Why Is The SWJ Recommended Reading List Devoid of Fiction?

[CPT Foley]

The Yacoubian Building (Arabic: عمارة يعقوبيان ʿImārat Yaʿqūbīān) by Egyptian author Alaa el-Aswany is more insightful on the appeal of the Islamic extremism than anything on the list.

[jcustis]

Why Is The SWJ Recommended Reading List Devoid of Fiction?

It doesn't have to be...just seems to have turned out that way. But now we have a recommendation for a new book. Do you have any other info to add, like a brief review or layout of the book's themes?

[Old Eagle]

Check out the "what are you reading now" thread. There is a broader inventory there.

[120mm]

I vote for he first three books of the "Ender's" series by Orson Scott Card.

Each one embodies a key element of Small Wars. The first is about leadership, the second is about cultural relevance and the third is about ethics.

Must read fiction for COIN afficianadoes.

[Van]

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein.

An outstanding work of fiction that describes an insurgency from inception to independence, loosely based on the American Revoltion (or the Irish-German-Presbyterian Uprising for our British readers). The roles of media, communications, lethal force, cell structures, and financing are discussed intelligently.


"The Prince" by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling.

A compilation of the Falkenberg's Legion background and stories in a single volume. The last half is about an insurgency with the full range of insurgent and counter-insurgent activities.

[CPT Foley]

(From Amazon) The Yacoubian Building holds all that Egypt was and has become over the 75 years since its namesake was built on one of downtown Cairo’s main boulevards. From the pious son of the building’s doorkeeper and the raucous, impoverished squatters on its roof, via the tattered aristocrat and the gay intellectual in its apartments, to the ruthless businessman whose stores occupy its ground floor, each sharply etched character embodies a facet of modern Egypt -- where political corruption, ill-gotten wealth, and religious hypocrisy are natural allies, where the arrogance and defensiveness of the powerful find expression in the exploitation of the weak, where youthful idealism can turn quickly to extremism, and where an older, less violent vision of society may yet prevail. Alaa Al Aswany’s novel caused an unprecedented stir when it was first published in 2002 and has remained the world’s best selling novel in the Arabic language since.

About the Author
Alaa Al Aswany was born in 1957. A dentist, whose first office was in the Yacoubian Building, Al Aswany has written prolifically for Egyptian newspapers across the political spectrum on literature, politics, and social issues.

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It's flat-out disturbing, it paints the portrait of multiple sectors of Egyptian society and it's rotten to the core.

-The aspiring police candidate who turns to the mosque after he is rejected from the academy simply because his father works as a doorman

-His ex-girl friend who finally gives in and starts giving her boss what he wants, because that's the only way a woman in Egypt can hold a job outside the home

-The gay journalist living in fear the police will raid his meeting place

-"The Big Guy" aka, Mubarak, who gets a 25% cut of any significant commerce

Etc., etc.

Disturbing, but insightful.

[marct]

"The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Robert A. Heinlein.

"The Prince" by Jerry Pournelle and S.M. Stirling.

Add in the Draka series by Sterling, Starship Troopers (BOOK, not movie) by Heinlein and Count Belisarius by Robert Graves.

Of course, I also have a major weakness for Eric Flint's 1632 series, and Rob Thornton introduced me to the John Scalzi Old Man's War series which is pretty good.

[Marble Model]

I vote for he first three books of the "Ender's" series by Orson Scott Card.

Each one embodies a key element of Small Wars. The first is about leadership, the second is about cultural relevance and the third is about ethics.

Must read fiction for COIN afficianadoes.

Agree; the Ender's series could serve as a refreshing change of pace for those that only read non-fiction warfare literature. Many parallels to leadership that could be applied in modern business or Small Wars in the first title--Ender's Game...just a great book.