War that does not always garner attention -- the establishment of a police state in Missouri and the subsequent backlash and ensuing war of sabotage by local guerrillas. Missouri and Kansas had shared much animosity in the years leading up to the Civil War, and Kansas, who was a steadfast Union state, used the War as an opportunity to raid Missouri towns as Union Army representatives. Missouri to this point had been a borderline state. Many of the bands of Guerrillas, while they received aid from the Confederacy, never considered themselves a part of any Civil War cause. As Bill Anderson wrote, "I am a guerrilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men . . . I have chosen guerrilla warfare to revenge myself for wrongs that I could not honorably avenge otherwise."
Giap - Peter MacDonald. "Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect of Communist Vietnam's decisive victories over France and the United States, arguably ranks with the greatest names in the history of warfare. Yet he remains an elusive figure in this work by British author-soldier Macdonald, who interviewed the elderly Giap in Hanoi in 1990." (From a Reed Business Information, Inc. review)
Guerrilla Strategies - Gerard Chaliand. "This unique anthology of writings on revolutionary warfare and counterinsurgency covers almost all the major struggles of the modern world. Chaliand, who has had firsthand experience with guerrilla movements in Afghanistan, Africa, and Latin America, provides a concise yet panoramic overview of political and military strategies in revolutionary warfare, noting their strengths, limitations, and pathologies."
Guerrilla Warfare - Ernesto Guevara. "This edition of Che's classic work Guerrilla Warfare contains the text of his book, as well as two later essays titled Guerrilla Warfare: A Method and Message to the Tricontinental. Also included is a detailed introduction by Brian Loveman and Thomas M. Davies, Jr., examining Guevara's text, his life and political impact, the situation in Latin America, and the United States' response to Che and to events in Latin America. Loveman and Davies also provide in-depth case studies that apply Che's theories on revolution to political situations in seven Latin American countries from the 1960s to the present."
Guests of the Sheikh: An Ethnography of an Iraqi Village - Elizabeth Warnock Fernea. "This account of a two-year stay in the southern Iraqi village of Al-Nahra during the late 1950’s is an excellent insight into the traditional cultural and social values of the Shi’a in that region."
Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond. "Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. In this 'artful, informative, and delightful' (William H. McNeill, New York Review of Books) book, Jared Diamond convincingly argues that geographical and environmental factors shaped the modern world. Societies that had had a head start in food production advanced beyond the hunter-gatherer stage, and then developed religion --as well as nasty germs and potent weapons of war --and adventured on sea and land to conquer and decimate preliterate cultures. A major advance in our understanding of human societies, Guns, Germs, and Steel chronicles the way that the modern world came to be and stunningly dismantles racially based theories of human history."
Hell in a Very Small Place - Bernard Fall. "The definitive account (Saturday Review) of the battle that paved the way for American involvement in Vietnam. The 1954 battle of Dien Bien Phu ranks with Stalingrad and Tet for what it ended (imperial ambitions), what it foretold (American involvement), and what it symbolized: A guerrilla force of Viet Minh destroyed a technologically superior French army, convincing the Viet Minh that similar tactics might prevail in battle with the U.S."
A History of Warfare - John Keegan. "Based on the premise that all civilizations originate in conflict, this work is a sweeping view of the place of warfare in human culture and an exposition of the human impulse toward violence. It probes the motivations and methods of war over the centuries -- from the strangely ritualistic combat of Stone Age peoples to today's warfare of mass destruction. In the process, it shows how war has maintained its singular hold on the imagination, reaching into the most secret places of the human heart, places where self dissolves rational purpose, where pride reigns, where emotion is paramount, where instinct is king."
How Democracies Lose Small Wars - Gil Merom. "The ongoing debate about democracy, war, and peace has been enlivened and enriched by this exceptional book."
How We Won the War - Vo Nguyen Giap. "Vietnam's top military strategist tells the secrets of their victory in May 1975. Published on the first anniversary of the Vietnamese victory over the most powerful nation on Earth, this book is now in it's eighth printing."
Humanitarian Intervention: Operation Provide Comfort - Gordon Rudd. "Assisting the Kurds in Operation Provide Comfort - this book is a template for humanitarian intervention. A veteran of Provide Comfort, Gordon Rudd was well positioned to observe and appreciate its complexities. He has carefully documented and described this challenging and precedent-setting operation..."
