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What are you reading?

To get the thread at least a little back on track after doing my best to derail it, I just got done reading The SAS in World War II by Gavin Mortimer:

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It was a decent book but a little dry, a relatively straightforward history but left me wanting a little more at just a little over 200 pages. Still, a good and complete history of the SAS in WWII.
 
Has anyone here read Never Call Me a Hero? The author was with VS-6 at Midway, and scored a hit on Kaga. It was recommended to me yesterday by someone at church; I'm just not sure I'll be able to get to it before I ship out.
 
Split the "Tactical Beard Guy at the Range" posts to keep this thread focused on reading lists.
 
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About 3/4 through this in preparation for a Normandy trip with my dad in a couple weeks. A good read about the Big Red 1, and sobering. Also, just rewatched Saving Private Ryan and the book offered some insight I didn't have previously.
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Finished this a little while ago. Dude comes off a little patronizing at times, but nonetheless an interesting read in what seems to be an era where science and academic scholarship is continually undermined. I'm presently in a country that doesn't have a word for "nerd" or "bookworm" and, while I generally find the natives to be dicks, they seem to value education and it's interesting to witness language and its effect on culture. Words mean things...
 
hooflys said:
Finished this a little while ago. Dude comes off a little patronizing at times, but nonetheless an interesting read in what seems to be an era where science and academic scholarship is continually undermined. I'm presently in a country that doesn't have a word for "nerd" or "bookworm" and, while I generally find the natives to be dicks, they seem to value education and it's interesting to witness language and its effect on culture. Words mean things...
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It's interesting that we seem to have forgotten the classical ideal . . . mens sana in corpore sano. If you're a stereotypical nerd, you're missing the boat by neglecting the physical. If you're a stereotypical meathead, you're missing the boat by neglecting the mental. These things are not in conflict, but we act as if it's an either/or thing.

I agree that we're in an era of dangerous anti-intellectualism, though as Americans, we've always had a bit of an anti-intellectual bent. But I'd argue both sides are guilty. The Right is guilty of glorifying willful ignorance. Witness climate change denial and intelligent design. But the Left is also guilty of arrogance and condescension to the uneducated. "Poor benighted proles; we'll show you The Correct Opinions." Just because someone has a postgraduate degree in X, doesn't mean I should have to honor their ignorant dumbass opinion on Q. Equally, those in the working class are not necessarily stupid. Guess who you call when you need someone to redo the bathroom or frame a house? The skilled trades. Because they know their shit. I think the Germans have a better handle on that than we do, where being a tradesman is an honorable thing, not "oh, you couldn't get into college, huh?"
 
hooflys said:
Finished this a little while ago. Dude comes off a little patronizing at times, but nonetheless an interesting read in what seems to be an era where science and academic scholarship is continually undermined. I'm presently in a country that doesn't have a word for "nerd" or "bookworm" and, while I generally find the natives to be dicks, they seem to value education and it's interesting to witness language and its effect on culture. Words mean things...
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Concur. Tom Nichols is a grade a jackass (follow him on twitter if you're looking for proof), but that does not preclude this book from being an important bit of work.
 
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Finally decided to dive in, and ordered all three volumes on Kindle. This is going to eat up a lot of time. I know Foote has been criticized for allegedly buying into the idea of the Lost Cause, but I can't think of another volume that drills down into that much detail about the whole war. Besides, my ancestors wore the Blue at Gettysburg. I'm pretty sure I'm immune to Rebel propagandizing.
 
nittany03 said:
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Finally decided to dive in, and ordered all three volumes on Kindle. This is going to eat up a lot of time. I know Foote has been criticized for allegedly buying into the idea of the Lost Cause, but I can't think of another volume that drills down into that much detail about the whole war. Besides, my ancestors wore the Blue at Gettysburg. I'm pretty sure I'm immune to Rebel propagandizing.
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Had never heard that critique of Foote's work before. A quick Google search showed that it was a common complaint about the books. I recently re-watched the PBS Civil War series and I didn't come away from that feeling like Foote was pushing the Lost Cause myth. I do think during the PBS series he tried to differentiate the motivations of the average Southern soldier from those of the Confederate government. He also focused more on the battles then on the politics and that he skirted the Lost Cause myth. I want to say he even discusses the Lost Cause as a myth and a product of post-war narrative control as opposed to the true history but I couldn't swear to it. But the interwebs says he presented a much softer tone on the PBS show then in the books. But there we as also 30 years between the publishing of the books and the PBS series so there may have been some changing viewpoints or understanding on his part over the 30years. Either way, I've heard it's a great series and would love to read it one of these days.
 
nittany03 said:
FooteVol1.jpg


Finally decided to dive in, and ordered all three volumes on Kindle. This is going to eat up a lot of time. I know Foote has been criticized for allegedly buying into the idea of the Lost Cause, but I can't think of another volume that drills down into that much detail about the whole war. Besides, my ancestors wore the Blue at Gettysburg. I'm pretty sure I'm immune to Rebel propagandizing.
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Can't go wrong with Shelby Foote. Like Pags, I am rewatching the Civil War on PBS. If you are looking for a couple of shorter reads on specific battles, Landscape Turned Red about Antietam (Sharpsburg) and The Killer Angels (Gettysburg, required reading in high school) are both superb. Of the two battles, I think the former was more influential - one wonders what would have happened if Special Order #191 was not found lying in a field - or if McClellan had used his reserves to press the attack.

And if you are looking for ancestors and what unit they served in, you can go to the National Park Service to check:
https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-soldiers.htm

Meanwhile, next up on my list is a book of the week from GPS's Fareed Zakaria and The Economist's Books of the Year :
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
by Timothy Snyder
https://www.amazon.com/Bloodlands-Europe-Between-Hitler-Stalin/dp/0465031471

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Pags said:
Looks intriguing even if the FP review was obnoxious (a review of a review? How meta). Curious to see what you think.
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Powerful, foreboding and the most depressing book I have read since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. The author (Omar El Akkad), a former war correspondent, knows his material - and as Tom Ricks said, can really deliver some memorable lines. Curious to hear what Gonzo thought.
 
Hammer10k said:
Matterhorn by Karl Malantes was a great read. Long and intense, but really showed the challenges that young JOs faced in Vietnam.
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Missed this one amidst all the sheepdog nonsense, but will second Matterhorn as a good read ( I may have recommended it here in the past as well). Karl Malantes also features prominently in the PBS Vietnam series.
 
I'll look for that PBS series. Malantes kept my attention when I watched him on a few YouTube speeches.
 
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