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I just read two outstanding memoirs of WW2 from the German side:
Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS and The Forgotten Soldier - both taking place on the Eastern front.
The former was quite a bit of conscience searching by a former soldier coming to grips with the fact the SS was branded a criminal organization after the war, written while the author was a POW. Of course, he said he knew nothing about the holocaust until after the fact, was serving the greater good by smashing Russia, etc
Forgotten Soldier was the memoirs of a young soldier who enjoys the adventure at first but then gets caught up in battles that were truly horrific. And it was those descriptions of battles that are really vivid and graphic, and makes for a really intense reading experience. It was like the opening scenes of Saving Private Ryan over and over.
Next I am going to read some from the American side, and the Russian.
I never read a war memoir before this, they are really good. Much better than high level, grand overviews covering many years - those histories will have me running in a bored panic.
Anyway I would like to know of any other war/conflict books that anyone recommends!
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” | |
War Against War.
http://www.amazon....rich/dp/0941104184
[last edit 8/28/2009 11:08 PM by dirt - edited 1 times]
He seemed to move among very delicate objects, on ground mined with goodness knows what precious explosives. ~ Jean Cocteau | |
Actally that sounds really interesting, added to cart!
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” | |
The Hiding Place, by Corry Tenboom. AMAZING book, about a Dutch woman who hid Jews during the war and then got caught for it. I've read it, like, eleven times. In fact, I think I'm due for another read-through.
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Posted by snap228
The Hiding Place, by Corry Tenboom. AMAZING book, about a Dutch woman who hid Jews during the war and then got caught for it. I've read it, like, eleven times. In fact, I think I'm due for another read-through.
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Thanks! I'll take your word that the book is that good, and check it out.
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” | |
The Spiders of Allah - James Hider
http://www.amazon....=1251556738&sr=1-1
New book about a British Journalist who has lived in the middle east for the past 10 years. Basically a memoire of his misadventures and interviews with various religious fanatics. Very interesting look at the cultural mindset of that part of the world.
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Looking For Trouble: Adventures in a Broken World - Ralph Peters
http://www.amazon....1251557137&sr=1-1#
I love this man. Retired US Army Lt Colonel who frequently writes editorials in the NY Post about foreign affairs. This book, written post 9/11, is more of a retrospective of the years before it. What we knew, what we ignored, and what we got horribly wrong. He's a powerful writer who has a talent for getting the point across without sugar coating or beating around the bush. Have I mentioned that I adore this man?
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The Painted Bird, by Jerzy Kosiński.
A Long, Long Way, by Sebastian Barry.
"The truth is knowable. But probably not, ever, incontrovertible."
--Don DeLillo
PICS | |
On Guerilla Warfare by Mao Tse-Tung. I wrote a paper on it last semester, and it's a pretty good book, if you're interested in military science or tactics.
Then there's Hitler's autobiography. But it's horrible writing and not in the least bit interesting, since it's all propaganda, anyway. I don't even remember the name of it.
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Early: Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. Fictionalized account of an archer in the Agincourt campaign of the 1400's. Much more interesting than it sounds.
napoleonic Wars: Anything by Patrick O'Brien. He writes in the style of the time, but he actually wrote the novels in the 1960's and '70s.
Civil War: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Brilliant.
WWI: anything by Lyn MacDonald. They're not widely available in the US, but she writes oral histories of WWI. Very eye-opening.
WWII: The Two-Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morison. A condensed version of his much larger history of the US Navy in WWII. Very readable.
“We are not going to have the kind of cooperation we need if everyone insists on their own narrow version of reality. … the great divide in the world today … is between people who have the courage to listen and those who are convinced that they already know it all.”
-Madeline Albright | |
Posted by splumer
Early: Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. Fictionalized account of an archer in the Agincourt campaign of the 1400's. Much more interesting than it sounds.
napoleonic Wars: Anything by Patrick O'Brien. He writes in the style of the time, but he actually wrote the novels in the 1960's and '70s.
Civil War: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara. Brilliant.
WWI: anything by Lyn MacDonald. They're not widely available in the US, but she writes oral histories of WWI. Very eye-opening.
WWII: The Two-Ocean War by Samuel Eliot Morison. A condensed version of his much larger history of the US Navy in WWII. Very readable.
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I will definitely check out Agincourt.
Yesterday finished Enemy at the Gates, an overview of Stalingrad - probably one of the best. The movie only depicts a sniper battle.
Now reading Voices from Stalingrad, an oral history of the battle.
Also have on order Island of Fire, probably the best and most definitive book written on Stalingrad - can't wait to read it. (visit http://www.leapinghorseman.com)
Stalingrad was the most brutal urban warfare in history. Compared to the European experience during WW2, D-day and the American experience seems like a gentle pat of the lion's paw. Russia bore the brunt, Poland was completely destroyed, etc.
“You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.” | |
Posted by Esoterik
I will definitely check out Agincourt.
Yesterday finished Enemy at the Gates, an overview of Stalingrad - probably one of the best. The movie only depicts a sniper battle.
Now reading Voices from Stalingrad, an oral history of the battle.
Also have on order Island of Fire, probably the best and most definitive book written on Stalingrad - can't wait to read it. (visit http://www.leapinghorseman.com)
Stalingrad was the most brutal urban warfare in history. Compared to the European experience during WW2, D-day and the American experience seems like a gentle pat of the lion's paw. Russia bore the brunt, Poland was completely destroyed, etc.
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Do check it out. I read another of his books and wasn't too thrilled with it, but Agincourt was awesome. I also heard on the radio not long after that about a web site that lists names of the soldiers involved in that and other medieval campaigns. I seem to have had some ancestors involved, if not in Agincourt proper then in the lead-up to it. The web site name escapes me at the moment.
“We are not going to have the kind of cooperation we need if everyone insists on their own narrow version of reality. … the great divide in the world today … is between people who have the courage to listen and those who are convinced that they already know it all.”
-Madeline Albright | |
War and Peace anyone? Not that difficult to read in my experience, though bloody long.
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