Imperial Grunts - Robert Kaplan. "America is no less an imperial power than Britain and Rome in their times, claims veteran journalist Kaplan (Balkan Ghosts, etc.)—one that is backed by the same sort of enforcers. To illustrate, he travels to seven nations and describes how American troops are, if not ruling the world, working to persuade it to follow our lead. The author joins elite units (generally marines or special forces) sent to shore up friendly governments, win people's hearts, train security forces and defeat terrorism—an increasingly vague term that includes narco-guerrillas, local warlords, unruly tribes and criminal gangs. Living among working soldiers, Kaplan makes no secret of his admiration for their camaraderie, practicality and rational if politically incorrect views. All roll their eyes when our leaders proclaim that defeating terrorism requires democratic governments; according to Kaplan, they believe this is nonsense in Colombia, Kenya, Yemen and the Philippines—all democracies. Forbidden to fight in these countries, Americans are building infrastructure and gathering intelligence as they instruct local units, hoping American-trained leaders will eventually rise to positions of authority. Military buffs will prefer the chapters on Iraq and Afghanistan, where the soldiers are slugging it out. Stabilizing all these nations may take decades, these men and women say—except in Iraq, where it may take longer."
In Retrospect - Robert McNamara and Brian VanDeMark. "The #1 national bestseller--an indispensable document for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. McNamara's controversial book tells the inside and personal story of America's descent into Vietnam from a unique point of view, and is one of the most enlightening books about government ever written."
Infantry in Battle - Infantry Journal, Inc. "One of the most important professional American military works ever written. Drawn from official U.S., French, British and German accounts of battles in the Great War and compiled in the 1930s by several U.S. Army officers, this book is a foundational must-read for any ground combat leader of any rank."
Inside Al-Qaeda - Mohamed Sifaoui. "This is a translation of a book written in French by an Algerian journalist based in Paris. Sifaoui managed to infiltrate a militant Islamic group in Paris because he was from the same village in Algeria as one of the group’s members, whose trial he covered for a Luxembourg television station. It is a quick read but an excellent inside view of European militant groups and how they interact with each other."
Insurgency and Terrorism - Bard O'Neill. "A systematic, comprehensive and straightforward format for analyzing today's insurgencies. Well organized, clearly written, and solidly thought out."
Intelligence in War - John Keegan. "In fiction, the spy is a glamorous figure whose secrets make or break peace, but, historically, has intelligence really been a vital step to military victories? In this breakthrough study, the preeminent war historian John Keegan goes to the heart of a series of important conflicts to develop a powerful argument about military intelligence."
Inventing Iraq - Toby Dodge. "This scholarly and fascinating book studies a previous occupation of Iraq, by the British Empire's rulers, and it shows how and why this occupation failed. British forces seized Iraq at the end of World War One and until 1932 successive British governments tried to rule it."
The Iraq War - John Keegan. "From the best-selling author of The First World War and Intelligence in War comes the most up-to-date and informed study yet of the Iraq War. John Keegan, whom the New York Review of Books calls "the best historian of our day," now brings his extraordinary expertise to bear on perhaps the most controversial war of our time. In exclusive interviews with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and General Tommy Franks, John Keegan has gathered information about the war that adds immeasurably to our grasp of its causes, complications, costs, and consequences."
Jefferson's War - Joseph Wheelen. "Two centuries ago, the ostensibly pacifist president Thomas Jefferson launched America’s first war on foreign soil—a war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, encrypted intelligence, and foreign bases under short-term alliances. For nearly two hundred years, Barbary pirates had haunted the Mediterranean, enslaving infidels and extorting millions of dollars from European countries in a holy war against Christendom. Newly independent, American ships became a target of piracy. Instead of paying tribute, after his inauguration Jefferson chose to fight. With telling illustrations, Jefferson’s War traces the events surrounding his resolute belief that peace with the Barbary States, and the attainment of Europe’s respect, could be gained only through the 'medium of war.' Jefferson ordered the new U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801, starting the Barbary War that ended in 1805. The war proved that ship-for-ship the U.S. Navy was the equal of any navy afloat. William Eaton’s bold frontal assault on Derna with a fractious army of Arabs, disaffected Tripolitans, European mercenaries, and eight U.S. Marines punctuated the American victory as the marines ran up the Stars and Stripes over the city—the first flag-raising on hostile shores by U.S. troops."
Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia - Ahmed Rashid. "A well-written history of jihad, with a South Asian perspective, by an Indian Muslim journalist. The paperback edition is updated with commentary on the war in Iraq."
Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda - Thomas Odom. Foreword by General Dennis J. Reimer, USA (Ret.). In July 1994, Thomas P. Odom was part of the U.S. Embassy team that responded to the Goma refugee crisis. He witnessed the deaths of 70,000 refugees in a single week. In the previous three months of escalating violence, the Rwandan genocide had claimed 800,000 dead. Now, in this vivid and unsettling new book, Odom offers the first insider look at these devastating events before, during, and after the genocide. Odom draws on his years of experience as a defense attaché and foreign area specialist in the United States Army to offer a complete picture of the situation in Zaire and Rwanda, focusing on two U.S. embassies, intelligence operations, U.N. peacekeeping efforts, and regional reactions. His team attempted to slow the death by cholera of refugees in Goma, guiding in a U.S. Joint Task Force and Operation Support Hope and remaining until the United States withdrew its forces forty days later. After U.S. forces departed, Odom crossed into Rwanda to spend the next eighteen months reestablishing the embassy, working with the Rwandan government, and creating the U.S.–Rwandan Demining Office. Odom assisted the U.S. ambassador and served as the principal military advisor on Rwanda to the U.S. Department of Defense and National Security Council throughout his time in Rwanda. This book candidly reveals Odom's frustration with Washington as his predictions that a larger war was coming were ignored. Unfortunately, he was proven correct: the current death toll in Rwanda is over three million. Odom's account of the events in Rwanda not only illustrates how failures in intelligence and policy happen but also shows that a human context is necessary to comprehend these political decisions.
Killing Pablo - Mark Bowden. "A tour de force of investigative journalism-this is the story of the violent rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the head of the Colombian Medellin cocaine cartel. Escobar's criminal empire held a nation of thirty million hostage in a reign of terror that would only end with his death. In an intense, up-close account, award-winning journalist Mark Bowden exposes details never before revealed about the U.S.-led covert sixteen-month manhunt. With unprecedented access to important players-including Colombian president César Gaviria and the incorruptible head of the special police unit that pursued Escobar, Colonel Hugo Martinez-as well as top-secret documents and transcripts of Escobar's intercepted phone conversations, Bowden has produced a gripping narrative that is a stark portrayal of rough justice in the real world. The story of how the U.S. Army Intelligence and Delta Force commandos helped Colombian police track down and kill Pablo Escobar is a compelling, almost Shakespearean tale."
The Korean War - Max Hastings. "It was the first war we could not win. At no other time since World War II have two superpowers met in battle. Now Max Hastings, preeminent military historian takes us back to the bloody bitter struggle to restore South Korean independence after the Communist invasion of June 1950. Using personal accounts from interviews with more than 200 vets -- including the Chinese -- Hastings follows real officers and soldiers through the battles. He brilliantly captures the Cold War crisis at home -- the strategies and politics of Truman, Acheson, Marshall, MacArthur, Ridgway, and Bradley -- and shows what we should have learned in the war that was the prelude to Vietnam."
Learning from Somalia - Walter Clarke and Jeffrey Herbst. "Conventional foreign policy wisdom tells us that the armed multinational humanitarian intervention in Somalia, which began in December 1992, was a humanitarian success in the short term but became a political and military failure after the operations were turned over to the United Nations in May 1993."
Logistics in the National Defense - Henry Effingham Eccles. "The author develops the concept that logistics constitute a bridge between the national economy and the combat forces. He explains the role of the civilian as well as of the professional, and discusses the differences in their modes of thought and methods of operation."
Low Intensity Operations; Subversion, Insurgency, Peace-Keeping - Frank Kiston.
Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age - Peter Paret and Gordon Craig. "One of the essentials, a good starting point for the study of military history and strategy."
Making the Corps - Thomas Ricks. "Making the Corps visits the front lines of boot camp, Parris Island, South Carolina. Here, old values are stripped away and new, Marine Corps values are forged. Acclaimed military journalist Thomas E. Ricks follows these men from their hometowns, through boot camp, and into their first year as Marines. As three fierce drill instructors fight a battle for the hearts and minds of this unforgettable group of young men, a larger picture emerges, brilliantly painted, of the growing gulf that divides the military from the rest of America."
