Good books on COIN?

[Tom Odom]

Fourth Tranche

Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. Wrong relates the final collapse of Mobutu's Zaire. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...g=UTF8&s=books
Kenya
Robert B. Edgerton, Mau Mau, An African Crucible. This is a critical history of the British COIN campaign against the Mau Mau in Kenya. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034...lance&n=283155.
Rwanda
Critical Number 13 LTG Romeo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil. This book is more than a simple commander's memoir of the tragedy; it provides invaluable insights into UN peacekeeping operations. Available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...g=UTF8&s=books
Philip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories From Rwanda. This book offers first hand experiences in the genocide.
Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=UTF8&s=books
Robert E. Gribbin, In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda. Ambassador Gribbin was the US Ambassador in Rwanda from 1996-1998. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059...g=UTF8&s=books
Human Rights Watch and FIDH, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. This study is the most detailed on the planning, mechanics, and execution of the genocide. You may read it on line at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/index.htm - TopOfPage
Shaharyar Khan, The Shallow Graves of Rwanda. Ambassador Khan was the senior UN diplomat in UNAMIR 2. It is available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/186...g=UTF8&s=books
Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims become Killers. Mamdani's analysis of the genocide as a regional issue is ground breaking. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069...g=UTF8&s=books
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign
Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Prunier offers a first rate analysis of the French role in the genocide. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/023...g=UTF8&s=books
Colin M. Waugh, Paul Kagame and Rwanda. As yet this is the closest there is to a biography of Kagame. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...g=UTF8&s=books
Somalia
Robert F. Baumann and Lawrence A. Yates with Versalle F. Washington, "My Clan Against the World" US and Coalition Forces in Somalia 1992-1994. "The impetus for this project came from the commanding general, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, who directed CSI to examine the American military’s experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand." You can download this study at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/clan.pdf.
Mark Bowden, Blackhawk Down. This is the best narrative on the battle of TF Ranger. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...g=UTF8&s=books
South Africa
Boer War
Michael Barthorp, The Anglo-Boer Wars, the British and the Afrikaners 1815-1902. Barthorp's pictorial history of the conflict is revealing through its photography and art.
Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094...lance&n=283155
Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War. Pakenham's work is the standard on the Boer Wars. Too many overlook the Boer War as a "quasi-conventional war" when it actually had
many of the same COIN elements that the US, the British, and others would struggle with after WWII. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...lance&n=283155
Rayne Kruger, Goodbye Dolly Gray: The Story of the Boer War. Kruger a South African published this book in 1959. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=283155.
The Zulu War
Michael Barthorp, The Zulu War, A Pictorial History. This pictorial history because of its extensive illustrations makes an excellent companion read to more detailed works.
Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/071...lance&n=283155.
Intelligence Branch of the War Office, Narrative of the Field Operations Connected with the Zulu War of 1879. As indicated this book is the documentary account of the Zulu Wars by the British War Office. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/185...lance&n=283155
Donald R. Morris, The Washing of the Spears, The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. This is the best single work on the Zulus and the Zulu War with the British. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...lance&n=283155.
Sudan
Byron Farwell, Prisoners of the Mahdi. The story of the Mahdi's Revolt and the unfortunate few who found themselves imprisoned in Mahdist Sudan for nearly 20 years. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...lance&n=283155
Alan Moorehead, The White Nile. This classic relates the story of the White Nile as set against the Mahdist Revolt and death of Chinese Gordon. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...lance&n=283155
Charles Chenevix Trench, The Road to Khartoum, A Life of General Charles Gordon. The story of Chinese Gordon who was far more important a figure in the 19th Century than Lawrence was in the 20th. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088...lance&n=283155.
Philip Zeigler, Omdurman. This book relates the culminating battle between the Anglo-Egyptian army under Kitchener and the Khalifa's Army at Omdurman. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/085...lance&n=283155

[MikeF]

Hi Tom,

Quick question.

Critical Number 10 Andrew Krepinevich, The Army and Vietnam. This study is one of the best monographs on the Viet Nam War.

Why is Krepinech's book still considered controversial? When I read it, I thought it was a monograph on organization change (or lack there of) of big Army fighting small wars. I could understand why it would have upset some people twenty years ago, but I don't know why it is still a hot-button issue. It didn't seem like the author was pushing an opinion or revisionist history on Vietnam rather just showing how bureaucracies are slow to adjust.

Mike

[Tom Odom]

