(Part 2) Best military history books according to redditors

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We found 4,468 Reddit comments discussing the best military history books. We ranked the 1,954 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Subcategories:

Military aviation history books
Intelligence & espionage history books
Korean war history books
Napoleonic war history books
Naval history books
Military history pictorials
Military strategy history books
Military uniform history books
American military history books
Vietnam war history books
Weapons & warfare history books
World War I history books
Workd War II history books
Canadian military history books
War of 1812 history books
Military life & institutions books
Military regiment history books
Prisoners of war history books
Iraq war history books
Afghan war history books
History of military vehicles books

Top Reddit comments about Military History:

u/vanoreo · 92 pointsr/UpliftingNews

Both of their actions should be appreciated.

People should be commended for owning up to their mistakes and for forgiving others.

While I'm here, linking this book on forgiveness

u/zach2thefuture · 38 pointsr/bestof

His book, Thunder Below! is apparently a great read for submariners.

u/mexicodoug · 38 pointsr/todayilearned

Take a few hours and read 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad.

It's worth it.

u/F1NN1NG · 25 pointsr/WarshipPorn

Neptune's Inferno, by James D. Hornfischer gives a pretty in-depth depiction of what it was like, using interviews with veterans from both sides.

Most local libraries have a copy if you're interested.

u/ItCameFromSpaaace · 22 pointsr/todayilearned

And the Russians had spies at high levels in both the British government and military, but didn't truth their reports because the Kremlin assumed the spies were double agents. Interesting book called Double Cross tells all about it.

u/emr1028 · 20 pointsr/booksuggestions

Quicksand, by Geoffry Wawro

Power, Faith, and Fantasy by Michael Oren

The Coming Anarchy by Robert Kaplan

The Revenge of Geography by Robert Kaplan

The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr (although to be honest I found this one a little dull)

Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandrasekaran


Little America by Rajiv Chandrasekaran

Soldiers of God by Robert Kaplan


Sleeping with the Devil by Baer

Dirty Wars by Jeremey Scahill

Ghost Wars by Steve Coll


Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile

The Way of the Knife by Mark Mazzetti


Eastward to Tartary by Robert Kaplan (I actually haven't read this one yet but it's definitely on my to do list and I'm a huge fan of Kaplan's writing, observation, and analysis.)

The Ends of the Earth by Robert Kaplan

This is a partial list of some books I've read in the past couple of years. I put stars next to the ones that I think are the really really excellent ones. Some of them aren't entirely about the Middle East but the concepts in them are really important if you want to understand the region. I hope you look through the list and at the very least look at some of the books that Amazon recommends to go along with these books.

Oh, you should also check out this essay. I like to think it's decent reading if you want to understand what motivated Bin Laden and the context surrounding his life.


If you manage to read just a few of these, and also keep up with the news (I recommend a subscription to the Economist and to the New York Times) you will be a phenomenally well educated person about the Middle East.

u/w3woody · 19 pointsr/AskAnAmerican

One of the problem is that by the time the historians came to the new world to see what was going on with the Natives, disease wiped out up to 90% of the population, and many villages and cities had fallen into disuse or disrepair.

So we don't know.

But we have some pretty tantalizing evidence of a society that was as populous and as sophisticated as those in parts of Europe, with structures so large they are often confused for small hills.

As to why Europeans invaded North America and Native Americans did not invade Europe is a subject for a number of anthropologists. I find the explanations by Victor Hanson's "Carnage and Culture" somewhat persuasive--but again, those civilizations were wiped out by disease before we had a chance to study them. And a lot of Europeans sometimes found the pre-made structures and moved in, claiming them as their own.

u/oneultralamewhiteboy · 17 pointsr/wikipedia

Yeah, interestingly the same chemist who re-synthesized heroin discovered aspirin a few days later. The book is called 'Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich.' So far, I like it, but the author is very anti-drug, it seems. I generally dislike writers that personify drugs. Meth isn't 'evil.' It's a chemical, it's inanimate, it can't be evil. But the research is really good.

https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Germany-Norman-Ohler/dp/0241256992/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1502138418&sr=8-2&keywords=blitzed

u/vagueblur901 · 17 pointsr/beholdthemasterrace

https://www.amazon.com/Blitzed-Drugs-Germany-Norman-Ohler/dp/0241256992

the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940. The promiscuous use of drugs at the very highest levels also impaired and confused decision-making, with Hitler and his entourage taking refuge in potentially lethal cocktails of stimulants administered by the physician Dr Morell

Is the book it's a pretty good read and funny because of how fucked up they got

u/dziban303 · 15 pointsr/MilitaryGfys

I read a book about the naval battles around Guadalcanal during WWII. Survivors of sinking ships would sometimes be killed by the shock of unsafed depth charges exploding as the ship, to which the charges were still attached, sank beneath their detonation depth. The shockwave would go up their butthole (no, really) and rupture Important Things™.

Neptune's Inferno is a must-read book for anyone interested in naval combat.

u/direwolf71 · 14 pointsr/politics

Great book on the topic if you haven't already read it: Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies.

u/DerRonny · 14 pointsr/communism

I don't know myself but I can refer you to r/redpreppers and r/privacytoolsIO. Maybe read up about Guerilla tactics and Urban guerrilla warfare. Definitely read up about counter insurgency and COINTELPRO, you have to know your enemies' tactics and get yourself to keep a steady plan and date, discipline is key. Great to hear Americans are preparing, it seems more and more necessary with every passing day!

u/Grine_ · 13 pointsr/worldbuilding

Proof that as a mod, you just can't win. ;P

Bonus literature, since I feel like helping people unseat me today.

u/illminister · 12 pointsr/WorldOfWarships

This is a classic, I've read this over 5x last year while flying around for work.

I also highly recommend thunder below!, I would pay a lot for a premium USS Barb...

*typo

u/[deleted] · 10 pointsr/DebateAnarchism

> but there's several reasons why a militia would win over a large-scale state army.

I too have read a good deal on the subject of guerrilla warfare and I honestly feel this is playing down how difficult it is for the militia. It takes massive political support, something anarchism does not have right now, and an incredibly skilled leadership, which anarchism is also lacking. Also the opposition needs networks to communicate and spread propaganda and literature amongst the people. There has to be multiple channels being used simultaneously such as the internet, paper(s), etc. Unfortunately the internet won't be of much use if there is no power or supplies to repair the technology needed to access it and industrial printing presses are not only few and far between, but are also bourgeois/government owned. This isn't even taking into account the sheer amount of manpower and weaponry that is needed. The former of which anarchism lacks and the latter of which Americans do have in number, but not strength. The days of attacking enemy convoys and simply taking their weaponry is long pasted with the advent of modern technology and increasingly advanced counter insurgency tactics. That being said it is possible and I'd argue somewhat common for an insurgency to win a war, but it is far from as simple as your post makes it out to be and is most definitely not a sure thing. It also usually has an idea that everyone, read people other than simply anarchist, can really get behind, support, and even die for.

The main factor I left out is the use of land, which I suppose could be lumped under the skilled leadership criteria stated above. This issue is an extremely important one as the terrain used and knowing how to use said terrain has been known as the great equalizer of men. It makes irregular forces and regular forces equals when they otherwise wouldn't be. If anyone has any questions please send me a PM.

Also I suppose since I asked for the other users who posted on the subject of guerrilla warfare to post their sources I should include my main sources. These are the main and best ones I've read but there are many others.

Partisan Warfare by O Heilbrunn

Insurgency and Terrorism:From Revolution to Apocalypse by Bard E. O'Neill

War of the Flea:The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare by Robert Taber

On Guerrilla Warfare by Mao Tse-Tung. You can find this for free here.

