What Are You Currently Reading? 2007

[Rob Thornton]

I noticed that Potomac is already knocking down the price on my book and it's 10 months before publication. At this rate, by the time it finally comes out, they'll be paying people to take it.

Steve don't worry - the price in the AWC bookstore will be $40 and it will be on the required reading list

Congrats - its quite an accomplishment to publish a book.
Best Regards, Rob

[Rob Thornton]

Hit this a few minutes ago while reading Field Marshal Viscount Slim's "Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945" and wanted to share why I think amongst the various books and articles you might pick up why you might also pick up something from a British general who fought a tenacious and skilled enemy, in one of the worst places you could get stuck fighting a war - his observations run the gamut from civil military operations to tank warfare in restrictive terrain - from jungle fighting to HUMINT.

Here are some of Slim's observations on morale:

Morale is a state of mind. It is that intangible force which will move a whole group of men to give their last ounce to achieve something, without counting the cost to themselves; that makes them feel they are a part of something greater than themselves. If they are to feel that, their morale must, if it is to endure - and the essence of morale is that is should endure-have certain foundations. These foundations are spiritual, intellectual and material, and that is the order of their importance. Spiritual first, because only spiritual foundations can stand real strain. Next Intellectual, because men are swayed by reason as well as feeling. Material last-important, but last-because the very highest kinds of morale are often met when material conditions are lowest.

Slim goes on to lay out the composition of each category:

1) Spiritual
a) There must be a great an noble object.
b) Its achievement must be vital.
c) The method of achievement must be active, aggressive.
d) The man must feel that what he is and what he does matters directly toward the attainment of the object.

2) Intellectual
a) He must be convinced that the object can be obtained; that it is not out of reach.
b) He must see too, that the organization to which he belongs and which is striving to achieve the object is an efficient one.
c) He must have confidence in his leaders and know that whatever dangers and hardships he is called upon to suffer, his life will not be lightly flung away.

3) Material
a) The man must feel he will get a fair deal from his commanders and from the Army generally.
b) He must, as far as humanly possible, be given the best weapons and equipment for his task.
c) His living and working conditions must be made as good as they can be.

This is from the chapter entitled "The Foundations" which is the first after Slim has been promoted from command of VVV Corps to the command of 14th Army. Prior to that he'd been brought in from a division command in the Iraqi desert to take command of I Burma Corps - which had ended with a very difficult withdrawal while in contact with the Japanese back through Burma to India.

By the time he writes down his foundations of morale - the ones broken out above, he'd learned a helluva lot about leading men under the most difficult circumstances.

If you get a chance to read this book - you'll see allot of familiar observations about character, decision making under pressure, chance and opportunity in war, the importance of logistics, the effect of poor reports, or what it takes to adapt a unit to the conditions at hand to solve the tactical and operational problems it faces.


Best Regards, Rob

[Ski]

"Basic Principles of the Islamic Worldview" by Sayyid Qutb

"From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism" by Adnan Musallan

Writing a Master's Paper on the influence of Qutb on Al Qaeda and other Arab terror groups. Fun stuff. Sunnis, in general, have an extremely literal translation of the Quran. Qutb's basic message is that anyone outside of Islam is a jahili, and that includes the Shi'i and the Sufi as well.

[SteveMetz]

"Basic Principles of the Islamic Worldview" by Sayyid Qutb

"From Secularism to Jihad: Sayyid Qutb and the Foundations of Radical Islamism" by Adnan Musallan

Writing a Master's Paper on the influence of Qutb on Al Qaeda and other Arab terror groups. Fun stuff. Sunnis, in general, have an extremely literal translation of the Quran. Qutb's basic message is that anyone outside of Islam is a jahili, and that includes the Shi'i and the Sufi as well.

You might want to get in touch with Sherifa Zuhur.

[120mm]

I have been challenged by an on-line "weapons expert" to re-read "Mis-Fire; The History of How America's Small Arms Have Failed Our Military" by William H. Hallahan. I read it when it was first released, in the mid-90s, and left with somewhat of a sour taste in my mouth.

The "expert" challenged me to re-read it, and while there are some interesting bits, it is even more awful than I remember. If I were to grade it as 19 separate papers, it would average a "C", with some chapters getting an "A" and some getting an "F". This book is filled with internal contradictions, unsupported conclusions, and some "facts" that are just downright wrong.

Note to budding authors/historians: If you want to write history, write history. If you want to write technical history, without actual technical experience, please, spare us all from your floundering.

[Ski]

Thanks for the link Steve

You might want to get in touch with Sherifa Zuhur.

[Granite_State]

Bloch's Strange Defeat. Only about 15 pages in, but good so far.

[MattC86]

Liddell-Hart's The other Side of the Hill: Germany's Generals, Their Rise and Fall, With Their Own Account of Military Events, 1939-45.

He does an amazing job of breaking down the tendency of the Germans to blame things on Hitler, and showing exactly what happened. Eye opening.

Also an interesting study in the moral obligations of high command. Without Liddell Hart (probably my favorite military writer these days) saying it explicitly, I take away from it the terrible moral failure of the German generals isolating themselves from "political" decisions. It is convenient for the high-ranking officer to claim he only executes national policy determined by others, but to me, while his uniform prevents him from issuing orders to the highest civilian command, it does not, it must not remove him from the moral obligation to his country and his soldiers, to do what is right.

Matt