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What is the best war book you have ever read?


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Ralph D. Sawyer, "Sun Tzu: Art of War" and Ervan F. Kushner, "Bogged Down In Bora Bora."

 

-John :thumbsup:

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  • 1 month later...

"The Deadly Brotherhood" is a great read outlining WWII combat. I really enjoyed "Charlie Wilson's War" for a different kind of "war book." The most interesting Civil War related book I have ever read is "Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey."

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  • 2 years later...

"The Killing Zone" by Frederic Downs, Jr

 

Not for a 9 or 5 year old though. Downs was a very brave Lt. in Vietnam, who was very seriously wounded by a mine. He pulls zero punches in his book, which is about his war in Vietnam, what he saw, and what he did. He does not hesitate to tell exactly the truth, whether it was about the Army run prostitution, or about when he ran through a bag shaped ambush- twice- to recover one of his men, or about shooting a civilian through the hand as she was stealing munitions, or about threatening the life of one of his own that was endangering the entire platoon with his cowardice, or about almost ordering the ambush of non combatants in a free-fire zone. Highly recommenced. Downs was nothing more or less than human and honest in his book, and makes no excuses, asks for no sympathy, and portrays himself just as he was. A gutsy book, should be read by more people in my opinion

 

I haven't read many books at all, don't read for pleasure, would just read books when I needed to know something. Now I search online.

 

Anyhow, I picked this book up to read on my way back home from overseas and it was excellent (IMO), a good read!

 

Now I'm going to have to search through some of my old boxes of stuff to see If I can find it and read it again.

 

The Killing Zone: My Life in the Vietnam War

by Frederick Downs

 

The killing zone begins on September 8, 1967, when Fredrick Downs arrives in country, a green but determined twenty-three-year-old infantry lieutenant. In the months of brutal combat that follow, Downs faces near-constant lethal danger, all the while following orders, keeping his men as safe as he can, and searching for the conviction and then the hope that the war is worth the sacrifice. In a new forward, Downs weaves the story of his recovery from wounds, both psychological and physical, with the story of his other platoon mates' experiences during and after the war.

 

Frederick Downs Jr. received four Purple Hearts, the Bronze Star with Valor, and the Silver Star for his service in the Vietnam War. He lives in Fort Washington, Maryland.

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Too many good ones over the decades to pick just one. BUT in 6th grade I got in trouble for reading "Devils In Baggy Pants", because it had "profanity" and "adult content". IIRC it did not even contain that F word....(darn).

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  • 3 months later...

Some of my favorites, not just for the subject matter but because they were so masterfully written:

 

The Coming of the Third Reich by Richard J. Evans is fantastic. However, the second and third books in his trilogy were, to my surprise and disappointment, tedious and uninteresting.

 

Hitler: The Path to Power by Charles Bracelen Flood is so well written that it made Kershaw's books on Hitler seems dry and bland in comparison. Flood wrote a bunch of Civil War books as well but I haven't read them.

 

Berlin by Antony Beevor about the battle for Berlin. He doesn't hold back on the horrors inflicted on the population, and why. This one is better than Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan, who spends way too much of the book discussing what the Americans were doing and not enough about the actual battle (though Ryan's books are wonderful).

Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. Another titanic battle that most Americans know little about. This is the best of the ones I've read about it.

 

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer is a really readable book that is similar to Sledge in the matter-of-fact storytelling.

 

With the Old Breed by Sledge. It's been mentioned many times already and there's a reason for that.

 

Rape of Nanking is a real eye-opener. You know the Japanese were brutal, but geeeezz... Flyboys was already mentioned, and it deals a lot with the Japanese as well. Both are unflinching. I knew a Japanese girl who told me that they are not taught things that "are shameful" and that most of the young have no idea what happened during the war aside from the incendiary raids and atomic bombs.

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post-3976-0-12706300-1370030241.pngDidn't think it'd hurt to add Ernie Pyle's books to the mix. I've read them all and enjoyed that perspective tremendously:

 

ERNIE PYLE IN ENGLAND

HERE IS YOUR WAR

BRAVE MEN

LAST CHAPTER

HOME COUNTRY

 

Oddly enough, in my case, I've not yet read ON A WING AND A PRAYER

 

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So many out there. I tried to narrow it to one book I could read over and over and find something new.

 

William Manchester. "Goodbye Darkness"

 

Considering I'm mainly a WW2 aviation guy, it's going some to have a book by a former Marine on the top of a long list. It's the only book that stays on the nightstand. Others get rotated out.

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wolfpack5430

Hello everyone! As an avid reader, a few exceptional war books that I would recommend come to mind:

 

- "To Hell & Back" By: Audie Murphy

- "Hell's Guest" By: Col Glenn D. Frazier

- "Heroes of WWII" By: Edward F. Murphy

- "Colditz: The Untold Story of World War II's Great Escapes" By: Henry Chancellor

- "Best Little Stories from World War II" By: C. Brian Kelly

- "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce" By: Stanley Weintraub

 

Happy readings!

Wolfpack

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ReverendJake

All Quiet on the Western Front. I never thought a book could make me love the Germans so much.

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BigDogMilitaria

The Last Stand of Fox Company by Bob Drury. An incredible account of the Marines at the Chosin Resevoir during the Korean War.

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IkeOmarGeorge45

For historical novels, Jeff Shaara has a trilogy of the African/European theater and one Pacific book. Easy reads and interesting.

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I've posted this list before in similar discussions. I use it with my college classes and the response to all of these is usually pretty good. To this I'll add, I'm sure with some disagreement from some, Rick Atkinson's trilogy. I've just completed the third volume and, with a few reservations, think it's a good read. Anyway, here goes:

 

 

Eleven Really Good Books on World War II

First Hand Accounts

 

Frank J. Irgang, Etched in Purple: One Soldier’s War in Europe. Dulles, Va.: Potomac Books, Inc., 2008. Originally published in 1949.

 

E.J. Jernigan, Tin Can Man. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1993.

 

Robert Leckie, Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific. New York: Bantam Books, 2010. Originally published in 1957.

 

Charles B. MacDonald, Company Commander. Short Hills, New Jersey: Buford Books, 1947. Several more recent editions available.

 

E.B. Sledge, With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa. New York: Presidio Press, 2007. Originally published in 1981.

 

 

Secondary Source Accounts

 

Steven E. Ambrose, D-Day. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994.

 

James Bradley, Flags of Our Fathers. New York: Bantam Books, 2000.

 

Thomas Childers, Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down Over Germany in World War II. Cambridge, Mass.: DaCapo Press, 1995.

 

Richard Lingeman, Don’t You Know There’s A War On? The American Home Front 1941-1945. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1970; reprinted 2003 by Thunder’s Mouth Press.

 

 

Two Others, Indirectly Related

Neal Bascomb, Hunting Eichmann. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harper, 2009.

 

Robert Kursan, Shadow Divers. New York: Random House, 2004.

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