Guerrilla Warfare by Che Guevara. You can find a part of this for free here.

>So you're right, this is something a lot more anarchists should consider.

Everyone of every ideology should. You never know when you will need to fight an organized army. Be it an invading one or your own.

Also if you don't mind me asking what books have you read on the subject? I'm looking for some new ones.

Edits: *

u/Beasty_Glanglemutton · 9 pointsr/todayilearned

It is also an excellent book by Ben Macintyre called Double Cross. I would recommend Macintyre's books to anyone who wants to read about espionage. They are all fascinating.

u/Schneckenhof · 9 pointsr/todayilearned

Incidentally Cannae was the very first thing I thought of when I saw that episode of GOT. I kept thinking how alot of that scene is exactly how I envisioned the battle of Cannae in my head (only with Roman soldiers instead of Wildlings and Crows). I read a really good book a few years back called "Carnage and Culture" by Victor Davis Hanson which has an entire chapter dedicated to Cannae. The book very vividly describes how the Romans were encircled and then slowly were forced back as the circle drew tighter and tighter around them like a slowly tightening noose.

I am a history major. If I could time travel, there are two places in history I would definitely NOT want to wind up: The Somme (Either Side), and Cannae (as a Roman soldier).

Link to the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Carnage-Culture-Landmark-Battles-Western/dp/0385720386

u/Wolfgangatom · 9 pointsr/guns

Art of the Rifle

I also found this one helpful

u/MeneMeneTekelUpharsi · 8 pointsr/AskHistorians

U-boat.net for a very good online source on German submarines in both World Wars, more encyclopedic than a book, however.

Wolfpack and Battle of the Atlantic are two very readable and good books for a general overview, but there are certainly more academic or exhaustive books as well.

The U-boat War is an oldie but a goodie, written by the same person who wrote das Boot, the fictional counterpart.

On the American side, several submariners wrote very good memoirs. Thunder Below by Eugene Fluckey gives a great overview of both life at sea in an American submarine in the Pacific, but also of operational details, how the patrols worked, etc.

u/NotReallyMyJob · 8 pointsr/todayilearned

I also really enjoyed Double Cross. It has a good mix of first hand accounts pieced together from Allied records and some images from the program.

As with all of the WWII books I've read, it tends to overstate the importance of the unit in question (turned spies and the spy program in this case), but it really interesting as a whole.

Edit: Maybe overstate is the wrong word, but I've found that books and accounts from participants from WWII tend to state that the effort portrayed turned the tides. It's not that any of these books (Band of Brothers, Double Cross, Beyond The Call, others) are wrong, it's just that there were so many effective pieces in motion that it seems wrong to give weight to any one of them over the others.

u/SapphireSalamander · 8 pointsr/gaming

this band

this book

this movie

this game

in general generic words are usualy bad things to call a franchise since they are hard to pin down culturaly, try to google "echo" and guess what work im talking about. "Alien" was more the exception than the rule.

u/Gadgetman53 · 8 pointsr/WorldOfWarships

Read James D. Hornfischer's books:

Neptune's Inferno - About Guadalcanal

The Fleet at Flood Tide - The Pacific campaign later in the war. I'm currently reading this.

The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors - About Taffey 3 and battle off Samar

u/LurkerTriumphant · 8 pointsr/AskHistorians

Let us now turn to Japan, 1945. On August 14th, the eve of the infamous surrender broadcast, a young major began to implement his last ditch effort to forestall defeat.

Prior to what is now known as the Kyujo Incident, the prospect of surrender was hotly debated among the ministers. The Minister of the Army, Korechika Anami, was the loudest opponent. "We will sleep in the fields and eat grass before we surrender!" he said. He was backed by the Navy minister, and others in the government. Even the two atomic blasts did not deter him. He was convinced that Japan would lose its independence if they accepted the Potsdam Declaration. He believed that fighting the enemy when they invaded would force more favorable surrender terms. Only after the two unprecedented Imperial interventions did Anami agree to relent. However, the ministers were wary that Anami was intending to launch a coup d'etat. With the entire Imperial Army beneath him and the officers largely sympathetic to his cause, it seemed well within the realm of possibility.

Que the entry of Major Kenji Hatanaka. At 22 years old, Hatanaka was an idealistic militant. He had the uptmost faith that his sacred Japan was unbeatable. Under the pretext that the Imperial decree was illegally influenced by treasonous ministers, he began to plan his seizure of the State. With him was Colonel Ida, and several other mid ranking officers of the Army.

For a coup to be a success, conspirators needs to identify the vital controls of the government. They also needs to identify local security forces that could intervene against them. This divides the targets into two categories, political and military. In Japan, the major political power would have been the key ministers, including the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister. It also would have included the Emperor himself. Though historically isolated from politics, two interventions from him during the final week of the war broke that precedent, bringing him into the political world.

The other target were two major security forces in the area. The Eastern District Army was responsible for the defense of Tokyo and the rest of the region. The Imperial Guard was naturally in defense of the Imperial Palace and the Emperor. These organizations were headed by General Tanaka and General Mori, respectively. Both groups were under the command of Minister/General Anami.

As a military man, Hatanaka did not take much of the political power into account during his planning phase. He assumed most of that power was in the hands of the Emperor, the military being the more important aspect of the insurrection. Perhaps he was right, Prime Minister Suzuki was nothing like the decisive Hideki 'Razor' Tojo. Suzuki was indecisive by all accounts, and easily swayed. And as luck would have it for the insurgent major, Suzuki would spend the duration of the coup fleeing inept, yet persistent, assassins as part of an unrelated incident.

Thus, his plan turned to the military aspect. He would need the local forces to help him take control of the city and install the military. Biting off a bit more than he could chew, he went straight to single most powerful man in the nation, Anami. When asked to participate in the coup, Anami gave no decisive answer. Reasons for this are debated, but it's possible that it was a calculated response to forestall and doom the coup. Regardless, Hatanaka took his participation as a possibility, and proceeded to court the General of the Imperial Guard, General Mori.

On the night of the coup, Hatanaka's co-conspirator, Colonel Ida, proposed the idea to Mori. Mori was taken a back, but ultimately refused to participate. Ida then told Hatanaka, and asked for his help in convincing him. Instead of arguing with the General, Hatanaka shot him dead and had his aide beheaded. Using the General's "hanko," an official id stamp, he forged orders for the Imperial Guards to take both the Imperial Palace and the local radio station, NHK. Unaware that the orders were forged, and their commander assassinated, the officers of the Imperial Guard began implementing Strategic Order 584.

Hatanaka had it in his head that upon seizing the palace, the Minister of the Army would be inspired and convinced to help. What he didn't know was that Anami was slowly dying from self inflicted wounds in the traditional fashion of 'seppuku.' His help would never come, and the Eastern District Army (EDA) was regardless under the direct command of General Tanaka. Tanaka received word from the palace. He was both notified by the besieged, who were able to find one line of communication that wasn't cut by the conspirators, and by the conspirators themselves. They proudly announced their actions and asked the EDA to help. Tanaka organized a force and began to make his way to the palace.

Meanwhile, Hatanaka and his men were furiously searching for the prerecorded surrender document. The Imperial Aide, Tokugawa, cleverly hid it among the staff's folded bed sheets. Such treatment of an Imperial decree would have been blasphemous in other conditions, and Hatanaka assumed it was with other hidden treasures of the Emperor. Even after getting beaten by the insurrectionists, Tokugawa still refused to give the location. Hatanaka considered his priorities, and delegated the search to the guardsmen. He then made his way to the radio station to make his own statements to the world.

