Non-fiction Book Recommendation?

I read a lot of military history. The first book that came to my mind to recommend are the books on the pacific war by Ian Toll: The "Conquering Tide" and "Pacific Crucible". They gave me a much better understanding of the Pacific War and our Navy from both our side as well as lots of research on the Japanese. They are the first two books of a trilogy that is in progress.

I did 2 tours in Southeast Asia but learned gained a new perspective on the war from reading "A Shau Valor" by Thomas Yarborough.

The experiences of a draftee in 1970 are well summarized in "349 Days" by Slater Davis.
 
brigham33 said:
I read a lot of military history. The first book that came to my mind to recommend are the books on the pacific war by Ian Toll: The "Conquering Tide" and "Pacific Crucible". They gave me a much better understanding of the Pacific War and our Navy from both our side as well as lots of research on the Japanese.
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Let me recommend "War Without Mercy" by John Dower, which gives a racial/cultural perspective on the Pacific War.

It goes into depth on the attitudes of both sides toward each other, as well as toward the peoples of the territories over which they contended.

Eventually, while we got serious about understanding Japanese culture and society in order to defeat Japan, the Japanese just plowed on in self-serving ignorance. Like the Germans, they never understood us, and never really wanted to.

We thought the Japanese couldn't fight, and they thought we wouldn't.

We were both wrong.
 
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"We Who Are Alive and Remain" by Marcus Brotherton
A companion book to Band of Brothers

Two others that I found very good are:
"Infantry Soldier" by George Neill and
"Once Upon a Time in War" by Robert Humphrey
About the Battle of the bulge

Vietnam Era:
"If Not Now, When?" by Col. Jack Jacobs

For a more modern experience:
"Ghosts of War" by Ryan Smithson

I can go through my bookshelf if you would like more ideas.
 
Escape from Corregidor written by Edgar Whitcomb. Whitcomb was an Air Force officer stationed on Bataan when the war began. Whitcomb was governor of Indiana in the late 1960s.
 
rwsmith said:
In the same vein, there is a book called "The Frontiersman" about Simon Kenton who was the equivalent of Crockett and Boone but not nearly as well known. Fascinating book. If I learned anything from it, it was than if the Indians that he encountered liked you, they would kill you quick. If they DIDN'T like you it could take days.:eek:
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If it's the same book.. "The Frontiermens" by Allan Eckert.... I read it as it covers a bit of W Pa,W.VA., Ohio and Indiana ....... along with "Kan-tuk-kee".

Good history read..... more Boone era than Crockett........ and covers a area/time in US history that seems to be overlooked....... Western Reserve and Ohio River valley
 
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My all-time favorite non-fiction book does not focus on firearms, wars, or military history.

"Travels with Charley" by John Steinbeck chronicles his journey across America in 1961 in a camper truck, along with his dog Charley. His descriptions of the locales and the people along the way are masterful.

As for firearms, at the risk of self-promotion, if you're into firearms, I'll let J.B. Wood tell you about my book, of which I'm very proud.

John

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Another Great Read!

First, many thanks to all who responded. I now have a good file of reading materials for the near future.

Let me also recommend "Shadow Divers" by Robert Kurson. This is one of those rare reads that you simply can't put down. Wish I could say more but I won't ruin it for anyone planning to read it.

And yes, I've read Paladin85020's recommendation of "Travels With Charlie", a truly great book well worth reading.

Congratulations are also in order for Paladin85020 on the recent publication of his book, "101 Classic Firearms."
 
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Two excellent WWII Submarine books are written by Admiral Richard H O'Kane. Wahoo and Clear the Bridge both could hold someone spell bound who had no previous knowledge of WWII.

Try and read some of J Frank Dobie who wrote about the SW. A lot of his books were retelling stories of fact and possible fiction from 100-200 years ago.

The Worst journey in the World by Apsley Cherry- Giraud is of the Scott expedition to Antarctica and while occasionally dry it is fascinating to see the accomplishments of humans.
I believe Endurance should be required reading for all to pass HS. I prefer the Alfred Lansing edition to a latter one.
 
The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule. This is the story of Ted Bundy written by a crime writer who just happened to have served on a suicide prevention hot like with him. It is the definitive story of Bundy, his life and his crimes. A fascinating read!!!

Delta Force by Col. Charles Beckwith. The account of the failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran in the early 80s as well as the account of the author who conceived the plan, sold it to General Meyers the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and President Jimmy Carter. A great view of the inner workings of the military and some of the petty rivalry which which contributed to the failure. If you read this you may agree that we need more like Col. Beckwith.

Tuesdays With Morrey by Mitch Albom. some insight of dealing with dying and death. Very well written and spot on!
 
Two historical fiction series ..... I have enjoyed reading over the years; sitting in front of the fire over long cold winters.........................

The Sharpe Series by Bernard Cornwell........ a "rifle company" (Baker Rifles) in the Napoleonic Wars on the Peninsula.

The Hornblower novels..... 14 or 15 IIRC...... same time frame in the British Royal Navy.....midshipman to admiral......
 
zzzippper said:
I suggest Neptune's Inferno about the Guadalcanal naval campaign. My mistake was getting it as an ebook. History needs to be read on paper so your can reference back to previous pages.
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I liked Neptune's Inferno (although it is a bit long), but the best book about the campaign (land, air and sea) is Guadalcanal by Richard Frank. Indeed, it is the best book I have ever read on a single campaign.