The Making of Strategy - Williamson Murray, Alvin Bernstein and MacGregor Knox. "Moving beyond the limited focus of the individual strategic theorist or the great military leader, The Making of Strategy concentrates instead on the processes by which rulers and states have formed strategy. Seventeen case studies--from the fifth century B.C. to the present--analyze through a common framework how strategists have sought to implement a coherent course of action against their adversaries. This fascinating book considers the impact of such complexities as the geographic, political, economic and technical forces that have driven the transformation of strategy since the beginning of civilization and seem likely to alter the making of strategy in the future."
Maneuver Warfare Handbook - William Lind. "Maneuver warfare, often controversial and requiring operational and tactical innovation, poses perhaps the most important doctrinal questions currently facing the conventional military forces of the U.S. Its purpose is to defeat the enemy by disrupting the opponent's ability to react, rather than by physical destruction of forces. This book develops and explains the theory of maneuver warfare and offers specific tactical, operational, and organizational recommendations for improving ground combat forces. The authors translate concepts-too often vaguely stated by maneuver warfare advocates-into concrete doctrine. Although the book uses the Marine Corps as a model, the concepts, tactics, and doctrine discussed apply to any ground combat force."
The March Up - Ray Smith and Bing West. "This very readable eyewitness history of the 1st Marine Division in the recent Iraq War was penned by two very qualified observers: both West and Smith served in Vietnam as Marines; Smith also served in Granada and Beruit, while West (The Village; The Pepperdogs) is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense."
Mars Learning - Keith Bickel. The Marine Corp's development of Small Wars doctrine, 1915-1940. "By looking back to history, Mars Learning provides helpful reminders for the future."
The Mask of Anarchy - Stephen Ellis. "For the last decade Liberia has been one of Africa's most violent trouble spots. In 1990, when thousands of teenage fighters, including young men wearing women's clothing and bizarre objects of decoration, laid siege to the capital, the world took notice. Since then Liberia has been through devastating civil upheaval and the most feared warlord, Charles Taylor, is now president. What began as a civil conflict, has spread to other West African nations. Western correspondents saw in the Liberian war a primeval, savage Africa-a 'heart of darkness.' They focused on sensational 'primitive' aspects of the conflict, such as the prevalence of traditional healers and soothsayers, and shocked the international community with tales of cannibalism, especially the eating of the body parts of defeated opponents, which was widespread. Eschewing popular stereotypes and simple explanations, Stephen Ellis traces the history of the civil war that has blighted Liberia in recent years and looks at its political, ethnic and cultural roots. He focuses on the role religion and ritual have played in shaping and intensifying this brutal war."
Maverick Marine - Hans Schmitt. "Butler joined the Marines in 1898 and saw action all over the world, winning two Medals of Honor, but he is remembered not so much for his military exploits as for his apostasy during his latter years. A statement he made in 1935 sums up the drastic turnabout: 'I spent 33 years in the Corps, and spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business.' He also said he had been a racketeer for capitalism who 'helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street.' Schmidt, a lecturer in history at the University of Hong Kong, traces Butler's stormy career: his various expeditionary campaigns, his central role in internal Marine Corps politics during the 1920s and his bizarre but effective war on crime and vice in Philadelphia."
Me Against My Brother - Scott Peterson. Peterson files this report from the front lines of three of Africa's most virulent wars of the 1990s. It has the immediacy and vividness of eyewitness testimony, because Peterson, who was reporting from Africa for London's Daily Telegraph, was present at the scenes of battle, recording his impressions as the carnage went forward. His reporting is visceral and close to the ground."
A Message to Garcia - E. Hubbard. "A marvelous story about a man who went it alone and got it done. Translated into all languages, this story has become a model for success."
Military Innovation in the Interwar Period - Williamson Murray and Allan Millett. "This study of major military innovations in the 1920s and 1930s explores differences in innovating exploitation by the seven major military powers. This volume of comparative essays investigates how and why innovation occurred or did not occur, and explains much of the strategic and operative performance of the Axis and Allies in World War II."