Fifth Tranche

The American Experience
Angola
Chris Dempster and Dave Tomkins, Fire Power. One of the few works out there that offer insights into the U.S. involvement in Angola in 1975. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...lance&n=283155
Bosnia
Robert F. Baumann, George W. Gawrych, and Walter E. Kretchik, Armed Peacekeepers in Bosnia. "The authors shed light on several of the critical military lessons that have emerged from the US experience in Bosnia—an involvement that continues as of this writing. In general, these cover the cooperation and contention present in virtually any coalition undertaking; the complexity of the local situation and the way in which strictly military tasks have political, social, economic, and cultural ramifications that the military cannot ignore or avoid; the inevitable adjustments peacekeepers have to make to dynamic and precarious situations; and the often unaccommodating role history plays when confronted with concerns about force protection, “mission creep,” “end states,” and early exits." You may down load this study at: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...ann_bosnia.pdf.
Congo/Zaire
Madeleine Kalb, The Congo Cables. This book offers an embassy and State department inside view of the Congo Crisis from 1960-1963 during JFK's administration. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/002...g=UTF8&s=books
Thomas P. Odom, Leavenworth Paper #14 Dragon Operations: Hostage Rescues in the Congo 1964-1964. "The Dragon operations in the Congo-Dragon Rouge and Dragon Noir-were the first, and in many ways the most complex, hostage rescue missions of the cold war, Aimed at securing the release of nearly 2,000 European residents taken hostage during the Simba Rebellion in 1964, American aircraft projected a Belgian airborne unit thousands of miles into the heart of Africa. The planning and execution of this mission required the operational cooperation of three nations and their military forces in order to synchronize the arrival of airborne and ground forces to assault a hostile objective. At stake- as usual, and unfortunately- were the lives of innocent men, women, and children." This study though focused on the rescue of hostages in Stanleyville in is set in a counter insurgency war. It examines the rescue in political, military, and social terms against that
COIN background. You can read it on line at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../odom/odom.asp.
Thomas P. Odom, Shaba II: The French and Belgian Military Intervention in Zaire in 1978. This study "presents a historical analysis of the 1978 invasion of Shaba province by the exiled Katangan Gendarmerie. Included in this study is the Western reaction to the invasion, from the Zairian Army's initial response, which set off the massacre of expatriate mine workers, to the airborne landings of French and Belgian forces. The French responded by sending the Foreign Legion into Shaba to restore order in the province. Belgium, on the other hand, sent its Paracommando Regiment on the humanitarian mission of rescuing the hostages. Both countries developed independent plans for their missions, plans that were not coordinated until the two European forces were accidentally shooting at one another. The 1978 operations in Shaba should not be dismissed as something unusual or unlikely to reoccur, nor should they be discounted as European operations of little interest to U.S. planners. Since these Shaba II operations, the United States has been committed to similar operations in Lebanon, Grenada, Sudan, Somalia, Liberia, Panama, and the Persian Gulf. Without doubt, U.S. forces will continue to be involved in such operations, making Shaba II worthy of study by U.S. Army officers." It also delves heavily into the diplomatic and military efforts of the United States in this crisis. You may read it on line at: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...dom2/odom2.asp.
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Fred E. Wagoner, Dragon Rouge: The Rescue of Hostages in the Congo. Political-military study of the hostage crisis. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/141...g=UTF8&s=books
Dominican Republic
Lawrence A. Yates Leavenworth Paper # 15 Powerpack, U.S. Intervention in the Dominican Republic, 1965-1966. "In virtually every phase of the Dominican intervention, political considerations far outweighed military requirements in this sense. Power Pack illustrates the kind of political-military operations U S. armed forces are mast likely to engage in today under conditions short of all-out war. Many of the problems the military experienced in playing a supporting role to the diplomats and civil authorities instead of occupying stage center would later be reprised in Vietnam. In some respects, the U S intervention in the Dominican Republic was a dress rehearsal for Vietnam. In other respects. the dissimilarities are equally striking In the Dominican Republic; the United States deployed. in the course of one week. a force large enough to end a civil
war, suppress a potential insurgency. assist in restoring order and democracy, prevent a Communist takeover, and, having accomplished all this; leave the country one year later with its objectives achieved. The intervention in the Dominican Republic represents a successful application of U.S. power and diplomacy and an instructive case study for professional officers today." You can read or download this study at
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...ates/yates.asp or
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/content.asp - power.
Haiti
Walter E. Kretchik, Robert F. Baumann, and John T. Fishel, Invasion, Intervention, "Intervasion": A Concise History of the U.S. Army in Operation Uphold Democracy. "In September 1994, U.S. military forces were ordered to execute Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. The stated objectives of that undertaking included the return to office of the democratically elected president of that country and the creation of a stable and secure environment in which democratic institutions could take hold. In the short term, these objectives were met: President Aristide reassumed his duties as president, the junta that had ousted him in 1991 was forced to leave the country, and national elections were successfully held in 1996. Although the long-term prognosis for Haiti remains guarded, the democratic process there was given the opportunity to succeed due, in large part, to Operation Uphold Democracy." You may read the study on line at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...k/kretchik.asp
Korea
Daniel P. Bolger, Leavenworth Paper #19, Scenes from an Unfinished War: Low-Intensity Conflict in Korea, 1966-1968. " Most Americans associate U.S. military intentions in Korea with the Korean War, 1950-53. This Is understandable In that the war, although limited in scope end objectives, was fought primarily with the weapons and tattles identified with conventional warfare. The Korean War is also remembered for the civil-military crisis It precipitated between the president of the United States, Harry Truman, and the commander of United Nations forces in Korea, General Douglas MacArthur The Truman-MacArthur controversy is still capable of generating passionate discussion, even though the president with the backing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall, had little choice but to relieve the general of command it civilian control of the military was to be secured. Less known to most Americans is the extended period of low Intensity conflict that North Korea conducted against South Korea in the mid to late 19605. This period of hostilities had its dramatic moments, such as the seizure of the USS Pueblo. But for the most part, the tactics consisted of propaganda, infiltration, assassination plots, and guerrilla warfare. Because the war in Vietnam overshadowed these developments, the "unfinished war" m Korea has largely been ignored by military officers studying the nature and demands of modern warfare. In this sense, the label "forgotten war." often applied to the conventional war of the early 1950s, is much more applicable to the conflict on the peninsula from 1966 to 1969." You may read or download it at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...ger/bolger.asp or
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/content.asp - scenes.