General Tanaka arrived early in the morning, August 15th. The guards recognized the General and let him by. He then approached the officers of the guards and told them the truth. Their commander had been assassinated, Hatanaka was a rebel. They immediately began to return to their normal posts, and abandoned the palace to it's normal garrison. When searching for Hatanaka, the General was terrified to hear that the enraged major had made his way to the radio station, to call upon the armed forces and the citizenry to resist the surrender and resist the Americans. Panicked, he ordered the phone lines restored.

Hatanaka had indeed made it to the radio station. Armed with the same 8mm Nambu that he used to slay Mori, Hatanaka threatened the radio staff. At gunpoint, the NHK workers refused to give him air time. They cited orders from the EDA, and said that without orders from either Anami or Tanaka, they could not broadcast anything while an air raid siren was playing in the city. They even went as far as to disable the station, denying Hatanaka any chance at airtime. According to witnesses, Hatanaka did not demand so much as beg. Apparently, the major was begging to understand that his coup was a failure. Then the phone rang. General Tanaka had restored the phone lines and had called to speak to the Major. He ordered the young man to stand down. Hatanaka, in tears, begged for just a few minutes to explain himself over the radio. The request was denied, and Hatanaka fled.

The black-eyed Tokugawa fetched the surrender recording, and with the help of the EDA, brought it to the radio station for the scheduled noon broadcast. In these final hours of the Empire, there were rumors circulating of a young man begging civilians to join him in a military coup. The rumors were ignored, and Hatanaka was found dead with self inflicted gunshot wound in the forehead. He had returned to the scene of the crime, the Imperial Palace, to do so.

Had Hatanaka mad some minor tactical changes, including isolating Tanaka and bringing some radio technicians with him, he may well have been able to send a message to the world and to the Imperial Armed Forces of Japan. The results of such a broadcast are speculative. At best, his plea would have been ineffective. At worst, the sympathetic officers of the armed forces may have helped him. There was certainly no shortage of such people. The surrender may not have been broadcast as planned, and the American response could have been horrifying. More atomic blasts, and even a subsequent invasion was in the works. Operation Downfall, as it was called, planned for seven atomic bombs and a bigger landing force than Normandy. Luck would have it for the world, that the very militancy that drove Hatanaka to launch is coup, led to a failure in tactics.


TLDR: What night.

Additional: It wasn't the only coup attempt that night. As mentioned earlier, PM Suzuki was on the run from machine gun toting assassins. They were not very good assassins, however. He escaped after they strafed and burned down his house. Another incident was brewing at an air base. However, the General there had forseen this and as a preliminary action, ordered all hands to ignore the commands of the potential insurrectionists.


u/ScrappyPunkGreg · 7 pointsr/IAmA

Thunder Below, available on Amazon here.

u/dipique · 7 pointsr/mildlyinfuriating

I just read The Second World War and it was remarkable how long the US slow-played entry for political gain, extorted Great Britain on lending terms (albeit even that act was opposed by congress at the time, so it may have been necessary), and reneged on the "Germany first" policy, diverting the lion share of resources to the pacific where it seemed there was more to be gained. And, meanwhile, was charmed by Stalin into what amounted to an Allied betrayal of Poland (Stalin unfortunately had a knack for charming everyone while convincing world leaders that he was being charmed, to the point where the US/Allied can proudly say we fought beside the worst and most violent dictator of the time, and not for lack of competition).

The aid of the US was pivotal to be sure, but (as an American) I just wish we hadn't made such an embarrassing job of it.

u/clayblaster · 7 pointsr/todayilearned
u/Veganpuncher · 7 pointsr/AustralianMilitary

Never happen, mate. One civilian protester turns up, her son's in the Regiment, and the CO orders the boys to shoot her. Guess which way the rifles are going to be pointing.

[Luttwak] (https://www.amazon.com/Coup-d%C3%89tat-Practical-Edward-Luttwak/dp/0674175476) is your man on the subject. But the ADF, being a volunteer force, is a Citizens' DF. No way will they fire on their own people. Even the Turks wouldn't do it when their hard-fought democracy was under threat from an increasingly anti-democratic government.

There are also the practical components to consider: geographical dispersion of loci of power, transport hubs, media outlets (social media has made coups a right bastard because coups rely on the ability to control the flow of information), no one in 1BDE would join in because it would embarrass them in front of the Yanks, the only military force near Canberra is the Fed Guard and a single PL-sized 'Company' of Chocks at Queanbeyan, and most of them are on courses at any one time.

Just too hard, mate. But read Luttwak, he's been given Executive Producer credits in most coups since the 60s.

u/biggreen10 · 7 pointsr/sailing

A Patrick O'Brien book would be helpful, but one of the companions would be even better. For really basic stuff I'd check out this book

u/booshound · 7 pointsr/news

This has been extensively written about. One excellent and meticulously detailed source is, "Assault on the Liberty" written by James Ennes, a survivor of the attack.

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Liberty-James-Ennes-Jr/dp/0972311602/

Worth checking out if you are interested in the facts of the case rather then the conjecture and propaganda that saturates most internet discourse about the subject.

To briefly answer your question, the type of ship, the flag flown, the numerous Israeli recon flights overhead preceding the attack, among other things are all factors that leave the impartial observer unable to draw any conclusion other then that the ship was known to be American. The official Navy investigation done by the JAG determined the same thing.

u/pdb1975 · 7 pointsr/guns

You've started out right. Keep safe, buy ammo, use up, repeat.

Read the textbook. Zero your rifle, then get off the bench and get good at shooting from the standard positions.

Once you've done that, you'll be ready to make the most out of a centerfire rifle.

Have fun!

u/ALRidgeRunner · 6 pointsr/Warships

The others are correct. The IJN was still convinced of the inevitability of the Decisive Battle that Mahan had espoused at the turn of the century. The entirety of their doctrine, excluding the Decisive Battle, was built around battles being at night and at close range.

They would launch their torpedos while still undetected at long range and then close with the enemy. It’s the same logic behind a Z 52 torping smoke and then charging that smoke, behind a wall of skill, to catch the DD off guard. The IJN hoped for two things. First, that the torpedoes would damage or sink enough ships to make a difference in numerical superiority. Second, that the other ships in the USN formation would turn and break formation making their gunfire much more ineffective and make single ships easier to pick off.

The USN doctrine put all of their eggs in the radar fire control basket. Unfortunately, many of the commanders didn’t trust the new technology, instead trusting their own, flawed, pre-war doctrine. For instance, Norman Scott had a cruiser with search radar but didn’t pick it because he thought a Heavy Cruiser was more befitting an Admiral. So, there was a huge delay in communication between ships and commanders at the Battle of Cape Esperance.

If you’re seriously interested in learning more I strongly suggest reading:

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal https://www.amazon.com/dp/0553385127/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_LjBOAbQ8CTBFT

u/alexandertheaverage · 6 pointsr/Military

In depends. The military identifies three levels of war: tactical, operational, and strategic. Tactical is just as it sounds. Small units up to Brigade and Division level. Operational goes higher, division to corps, to Joint Task Force to Theater. Strategic goes from theater to national. The lines can blur, especially between operational and strategic.

In the Army, company grade officers (LTs and CPTs) focus on the tactical level in their training. Theoretically, all junior officers learn some degree of small unit tactics. Some company grade officer end up working at higher levels so they get a lot of OJT at the higher levels. That's what happened to me when I was a Captain assigned to CENTCOM.