Military Misfortunes - Eliot Cohen and John Gooch. "Military failures have long been studied piecemeal, but there are few scholarly attempts to quantify and systematize them. Here, two professors of military history reduce the study of command blunders to a science. Several intellectual shortfalls, such as the failures to learn, to anticipate, to adapt, are analyzed. Each is then followed by the study of a pivotal battle or campaign which easily could have turned out differently, but for the 'pathways to misfortune' which intervened. The work is painstaking, detailed, and thoughtful, marred only by a ponderous writing style. It is more mature and systematic than Charles M. Fair's From the Jaws of Victory. For informed laypersons and specialists." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Military Operations in Low Intensity Conflicts - US Army and US Air Force. "Military Operations in Low Intensity Conflict was jointly prepared by the United States Army and the United States Air Force to develop comprehensive military doctrine and guidance to support the U. S. government’s activities in an environment of low intensity conflict (LIC). This publication provides the basic foundation for Army and Air Force personnel to understand the complexities of operating in the LIC environment. It discusses the four major types of operations typically found in LIC - support for insurgencies and counterinsurgencies, combating terrorism, peacekeeping operations, and peacetime contingency operations - and it explains the subtle yet critical differences between LIC and other conventional operations. Low intensity conflicts have been a predominant form of engagement for the military over the past 45 years. In all likelihood, this will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. All military personnel must understand the characteristics of low intensity conflict if we are to conduct military operations successfully in this environment."
Modern Wars and Counter-Insurgencies - Ian Beckett. "Ian F. W. Beckett is Professor of Modern History at the University of Luton and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. His many publications include The Amateur Military Tradition (1991) and Encyclopedia of Guerilla Warfare (1999)."
The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History - Translated by Franz Rosenthal. "This theory of history, philosophy and civilization was written as an introduction to a larger history of the world by the well-traveled Tunisian scholar Ibn Khaldun in 1377 AD. It remains a classic foundation work informing the Arab world’s view of history and social organization that established the author as one of the leading luminaries of Islamic history."
No True Glory - Bing West. "For months author F. J. 'Bing' West lived among the Marines who besieged the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, and interviewed members of the three US Army units that fought in that factious city before the Marines arrived. With access from frontline personnel to senior policymakers and negotiators, West’s astonishing account takes us into strategy discussions between generals, on tense night patrols, and into fighting from rooftop to rooftop to tell the story that hasn’t been told in the press or on the nightly news."
The Old Man's Trail - Tom Campbell. "The recent restoration of relations between the U.S. and Vietnam may spur interest in Campbell's debut novel, which deals with the journey of a North Vietnamese supply platoon down a torturous 650-mile trail. Campbell, a retired Marine colonel who served in Vietnam, tells the story through the eyes of combat-hardened platoon leader Pham Van Duan, who must lead a band of new recruits, laden with critical cargo, to the end of the trail. Along the way, the soldiers encounter dangerous terrain, jungle predators, shortages of food and medicine and the hovering presence of the American enemy. Campbell is a competent storyteller who observes most of the standard war novel conventions, including an emphasis on action at the expense of character development. This slows the story, especially in its first half, as the drama of the platoon's difficulties barely balances a multitude of stereotypes and overly familiar scenes. The novel's latter half, however, races along after an American attack traps Duan and his charges between a group of deadly U.S. planes and regular North Vietnamese forces seeking to shoot them down. Throughout, Campbell offers an excellent analysis of tactical issues, and with richer characters the novel might have been a genre standout; in any case, it's of note as one of the few books to tell of the Vietnam war from the other side." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
On Guerrilla Warfare - Mao Zedong / Mao Tse-Tung. "This book was written by Mao in 1937 as he was waging a guerrilla war against the occupying army of Imperial Japan. Mao's text reveals a great deal of planning, thought and organization must go into conducting a successful insurgency. Short and to the point, this book is a surprising modern account of employing guerilla warfare against a more powerful enemy."
On Infantry - John English and Bruce Gudmundsson. "Another volume in Praeger's The Military Profession series, this revised edition of the 1984 Praeger classic tells the story of infantry in the 20th century and its impact on the major conflicts of our time. Its purpose is to provide the reader--whether infantryman or not--with hitherto unavailable insights on the role that infantry plays in the larger battle and how that has helped shape the world that we live in today."
On Strategy - Harry Summers. "Summer's inspired analysis of America's war in Vietnam answers the most pressing questions remaining from that terrible conflict more than a decade before Robert McNamara's painful admissions."
