Ah, good. I just posted a recommendation for Luttrell's book in a different community here. I finished it in 10 hours - couldn't put it down, and had to wipe the tears out of my eyes about fifty times or so. What a heart-breaking, and inspiring, book.
Currently:
- Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC by LTC Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR
- Police Sniper by Craig Roberts
In the queue:
- A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens by Lawrence E. Babits
- Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes by Dr. Henry C. Lee
Last edited by Rifleman; 06-16-2007 at 10:15 PM.
"Pick up a rifle and you change instantly from a subject to a citizen." - Jeff Cooper
I'm working on my dissertation, so I'm reading a lot, but here are the highlights:
Josephus, Wars of the Jews (Whitson translation) -- I read a page or two before bed
Lt. Charles Gatewood and His Apache Wars Memoir (Kraft, ed.)
Near a Thousand Tables: A History of Food (dissertation-related, but my husband's deployment has been replete with important food/dining issues -- the many meals he shares with the IA BNCO, over which they do much work, not to mention the relationship building (dining diplomacy), as well as the boxes of baklava he has bought for my husband to send back to me, which, even three weeks later were awesome; the problems with contractors as food providers (aka, the unlearning of the first lesson of American military history); candy-bar diplomacy; and finally, let's not forget the relationship between culture/society, war, and military organizations)
Oliver Knight, Life and Manners in the Frontier Army
In the queue...
Agostino Von Hassell, Military High Life: Elegant Food Histories and Recipes
Mary Massey, Ersatz in the Confederacy
.
The Knight book you have in the list is very good, if you haven't read it before. The Frontier Army's one of my big research "things," so I've read it more than a couple of times now.Originally Posted by Sargent
Current reading?
After Tet by Spector (re-read)
A series of SAMS monographs on cavalry in the UA, MOOTW, and so on (for a paper)
Low Level Hell by Mills (for the same paper - this is a re-read)
Setup by Tilford (for an article project - also a re-read)
Chasin Ghosts by Tierney (about 3/4 of the way through and not impressed)
waiting in the wings:
Taking Haiti by Renda
Masters of Death by Rhodes
Last edited by Steve Blair; 06-17-2007 at 01:22 PM.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Butch Tilford will be ecstatic to know he still has readers. He teaches history at Grove City College now.
Earl Tilford's book is one of the most insightful I've seen regarding both the AF's role in Vietnam and its operational culture (along with The 11 Days of Christmas, although it is focused on Linebacker and LB II). I'm usually pointing our cadets in its direction so they can get a different view on the AF in Vietnam, as the MAS syllabus tends to trot out the "company line." And since it's a free pdf download from the AU I'm hoping at least a couple of them will eventually read it.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
In my opinion the Air Force is the service least tolerant of deviation from the company line. Butch retired as a major, in part because he was an iconoclast.
More on VN Air War
Mark Clodfelter also does a very good job examining the air war in Vietnam. He makes one of the best points to counter the critics of the early air war -- the argument that it was too restrained, particularly the interdiction piece -- by pointing out that there simply were not enough targets. The predominant force in the early years was the VC/NLF, and they managed to fight on 35 tons of supplies per day. That translates into 7 deuce and a half trucks -- but probably more like a couple of hundred bicycles -- and such targets are not well-suited to air delivered ordnance, or interdiction of any sort.
This also explains why the air war was more successful under Nixon -- the decimation of the VC/NLF after Tet means more is coming from the North, and they are shifting to a more conventional form of war -- plus, Nixon is dealing with China, so the latter's support to the North is waning a bit. (At the other end, the early campaigns against the North _help_ that regime -- helps them to get assistance from the Soviets and the Chinese -- NVN GDP rises during Rolling Thunder.)
He also argues that the AF would not have conducted the air campaign much differently if it had been in charge.
I zorched through the Knight book early in my research, to get the lay of the land, and am now going through it in detail for use in the diss. Of course, I think Coffman's Old Army is great for this period as well. The chapter on the families in the post-Civil War period is a hidden treasure. I think most probably skip it -- who wants to read about the families? -- but I could swear that Coffman suggests that Libbie Custer and Bill Hickock had an affair -- she certainly seemed to know how to have a good time. Greene's Ladies and Officers of the US Army (or Army Aristocracy) is another good one, though he is in an obvious snit about all of the partying, and is very critical of any wife who is not on her best behavior.
I have a memory of reading Mills, for my MA thesis, but I read so many VN memoirs I could just be making it up. What is the paper?
Cheers,
Jill
Working on an idea for using cavalry as a reaction force for UW efforts. It's something I've been kicking around for a while, and the class gives me a nice excuse.
"On the plains and mountains of the American West, the United States Army had once learned everything there was to learn about hit-and-run tactics and guerrilla warfare."
T.R. Fehrenbach This Kind of War
Horse cavalry? (I suspect Huba wass de Czege would love that!).
If so, I remember that the original Small Wars manual does offer some useful advice on how to pack a mule.
Can you throw a post up when this gets published and is available on the internet? My PhD stuff covers similar territory, about eighty years back though, and I'd love to read it.
Posting Permissions
Bookmarks