[Tom Odom]

Sixth tranche

Lebanon
LTC Robin Higgins, Patriot Dreams: The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins. This book covers the abduction of then LTC Rich Higgins in Lebanon in 1988. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094...g=UTF8&s=books
Michael Petit, Peacekeepers at War. This is an excellent account of the Marines in Lebanon in 1982 and the Beirut bombing. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/057...lance&n=283155
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Roger J. Spiller, Leavenworth Paper # 3 "Not War But Like War": The American Intervention in Lebanon. "This ... Leavenworth Paper examines the U.S. military intervention in the 1958 Lebanese political crisis. By focusing on a relatively recent Army experience in planning and conducting a major contingency operation, the study illuminates the complexity of military planning and the incongruity between plans and performance. This focus promotes the value of the historical perspective in clealling with contemporary military subjects and provides a timely opportunity to apply the lessons of the past." You may read or download it on line at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...2/spiller2.asp or
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...s/spiller2.pdf.
Rwanda
Philip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories From Rwanda. This book offers first hand experiences in the genocide.
Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=UTF8&s=books
Robert E. Gribbin, In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda. Ambassador Gribbin was the US Ambassador in Rwanda from 1996-1998. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059...g=UTF8&s=books
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm
or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Somalia
Robert F. Baumann and Lawrence A. Yates with Versalle F. Washington, "My Clan Against the World" US and Coalition Forces in Somalia 1992-1994. "The impetus for this project came from the commanding general, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, who directed CSI to examine the American military’s experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand." You can download this study at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/clan.pdf.
Mark Bowden, Blackhawk Down. This is the best narrative on the battle of TF Ranger. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...g=UTF8&s=books
Viet Nam
John A.Cash, John Albright, and Allan W. Sandstrum, Seven Firefights in Vietnam. This is a military classic on small unit operations. Available for reading online at:http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/Vietna...rontMatter.htm
CMH Publication 90-23, Vietnam Studies, U.S. Army Special Forces 1961-1971. " As long ago as 1957, U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers were in the Republic of Vietnam, going about their business of training, advising, and assisting members of the Vietnamese Army. Despite the old Army witticism about never volunteering for anything, the Special Forces soldier is, in fact, a double volunteer, having first volunteered for airborne training and then again for Special Forces training. From a very meager beginning but sustained by a strong motivation and confidence in his mission, the Special Forces soldier has marched through the Vietnam struggle in superb fashion. In 1957 some fifty-eight Vietnamese soldiers were given military training by Special Forces troops. Ten years later the Special Forces were advising and assisting over 40,000 paramilitary troops, along with another 40,000 Regional Forces and Popular Forces soldiers. This monograph traces the development and notes the progress, problems, successes, and failures of a unique program undertaken by the U.S. Army for the first time in its history. It is hoped that all the significant lessons learned have been recorded and the many pitfalls of such a program uncovered. I am indebted to Major James M. Scott, Corps of Engineers, for his assistance on the Engineer effort. I am responsible for the conclusions reached, yet my thought processes could not escape the influence of the many outstanding officers and men in the Special Forces who joined in the struggle. Particularly, I must take note of the
contributions of the Special Forces noncommissioned officers, without question the most competent soldiers in the world." Available on line at: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vie...-23/90-23C.htm

[Tom Odom]

Seventh Tranche

Frederick Downs, The Killing Zone. Fred Downs' personal story of the Vietnamese War. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 9 Frances Fitzgerald, Fire in the Lake, The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. This is one of the few works that offers analysis that truly accounts for the Vietnamese side of the equation. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=UTF8&s=books
Colonel David Hackworth, About Face. This is Hackworth's memoir and best book. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Captain Ed Y. Hall, Valley of the Shadows. this book is unique as CPT Hall offers a combat memoir as an advisor to the South Vietnamese. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 10 Andrew Krepinevich, The Army and Vietnam. This study is one of the best monographs on the Viet Nam War. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...g=UTF8&s=books
Keith Nolan, Battle for Hue, Tet 1968. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089...g=UTF8&s=books
Robert Mason, Chickenhawk. Mason was an Army aviator with the 1st Cav. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...g=UTF8&s=books
LTG Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. This book is a classic study of men and war on both sides of the Vietnam conflict. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 11 Neil Sheehan, A Bright and Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. This is the story of John Paul Vann as an embodiment of the US effort in the Vietnamese War. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
James H. Wilbanks, Thiet Giap! The Battle of An Loc, April 1972. "The Battle of An Loc was one of the most important battles of the Vietnam War. It took place during the 1972 North Vietnamese Spring Offensive, after most U.S. combat troops had departed South Vietnam. The battle, which lasted over two months, resulted in the virtual destruction of three North Vietnamese divisions and blocked a Communist attack on Saigon. The sustained intensity of combat during this battle had not been previously seen in the Vietnam War. Although this battle occurred after the high point of American involvement in Vietnam, when U.S. forces were in the process of withdrawing from that country, Americans played a key role in the action. South Vietnamese ground forces and their U.S. Army advisers, working in close cooperation with U.S. Army and Air Force air support, proved a combination capable of resisting defeat and seizing victory. Because the Battle of An Loc did not involve large numbers of American troops, little has been written about the battle or American participation in it. Jim Willbanks' study focuses on the conduct of the battle and the role American combat advisers and U.S. air power played in defeating the North Vietnamese forces during the spring of 1972.
You can read this study at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../willbanks.asp.
The Arab-Israeli Experience
General
Critical Number 12 David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922. This is the best single book on how decisions made in WWI affect us everyday today. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...g=UTF8&s=books
John Laffin, Fedayeen, The Arab-Israeli Dilemma. This book chronicles the rise of radical Palestinian terrorism in the 1960s to the 1970s. It is listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/002...lance&n=283155
Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War. In many ways, Urquhart was a primary architect of UN peacekeeping operations in the Middle East and Africa. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...g=UTF8&s=books
Lebanon
Trevor N. Dupuy and Paul Martell, Flawed Victory, The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the 1982 War in Lebanon. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/091...lance&n=283155
John Gilmore, Lebanon, the Fractured Country. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074...lance&n=283155
LTC Robin Higgins, Patriot Dreams: The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins. This book covers the abduction of then LTC Rich Higgins in Lebanon in 1988. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094...g=UTF8&s=books
John Munro, Theatre of the Absurd, Life in Amin Gemayel's Lebanon. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=283155
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Michael Petit, Peacekeepers at War. This is an excellent account of the Marines in Lebanon in 1982 and the Beirut bombing. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/057...lance&n=283155
Itamar Rabinovich, The War for Lebanon 1970-1985. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...lance&n=283155
Jonathan C. Randal, Going All the Way: Christians, Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and the War in Lebanon. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Israel's Lebanon War. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...lance&n=283155
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Roger J. Spiller, Leavenworth Paper # 3 "Not War But Like War": The American Intervention in Lebanon. "This ... Leavenworth Paper examines the U.S. military intervention in the 1958 Lebanese political crisis. By focusing on a relatively recent Army experience in planning and conducting a major contingency operation, the studyilluminates the complexity of military planning and the incongruity between plans and performance. This focus promotes the value of the historical perspective in clealling with contemporary military subjects and provides a timely opportunity to apply the lessons of the past." You may read or download it on line at
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...2/spiller2.asp or
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...s/spiller2.pdf.
WWI
B.H. Liddell Hart, Lawrence of Arabia. This biography of Lawrence was first published in 1934. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 4 T.E. Lawrence, The Evolution of a Revolt. This article some 24 pages in length captures the heart of Lawrence's self-promoting Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It is an easy but intellectually filling read. You can read or download it at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...s/lawrence.pdf or http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...e/lawrence.asp.