On War - Karl Von Clausewitz. "On War is the most significant attempt in Western history to understand war, both in its internal dynamics and as an instrument of policy. Since the work's first appearance in 1832, it has been read throughout the world, and has stimulated generations of soldiers, statesmen, and intellectuals."
One Bullet Away - Nathaniel Fick. "The global war on terrorism has spawned some excellent combat narratives—mostly by journalists. Warriors, like Marine Corps officer Fick, bring a different and essential perspective to the story. A classics major at Dartmouth, Fick joined the Marines in 1998 because he "wanted to go on a great adventure... to do something so hard that no one could ever talk shit to me." Thus begins his odyssey through the grueling regimen of Marine training and wartime deployments—an odyssey that he recounts in vivid detail in this candid and fast-paced memoir. Fick was first deployed to Afghanistan, where he saw little combat, but his Operation [Iraqi] Freedom unit, the elite 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, helped spearhead the invasion of Iraq and "battled through every town on Highway 7" from Nasiriyah to al Kut. (Rolling Stone writer Evan Wright's provocative Generation Kill is based on his travels with Fick's unit.) Like the best combat memoirs, Fick's focuses on the men doing the fighting and avoids hyperbole and sensationalism. He does not shrink from the truth—however personal or unpleasant. "I was aware enough," he admits after a firefight, "to be concerned that I was starting to enjoy it."
One Hundred Days - Sandy Woodward and Patrick Robinson. "This fine naval autobiography takes us behind the scenes of the Falklands sea / air war and modern battle management in general. Admiral Woodward didn't exactly know what he was sailing into back in 1982, and makes no attempt to hide his personal sense of vulnerability as Britain's first fighting admiral in high-tech warfare. The entire book is refreshingly down-to-earth. Woodward is quick to note that he was tapped for the job because he happened to be the navy's closest flotilla commander at the time (in Gibraltar)--and confides that his superiors almost replaced him with a higher-ranking officer even as he led the task force into danger. This is no stuffed-shirt memoir."
Operation Corporate: The Falklands War, 1982 - Martin Middlebrook. "The author of ten previous military histories, Middlebrook has written an absorbing, hard-to-put-down account of the Falklands War. The work shows a skilled hand, and interviews with participants of all ranks have given an added richness to the account. (Unfortunately, Middlebrook could not gain access to Argentinean personnel and documents). Good Briton that he is, Middlebrook's view of the Belgrano sinking is straightforward: the Argentinean navy was "not out on a summer cruise" and criticisms of the British are therefore 'humbug.' The book leaves politics to others. For devotees of military history, or for those who don't know how brutal war is, this is a good selection." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Origins of the Korean War - Bruce Cumings. "Cumings examines the internal political-economic development of the two Korean states and the consequences, for Korea, of Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. He investigates the intense border fighting and internal political instability that preceded the Northern invasion and challenges the notion of sudden Soviet-sponsored intervention. He discusses, among other topics, the containment doctrine as applied to South Korea and the subsequent adoption by the United States of a 'rollback' policy aimed at eliminating communism in North Korea."
Our Great Spring Victory - Van Tien Dung.
A People Numerous and Armed - John Shy. "A series of essays about the social, political, and intellectual dimensions of the Revolutionary War."
Phase Line Green - Nicholas Warr. "The bloody month long battle for the Citadel in Hue pitted U.S. Marines against an entrenched North Vietnamese Army force. By official accounts it was a tactical and moral victory for the Marines and the United States. But here survivor Nicholas Warr describes with urgency and outrage the Marines' savage house-to-house fighting--ordered without air, naval, or artillery support by officers with no experience in that type of combat. Sparing few in the telling, Warr's firsthand narrative tells of desperate Marine suicide charges and of the Marines' selfless devotion to their comrades. His riveting account of the most vicious urban combat since World War II offers an unparalleled view of how a small-unit commander copes with the conflicting demands and responsibilities thrust upon him by the enemy, his men, and the chain of command."
