War/history books

Hi everyone,

I just ordered Sun Tzu's The Art Of War, von Clausewitz's On War, and Machiavelli's The Prince.

I've always been interested in history, especially history of war. Can you guys recommend any other books?

Thanks in advance!

The Book of Five Rings is kind of similar. You could relate it to warfare. Basically it teaches you how to sword fight.

Yeah, that's on my wishlist as well, as soon as I have some money again ^^

hmmm, looks interesting, thanks for the advice!

Oh man, let me look through my book collection. Books I've read recently or love are:

Unbroken - The perfect balance of historical and emotional narrative. I read the book in five nights because I was so "sucked" into the book. Honestly, I've never cared more about any character, fiction or non-fiction, than Louis Zamperini (the main character in the book). It's also a book that genuinely shocked me with what it describes that happened.

A Bridge Too Far - A book I borrowed from a friend because I simply did not know much about Operation Market Garden. The amount of research put into the book is almost unbelievable. It's not often you read a book about WWII where the author actually interviewed German generals and colonels who fought in the battle in subject, not to mention local residents who had to withstand the battles as civilians caught in the middle. What the book does well is cover all aspects and points of view of the battle, from the civilians, the privates, and all the way up to generals. It helps to understand all of the ideas, politics, strategies, and tactics involved. I also found the book interesting because when I think of the Allies in WWII, I think of them winning. A Bridge Too Far doesn't have that story.

The Korean War - Another book I read because I didn't know much about the subject. It's one of the lesser known or discussed wars today and after reading it I think it's one that should be talked about a lot because of how unique the war was in many ways.

Alexander - Possibly my favorite history book on my favorite historical character. It was written by a man who was a Union officer during the Civil War who obviously knows a lot about warfare. His writing includes plenty of insight into everything military about Alexander the Great's campaigns as well as general historical facts and understanding of Alexander's character. Dodge, the author, also does an excellent job of providing maps of and describing the movements of Alexander and his men. It helps immensely with giving a physical perspective of what happened.

The Battle of Salamis - This book does a great job of explaining the great struggle between the Greeks and Persians. Everyone has heard of Thermopylae but it was at Salamis where the Greeks were truly saved. It's a shorter book than most that I read but I'd say this one is more "fun" to read.

I've got a lot more books I've read but those are what come to my mind first.

Honestly the most interesting "history" books I remember reading is the books written while it was still happening. Contemporary is the best word I can think of.

The Histories-Herodotus

Now this book is pretty much billed as the history of the Persian Wars,but its so much more. Herodotus is commonly called the father of history,because he was one of the first historians to actually interview those who had taken part in the events. He interviewed actual veterans of Thermopylae and the such. I honestly found the beginning more interesting,because after about book VII it was focused more on the wars,but it's honestly still very interesting and the "errors" and discrepancies within it make it a good period peace.

The Prince-Niccolo Machiavelli
This is good if your a big fan of Renaissance, Medieval,or Italian history. One of the best things for me is the author. Machiavelli was a very interesting man,with unique theories which he had a great conviction for and I actually found the blatant "Italian" nationalism that can be found in the book to be amusing in a way actually. The book is a great political writing,because it presents a very honest and brutal view of politics and diplomacy as a whole from someone who was an insider as Machiavelli was in fact a public servant of the Medici aristocrat family during there rule of Florence. There are also many references to the Classical era of Rome and Greece so if your a fan of those time periods this is nice.

Ab Urbe Condita Libri- Titus Livius Patavinus(Livy)
This is really the definitive contemporary history of the Roman empire.There is bias,he was writing under the patronage of Caesar Augustus after all but your probably going to get that even today. Ab Urbe Condita is almost all comprehensive for Roman history until the early empire under Augustus. The parts about the Punic Wars,the Second in particular are simply engrossing and I'm sure if your a fan of Roman civilization you'll love it. I also found the passages on Julius Caesar's career very compelling but after all he is Caesar.

I just noticed that you mentioned the Prince in the first post. Stupid glance-reading. Sorry about that.

What about Caesar's Gallic Wars?

Currently reading the art of medieval warfare by sir charles oman

Check out "In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire" by Adrian Goldsworthy
http://www.amazon.com/In-Name-Rome-R.../dp/0297846663

Herodotus makes great reading. You learn way more about the world of the 6th and 5th Centuries BC than just the Persian Wars. It's basically more like an encyclopedia of the world (albeit a very disorganised one) just because of all the bits of extra information (both believable and unbelievable) that the author fits in.

Are you looking for non-fiction only? I believe nobody has yet mentioned Polybius's "The Histories". For me a very interesting read, although most of it has been lost to time. But most of what we know about the Punic wars and iirc the clashes between Egypt and Seleucia come from him.

If not, then I reccommend to you Stephen Pressfield's "The Hot Gates" and "Alexander - the virtues of war". Both of them are fabulous to read, written by a former Marine.

Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger

One of my favorite books, have read it multiple times and gives you a very interesting perspective on Europe 1600 and on.

Well if you like WW2 my friend recommended these books: The Forgotten Soldier (Guy Sajer), El Alamein 1942 the Story of the battle in the words of the soldiers, Defeat Into Victory (William Slim), The Long Range Desert Group Providence Their Guide, and Monty: The Battles of Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery. All of those i plan to buy very soon!

I told him i was also interested in Frederick the Great and Prussia and he later recommended me "Frederick the Great on the Art of War" by Jay Luvaas.
I am also gonna buy along those books Caesar's Gallic War, cant wait to get my hands on those books!

Achtung Panzer! by Guderian.

Achtung Panzer! by Guderian.