[Tom Odom]

Tranche Eight

T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph. This book is the longer, more melodramatic, and obtuse version of Evolution of a Revolt. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038...g=UTF8&s=books
Anthony Nutting, Lawrence of Arabia. This biography of Lawrence by a career British diplomat with long experience in the Middle East was published in 1961. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/045...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 12 David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922. This is the best single book on how decisions made in WWI affect us everyday today. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...g=UTF8&s=books

The British Experience
General
Byron Farwell, Mr. Kipling's Army. If you want to understand Britain's "small wars" you have to read this book. It is both informative and funny.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...lance&n=283155
Byron Farwell, Queen Victoria's Little Wars. This book covers most of the British frontier wars with a sense of humor and understanding. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...lance&n=283155.
Boer War
Michael Barthorp, The Anglo-Boer Wars, the British and the Afrikaners 1815-1902. Barthorp's pictorial history of the conflict is revealing through its photography and art.
Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094...lance&n=283155
Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War. Pakenham's work is the standard on the Boer Wars. Too many overlook the Boer War as a "quasi-conventional war" when it actually had many of the same COIN elements that the US, the British, and others would struggle with after WWII. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...lance&n=283155
Rayne Kruger, Goodbye Dolly Gray: The Story of the Boer War. Kruger a South African published this book in 1959. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=283155.
Critical Number 5 E.D. Swinton, The Defence of Duffer's Drift This small pamphlet is a classic in small unit leadership in counter insurgency and the colonial wars. You can read or download it at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...on/Swinton.asp
or http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...bs/swinton.pdf.
Congo
Mike Hoare, The Road to Kalamata. This is a journal of Mike Hoare's first jaunt as a mercenary in the Congo. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/066...lance&n=283155
Mike Hoare, Mercenary. This is Hoare's semi-historical account of the mercenary operation in the Congo in 1964. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/070...lance&n=283155
Sudan
Byron Farwell, Prisoners of the Mahdi. The story of the Mahdi's Revolt and the unfortunate few who found themselves imprisoned in Mahdist Sudan for nearly 20 years. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...lance&n=283155
Alan Moorehead, The White Nile. This classic relates the story of the White Nile as set against the Mahdist Revolt and death of Chinese Gordon. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...lance&n=283155
Charles Chenevix Trench, The Road to Khartoum, A Life of General Charles Gordon. The story of Chinese Gordon who was far more important a figure in the 19th Century than Lawrence was in the 20th. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/088...lance&n=283155.
Philip Zeigler, Omdurman. This book relates the culminating battle between the Anglo-Egyptian army under Kitchener and the Khalifa's Army at Omdurman. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/085...lance&n=283155
The Zulu War
Michael Barthorp, The Zulu War, A Pictorial History. This pictorial history because of its extensive illustrations makes an excellent companion read to more detailed works.
Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/071...lance&n=283155.
Intelligence Branch of the War Office, Narrative of the Field Operations Connected with the Zulu War of 1879. As indicated this book is the documentary account of the Zulu Wars by the British War Office. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/185...lance&n=283155
Donald R. Morris, The Washing of the Spears, The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation. This is the best single work on the Zulus and the Zulu War with the British. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...lance&n=283155.
WWI
B.H. Liddell Hart, Lawrence of Arabia. This biography of Lawrence was first published in 1934. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 4 T.E. Lawrence, The Evolution of a Revolt. This article some 24 pages in length captures the heart of Lawrence's self-promoting Seven Pillars of Wisdom. It is an easy but intellectually filling read. You can read or download it at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...s/lawrence.pdf or http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...e/lawrence.asp.