The Philippine War, 1899-1902 - Brian McAllister Linn. "1999 began the centennial of the Philippine War, one of the most controversial and poorly understood events in American history. The war thrust the U.S. into the center of Pacific and Asian politics, with important and sometimes tragic consequences. It kept the Filipinos under colonial over-lordship for another five decades and subjected them to American political, cultural, and economic domination. In the first comprehensive study in over six decades, Linn provides a definitive treatment of military operations in the Philippines. From the pitched battles of the early war to the final campaigns against guerrillas, Linn traces the entire course of the conflict. More than an overview of Filipino resistance and American pacification, this is a detailed study of the fighting in the 'boondocks.' In addition to presenting a detailed military history of the war, Linn challenges previous interpretations. Rather than being a clash of armies or societies, the war was a series of regional struggles that differed greatly from island to island. By shifting away from the narrow focus on one or two provinces to encompass the entire archipelago, Linn offers a more thorough understanding of the entire war."
Plan of Attack - Bob Woodward. "The definitive account of how and why President George W. Bush, his war council, and allies launched a preemptive attack to topple Saddam Hussein and occupy Iraq. Bob Woodward's latest landmark account of Washington decision making provides an original, authoritative narrative of behind-the-scenes maneuvering over two years, examining the causes and consequences of the most controversial war since Vietnam."
Prodigal Soldiers - James Kitfield. "Freelance journalist Kitfield relies heavily on personal accounts in this story of the officers who reshaped the U.S. Army and Air Force after the experience of Vietnam and then led our troops in Operation Desert Storm. In the 1970s the U.S. began to adjust to a professional military after depending on the Selective Service system. In the 1980s, increased defense budgets enabled the modernization of arsenals and the stockpiling of supplies and equipment, while cumbersome higher command systems were simplified. By the time of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, America's military leaders were eager to demonstrate what 20 years of reform had wrought. This is a highly favorable account of that effort." (Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law - Khaled Abou El Fadl. "Khaled Abou El Fadl's book represents the first systematic examination of the idea and treatment of political resistance and rebellion in Islamic law. Pre-modern jurists produced an extensive and sophisticated discourse on the legality of rebellion and the treatment due to rebels under Islamic law. The book examines the emergence and development of these discourses from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries, and considers juristic responses to the various terror-inducing strategies employed by rebels--including assassination, stealth attacks and rape. The study demonstrates how Muslim jurists went about restructuring several competing doctrinal sources in order to construct a highly technical discourse on rebellion. Indeed many of these rulings may have a profound influence on contemporary practices. This is an important and challenging book which sheds light on the complexities of Islamic law, and pre-modern attitudes to dissidence and rebellion."
Reporting Vietnam - William Hammond. "For many Americans during the Vietnam era, the war on the home front seemed nearly as wrenching and hard-fought as the one in Southeast Asia. Its primary battlefield was the news media, its primary casualty the truth. But as William Hammond reveals, animosity between government and media wasn't always the rule; what happened between the two during the Vietnam War was symptomatic of the nation's experiences in general. As the "light at the end of the tunnel" dimmed, relations between them grew ever darker."
Rifleman Dodd - C. S. Forrester and E. H. Simmons. "This is a classic tale of one man's fight against the enemy. A British rifleman has been cut off behind enemy lines by the French advance into Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars. The British Army was pushed back to a last line of defense. The rifleman continues to do what he can to stop the French advance, with no hope for personal recognition or rewards (no banners, no bands), and a slim chance of survival. Highly trained to do his duty, he takes to the woods, scouts the enemy, and carries out hit and run raiding. The novel is a study of one man's commitment to duty taking precedence over his own personal survival. It shows how one man with ability, courage, and initiative can make a difference to the outcome of a war." (Fred Camfield)
The Rise and Fall of Great Powers - Paul Kennedy. "About national and international power in the 'modern' or Post Renaissance period. Explains how the various powers have risen and fallen over the 5 centuries since the formation of the 'new monarchies' in Western Europe."
The River War - Winston Churchill. "First published in 1899, this enduring, insightful account of the re-conquest of Sudan not only chronicles a campaign but also demonstrates how it altered the destiny of England, Egypt, and the Arabian peoples in northeast Africa."
A Savage War of Peace - Alistair Horne. "The Algerian war was at once the last of the old-style "colonial wars" and the archetype of horribly savage new conflicts - undeclared wars between old and new worlds - waged successfully by urban terrorists and country-based guerrillas against crack modern armies. In eight years, more than a million Algerians died and an equal number of Europeans lost their homes. It was a tragedy rife with lessons Americans had to learn all over again in Vietnam. As the Third World continues to make its aspirations felt, and established political powers continue to maintain an order they must struggle to impose, the story of Algeria's fight for independence stands as model and prophecy. A Savage War Of Peace is the definitive history of that prophetic war."