Field grades (MAJ-COL) get trained at the operational and strategic level. These are the folks who write all the plans. They are also the ones who command battalions and above.

At the Colonel level, officers get training on the higher echelons of strategy or what some people might call "grand strategy". These are the guys who will write the big war plans.

There are schools at each level that teach officers how to do their jobs. Many officers also attend graduate school. That's where I'm at right now. (http://www.nps.edu/Academics/SIGS/NSA/)

As far as reading goes, it depends on what you're interested in. For tactical, books like "Band of Brothers" are timeless and great. "Thunder Run" is a good look at the early phases of OIF. For a look at the Operational/Strategic level, I'd check out "Cobra II", "Fiasco", and "The Gamble".

Most of the military publications and field manuals are open source. The Ranger Handbook is the best all around for small unit tactics. If you want to learn how the Army is set up, try FM-1 The Army (http://www.army.mil/fm1/) or the COIN manual. (http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-24.pdf) For a look at how all the forces fight together, check out the Joint Operations Manual. (http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/new_pubs/jp3_0.pdf) However, most of these are really dry and jargon laden.

If you want a good starting source for strategy and what has shaped strategic thought, check out "Makers of Modern Strategy". (http://www.amazon.com/Makers-Modern-Strategy-Machiavelli-Nuclear/dp/0691027641) You can also read up on some Clausewitz because we love our dead German military theorists in the Army.

u/Adddicus · 6 pointsr/AubreyMaturinSeries

If it does there is a small industry of books published to explain it all. Patrick O'Brian's Navy for example.

u/g2petter · 6 pointsr/wma

>I think you just stumbled onto a really great way to define this alternative concept of a "feint" that people occasionally use. The modern usage of the word feint implies a "second intention" attack, which is dangerous and foolish with a real weapon. What is desirable is an "alternate intention" attack -- as in, an attack where your first intention can change if the situation calls for it.

You should read Understanding Fencing by Zbigniew Czajkowski. It does a good job at distingushing between second-intention attacks and "open eyes" attacks. These are different both when it comes to neurology, intention and how fast the action is executed. There's a time and place for both, though, and I disagree that a second-intention attack is categorically "dangerous and foolish".

u/free__upvotes · 6 pointsr/Fencing

A Basic Fencing Companion by Paul Sise is really good, specially for beginners/intermediate fencers. It reads easily and has a great glossary that I used to get ready for my moniteur exam.

Another good one is Understanding Fencing by Czajkowski (who sadly passed away just last week). This one is more advanced, but it doesn’t read as easily. I took my time reading this one.

u/Vaxper · 6 pointsr/Survival

To add to what Ryan said, there are also a bunch of good books on the subject, most of which can be found for free.

John 'Lofty' Wiseman's SAS Survival Handbook is extremely comprehensive (around 600 pages) and very information-dense.

The US Army Survival Manual is also pretty good, but it's not as comprehensive or detailed as Wiseman's book.

Although it's more of a bushcraft book, Mors Kochanski's Bushcraft is extremely well done. His descriptions are easy to read, but fairly comprehensive, and are paired with detailed sketches and pictures.

Mainly, just go out and practice. You're already a capable outdoorsman, so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle. If you wanna take courses, just search around for courses near where you are, or maybe look at something like NOLS. Hope that's helpful.

u/evereddy · 5 pointsr/india

https://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-Antony-Beevor/dp/0316023752 makes a very nice and detailed reading of what we generally understand after many years of hindsight since the WW2.

u/ElliottGarber · 5 pointsr/IAmA

And here's another book that discusses the potentially weaponized Russian smallpox strains in a lot more detail: http://www.amazon.com/Biohazard-Chilling-Largest-Biological-World-Told/dp/0385334966

u/Georgy_K_Zhukov · 5 pointsr/AskHistorians

So layman can be a relative term... non-degreed but well-read amatuer all the way down to "never read anything related to this topic before", so with that in mind, "Makers of Modern Strategy" is a pretty excellent place to start, collecting essays from a number of notable experts and covering the evolution of military strategy over the past ~500 or so years.

u/venuswasaflytrap · 5 pointsr/Fencing

Hopefully it goes without saying that you can't learn something physical from the books.

But if you're the kind of person who likes to read a lot, and want to supplement your learning by reading about fencing theory, then here's what I would recommend.

First, read pretty much any general book about fencing. I've read quite a few books about fencing, but generally they're mostly all the same. Here's one that I've read that is indicative of most books, but there's loads

The only thing you're really trying to take away from it getting basic descriptions of the equipment, some basic nomenclature - "lunge", "fleche", "quarte", "disengage", "ballestra", etc. Maybe some basic history. You could also get all this stuff from wikipedia if you wanted, but maybe a book form might be presented in a nicer way.

A lot of these books will talk about mental game, perfect technique, and the great masters of whenever. This is mostly absolute garbage. Most of the history will be incorrect, and only semi-true 'factoids'. It often comes off as a bit of "mysticism". If you have any experience in the culture of martial arts you probably know what I mean.

So once you have a rough idea of what all the parries are, and what we call all the footwork movements, more or less, I would recommend reading Epee 2.0 (2.5 or whatever it's on now).

This book talks about a pragmatic based approach to fencing. No one makes a perfect lunge, and in fact, there is not even such a thing as a perfect lunge. Lots of moves that you learn aren't actually all that useful. etc. If you can internalize the themes of this book, that is very useful for approaching fencing in a way conducive to competitive success.

Then I would look at understanding fencing, which has a lot of very technical thoughts about fencing. E.g. Beyond just what is a step, or a lunge, he talks about different kinds of actions tactically speaking (e.g. pre-planned vs open eyes etc.).

If you read those three, you'll be in good shape

u/SevenCubed · 5 pointsr/science

Herman Kahn's "On Thermonuclear War" is a Wonderful (if dry) read. He was a badass, because when everyone else was talking OMG NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE, he was proposing timelines for nations restoring their prewar GNP. Can you imagine that shit? Sitting down and running the numbers for GNP? Anyway, the book's a fascinating read, and it's great to think of nuclear war as a "Now what?" kinda scenario, as oppposed to "everyone died".

u/FashNburn · 5 pointsr/weekendgunnit

Recommended reading: The war of the Flea

u/Get_Erkt · 5 pointsr/ShitAmericansSay

War of the Flea: The Classic Study of Guerrilla Warfare https://www.amazon.com/dp/1574885553/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Dk79ybZ3RMB0S

u/SirHatuls · 5 pointsr/guns

I don't know about videos, but I recently picked up The Art of Rifle by Jeff Cooper. After reading it, I've gotta say it's a must have. It's a short book, but it covers everything the rifleman needs to know. I disagree with him on some points (Scout rifles are really stupid), but that doesn't detract from the wealth of information he offers. It covers proper stances, grip, breathing, all sorts of other stuff, and, perhaps more importantly, mindset. It's exactly what you need. Hell, I wish I'd read it a year or so ago when I got into rifles.

u/MDendura · 4 pointsr/WorldofTanks

This is THE book on WW2-era tank warfare, written by Heinz Guderian

u/BeondTheGrave · 4 pointsr/AskHistorians

Tanks are literally my favorite things to talk about, so I feel like weve got a good pair going on.

A good book on the general history of armored warfare is

Camp Colt to Desert Storm, which is a collection of essays detail the development of tanks in the United States from 1917 to today.

If you want to understand how tanks changed the battlefield, I would really recommend Heinz Guderian's Achtung, Panzer! which details the use of tanks in World War One, and how Guderian felt they should develop on the verge of World War Two. Its an extremely influential book, and a primary source!