[Tom Odom]

Ninth Tranche

T.E. Lawrence, Seven Pillars of Wisdom, A Triumph. This book is the longer, more melodramatic, and obtuse version of Evolution of a Revolt. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038...g=UTF8&s=books
Anthony Nutting, Lawrence of Arabia. This biography of Lawrence by a career British diplomat with long experience in the Middle East was published in 1961. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/045...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 12 David Fromkin, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East 1914-1922. This is the best single book on how decisions made in WWI affect us everyday today. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...g=UTF8&s=books
Kenya
Robert B. Edgerton, Mau Mau, An African Crucible. A critical history of the British COIN campaign against the Mau Mau in Kenya. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/034...lance&n=283155.
Congo
Mike Hoare, Mercenary. This is Hoare's semi-historical account of the mercenary operation in the Congo in 1964. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/070...lance&n=283155
Mike Hoare, The Road to Kalamata. This is a journal of Mike Hoare's first jaunt as a mercenary in the Congo. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/066...lance&n=283155
Malaysia
Noel Barber, War of the Running Dogs: Malaysia 1948-1960. Malaysia as a success compared to Palestine greatly influenced British COIN thinking. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...g=UTF8&s=books
Viet Nam
Bob Breen, First to Fight. This book relates the ANZAC experience in Viet Nam. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/004...g=UTF8&s=books
The Francophone Experience
General
Douglas Porch, The French Foreign Legion, A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force. Dr. Porch is the authority on the Legion; he is balanced and measured in his study. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...g=UTF8&s=books
Algeria
Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962. This book is a classic study of the war in Algeria. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159...g=UTF8&s=books
Pierre Leulliete, The War in Algeria (also published as St. Michael and the Dragon). This is a soldier's view of the war in Algeria and it is not a romanticized one. The book was seized by French authorities when it was first published. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055...g=UTF8&s=books
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Pierre Sergent, Je Ne Regrette Rien, In French. This is Pierre Sergent's bittersweet history of the 1st Parachute Brigade/Regiment of the Foreign Legion. Available at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...lance&n=283155
Critical Number 3. Roger Trinquier, Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsurgency. Whenever counter insurgency is discussed, some one brings up Trinquier. You cannot understand the evolution of U.S. COIN doctrine without reading Trrinquier. Available on line for reading and download at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../trinquier.asp.
Guy Vincent, Képi Bleu: Une S.A.S, Un Autre Aspect de la Guerre D'Algerie. This book relates the experiences of a province commander, much like a provincial reconstruction team leader in Afghanistan today.
Chad
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Indochina/Viet Nam
Bernard Fall, The Siege of Dien Bien Phu, Hell in a Very Small Place Dien Bien Phu was French imperialism's Waterloo. The book is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...lance&n=283155
Critical Number 2. Bernard Fall, Street Without Joy Fall's broader work on the Indochina- Viet Nam War from the French through 1964. I place this work so high on the list because it demonstrates that the Viet Nam War was at once an insurgency, a civil war, and a conventional war. The book is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081...lance&n=283155
Pierre Sergent, Je Ne Regrette Rien, In French. This is Pierre Sergent's bittersweet history of the 1st Parachute Brigade/Regiment of the Foreign Legion. Available at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...lance&n=283155
Congo/Zaire
Colonel Erulin, Zaire: Sauver Kolwezi. In French. Erulin commanded 2nd REP in the 1978 operation. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/286...lance&n=283155
Colonel e r Vandewalle, L'OMMENGANG, Odyssée et Reconquête de Stanleyville 1964. In French. This book is the most authoritative sources on the Belgian role in putting down the Simba Rebellion in the Congo in 1964. It can be ordered at http://www.livres-chapitre.com/-O1UQ...ILLE-1964.html
Thomas P. Odom, Leavenworth Paper #14 Dragon Operations: Hostage Rescues in the Congo 1964-1964. "The Dragon operations in the Congo-Dragon Rouge and Dragon Noir-were the first, and in many ways the most complex, hostage rescue missions of the cold war, Aimed at securing the release of nearly 2,000 European residents taken hostage during the Simba Rebellion in 1964, American aircraft projected a Belgian airborne unit thousands of miles into the heart of Africa. The planning and execution of this mission required the operational cooperation of three nations and their military forces in order to synchronize the arrival of airborne and ground forces to assault a hostile objective. At stake- as usual, and unfortunately- were the lives of innocent men, women, and children." This study though focused on the rescue of hostages in Stanleyville in is set in a counter insurgency war. It examines the rescue in political, military, and social terms against that COIN background. You can read it on line at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../odom/odom.asp.
Thomas P. Odom, Shaba II: The French and Belgian Military Intervention in Zaire in 1978. This study covers the Zairian, French, and Belgian military responses to the Kolwezi Hostage Crisis in 1978 as part of the larger Shaba Wars. It also delves heavily into the diplomatic and military efforts of the United States in this crisis. You may read it on line at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...dom2/odom2.asp.
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Pierre Sergent, La Legion Saute Sur Kolwezi. In French. This book covers the 2nd R.E.P.'s operation in Kolwezi in 1978. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...lance&n=283155
Lebanon
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Mexico
Pierre Sergent, Camerone. In French. The Legion's campaign in Mexico and how the organization came to venerate a wooden arm. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/221...g=UTF8&s=books
Rwanda
Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Prunier offers a first rate analysis of the French role in the genocide. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/023...g=UTF8&s=books

[Tom Odom]