The Savage Wars of Peace - Max Boot. "Reviewed and debated everywhere, this book has become a key volume in the case for a new policy of interventionism."
Semper Fidelis (The Macmillan Wars of the United States) - Allan Millet.
Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence. "The monumental work that assured T.E. Lawrence's place in history as "Lawrence of Arabia." Not only a consummate military history, but also a colorful epic and a lyrical exploration of the mind of a great man who helped shape the Middle East as it exists today."
The Shade of Swords: Jihad and the Conflict Between Islam and Christianity - M. J. Akbar. "The first cohesive history of Jihad - Akbar considers how Jihad's origins lie in the earliest consciousness of Muslims, as witnessed in the miraculous victory of the Prophet's outnumbered troops at Badr. From Muhammed to the Assassins, and from the collapse of the Moghul and Ottoman empires to the modern struggle for Palestine, Akbar's story explains how Jihad thrives on complex and shifting notions of persecution, victory and sacrifice, and how Muslims themselves have historically tried both to direct and to control the phenomenon of Jihad. The power of Jihad, and thus of the Taliban today, pervades the mind and soul of Islam. Its plural meaning as simultaneous mass and private sentiment is its true strength and significance."
Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980-1995 - Steve Stern. "A collection of essays that vividly documents a revolution that only brought suffering and death. This five-part book traces the roots of the Shining Path from its heady beginning to the conquest that failed."
Silence was a Weapon - Stuart Herrington. "Vietnam."
Slim, Master of War - Robert Lyman. "In his superbly written, thoroughly researched Slim, Master of War: Burma and the Birth of Modern Warfare (London: Constable, 2004), Robert M. Lyman, a retired British Army officer, has given us the best book yet on the man regarded as the outstanding British general of the 1939-1945 war: William Slim. Wounded in World War I and thereafter serving in a Gurkha regiment, Slim inherited the principal command in Burma in the wake of British defeats at Hongkong, Singapore, and Rangoon; and American ones at Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, and in the Philippines. The Japanese appeared unstoppable as jungle fighters, and the theater that the Americans called “CBI” - for China-Burma-India proved nearly as destructive to the careers of Allied generals as did the difficult jungle environment to the American, British, African, and Indian soldiers who had to fight in it. Slim, however, devised ways to beat the Japanese at their own game, ultimately luring them to decisive defeat at Kohima-Imphal, just inside the Indian border from Burma. Slim did this by inducing his enemies to reach their point of culmination but to continue to press on—and into the face of superior Allied air and artillery that decimated the Japanese. Shifting over to the offensive, Slim outmaneuvered and outfought the Japanese in a campaign remarkable for the paucity - in comparison to the campaign in Northwestern Europe or, earlier, to the British effort against Rommel in North Africa - of material resources that supported it."
The Sling and the Stone - Colonel TX Hammes. "... the U.S. has adapted poorly in response to the new generation of guerrilla warfare. Fourth-generation warfare, as Hammes calls it, is what American forces encounter in Iraq and Afghanistan and Israelis find in Palestine, and it is the way of the future: guerrilla warfare characterized by political acumen and patience, using communications networks and strategic strikes to demoralize and exhaust conventionally superior militaries."
A Small Corner of Hell - Anna Politkovskaya. "Chechnya, a 6,000-square-mile corner of the northern Caucasus, has struggled under Russian domination for centuries. The region declared its independence in 1991, leading to a brutal war, Russian withdrawal, and subsequent "governance" by bandits and warlords. A series of apartment building attacks in Moscow in 1999, allegedly orchestrated by a rebel faction, reignited the war, which continues to rage today. Russia has gone to great lengths to keep journalists from reporting on the conflict; consequently, few people outside the region understand its scale and the atrocities--described by eyewitnesses as comparable to those discovered in Bosnia--committed there. Anna Politkovskaya, a correspondent for the liberal Moscow newspaper Novaya gazeta, is the only journalist to have constant access to the region. Her international stature and reputation for honesty among the Chechens have allowed her to continue to report to the world the brutal tactics of Russia's leaders used to quell the uprisings."
Small Wars - C. E. Caldwell. "More than a century later, it is still a classic detailed study of irregular warfare. It is interesting and instructive with insights into modern warfare years ahead of the 4th generation warfare proving grounds of the 20th and 21st century."