A Former FAO's Bookshelf

[Tom Odom]

A friend of mine walked into my office the other day and asked me to put together a preferred reading list on counter-insurgency. I decided to take on the task with the self-limitation of using only those works that I could pull off my own bookshelves or online at the Combat Studies Institute and the Center of Military History. By doing so, I hope to avoid the trendy use of history. That is not say that recent works such as Nagel's Learning to Eat Soup With a Knife, Hammes' The Sling and the Stone, and Boot's Savage Wars of Peace are not valuable and insightful works. But I wanted to offer a broader view on counter insurgency using both readily available and lesser-known works. And I deliberately stepped beyond a narrow definition of counter insurgency to the broader swath of "small wars." In my own experience and my historical work, I have found that wars rarely fall into neat categories. Counter insurgency operations can occur in many different forms; insurgencies are equally chameleon.

The following are those I consider critical reads. the full version of this bibliography is too long to upload.

Critical List

Critical Number 1 Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements. Counter insurgency operations target the population. I read Hoffer's book in 1981 as a graduate student in the Middle East Area studies program at the Naval Postgraduate School. Hoffer--a self-educated longshoreman--published this book in 1951 and it remains available today. In it he examines the fanatic who seeks significance through a cause. It is as applicable today as it was when it first appeared. You cannot hope to understand an insurgency --especially an insurgency built on fanaticism--without reading this book. You can read more about Hoffer at http://www.erichoffer.net/. The True Believer is offered on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/006...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 avaliable on Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081...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 Trinquier. Available on line for reading and download at http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resour.../trinquier.asp.

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.

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.

Critical Number 6 Franz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth. If you wish to understand the recent riots in France (2006) then you need to read this book. I do not offer this book as an acceptance of Fanon's views but a window inside his mindset, a mindset still very much in play in the Third World. This book makes an excellent companion to Hoffer's True Believer. Available on Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080...lance&n=283155.

Critical Number 7 Lester W. Grau, The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan. The Afghan War from the Soviet side.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/078...g=UTF8&s=books

Critical Number 8 Ali Ahmad Jalili, Lester W. Grau, and John E. Rhodes, Afghan Guerrilla Warfare: In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. The Afghan War from the Afghan side.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/076...Fencoding=UTF8

For a listing of articles by Mr. Grau and Jalidi go to:
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/products.htm

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

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

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

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

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

Again, the 13 selected above come from a larger paper. If Dave Dillegge wishes I will send him the full paper.

Best all

Tom

[Martin]

Thanks, Tom!

Happy to see that my reading isn't completely off.

Will pick up The True Believer next, after dusting off Defense of Dufter's Drift. I've had the later one in my library but haven't looked at it much, not knowing that it comes so recommended.

Take care,
Martin

[Tom Odom]

Martin,

Thanks for the kind words. I really love short books. Both Hoffer (True Believer) and Swinton (Duffer's drift) fall in that category. Hoffer claimed that he could write on any subject--thoroughly--in 200 words. And he did it. True Believer has stood 5+ decades now; it is amazingly relevant to the current war.

As for Swinton, I have always liked Duffer's Drift because you actually feel like that semi-competent Leftenant out there on your first independent op. and you get to screw it up repeatedly.

best

Tom

[Strickland]

Thanks for sharing sir...very surprised to see no mention of Mao, Giap/Chinh, Thompson, Kitson, Galula, or Horne.

Anything by Fall or Grau is worth the time and effort.

[Tom Odom]

Hey mate,

The 13 are just the top of a 35 page bibliography. It does include Horne and also Brits on a number of conflict zones. Again, I put this together using what is on my shelf from 15 years as a MidEast and African FAO. There is a heavy dose of Viet Nam--French and US with a bit of ANZAC as well as Tranh history for a Vietnamese aspect. Related to discussions on mercs, the Africa section gets into that on the Congo/Zaire sections as well as Rwanda.

In any case it was not intended as "the list" on COIN but "a list" from my own admittedly MidEast and African centric experience.

I really wanted to bring back some basic studies/books that have fallen by the wayside in recent years. That is why I put Hoffer and Fanon so high on the list.

Send me an email and I will send it to you. It is too long, however, to load here.

Best always,
Tom

[zenpundit]

Thanks Tom - great list !

The durability of Hoffer's insights are impressive - he really put his finger on a universal human tendency that crosses race, culture and creed.

I don't like to blow my own horn on this board but I posted on Hoffer recently while discussing a subject that relates directly to the cultivation of fanaticism.

"THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL BATTLESPACE"

[C.S. Scott]

That's a useful list of recommendation, thanks.

[SWJED]

Originally Posted by Tom Odom

Again, the 13 selected above come from a larger paper. If Dave Dillegge wishes I will send him the full paper.

Best all

Tom

Tom, please send it along and I will post it to the SWJ and a link here on the SWC. Thanks much, Dave

[Juan Rico]

sir,

great list, i've already started w/ a couple of books from this list. i was hoping you can post the complete book list (or message me). anything on n. africa, horn of africa, mid east and central asia would be great. thanks again...

Originally Posted by Tom Odom

The 13 are just the top of a 35 page bibliography. It does include Horne and also Brits on a number of conflict zones. Again, I put this together using what is on my shelf from 15 years as a MidEast and African FAO. There is a heavy dose of Viet Nam--French and US with a bit of ANZAC as well as Tranh history for a Vietnamese aspect. Related to discussions on mercs, the Africa section gets into that on the Congo/Zaire sections as well as Rwanda.

In any case it was not intended as "the list" on COIN but "a list" from my own admittedly MidEast and African centric experience.

I really wanted to bring back some basic studies/books that have fallen by the wayside in recent years. That is why I put Hoffer and Fanon so high on the list.

Send me an email and I will send it to you. It is too long, however, to load here.

Best always,
Tom

[William F. Owen]

Originally Posted by Tom Odom

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

First off, GREAT JOB taking the time to put this list together. An outstanding contribution, and I am only sorry I did not see this sooner.

However, I would want to inject a note of caution about "Shining Lie". When researching the Vietnam war, I came across several people who knew both Van and Sheehan, as well as being involved in some of the events in the book. They all called into question both the veracity and accuracy of some aspects of the work. That is not to say that it is without merit.

As an addition or an alternative, I might suggest Lewis Sorley's "A Better War"

[Tom Odom]

Originally Posted by William F. Owen

First off, GREAT JOB taking the time to put this list together. An outstanding contribution, and I am only sorry I did not see this sooner.

However, I would want to inject a note of caution about "Shining Lie". When researching the Vietnam war, I came across several people who knew both Van and Sheehan, as well as being involved in some of the events in the book. They all called into question both the veracity and accuracy of some aspects of the work. That is not to say that it is without merit.

As an addition or an alternative, I might suggest Lewis Sorley's "A Better War"

I have no doubt there are "errors of agenda" in Shining Lie; the author continually refers to a dark truth about Vann and his personal life. I always read it as literary hype--not exactly PC in history--but this is journalistic history and there is much editorializing in it. Still it is important in that it covers a figure--Vann--who had great impact but would have been ignored by a Center for Military History approach to the war's history. It is also of great value in understainding USAID's history as a non-tree hugger organization.

For Juan: Dave has posted the full list. He can send yo a link. Or send me an email address via PM.

Best

Tom

[scubasam]

One of the books I enjoyed and thought put an interesting perspective on the subject is "American Guerrilla: My War Behind Japanese Lines" by Roger Hilsman. And a great "manual" to get into the Guerrilla mindset is "Total Resistance: Swiss Army Guide to Guerrilla Warfare and Underground Operations" by Major H. Von Dach.