I pick up a lot of these so I might as well talk about them someplace.

Last book finished was A GREAT CIVIL WAR by Russel Weigley, about the American Civil War. A fairly good and modern one-volume interpretation of the military and political history of the ACW. Recommended as a good starter work, not too long (though it looks that way, there's a lot of footnotes).

Current reading (well, actively anyway, there's quite a few laying around): THE NAVAL WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1940-1943. A very interesting look at the naval war and various campaigns in the Med in a period of time that's no too popularized (outside of the Taranto raid). Has a pretty heavy Italian emphasis to it (though not Italian-biased as far as I can tell). Some detailed stuff about day-to-day operations on all sides. Some typos abound so far, and while some naval battles have good maps, others have none at all (and what the writing expounds as the most important naval battle, Matapan, has none at all).

Reading BAND OF BROTHERS too.

--- Alan

Cool, military books!

I want to buy a copy of Band of Brothers from the original print run, and thanks to HBO, that's now easier said than done.

Just about to finish Combat Swimmer by Robert Gormly...interesting perspective to read after reading about Rogue Warrior Dick Marcinko.

Alan, speaking of naval participation in WWII, have you read Fire in the Sky by Eric Bergerud? I hear good things about it.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0465013708/qid=1002731989/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_3_1/104-6055711-7574336

I finished this about a month ago, and it's military history mixed with political analysis. Kevin Phillips makes an awfully good case that the American Revolution was just the second round of the English Civil War. The American Civil War makes a lot more sense through an perspective of "who immigrated from where in England" than you'd think, also.

His books about international trade are horrible, but he's an excellent political analyst.

There's a great book by Fred Anderson called CRUCIBLE OF WAR that makes a somewhat coincidental argument that the French & Indian War and the troubles that spawned from it were just a larger part of the American Revolution.

--- Alan

I just finished Rise to Revolution by Jeff Shaara. It's a fiction based entirely on letters and writings from historical figures. Sort of like speculative non-fiction or maybe historical fiction... I give up, it's like The Killer Angels (written by his father).

It's based on the opening of the American Revolution, beginning just after the Stamp Act and ending with the Declaration (a sequel will finish the job).

Anyway, it was wonderful reading the battle of Bunker (Breeds) Hill and Lexington & Concorde come to life on the page. He handles tactics and battle descriptions vividly.

-Andrew

I don't read alot of military history but two I've gone through recently are Charles Ross' "The Wars of The Roses" which offers some good insight on the dynamics and personalties, as well as the battles, of the period and "Vipers in The Storm" by Keith Rosenkrantz which was my Player's Guide to the Player's Guide of Falcon 4 - he talks in detail about F-16 operations in training and during the Gulf War including specific information about mission planning hows and whys that were great. I wouldn't recommend it for political insight though. :)

Not military history but...

Has anyone read the McCullough John Adams book here? Rise to Rebellion made me curious and I admired McCullough's Truman book.

-Andrew

Still have to recommend "Black Hawk Down"--

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0871137380

And for the record, yes, I bought this before Sept. 11 happened. The parallels between this modern conflict in Somalia and a ground war in Afghanistan are rather strong, at least to my uneducated eye..

Still have to recommend "Black Hawk Down"--

On that note, I'd also recommend "Killing Pablo," from the same author. KP provides an even deeper insight into the world of Special Operations and the use of unconventional tactics, tools, and capabilities for Counternarcotic ops.

Raphael

Killing Pablo - I didn't know the author had written another book before reading an interview he did with Salon.com. I will be picking that one up for sure. I read Black Hawk Down last year and it is a very good book.

-DavidCPA

Hmm, haven't posted here in my own thread for awhile.. recently picked up Sebastian Junger's FIRE, Norman Friedman's SEAPOWER AS STRATEGY, Edward Dolnick's DOWN THE GREAT UNKNOWN (about Powell's trip through the Grand Canyon in the Colorado River), and Stephen Hawking's THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL.

--- Alan

Have you had a chance to read the new Hawking book ? Any good ?