Neptune's Inferno is a narrative history focusing on the experiences of the men on the ships, but it leaves out the context, so why the ships were doing what they were doing gets a bit lost. It also does not tell you anything about the Japanese side of the hill.
 
Interesting suggestions above. Let me add a couple from William Manchester: American Caesar (a great portrait of MacArthur), and "Goodbye Darkness" which is an odyssey of the authors experience as a Marine in the Pacific, WW II. Sad, but I highly recommend to anyone interested in WW II history.
 
Where to even start...? Well, going back to the beginning, I suppose the first non-fiction book I ever read was "God is my Co-pilot", by Col. Robert Scott's classic about the Flying Tigers. Still a good read. Another one I first read over 50 years ago is Ken Purdy's "Kings of the Road", a Grand Prix and sports car racing history. Chas. Lindbergh's, "Spirit of St. Louis" is another one of my first non-fiction reads and one that is still on my shelf.
 
David Halberstam, The Coldest Winter (about the Korean War), The Fifties, and any of his baseball books: Summer Of '49, October, 1964, or The Teammates.

Bryan Burrough, Public Enemies, about the crime wave of 1933-34 and the first fumbling steps of the FBI.

Fred Allen, Much Ado About Me and Treadmill To Oblivion.

Charles Kuralt, A Life On The Road.

Richard Marks, Between Silk And Cyanide, a really fascinating account of code-breaking and encoding in British Intelligence in World War II.
 
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Add: Michael Lee Lanning, Senseless Secrets - The Failures of U. S. Military Intelligence.
Covers the innumerable instances of totally botched military and CIA intelligence operations from the Revolutionary War through Grenada. Especially interesting is a very concise yet detailed discussion of the multitude of intelligence failures of Vietnam and thorough coverage of the abortive attempt to rescue U. S. Embassy personnel from Iran. Fascinating reading, but a little old (1996). Were it written today, it could cover many more intelligence blunders.
 
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I'm finishing this, great read.
 
Well,from what your original post said,you seem to like U.S historical related books.This is great as I own a few dozens of books about U.S.history(in general and also about the War of Independance,the Civil War,WW1 and WW2 and a few about what happened in between the 2 WW).
But if I may suggest,my favorite writer being Sir Winston Churchill,Nobel prize of Litterature,having written a trilogy of the''history of english speaking countries'',these books explaining ''per se''the birth of England and its evolution(including the birth of USA)and his own recognition of the powerfull presence of U.S in WW1 and WW2.They might be hard to find but well worth the looking for! Good reading!
Qc
 
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DWalt said:
Add: Michael Lee Lanning, Senseless Secrets - The Failures of U. S. Military Intelligence.
Covers the innumerable instances of totally botched military and CIA intelligence operations from the Revolutionary War through Grenada. Especially interesting is a very concise yet detailed discussion of the multitude of intelligence failures of Vietnam and thorough coverage of the abortive attempt to rescue U. S. Embassy personnel from Iran. Fascinating reading, but a little old (1996). Were it written today, it could cover many more intelligence blunders.
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Another great read along those lines, and timely, is "Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner (2007)
Pretty interesting and important.
The CIA itself was very critical of the book, declaring that "anyone who wants a balanced perspective of CIA and its history should steer well clear of Legacy of Ashes."
 
Just finished reading for the 3rd time "Blackhawk Down". If that doesn't make you want to wring Slick Willie's neck nothing will. Reading now again for the 3rd time "We Were Soldiers Once...And Young". LBJ is as sorry as Slick Willie!!!
 
I would read anything by Ivan Musicant. He is an excellent writer who has authored two of my favorite history books. His Battleship at War is a fascinating account of the USS Washington during World War II. The Washington single-handedly sank the Japanese battleship Kirishima off Guadalcanal, but never got much credit for it because the USS South Dakota (which was poorly handled during the battle) got back to the US first, and claimed the kill. And his Divided Waters should be considered the definitive history of the (oft-neglected) naval actions of the Civil War.

There have been many books about the Battle of Midway, but the best of them is Shattered Sword by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully. Using recently discovered sources, they were able to overturn a number of myths about Midway that had been perpetuated by earlier books. They spend a lot of time describing the battle from the Japanese perspective. It's very thorough and a great read if you're even slightly curious about this critical battle.
 
I forgot about " The Billion dollar Spy" US espionage in the USSR and how we really kept up in the cold war.
 
The Scout of the Buckongehanon, about life in the mid 1700 in western Virginia.
 
A lifetime of reading historical non fiction and I have a hard time coming up with some titles. Some of the most recent I enjoyed:

"A Bridge Too Far" Cornelius Ryan. About operation Market Garden, the attempted capture of the bridge in Arnhem in WW2 and what a screwed up affair it was. Mongomery called it 90% successful after 8,000 lives lost and 50 miles of a road to nowhere captured.

"Dead Wake" Eric Larson. About the sinking of the Lusitania.

"Isaac's Storm" Eric Larson. About the Galveston Hurricane in 1900 (or thereabouts).

"The Boer War" Thomas Pakenham. Eveything you ever wanted to know about the Boer War.

"The Fatal Shore" Robert Hughes. About the founding of Australia.
 
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