NPR: What to Read Before You Go to War

What to Read Before You Go to War

If you're curious to see what Marines being sent overseas are reading, the Small Wars Journal blog offers this list, courtesy of Lt. Gen. James Mattis, commander of the Marine Corps Forces Central Command, of what's required and recommended.

The list offers a variety of viewpoints. Those who prefer a neoconservative flavor will find books and articles by writers like Max Boot, Robert Kaplan and Bernard Lewis, who argue it's important to see America as an empire and discuss what that means for its position in the world. They also warn about what they see as a clash of civilizations between the West and Islam.

For a more nuanced view of Islam and the Middle East, the list includes Amin Maalouf's The Crusades Through Arab Eyes and John Esposito's What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam. Also listed is former NPR reporter Sarah Chayes' The Punishment of Virtue, which details why she believes the U.S. made a tragic blunder in Afghanistan by not having a concept of how to create a civil society after a military invasion.

There is also plenty of good material about heroism and warfare, as well as tactical manuals that make for heavy but absorbing reading.

If I could add books to the list, I would include Michael Herr's haunting Vietnam-era Dispatches, the best war book I've ever read. And then there's But Not for the Fuehrer by Helmut Jung, a former German solider whose 2004 book offers an eye-opening look at why ordinary soldiers commit terrible atrocities.

So let's open this up for discussion. Any other books you folks would like to see on such a list? Or recommendations for ones that are already there?

9:45 AM ET | 06-12-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

"Obedience to Authority" by Stanley Milgram. Details an experiment on how difficult it is to resist obviously cruel directions from authority figures.

Sent by Bill Collins | 10:26 AM ET | 06-12-2007

The Crusades Through Arab Eyes is a wonderful book. Terry Jones of Monty Python fame used it as the basis for his documentary series on the history of the Crusades.

And let's not forget the work of Ryszard Kapuscinski. The Soccer War is an amazing collection of essays he wrote while covering more than two dozen wars over a period of 40 years. I've read it at least three times now. "Another Day in Life," which covers his experience during the start of the Angolan civil war, is another must-read.

And for something a bit more historical, there's always Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game, which explores the not-so-cold war between the British and Russian empires as they conspire against each other across Central Asia. It also paints a stark picture of what happens when you invade Afghanistan - a lesson that's been repeated again and again over the last 150 years.

Sent by andy carvin | 10:55 AM ET | 06-12-2007

Slaughterhouse V by Kurt Vonnegut.

Sent by Courtney | 12:14 PM ET | 06-12-2007

Catch-22. But of course commanders probably don't want troops going anywhere near that book.

Sent by John R. Otten | 12:58 PM ET | 06-12-2007

I suggest adding Tim O'Brien's 1991 book "The Things They Carried".

Sent by John Rice | 2:50 PM ET | 06-12-2007

The ability to distinguish between a nation's strength (military) and power (political) is most ably set forth in Hannah Arendt's "Crises of the Republic".

Sent by W. Turner | 12:09 PM ET | 09-03-2007

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