There are a number of books which focus on generally technology and tactics which can get really obtuse, not for a general reader. Rather, to see how tanks were used in combat, and to see how technology affected warfare, I would suggest you examine several campaigns and battles, including the battle of Amiens, Cambrai, France 1940, Kursk, Lake Balaton, Operation Cobra, and Desert Storm. If you compare those engagements (especially Desert Storm or the Fall of France) to engagements fought during World War One, such as the Marne, Somme, and Verdun, you can see how automotive technology radically altered the battlefield.

A good general summary of one of those campaigns would be Russell Weigley's Eisenhower's Lieutenants which explores the American campaign in Normandy. Examine closely the early stages of the campaign and the later breakout from Normandy to see the real advantage of mobile, tank heavy forces.

Also, if you have any technological questions Id be happy to answer them.

u/saddertadder · 4 pointsr/badhistory

https://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-Antony-Beevor/dp/0316023752/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

is what I'm reading. I'm about 2/3rds through before I kinda lost interest a few weeks ago in the airport(basically when US enters teh war/pacific theatre which I already knew tons about before the book)

u/HighOnGoofballs · 4 pointsr/history

This is a fantastic book from a pretty objective point of view, and covers from the end of the first world war to the end of the second. All the dumb strategic decisions, errors, etc. by all sides are covered. It's also pretty long http://www.amazon.com/Second-World-War-Antony-Beevor/dp/0316023752/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450295011&sr=8-1&keywords=beevor+the+second+world+war

u/AlexanderZachary · 4 pointsr/Fencing
u/Lmaoboobs · 4 pointsr/WarCollege

Currently: The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran

After this I will probably read

The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan

On War

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State

On Grand Strategy

A fellow on the combined defense discord layed out his recommendations for books on nukes, so I'll list them here.

On Thermonuclear War By Herman Kahn

On Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century by Jeffrey Larsen and Kerry Kartchner

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Third Edition by Lawrence Freedman

Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces by Pavel Podvig

Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America's Atomic Age by Francis J. Gavin

Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb by Feroz Khan

Prevention, Pre-emption and the Nuclear Option: From Bush to Obama by Aiden Warren

Nuclear Deterrence in the 21st Century: Lessons from the Cold War for a New Era of Strategic Piracy by Thérèse Delpech

Analyzing Strategic Nuclear Policy by Charles L. Glaser

Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict by Vipin Narang

Building the H Bomb: A Personal History By Kenneth W Ford

The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy by Matthew Kroenig

Paper Tigers: china's Nuclear Posture by Jeffery Lewis

Arms and Influence by Thomas Schelling

u/madwill · 3 pointsr/BasicIncome

It was mentioned at the same time as Blitzed was a big thing here on reddit. But a quick google for isis and amphetamine brings lots of articles captagon.

A drug that is critiqued to be mild but I believe its mildness help confuse people with newfound but not inhuman courage through their fate.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/turkey-seizes-11-million-captagon-amphetamine-pills-used-by-isis-fighters-to-keep-themselves-awake-a6744366.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/living/3688057/captagon-isis-drug-chemical-courage-sleep-disorders-terrorists/

edit: But the world of amphetamine and other drug usage in war is greatly interesting, it almost makes war more believable (and horrifying) if you knew people we're freaking jacked and killer each others.

u/locke-in-a-box · 3 pointsr/WarshipPorn

There is a really good book "Thunder Below!" written by Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey who was the captain of that boat during ww2. He toured the boat once, which was cool.

u/TanyIshsar · 3 pointsr/WarshipPorn

A beautiful photo for a fantastically crewed submarine.

For those of you that don't know her story, Thunder Below! was written by her skipper Eugene B. Fluckey and tells the tale of those 8 Battle Stars among other things.

u/Hematophagian · 3 pointsr/worldnews

http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853

Still active in the education of US tank troops...so it seems it was kind of reversed.

u/ThatOneSarah · 3 pointsr/WarCollege

This sort of thing is going to have some pretty big variations depending on the country in question, and even the individual commanders too.

For Germany, you might try reading "Achtung, Panzer!" by Heinz Guderian, which was his book about armored warfare.

It would also help to learn what kind of forces exactly make up a Division, so that you can gain an insight into how they would be used, and what the Division itself is capable of.

Channels like "Military History Visualized" are pretty good for gaining an overview of such information.

Here's his video on the Panzergrenadier Division.

Here's his video on the German tank Division.

Soviet Red Army Tank Division

US Army Tank Division


Of course these are brief, but I hope you find them interesting!

u/WARFTW · 3 pointsr/books

I specialize in the Eastern Front of WWII, but there are quite a few 'genres' of books that I can recommend.

General accounts:

When Titans Clashed

Russia at War

Thunder in the East

Absolute War

Hitler's War in the East

The Road to Stalingrad

The Road to Berlin

A Writer at War

THE ROLE OF THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR: A Re-examination

Why Stalin's Soldiers Fought: The Red Army's Military Effectiveness in World War II

If you're interested in memoirs I'd suggest:

Blood on the Shores

Over the Abyss

Sniper on the Eastern Front

GUNS AGAINST THE REICH: Memoirs of an Artillery Officer on the Eastern Front

PANZER DESTROYER: Memoirs of a Red Army Tank Commander

Through the Maelstrom: A Red Army Soldier's War on the Eastern Front, 1942-1945

Red Road From Stalingrad: Recollections Of A Soviet Infantryman

Red Star Against the Swastika: The Story of a Soviet Pilot over the Eastern Front

Penalty Strike: The Memoirs of a Red Army Penal Company Commander, 1943-45

BUT NOT FOR THE FUEHRER

Through Hell for Hitler

A Stranger to Myself: The Inhumanity of War : Russia, 1941-1944

Barbarossa:

War Without Garlands: Barbarossa 1941/42

BARBAROSSA DERAILED: THE BATTLE FOR SMOLENSK 10 JULY-10 SEPTEMBER 1941 VOLUME 1: The German Advance, The Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July-24 August 1941

Operation Barbarossa and Germany's Defeat in the East

Kiev 1941

Operation Typhoon: Hitler's March on Moscow, October 1941

THE VIAZ'MA CATASTROPHE, 1941: The Red Army's Disastrous Stand against Operation Typhoon

What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa

War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941

Germany and the Second World War: Volume IV: The Attack on the Soviet Union


For Stalingrad/Leningrad:

STALINGRAD: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught

Leningrad: State of Siege

Enemy at the Gates: The Battle for Stalingrad

To the Gates of Stalingrad: Soviet-German Combat Operations, April-August 1942

Armageddon in Stalingrad: September-November 1942

Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943

The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad

Kursk:

The Battle of Kursk

Demolishing the Myth: The Tank Battle at Prokhorovka, Kursk, July 1943: An Operational Narrative


Air War:

Barbarossa: The Air Battle July-December 1941

Stalingrad: The Air Battle: 1942-January 1943

Kursk: The Air Battle, July 1943

Bagration to Berlin: The Final Air Battles in the East 1944-1945

Black Cross/Red Star : Vol. 1, Operation Barbarossa 1941

Black Cross / Red Star: The Air War Over The Eastern Front, Vol. 2 - Resurgence: January - June 1942

Black Cross Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front Volume 3


German Army:

War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II

Hitler's Army: Soldiers, Nazis, and War in the Third Reich

The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture

The Wehrmacht: History, Myth, Reality

The Unknown Eastern Front: The Wehrmacht and Hitler's Foreign Soldiers


Partisans:

Defiance

Stalin's Guerrillas: Soviet Partisans in World War II

Holocaust/Genocide:

Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine under Nazi Rule

Nazi Empire-Building and the Holocaust in Ukraine

Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine

The Shoah in Ukraine: History, Testimony, Memorialization

The Holocaust in the Soviet Union

Hopefully the above will do for a start.

u/TheDunkirkSpirit · 3 pointsr/books

I've heard great things about 900 Days.

u/schrankenstein · 3 pointsr/history

He was a part of the XX Counter Espionage division working for the Allies. By D-Day, literally every German "spy" in Britain was actually a double agent working for the Allies. They actually played a huge role in duping the Germans into taking their attention off of Normandy for the D-Day invasions.