Tenth Tranche

The United Nations' Experience
Bosnia
Robert F. Baumann, George W. Gawrych, and Walter E. Kretchik, Armed Peacekeepers in Bosnia. "The authors shed light on several of the critical military lessons that have emerged from the US experience in Bosnia—an involvement that continues as of this writing. In general, these cover the cooperation and contention present in virtually any coalition undertaking; the complexity of the local situation and the way in which strictly military tasks have political, social, economic, and cultural ramifications that the military cannot ignore or avoid; the inevitable adjustments peacekeepers have to make to dynamic and precarious situations; and the often unaccommodating role history plays when confronted with concerns about force protection, “mission creep,” “end states,” and early
exits." You may down load this study at: http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...ann_bosnia.pdf.
Congo
Madeleine Kalb, The Congo Cables. This book offers an embassy and State department inside view of the Congo Crisis from 1960-1963 during JFK's administration. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/002...g=UTF8&s=books
Thomas P. Odom, Leavenworth Paper #14 Dragon Operations: Hostage Rescues in the Congo 1964-1964. "The Dragon operations in the Congo-Dragon Rouge and Dragon Noir-were the first, and in many ways the most complex, hostage rescue missions of the cold war, Aimed at securing the release of nearly 2,000 European residents taken hostage during the Simba Rebellion in 1964, American aircraft projected a Belgian airborne unit thousands of miles into the heart of Africa. The planning and execution of this mission required the operational cooperation of three nations and their military forces in order to synchronize the arrival of airborne and ground forces to assault a hostile objective. At stake- as usual, and unfortunately- were the lives of innocent men, women, and children." This study though focused on the rescue of hostages in Stanleyville in is set in a counter insurgency war. It examines the rescue in political, military, and social terms against that COIN background. You can read it on line at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../odom/odom.asp.
Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War. In many ways, Urquhart was a primary architect of UN peacekeeping operations in the Middle East and Africa. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...g=UTF8&s=books
Michela Wrong, In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. Wrong relates the final collapse of Mobutu's Zaire. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...g=UTF8&s=books
Haiti
Walter E. Kretchik, Robert F. Baumann, and John T. Fishel, Invasion, Intervention, "Intervasion": A Concise History of the U.S. Army in Operation Uphold Democracy. "In September 1994, U.S. military forces were ordered to execute Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. The stated objectives of that undertaking included the return to office of the democratically elected president of that country and the creation of a stable and secure environment in which democratic institutions could take hold. In the short term, these objectives were met: President Aristide reassumed his duties as president, the junta that had ousted him in 1991 was forced to leave the country, and national elections were successfully held in 1996. Although the long-term prognosis for Haiti remains guarded, the democratic process there was given the opportunity to succeed due, in large part, to Operation Uphold Democracy." You may read the study on line at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...k/kretchik.asp
Lebanon
Trevor N. Dupuy and Paul Martell, Flawed Victory, The Arab-Israeli Conflict and the 1982 War in Lebanon. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/091...lance&n=283155
John Gilmore, Lebanon, the Fractured Country. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/074...lance&n=283155
LTC Robin Higgins, Patriot Dreams: The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins. This book covers the abduction of then LTC Rich Higgins in Lebanon in 1988. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/094...g=UTF8&s=books
John Munro, Theatre of the Absurd, Life in Amin Gemayel's Lebanon. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...lance&n=283155
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Michael Petit, Peacekeepers at War. This is an excellent account of the Marines in Lebanon in 1982 and the Beirut bombing. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/057...lance&n=283155
Itamar Rabinovich, The War for Lebanon 1970-1985. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...lance&n=283155
Jonathan C. Randal, Going All the Way: Christians, Warlords, Israeli Adventurers and the War in Lebanon. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Ze'ev Schiff and Ehud Ya'ari, Israel's Lebanon War. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...lance&n=283155
Pierre Sergent, 2eme REP. In French. Sergent covers Algeria, Chad, Zaire, and Beirut. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...g=UTF8&s=books
Roger J. Spiller, Leavenworth Paper # 3 "Not War But Like War": The American Intervention in Lebanon. "This ... Leavenworth Paper examines the U.S. military intervention in the 1958 Lebanese political crisis. By focusing on a relatively recent Army experience in planning and conducting a major contingency operation, the study illuminates the complexity of military planning and the incongruity between plans and performance. This focus promotes the value of the historical perspective in clealling with contemporary military subjects and provides a timely opportunity to apply the lessons of the past." You may read or download it on line at
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour...2/spiller2.asp or
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/downlo...s/spiller2.pdf.
Brian Urquhart, A Life in Peace and War. In many ways, Urquhart was a primary architect of UN peacekeeping operations in the Middle East and Africa. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...g=UTF8&s=books
Somalia
Robert F. Baumann and Lawrence A. Yates with Versalle F. Washington, "My Clan Against the World" US and Coalition Forces in Somalia 1992-1994. "The impetus for this project came from the commanding general, US Army Training and Doctrine Command, Fort Monroe, Virginia, who directed CSI to examine the American military’s experience with urban operations in Somalia, particularly in the capital city of Mogadishu. That original focus can be found in the following pages, but the authors address other, broader issues as well, to include planning for a multinational intervention; workable and unworkable command and control arrangements; the advantages and problems inherent in coalition operations; the need for cultural awareness in a clan-based society whose status as a nation-state is problematic; the continuous adjustments required by a dynamic, often unpredictable situation; the political dimension of military activities at the operational and tactical levels; and the ability to match military power and capabilities to the mission at hand." You can download this study at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/download/csipubs/clan.pdf.
Mark Bowden, Blackhawk Down. This is the best narrative on the battle of TF Ranger. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...g=UTF8&s=books

[Tom Odom]

