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Thread: Why Is The SWJ Recommended Reading List Devoid of Fiction?

  1. #41
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    Default Gospel

    Quote Originally Posted by Tom Odom View Post
    That's because Sam Damon was real!
    The Gospel according to Anton is fiction????
    "What do you think this is, some kind of encounter group?"
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  2. #42
    i pwnd ur ooda loop selil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 120mm View Post
    Oddball trivia factoid: I've been corresponding periodically with David Drake since the late 1980s; first by letter and then by e-mails. He's really a nice guy and is an extremely driven writer.
    Next time you talk to David Drake tell him thanks from a fan.
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    Selil Blog
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  3. #43
    Council Member Backwards Observer's Avatar
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    Loyd Little wrote two novels that were particularly adept at walking between the worlds. Parthian Shot has been mentioned on the Council. In The Village Of The Man, about a somewhat burned-out CIA guy posing as a Catholic priest in Seventies Laos, is also excellent.

    Loyd Little related links:

    Loyd's Memories

    Gia Vuc A Camp

    Council related:

    http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=2179

    http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ead.php?t=1788
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  4. #44
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    Default Yacoubian Bldg...

    is also out as a movie. It had to be considerably trimmed back to make it to the screen in Egypt, but it is still pretty good and Adel Imam has a great performance as Zaki Bey.

  5. #45
    Council Member Billy Ruffian's Avatar
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    Default My two cents

    Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series was pretty good.

    While not focusing solely on the military aspects of the Late Republic (although she does go into some great deal about the Marian reforms), she does an excellent job in my opinion of detailing the campaigns of the renegade Quintus Sertorius as well as the pontic wars between King Mithridates and the Republic. The Social and Civil wars and the guerilla campaigns of the Samnites and Marsian tribes are also well done I think.

    The First Man in Rome
    Fortune's Favourites
    Caesar's Women
    Caesar
    The October Horse

    Good historical fiction that aims for realism as opposed to strict historical accuracy. When it comes to the minutae of wearing a toga or how to weaken the shaft of a pila though the author makes sure to get it right.
    "I encounter civilians like you all the time. You believe the Empire is continually plotting to do harm. Let me tell you, your view of the Empire is far too dramatic. The Empire is a government. It keeps billions of beings fed and clothed. Day after day, year after year, on thousands of worlds people live their lives under Imperial rule without ever seeing a stormtrooper or hearing a TIE fighter scream overhead."
    ―Captain Thrawn

  6. #46
    Council Member carl's Avatar
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    A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin (I never tire of recommending this book.)
    Cross of Iron by Willie Heinrich
    Goodbye to Some by Gordon Forbes (Navy patrol bombers in the SW Pacific. There was a reason they didn't drill procedures for losing an engine on takeoff.)
    The Last Squadron by Gerd Gaiser (Things were pretty good for the Luftwaffe fighter squadrons until they had to try to hold back the tide coming out of Willow Run and Santa Monica.)
    And Quiet Flows the Don by Sholokhov

    The man-eater hunting books by Jim Corbett aren't fiction but they are great. I think it was Robert Thompson maybe who said if you want to understand what it is like to live where terrorists reign, read Jim Corbett's books.
    "We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again." Gen. Nathanael Greene

  7. #47
    Moderator Steve Blair's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by carl View Post
    Cross of Iron by Willie Heinrich
    A great book. Crack of Doom by the same author is also quite good.
    "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

  8. #48
    Council Member Billy Ruffian's Avatar
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    Default Omission

    I forgot to place theGrass Crown in between Fortune's Favourites and Caesar's women. It focuses almost exclusively on Sulla's administration and restructuring of the Republic during his dictatorship.
    "I encounter civilians like you all the time. You believe the Empire is continually plotting to do harm. Let me tell you, your view of the Empire is far too dramatic. The Empire is a government. It keeps billions of beings fed and clothed. Day after day, year after year, on thousands of worlds people live their lives under Imperial rule without ever seeing a stormtrooper or hearing a TIE fighter scream overhead."
    ―Captain Thrawn

  9. #49
    Council Member 120mm's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
    Next time you talk to David Drake tell him thanks from a fan.
    Wilco.

  10. #50
    Registered User Clinkerbuilt's Avatar
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    In the same vein as Pournelle's "The Prince", "1634" and anything else Drake:

    THE STARFIST SERIES

    http://www.amazon.com/StarFIST-David...m/MLSKSY9YW9WY


    THE RAJ WHITEHALL SERIES

    http://www.amazon.com/Forge-Raj-Whit...7838881&sr=8-2
    "Hey, Leif?! Where'd we leave the boat?"

  11. #51
    Council Member Kevin23's Avatar
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    How about the Dune series of books by Frank Herbert? As it has good examples of leadership, the politics of waging a war in a far away land, a complicated situation both tactically and strategically, and even some COIN.

  12. #52
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default Read the Flashman series

    by George MacDonald Fraser -- you'll learn more...

  13. #53
    Council Member Kevin23's Avatar
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    Btw I guess many of the Tom Clancy novels are good also.

    Larry Bond could also be added to the list, especially for Vortex and Red Phoenix.

  14. #54
    Council Member Ken White's Avatar
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    Default You're going downhill there

    Fiction is fiction and there's little to be learned from it. The more outrageous the premises of the book, the less of real benefit likely to be found. OTOH, if you read 'em for entertainment, cool.

  15. #55
    Council Member Ron Humphrey's Avatar
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    Default Believe or not

    I always liked Mccaffrey's Dragons of Pern for everything from long term societal development, conflict amongst groups, joint ops, and just plain old well developed characters with story-lines that could fit just about any third world country.

    Also like a lot of Clancy and Brown but always with the caveat Ken mentioned.
    Any man can destroy that which is around him, The rare man is he who can find beauty even in the darkest hours

    Cogitationis poenam nemo patitur

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