Read the book Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies for more crazy stories. Plays out almost like a wartime Ocean's Eleven.

http://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770

u/jmoscow · 3 pointsr/history

For an extensive, yet easily digestible, background on the Allied deception operation that preceded D-Day, read Ben Macintyre's book Double Cross (https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1482957362&sr=8-2&keywords=double+cross).

Allied spies were able to essentially trick the Germans into thinking the invasion was going to be somewhere other that Normandy (primarily Calais) and then continue the deception DURING the beginning of the invasion, which kept German armored units from being sent to reinforce Normandy while Allied troops reinforced the beachhead. When the Allies got their foothold, it was over for the Germans.

The British controlled every single German spy in the UK for years leading up to the invasion. The Germans were fed rubbish.

u/LIGHTNlNG · 3 pointsr/islam

You can read some of the negative reviews of the book here.

u/MYGODWHATHAVEIDONE · 3 pointsr/AskSocialScience

This is a coup, almost by-the-book I would say.

u/EmoryUpton · 3 pointsr/PurplePillDebate

This is right in my wheelhouse! My own expertise on the war in the Pacific is mainly naval, but yes, I know some good books about that!

I would recommend, first of all, Clayton James' essay American and Japanese Strategies in the Pacific War, located in Peter Paret's Makers of Modern Strategy, which provides exactly what you are looking for. After that, I recommend George Baer's One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U.S. Navy, 1890 - 1990 (the relevent sections, obviously; not the whole thing) and Doug Smith's Carrier Battles: Command Decision in Harm's Way for a good overview of the US Navy's role in the development of American strategy, policy, and operations against Japan, as well as how interwar Navy PME influenced their thinking on these issues.

David Evans and Mark Peattie's Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887 - 1941 is absolutely imperative for any kind of understanding of the Imperial Japanese Navy's strategic, institutional, and doctrinal shortcomings as they were eventually revealed during WWII. And I highly recommend Ron Spector's Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan, which also offers excellent analysis on the comparative merits and shortcomings of Japanese and US naval strategy.

Gerhard Weinberg's A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II is a bit daunting (1200 pages!) but provides the single best overall review of the war, including the war in the Pacific. For a look at US Army strategy, I'd recommend the US Army Green Book Series on the war in the Pacific; these books were written by Army staff and historians in the decade or two following the war, and offer a perspective that is sometimes difficult to find in more recent works.

u/Super_Jay · 3 pointsr/AubreyMaturinSeries

Pasting my comment from a recent thread:

>Dean King's Sea of Words and Harbors and High Seas are pretty essential, I find.
>
>I also like Patrick O'Brian's Navy: An Illustrated Guide to Jack Aubrey's World, though it's more 'additional reading' than a must-have, for me.
>
>And of course, Lobscouse and Spotted Dog is the essential culinary companion, if you've a mind to spend some time in the galley and want to shout "Which it'll be ready when it's ready!" as authentically as possible.
>
>I've heard good things about the Patrick O'Brian Muster Book, but I haven't used it so I can't speak to it personally.

u/shiskebob · 3 pointsr/MorbidReality

There are thousands of images from this time - too name all the sources on the internet and books would be impossible. The best site if you want to browse is http://www.yadvashem.org/

Just an FYI : It does not include any images - and is not a book about the facts of the Holocaust - but it is something I would recommend everyone read The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness by Simon Wiesenthal.


u/Dr_Scientist_ · 3 pointsr/changemyview

I don't have an answer for you on the topic of forgiveness but I want to direct you to The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal which is a collection of essays on the topic. The moral dilemma of the book concerns a Nazi begging the forgiveness of a Jewish prisoner during the height of the holocaust and the Jewish prisoner refusing to give it. After setting up this tale the rest of the book is various writers, thinkers, religious and political leaders giving their two cents on the nature of forgiveness.

One common theme throughout the book is the idea that forgiveness is something that cannot be given on behalf of someone else. Who is this Jew to forgive the Nazi for what he has done to other Jews? Applied to this case, maybe direct family members have some standing to offer forgiveness, but the person who was killed is the person the killer should look to for forgiveness. Obviously the killer can't, murder is unforgivable with this logic.

However, the exact opposite opinion is also expressed by many writers. Rather than let the question languish in this paradox where the only person able to forgive is dead, these writers insist that the only way forward is to allow someone else to get the ball rolling. I don't know that I have an opinion on the issue, I just think if you are genuinely curious and want to be challenged on the issues by some of the best ethical theorists of our age - look into this book.

u/olorin1984 · 3 pointsr/wma

I may have misread the OP, but I don't think that the claim was that sabre is comparable to longsword, but that the differences between longsword and epee is about as much as the difference between epee and sabre. The weapons and their use are very different, but both can be taught within the same general framework.

As for a coach teaching you to move correctly - see my earlier post. A modern coach with no interest in HEMA will obviously not be able to teach you to move correctly for longsword fencing, but a modern coach who also knows longsword will be able to adapt their teaching style to train you to move correctly.

One thing that is tricky about fencing is that the way it is presented to students is usually different from the way it is presented to coaches, so if you've mostly learned within a club, you probably have less exposure to the theory and the pedagogy of teaching as someone who's been training to be an instructor. There are a couple of books that are written from this perspective that you might be interested in:

Understanding Fencing by Zbigniew Czajkowski

Fencing and the Master by Lazlo Szabo

Foil Fencing by Istvan Lukovich



u/Jabra · 3 pointsr/Fencing

Get formal training. It has improved my coaching tremendously and I would not be able the think of any other way to achieve my current level.

Good books for a starting fencing coach are Szabo L. Fencing and the Master, Czajkowski Z. Understanding Fencing and Kogler A. One Touch at a Time.

u/someninjaguy · 3 pointsr/AskReddit

Other things:

  • Silver space blanket (helps in all types of weather)
  • 250' of parachord (side note: make one of those survival bracelets . It gives you about 12' that is always on your wrist)
  • Survival Tin (nice little back up: SAS Survival Tin)
  • WetFire fire starters (stuff is awesome. Little piece all you need to start a fire )
  • Monocular
  • Signal Mirror / Whistle
  • Multi-tool (SOG PowerAssist)
  • Hand chainsaw (Here)
  • Army Survival Book (FS 21-76)

    EDIT: If I get a chance I'll take a picture of my survival pack. People think I'm crazy but never hurts to be prepared.
u/KretschmarSchuldorff · 3 pointsr/WarCollege

Hermann Kahn's On Thermonuclear War & Thinking about the Unthinkable in the 1980s are still go-to texts for nuclear strategy.

The Parallel History Project is a good resource for Early to Mid Cold War era Warsaw Pact warplanning.

The CIA's Historical Collections contain declassified documents regarding US assessments of the WP and Soviet stances, The CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU Papers in particular.

For some interesting context, the GWU's National Security archive has some documents showing US intelligence failures.