Eleventh Tranche

Rwanda
Critical Number 13 LTG Romeo Dallaire, Shake Hands With the Devil. This book is more than a simple commander's memoir of the tragedy; it provides invaluable insights into UN peacekeeping operations. Available on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...g=UTF8&s=books
Philip Gourevitch, We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: Stories From Rwanda. This book offers first hand experiences in the genocide.
Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=UTF8&s=books
Robert E. Gribbin, In the Aftermath of Genocide: The U.S. Role in Rwanda. Ambassador Gribbin was the US Ambassador in Rwanda from 1996-1998. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/059...g=UTF8&s=books
Human Rights Watch and FIDH, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda. This study is the most detailed on the planning, mechanics, and execution of the genocide. You may read it on line at: http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/rwanda/index.htm - TopOfPage
Shaharyar Khan, The Shallow Graves of Rwanda. Ambassador Khan was the senior UN diplomat in UNAMIR 2. It is available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/186...g=UTF8&s=books
Mahmood Mamdani, When Victims become Killers. Mamdani's analysis of the genocide as a regional issue is ground breaking. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/069...g=UTF8&s=books
Thomas P. Odom, Journey Into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda with foreword by General (ret) Dennis J. Reimer. This memoir covers the author's 15 years as a Foreign Area Officer on the Middle East and Africa with operational tours as a UN Observer in Lebanon and as US Defense Attaché in Zaire and Rwanda. You may read a chapter from the book at http://www.smallwarsjournal.com/docu...om_journey.htm or order it from TAMU Press at http://www.tamu.edu/upress/BOOKS/2005/odom.htm or on Amazon or other on line bookstores.
Gérard Prunier, The Rwanda Crisis: History of a Genocide. Prunier offers a first rate analysis of the French role in the genocide. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/023...g=UTF8&s=books
Colin M. Waugh, Paul Kagame and Rwanda. As yet this is the closest there is to a biography of Kagame. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...g=UTF8&s=books
The Vietnamese Experience
Bob Breen, First to Fight. This book relates the ANZAC experience in Viet Nam. Listed on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/004...g=UTF8&s=books
John A.Cash, John Albright, and Allan W. Sandstrum, Seven Firefights in Vietnam. Available for reading online at:http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/Vietna...rontMatter.htm
CMH Publication 90-23, Vietnam Studies, U.S. Army Special Forces 1961-1971. " As long ago as 1957, U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers were in the Republic of Vietnam, going about their business of training, advising, and assisting members of the Vietnamese Army. Despite the old Army witticism about never volunteering for anything, the Special Forces soldier is, in fact, a double volunteer, having first volunteered for airborne training and then again for Special Forces training. From a very meager beginning but sustained by a strong motivation and confidence in his mission, the Special Forces soldier has marched through the Vietnam struggle in superb fashion.
In 1957 some fifty-eight Vietnamese soldiers were given military training by Special Forces troops. Ten years later the Special Forces were advising and assisting over 40,000 paramilitary troops, along with another 40,000 Regional Forces and Popular Forces soldiers. This monograph traces the development and notes the progress, problems, successes, and failures of a unique program undertaken by the U.S. Army for the first time in its history. It is hoped that all the significant lessons learned have been recorded and the many pitfalls of such a program uncovered. I am indebted to Major James M. Scott, Corps of Engineers, for his assistance on the Engineer effort. I am responsible for the conclusions reached, yet my thought processes could not escape the influence of the many outstanding officers and men in the Special Forces who joined in the struggle. Particularly, I must take note of the contributions of the Special Forces noncommissioned officers, without question the most competent soldiers in the world." Available on line at: http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vie...-23/90-23C.htm
Frederick Downs, The Killing Zone. Fred Downs' personal story of the Vietnamese War. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/039...g=UTF8&s=books
Bernard Fall, The Siege of Dien Bien Phu, Hell in a Very Small Place Dien Bien Phu was French imperialism's Waterloo. The book is available on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030...lance&n=283155
Critical Number 2. Bernard Fall, Street Without Joy Fall's broader work on the Indochina- Viet Nam War from the French through 1964. I place this work so high on the list because it demonstrates that the Viet Nam War was at once an insurgency, a civil war, and a conventional war. The book is available on Amazon at
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081...lance&n=283155
Critical Number 9 Frances Fitzgerald, Fire in the Lake, The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam. This is one of the few works that truly accounts for the Vietnamese side of the equation. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031...g=UTF8&s=books
Colonel David Hackworth, About Face. This is Hackworth's memoir and best book. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Captain Ed Y. Hall, Valley of the Shadows. This book is unique as CPT Hall offers a combat memoir as an advisor to the South Vietnamese. Listed on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...g=UTF8&s=books
Critical Number 10 Andrew Krepinevich, The Army and Vietnam. This study is one of the best monographs on the Viet Nam War. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...g=UTF8&s=books
LTG Harold Moore and Joseph Galloway, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young. This book is a classic study of men and war on both sides of the Vietnam conflict. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Keith Nolan, Battle for Hue, Tet 1968. Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089...g=UTF8&s=books
Robert Mason, Chickenhawk. Mason was an Army aviator with the 1st Cav. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/014...g=UTF8&s=books
Pierre Sergent, Je Ne Regrette Rien, In French. This is Pierre Sergent's bittersweet history of the 1st Parachute Brigade/Regiment of the Foreign Legion. Available at Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/225...lance&n=283155
Critical Number 11 Neil Sheehan, A Bright and Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam. This is the story of John Paul Vann as an embodiment of the US effort in the Vietnamese War. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067...g=UTF8&s=books
Tran Van Tra, Vietnam: History of the Bulwark B2 Theater, Vol. 5: Concluding 30-years of War. This book by Colonel General Tran Van Tra was published by the Van Nghe Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City, Printed at the Joint Printing Plant, Ho Chi Minh City; 10,000 copies printed. Printing completed on 27 March 1982 and submitted for registration on 27 March 1982. You may read it on line at:
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/tra/tra.asp.

[jcustis]

I think I musta gone and blown a blood vessel!...

[Tom Odom]

Hi Tom,

Quick question.



Why is Krepinech's book still considered controversial? When I read it, I thought it was a monograph on organization change (or lack there of) of big Army fighting small wars. I could understand why it would have upset some people twenty years ago, but I don't know why it is still a hot-button issue. It didn't seem like the author was pushing an opinion or revisionist history on Vietnam rather just showing how bureaucracies are slow to adjust.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I have always believed that Andy Krepnevich's book was controversial because it upset the near-dogma level belief that the outcome in southeast Asia was not purely a political failure. he challenged Harry Summer's directly; we even had a live "debate" at CGSC between the two. Andy debated. Harry played Harry. Harry "won" because of his acting.

Tom

[Tom Odom]

I think I musta gone and blown a blood vessel!...

Naw

I have been asked for this several times in the past and i have sent it as a word or PDF. Just figured this was an easier way make it available.

