What To Read...

The reason I am writing about this subject in this posting is because sometimes, in the midst of this media frenzy about the election, we need to be reminded of how we're still a democracy to begin with.

Sometimes I get asked, "I want to read a book on World War II, what should I read?". Here is my answer to that question. Stephen Ambrose's Citizen Soldiers. Ambrose is (was) a magician with the delicate balance of the big picture combined with the personal accounts, and this book is no exception. It's very readable for people who might not know anything about more "technical" aspects of World War II, such as weaponry caliber or specifics on strategy.

There are a number of other war history books that I highly recommend as well. Following are some of them and my reasons why (I'm sure I'm missing a whole bunch).

Aleksander Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago. A classic. Enough said.

Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels. While this book is considered a Civil War historical novel, it is primarily based on Robert E. Lee's diaries, as well as Stonewall Jackson's diaries. The movie Gettysburg was inspired by it. Anything by Michael Shaara is worth the read, Jeff Shaara's books are good also.

James McPherson's The Battle Cry Of Freedom. A book about the Civil War that is divided into chapters on different subjects. A good book to read for the occasional reader, you can put this one down and come back to it due to its format.

Ernie's War. This book is the "best of" fellow beloved Hoosier Ernie Pyle's World War II dispatches. Another book that you could put down for a bit (but I dare you to). Ernie's rapport with the common soldier was uncanny, and that is evidenced in his writing.

Stephen Ambrose's D-Day. This book covers the planning on the operation in depth, but yet again, not highly technical. The logistics of a landing like this were planned for months and months, but all went to pot within the first couple of hours. It was up to the American GI to improvise and problem solve, and this is his story. Also covers some of the strange anomalies that inherently come with combat.

Charles Whiting's Bloody Aachen. Describes in detail the siege that was laid on Aachen, Germany by the U.S., and the basic strategic futility surrounding the entire battle.

Hans Von Luck's Panzer Commander. A view from the German side from a man who commanded a group of German tanks, the best tanks in the war. Became a good friend of Stephen Ambrose's later on.

Franz Kurowski's Panzer Aces. A book following a select few German tankers during the invasion of Poland and into Russia. Deals quite a bit with the battle of Kursk. Makes me wonder why a Hollywood producer has not made a movie about Kursk.

James Bradley's Flags of our Fathers. Inspired the movie with the same name. The Pacific Theatre is often overlooked by more "mainstream" historians - they tend to focus more on the European Theatre (I have my own theories on that). Iwo Jima was just a different type of battle. Many veterans say that they never saw a live Japanese during the entire battle.

There are obviously many, many good books out there. If you already have read World War II books, I would steer you towards books on the battles in North Africa, Monte Cassino, Sicily, Saipan, and Corregidor, just to name a few. There are also very gritty first hand accounts of war, a couple of them that I have read are the accounts by Donald Burgett of the 101st Airborne ("The Battered Bastards of Bastogne"), David Kenyon Webster of the 506th's Easy Company in the same division, and Gerald Astor's A Blood Dimmed Tide, which is basically a collection of first hand accounts during the battle in the Ardenne. Anything by Ambrose is highly recommended, even though I haven't read all of his books. Pegasus Bridge is a great short read, it deals with one of the most daring commando raids in all of World War II.