Unfortunately, you will run into the secrecy wall really quick in this area, since nuclear strategy is more a political strategy, than a strictly military one, and grand strategy like this hangs around a good, long while (for example, I am not aware of any declassified Single Integrated Operational Plans).

u/OfBlinkingThings · 3 pointsr/guns

Here's a great book that a lot of gun fans enjoy.

https://www.amazon.com/Art-Rifle-Jeff-Cooper/dp/1581605927

u/yanusdv · 2 pointsr/mexico

tachas y perico...literal. Hay un libro de eso, de cómo los nazis andaban drogadísimos todo el rato. Edit: Este merengues

u/abullen · 2 pointsr/MemeEconomy

Hmm, typically most point to "Blitzed" though I never have read that book and it seems to get slammed for going a bit 'alternative' on the matter of history.

I'd say combat drugs used by German units was quite widespread and notable, and was key for the Germans advancing as much as they did without really stopping - leading to disorganisation amongst the Allies as throughout WW2 as they themselves typically only used combat drugs in terms of airforce pilots or medicines and so forth, whereas the Germans had used it quite extensively throughout its armed forces. Panzerschokolade and Stuka tablets are rather notable nicknames for these stimulants.

An article on such: http://www.spiegel.de/international/the-nazi-death-machine-hitler-s-drugged-soldiers-a-354606.html

Corroborating Wiki article tidbits:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methamphetamine#History,_society,_and_culture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_and_culture_of_substituted_amphetamines#Military_use

Edit: Change Blitz into Blitzed, the proper book name and gave a link to it.

u/ThadisJones · 2 pointsr/legaladviceofftopic

Well then I strongly recommend going straight to the source and reading Thunder Below!. Written by Fluckey himself, this book is literally too insane to be made into a movie, because no one would believe it.

This is probably the best submarine story ever written. And there's cake.

u/Infidius · 2 pointsr/worldnews

I am not sure why everyone thinks Rommel was the greatest German general. He is often touted as such, because he is the one US and UK had to fight - and he was good, but the best? Hardly. Hitler's main goal in 1941 was defeating USSR. Africa was very, very, very far down the priority list. Why then Rommel was in Africa? Second of all, the masterminds behind Blitzkrieg are these guys:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_von_Manstein

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian

Rommel was a brilliant tactic, that's all. Strategy was developed by people like von Bock, von Kleist, etc.

I highly recommend this book btw:

http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853/ref=la_B001ITYGCU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407667545&sr=1-2

u/Timoleonwash · 2 pointsr/AskHistorians

I checked em out...

["The Military Revolution" ]
(http://www.amazon.com/Military-Revolution-Innovation-Rise-1500-1800/dp/0521479584/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396059549&sr=1-4&keywords=Geoffrey+Parker)
by
[Geoffrey Parker]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Parker_(historian))

["Battles of the 30 years war"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Battles-Thirty-Years-War-Contributions/dp/0313320284/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396059822&sr=1-1&keywords=battles+of+the+30+years+wars)
by
[William Guthrie]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Guthrie_(historian))

["Warfare in the 17th century"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Warfare-Seventeenth-Century-Smithsonian-History/dp/006089170X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396060084&sr=1-1&keywords=Warfare+in+the+17th+century)
by
[John Childs]
(http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n82-90965/)

["History of the art of war"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Medieval-Warfare-History-Art-War/dp/0803265859/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066515&sr=1-1&keywords=History+of+the+art+of+war)
by
[Hans Delbruck]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Delbruck)

["Infantry Attacks"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Infantry-Attacks-Marshall-Erwin-Rommel/dp/1607963353/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066713&sr=1-1&keywords=Infantry+Attacks)
by
[Erwin Rommel]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Rommel)

["Achtung Panzer"]
(http://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1396066882&sr=1-1&keywords=Achtung+Panzer)
by
[Heinz Guderian]
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_Guderian)

u/PopeTheoskeptik · 2 pointsr/pics

When I say they had a pretty good idea, I'm not implying that this was from experience, rather that they were more likely to have been aware of the realities of the awfulness of the eastern front due to the lack of cold war attitudes that were prevalent in the west. When I was a kid, the history books over here didn't want to portray the USSR as a victim.

Since the USSR dissolved, things are a bit more objective. And even before then, some of us did go out and find books that were more accurate than say, the works of 'Sven Hassel' which when I was younger, were some of the only first-hand (at least the first 2 books) accounts published in English. Apart from Harrison Salisbury's account of the Siege of Leningrad, it's difficult to think of a book about the eastern front that was written by Russian eye-witnesses and then translated into English before the collapse of the USSR. In more recent years, English speaking historians have been making a point of getting interviews with the few remaining eye witnesses. Part of the problem in this is, as you point out, that for many of the instances, there were no survivors to give an account.

Anyway, the point I was trying to make, was that it is possible for people to know how grim a series of events was, without having to have experienced it first-hand, as long as they've access to accounts from those who did get direct experience, like your great grandpa. And some of the more recent western authors have been putting the record straight, so some of us do have more of an idea than would have been the case a couple of decades ago.

I'll try and get a copy of When Titans Clashed, cheers for the reccomendation. By way of return, can I suggest Catherine Merridale's Ivan's war.

For Leningrad stuff, also of interest might be an online copy of Glantz's 900 Days, but I'd also say Salisbury's The 900 days is well worth a read.

u/redneckrockuhtree · 2 pointsr/todayilearned

If this kind of thing interests you, read Double Cross by Ben Macintyre.

I found it to be a very interesting book about the espionage efforts in Europe.

u/bantha121 · 2 pointsr/SubredditDrama

There was a brilliant book written about the Double-Cross system that anyone with an interest in that sort of thing should read.

u/Democritus23 · 2 pointsr/HistoryPorn

The historian Antony Beevor recounts this event in his book The Second World War.

Beevor writes,

> The gleaming carriages of the Amerika carried on towards the Spanish frontier at Hendaye, where [Hitler] met Franco the next day. The Caudillo’s train had been delayed due to the dilapidated state of the Spanish railways, and the long wait had not put Hitler in a good mood. The two dictators inspected a guard of honour from his personal escort, the Führer-Begleit-Kommando, drawn up on the platform. The black-uniformed troopers towered over the pot-bellied Spanish dictator, whose smile, both complacent and ingratiating, seldom left his face (Beevor 2012, 144).

>When Hitler and Franco began their discussions, the Caudillo’s torrent of words prevented his visitor from speaking, a state of affairs to which the Führer was not accustomed. Franco spoke of their comradeship in arms during the Spanish Civil War and his gratitude for all that Hitler had done, and evoked the ‘alianza espiritual’ which existed between their countries. He then expressed his deep regret for not being able to enter the war immediately on Germany’s side as a result of Spain’s impoverished condition. For much of the three hours, Franco rambled on about his life and experiences, prompting Hitler to say later that he would prefer to have three or four teeth pulled than go through another conversation with the Spanish dictator (Beevor 2012, 145).

Source: Beevor, Antony. The Second World War. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012.


Also, I recommend reading Antony Beevor's book The Battle for Spain.

u/DeeRockafeller · 2 pointsr/WorldofTanks

I don't have an article but I listened to the audio book The Second World War by Antony Beevor. He talks about Rommel.

u/NimrodSP · 2 pointsr/aoe2

In addition to your analysis, I was under the impression that the Mexica people used their melee weapons for slashing instead of stabbing. It was the stabbing mixed with the brittle obsidian that caused the Aztecs to be inferior to the Spanish instakill stabbing steel.

Also there fighting styles were a different from their European counterparts.
>"Because Aztec warfare was designed largely to capture rather than kill, stone blades were sufficient against similarly armed Mesoamericans.