Tom

[M-A Lagrange]

Coming after Tom list is difficult as he covered so much.
But I would also recommand Gerard Chaliand books, especially Guerilla Strategies: an historical anthology of the long march to Afghanistan.

This covers prety much all the authors and will give you a good introduction to all the steps taken in insurgency/counterinsurgency.
It's a series of articles from most famous authors (if it's the translation of the book initially published in French I am thinking of)
From this book then after you just have to pick up what you like or what applies more to your work.

But do not limit your self to purely military books. Hanna Arent work is essential but is not military. Just like Walzer, Schmit and other authors on the legetimacy of war (jus at bello/jus in bellum). They will help you to understand the boundaries of the reflection on small wars and the conventional military approach constraints/concerns with the evolution of warfare and COIN.

[Backwards Observer]

Although far from the madding (coin) crowd, Michael Doubler's, Closing With The Enemy: How GIs Fought The War In Europe 1944-45, was a good read about the WW2 US Army as a learning organisation.

From the Amazon Editorial blurb:

For years, the traditional view has been that U.S. ground forces defeated the veteran German Wehrmacht only because of enormous American resources and massive firepower. Doubler, a professional military scholar and West Point instructor, takes a contrary position: America's wartime army prevailed because it was innovative and supremely adaptable, able to learn from its mistakes and quickly revise its tactics. Doubler's view is persuasive; he presents example after example of units absorbing combat lessons in the midst of battle and changing their strategy while under fire. This important book is a watershed in critical thinking that will be cited for years to come. Fluently written and beautifully detailed, it is essential for a complete understanding of American operations in World War II. Highly recommended for public and academic libraries.
Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Edwards AFB, Cal.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Closing-Enemy-.../dp/0700607447

Also mentioned on this thread:

The Concept of Adaptation

http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/...ichael+doubler

[Steve Blair]

Hi Mike,

I have always believed that Andy Krepnevich's book was controversial because it upset the near-dogma level belief that the outcome in southeast Asia was not purely a political failure. he challenged Harry Summer's directly; we even had a live "debate" at CGSC between the two. Andy debated. Harry played Harry. Harry "won" because of his acting.

Tom

Quite so. Krepenvich's book is controversial in terms of the context...not necessarily its content (although that contributed to the controversy). Self Destruction is actually more direct in terms of criticizing the Army and its performance in Vietnam, and The War Managers is also pointed, although in a more subdued way. I actually like The 25 Year War for a more balanced look at the conflict.

[Steve Blair]

War Comes To Long An by Race

The US Army and Counterinsurgency in the Philippine War 1899 to 1902 by Linn

Maintain the Right: The Early History of the North West Mounted Police by Atkin

On the Border With Crook by Bourke (Steve Blair is probably the go to guy for frontier army titles)

I will third the USMC 1940 Small Wars Manual. It was a genius work I think.

Bourke's diaries are much more informative about conditions at the time, although On the Border is still a good read. Bourke wrote it in many ways to defend and confirm Crook's reputation, so if you filter the hero-worship out there are some gems waiting to be found.

If you get into the Frontier Army, start with Robert Utley.

[Ken White]

I actually like The 25 Year War for a more balanced look at the conflict.

in lieu of a couple of other folks, acknowledging that I'm a confirmed Palmer fan...

[Schmedlap]

I'm reading The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson right now. Interesting to see the impact of finance upon England's war effort with Napoleon's France and the lucrative opportunity that it created for financiers by playing the bond market (and the impact of the bond market upon unassuming investors). Had Napoleon sent a hit team to eliminate Rothschild's gold smuggling network, he might have undermined the ability of England to pay for or borrow sufficient funds to field and sustain Wellington's army. Kind of reminded me of the importance of not just relying on the US gov't to cut off sources of funding, but also the importance of targeting financiers just as one would target leaders (I know we did a lot of this in 2007 - good for us).

[slapout9]

I'm reading The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson right now. Interesting to see the impact of finance upon England's war effort with Napoleon's France and the lucrative opportunity that it created for financiers by playing the bond market (and the impact of the bond market upon unassuming investors). Had Napoleon sent a hit team to eliminate Rothschild's gold smuggling network, he might have undermined the ability of England to pay for or borrow sufficient funds to field and sustain Wellington's army. Kind of reminded me of the importance of not just relying on the US gov't to cut off sources of funding, but also the importance of targeting financiers just as one would target leaders (I know we did a lot of this in 2007 - good for us).

Wait until you get to the part about the Civil War

[Wargames Mark]

I know I maybe opening a can of worms here, but could anyone recommend some goods books on COIN, other then the more commonly known titles like the US Army/Marine Corps, and David Kilcullen's Accidental Guerrilla.

Overall though, I'm kind of at a loss of what I should add to my bookshelf when looking at the professional and other reading lists. So I was hoping someone could make some suggestions?


Thank you,

I strongly recommend starting with books on insurgency written by insurgents or those who worked or lived with them:

The Al Qaeda Reader (compilation of translated AQ writings)
War of the Flea, by Robert Taber
On Guerrilla Warfare, by Mao Tse-Tung
Minimanual of the Urban Guerrilla, by Carlos Marighella
Guerrilla Warfare, by Ernesto (Che) Guevara

(Some of the authors I listed are considered to have been nitwits (Guevara, for instance). However, their books are still insights into how insurgents have thought about insurgency.)

Additionally, I recommend reading about the different types of insurgencies. There s a lot of variation in approach and the history of insurgency over the past 100 years is more diverse than is commonly acknowledged. The Army used to publish some material that really broke things down well, though it was mostly focused on various flavors of communism. Once a person understands why an insurgent organization does what it does the way that it does it, then that person is much better prepared to defeat that insurgency.