2006
Among the Soldiers of Ward 57
by Michael Weisskopf
Oct 2006
 (3 reviews)
List: $25.00
320 pages
Mike Weisskopf (a reporter) lost his hand the night a grenade bounced into the HMMWV he was riding in. He picked it up, and tossed it out of the vehicle - and it blew up pretty much in his hand, blowing it off - but, incidentally, saving the lives of the soldiers in the vehicle.
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Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan
by Matthew Currier Burden
Sep 2006
 (14 reviews)
List: $15.00
304 pages
The book is about the soldiers, their families, and the fighting of the war. (It isn't about making the case for the war, or arguing the conduct of the war.)
| 2005
A Comprehensive Guide to Your Military & Veterans Benefits
by Christopher P. Michel
Nov 2005
 (30 reviews)
List: $20.00
400 pages
If you are about to retire from the military...
...or have done so recently - buy this book (even is the author *is* a Squid).
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The Commanding General of Abu Ghraib Tells Her Story
by Janis Karpinski
Oct 2005
 (24 reviews)
List: $24.95
256 pages
One of the most poorly edited and written books I've read in a long time. It was, despite its flaws, a fascinating read.
And I believe, based on her own words, she deserved to be relieved, and probably not prosecuted for dereliction.
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How Americans Are Seduced by War
by Andrew Bacevich
Apr 2005
 (52 reviews)
List: $28.00
288 pages
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The German View of Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem September 1944
by Robert Kershaw
Jan 2005
 (14 reviews)
List: $24.95
364 pages
| 2004
The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary
by Simon Winchester
Oct 2004
 (51 reviews)
List: $13.95
288 pages
Winchester illustrates the drama of the soap opera that was the compilation and publishing of the Oxford English Dictionary. What a debt we owe the people, especially James Murray, that managed to "get 'r done!".
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A History of America's Disastrous Relationship with France
by John J. Miller, Mark Molesky
Oct 2004
 (96 reviews)
List: $24.95
304 pages
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by Tommy Franks, Malcolm McConnell
Aug 2004
 (130 reviews)
List: $27.95
608 pages
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Why the West is Losing the War on Terror
by Michael Scheuer
Jul 2004
 (160 reviews)
List: $27.50
352 pages
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by John Keegan
May 2004
 (52 reviews)
List: $24.95
272 pages
| 2003
by Martin Middlebrook
Nov 2003
 (1 review)
List: $11.99
336 pages
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A World History
by Mark Kurlansky
Jan 2003
 (69 reviews)
List: $16.00
498 pages
I love books like this, that take common things and make them, in a sense, uncommon, give them a sense of drama beyond what we'd imagine. If only textbook writers could master the telling of history like this.
| 2002
Turning Point, World War II
by John Bierman, Colin Smith
Sep 2002
 (9 reviews)
List: $32.95
400 pages
A good general read if you know nothing about El Alamein and the Brits and to some extent, German view of the war in North Africa.
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William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology
by Simon Winchester
Aug 2002
 (92 reviews)
List: $13.95
352 pages
An immensely readable book on what amounts to the invention of geology, oddly enough via geography.
Were I teaching those subjects in high school or college these days, my students would be reading that book. It wouldn't reach all of them, certainly, but the ripples of interest would spread wider.
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2000
The Problem of Battle Command
by S. L. A. Marshall
Sep 2000
 (6 reviews)
List: $19.95
224 pages
Marshall's methodology and conclusions have, over time, suffered some severe tarnish. Marshal is still a worthy read for the younger leader, regardless, as long as you have your eyes open.
| 1998
by Robert A. Heinlein
Nov 1998
 (14 reviews)
List: $6.99
496 pages
| 1992
A Battle Is Fought to Be Won
by Mark Adkin
May 1992
 (9 reviews)
List: $47.50
305 pages
| 1987
by Robert A. Heinlein
May 1987
 (637 reviews)
List: $6.99
272 pages
| 1983
by Max Hastings, Simon Jenkins
Jun 1983
 (21 reviews)
List: $3.98
384 pages
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1981
Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century
by Daniel R. Headrick
Mar 1981
 (6 reviews)
List: $31.95
232 pages
Per Instapundit: Westerners tend to forget it, but it was a few key technologies -- primarily steam navigation and repeating firearms -- that made the era of Western colonialism possible.
| 1961
by R. Davis
Jan 1961
 (4 reviews)
List: $9.95
The book that set me on the path to soldiering. I still reread it periodically.
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