Why Is The SWJ Recommended Reading List Devoid of Fiction?

[selil]

For our Marine brothers, Griffin also has "The Corps" series. I got about half way through those, but got sidetracked. Focuses on pre-WW2 - WW2 Marines. Also great reads, especially if you're a WW2 buff.

I have everything WEB Griffin ever wrote except for his behind the badge series. For some reason I don't read police fiction.

I just bought blackfoot. I don't read much military fiction beyond hammers slammers, and WEB Griffin. I did read the "Net" series by Clancy but though it has elements of military it is sideways to the topic.

[Culpeper]

The Man Eaters of Tsavo

Considered nonfiction but the colonel did embellish quite a bit to make it fiction enough and much later a great fiction movie.

BTW, did anyone recommend The Killer Angels yet?

There is also this really thick book titled, Once an Eagle.

America's fighting men have turned to Once an Eagle as a sourcebook for the military's core values since its publication at the height of the Vietnam War. The novel, following the careers of virtuous Sam Damon and opportunistic Courtney Massengale, is required reading for all members of the United States Marine Corps and frequently taught in leadership courses at West Point.

[120mm]

I have everything WEB Griffin ever wrote except for his behind the badge series. For some reason I don't read police fiction.

I just bought blackfoot. I don't read much military fiction beyond hammers slammers, and WEB Griffin. I did read the "Net" series by Clancy but though it has elements of military it is sideways to the topic.

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.

BTW, I dislike the genre of police fiction as well, but I await, with baited breath each and every book my John Sandford....

[selil]

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.

[Backwards Observer]

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

[pjmunson]

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.

[Billy Ruffian]

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.

[carl]

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.

[120mm]

Next time you talk to David Drake tell him thanks from a fan.

Wilco.

[Clinkerbuilt]

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

[Kevin23]

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.

[Ken White]

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