Book recommendations

Cadet35

Cadet35

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Jul 11, 2019
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I’ve been reading 30-60 minutes every day for the past few months and I have grown to love diving into a book that expands my horizons. Any recommendations? I’d prefer a military or political book.
 
Cadet35 said:
I’ve been reading 30-60 minutes every day for the past few months and I have grown to love diving into a book that expands my horizons. Any recommendations? I’d prefer a military or political book.
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There are several book/recommended reading threads which have popped up in the last few years.

Here’s a good place to start, with reading lists and book review podcasts:
www.dodreads.com

- DODReads

I'm John Laney, a guy who nearly failed his Command Selecton Board when he could not come with a good answer to "What are you Reading?" Four years later I'm running the largest military reading website; come join me on the journy.
www.dodreads.com www.dodreads.com
 
Cadet35 said:
I’ve been reading 30-60 minutes every day for the past few months and I have grown to love diving into a book that expands my horizons. Any recommendations? I’d prefer a military or political book.
Click to expand...
As a current active battalion commander i am recommending my lieutenants read

We Were Soldiers by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway
Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
Common Sense Training by Arthur Collins
This Kind of War by TR Fehrenbach
Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Platoon Leader by James McDonough
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Would also recommend Range why Generalists triumph in a specialized world by David Epstein
 
I'd second We Were Soldiers - great book. I just finished "Robert E. Lee and Me: A Southerner's Reckoning with the Myth of the Lost Cause" by former soldier, retired General, and head of the West Point history department Ty Seidule. It's a great read and a good history lesson.
 
For fiction I would recommend Brad Thor. Lots of action, and locations and other things are very realistic. Amazing author. Also The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brian.
For nonfiction:
Make Your Bed (William H. McRaven)
The Right Kind of Crazy (Clint Emerson)
Hellfire Boys (Theo Emery)
Basher Five Two (Scott O'Grady)
Anything by David Goggins
Anything by Jocko Willink
 
“Team of Rivals,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Brilliant book about a brilliant leader — Lincoln — who knew that amid unprecedented crisis, the nation needed its best leaders to come together even if they weren’t in lockstep agreement. Lincoln would get them aligned around the best ideas, and the best ideas often didn’t come from him. He got the most out of his team, with no concern of who got the credit, which is what great leadership is all about.

Shortly after the book was published, I saw DKG speak at a corporate event. She was an amazing storyteller, with a very distinct tone and cadence. When I read “Team of Rivals” shortly after, I couldn’t get her voice out of my head. It was like hearing an audiobook in paperback form.
 
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Civil War Authors:

Bruce Catton
Shelby Foote
James McPherson

You'll be reading for weeks & still won't get enough.
 
MidCakePa said:
“Team of Rivals,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Brilliant book about a brilliant leader — Lincoln — who knew that amid unprecedented crisis, the nation needed its best leaders to come together even if they weren’t in lockstep agreement. Lincoln would get them aligned around the best ideas, and the best ideas often didn’t come from him. He got the most out of his team, with no concern of who got the credit, which is what great leadership is all about.

Shortly after the book was published, I saw DKG speak at a corporate event. She was an amazing storyteller, with a very distinct tone and cadence. When I read “Team of Rivals” shortly after, I couldn’t get her voice out of my head. It was like hearing an audiobook in paperback form.
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Compared to Jefferson Davis who really was a horrible wartime president. Tolerated no dissent. Micro-managed. Everything was a priority, so naturally nothing was a priority. Took credit for victories, blamed everyone else for losses. He had vastly more experience in government & the military than Lincoln yet by far was inferior.
 
emwvmi01 said:
As a current active battalion commander i am recommending my lieutenants read

We Were Soldiers by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway
Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
Common Sense Training by Arthur Collins
This Kind of War by TR Fehrenbach
Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Platoon Leader by James McDonough
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Would also recommend Range why Generalists triumph in a specialized world by David Epstein
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I would add "Company Commander" by Charles MacDonald. He was a scared 22 year lieutenant in 1944-1945 & later became US Army chief historian.
 
emwvmi01 said:
As a current active battalion commander i am recommending my lieutenants read

We Were Soldiers by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway
Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
Common Sense Training by Arthur Collins
This Kind of War by TR Fehrenbach
Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Platoon Leader by James McDonough
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Would also recommend Range why Generalists triumph in a specialized world by David Epstein
Click to expand...

"This Kind of War" by the classic Texan writer TR Fehrenbach is the only book about the Korean War anyone ever needs to read to learn about that "conflict". Not afraid to criticize terrible US military decisions, particularly in the first year of the war. Not hesitant to praise US military adjustments & improvements, particularly under General Matthew Ridgeway after the firing of MacArthur by Truman. Fantastic book. A gem.
 
Company Commander is fantastic. So is If You Survive by George Wilson. I also really enjoyed:

The Good Shepherd by CS Forester
What it is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes
Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
Bones of My Grandfather by Clay Evans
East of Chosin by Roy Appleman
The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson
 
emwvmi01 said:
As a current active battalion commander i am recommending my lieutenants read

We Were Soldiers by Hal Moore and Joe Galloway
Black Hearts by Jim Frederick
Common Sense Training by Arthur Collins
This Kind of War by TR Fehrenbach
Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk
Platoon Leader by James McDonough
Culture Code by Daniel Coyle

Would also recommend Range why Generalists triumph in a specialized world by David Epstein
Click to expand...
When I was a company commander I had my LTs read “This Kind of War”. This was post Desert Storm when money was tight and training opportunities few. Our NTC rotation was canceled. It got so bad the regimental commander had to sign off on vehicle dispatches.
We were so desperate for training opportunities that we ran our post beautification detail (that, of course, didn’t stop) as a TOCEX.
My constantoft repeated mantra to my JOs and NCOs was “No more Task Force Smith”.
In 2004 I bumped into some of my old NCOs in a chow hall in Iraq. They recognized me, came up to my table and said at the time everyone thought I was a little crazy. Now, as they were leading convoys through Iraq, they understood.
 
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