That quote is from a book I read last semester for a class.

Thanks again for doing this. Love 'em.

u/Lucretius · 2 pointsr/scifi

I fully agree!

But for the sake of argument, a Star Wars fan would say that The Force represents a profound and nearly irresistible military capacity at least as devastating as Time Travel. Here's why:

Star Trek, as you correctly point out, focuses upon the cleverness, intelligence, logic, & knowledge of it's characters. The qualities of cleverness, intelligence, logic, & knowledge are qualities that the Western cultures have prized more than any other culture. It is because the characters of Star Trek have those capacities, they thrive and succeed. In this way, Star Trek represents an ideology of the triumph of Western Rationalism. Conversely, Star Wars is essentially RELIGIOUS fiction... not SCIENCE fiction, and The Force is Lucas's attempt at repackaging Eastern Mysticism. As such, Star Trek vs Star Wars is respectively Western Rationalism (Science) vs Eastern Mysticism (Tao, balance, etc). (For the purposes of this discussion, cultures descended from the traditions of the Greeks, Romans, and Hebrews of the ancient world, are what I am calling "Western Cultures").

Your analysis of the Federation's military capacity focused immediately on technology and adaptability as an implicit acceptance of the value of the products of rationalism to military success. This is quite reasonable in that it is completely in keeping with our experience in the Real World. In the Real World, we know that Western Culture has historically dominated in objectively measurable terms all other cultures that it has had contact with almost without exception, especially in spheres of military accomplishment, economic success, and accumulation of knowledge. That's because, in both the Real World, and Star Trek, Rationalism WORKS and Mysticism DOESN'T!

But in the world of Star Wars, The Force is real. Mysticism does work there. As such, the Jedi have powers that come close to rivaling even Q. They are deathless and able to do things that normal people simply can't attempt like telekinesis or mind control. But really the most powerful of their abilities is that they can see the future and let the force guide their actions to achieve desired futures. That is they may not be able to go into the past, but they can act in the present with near certainty that their actions can and will achieve the desired results even if the chances of those results would normally be infinitesimal. As such, the most impressive thing we see done with the force is done by Luke in blowing up the Death Star... any of the other pilots who tried to pull off the shot had equivalent ships and weapons, but Luke was able to make the shot where they failed even with computer assistance because he used The Force... translated into Western theological terms rather than Eastern ones... He had Divine Intervention! That's right, in effect, God in on the side of the Jedi. Or, to paraphrase Star Wars, "Judge me by my Technology do you? And well you should not! For The Force is my ally, and a Powerful Ally it is!"

As such, one Jedi, even armed with a fighter that only has laser weapons that can't normally penetrate the shields of a Federation vessel would still represent a formidable opponent. This is because the Jedi would, guided by The Force, be able to say... tune the weapons of his craft to match the phase variance of the federation vessel's shields (a trick we see working several times via espionage in Star Trek)... he'd be able to do this for every single shot regardless of how quickly they re-modulate their shields because he would be able to look into the future and see which possible timeline included him getting through the shields at the moment he fires. Likewise, he would be able to hit the weak points on the hull of the federation ship every single time without ever missing. Likewise, the devastating firepower of the Federation vessels is irrelevant. Against a Jedi-piloted fighter the Federation would have a 100% miss rate because the Jedi could simply avoid all futures in which they hit him. This ability to see threats in the future before they even exist would allow the Jedi to prevent a time travel device in the present from being used... before it was used. Every single time, a federation officer would find a Jedi cutting him in half with a light saber before he could press the button to go back in time. (And future versions of The Federation after the conflict with The Republic wouldn't use time travel either! This is because either the war between Star Wars and Star Trek ended in Federation victory or not. If not, then no future Federation exists to intervene, and if so the Temporal Prime Directive would prevent the Future Federation from altering history (and there would be no need to do so since they won anyway). Either way, the answer to your question of "How can you beat an enemy that can travel through time?" is: You stop him in the present before he has a chance to use his time machine. This has the disadvantage that it requires that you know about the threat before it even exists in the present... but the Jedi CAN IN FACT do that!)

This is not an unreasonable interpretation of the sheer power of the Jedi and The Force based upon the movies. It should be pointed out that we never see Jedi die at the hands of non-Jedi except the end of Episode III, and there it was made very clear that Palpatine's use of the Force had greatly diminished the capabilities of the Jedi, particularly in their capacity to see the future. Indeed, Vader makes the comparison between the power of massive firepower and technology (even by the standards of Star Trek) and The Force directly: "The power to destroy a planet is insignificant compared to the power of The Force!"

So, when you (and I for that matter) say that Star trek would win, what we're really doing is rejecting the ideology of Star Wars (Mysticism) and upholding the ideology of Star Trek (Rationalism). By the rules of Star Trek and the Real World, rules based upon Rationalism, it's no contest. BUT, by the unbelievable and unrealistic rules of Star Wars, it's ALSO no contest, but in the other direction.

On a side note, if you are interested in how and why the West consistently develops better military organization, military technology, military discipline & military leadership than non-western opponents, I HEARTILY recommend the book Carnage and Culture by Victor Hanson!

u/ShortDickMcFatFuck · 2 pointsr/movies

Any one interested in this should read Neptunes Inferno: The story of American and Allied(Austrailian and New Zealand) Navies against the Japanese at Guadal Canal Absolutely mind blowing read thats not covered enough by most WW2 history sources.

u/Porkgazam · 2 pointsr/WarshipPorn

http://www.amazon.com/Neptunes-Inferno-U-S-Navy-Guadalcanal/dp/0553385127
This book is really good too, regarding the IJN and USN fights during the Guadalcanal campaign.

u/miraoister · 2 pointsr/worldnews

[The book Coup D'eat says than no coup or revolution will succeeed without support from a regional superpower.] (https://www.amazon.com/Coup-d%C3%89tat-Practical-Edward-Luttwak/dp/0674175476) and it seems to sum up this weekends events.

the only example which bucks the trend I can think of is the Iranian revolution.

u/ConcertFanatic · 2 pointsr/history
u/adamanything · 2 pointsr/CombatFootage

Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age Paperback – ed. Peter Paret
That's if you want something more academic that the usual recommendations of Sun Tzu or Clausewitz.

u/planeray · 2 pointsr/sailing
u/elusivetao · 2 pointsr/HistoryPorn

read "The Sunflower" by Simon Weisenthal

u/Hussard · 2 pointsr/wma

You are correct in that all of these things will help you enter and strike.

The manuals are a compendium of techniques, not a guide to "this is exactly what you must do". From the sounds of things, you are wanting more information into how to approach a fight rather than the actual techniques themselves. In that regards, there have been numerous books regarding fencing theory written for modern olympic fencing that would be of great use to you. The weapons are not the same but all preparatory actions translate very well into each other. The only part of the manual that talks about these (to my knowledge) are the naichraissens, the vor/nach plays and vaguely glossed over in the first part on the line, "All Art has Length and Measure".

Recommended reading:

  • "The Onion - Vor & Nach flow exercises" by Roger Norling

  • Understanding longsword - K. Ruokonen's blog

  • Understanding Fencing - By Z Czajkowski. This is actually about modern epee fencing and fencing in general but works well as a modern take on fencing theory

  • Epee 2.0 - by Johan Harmenber. Another modern book focusing on how to win. Essentially boils down to "do several things really really well instead of lots of things really well". And some other stuff.

  • MS 3227a - "Hanko Dobringer" - a little more esoteric than the modern ones but at least its period. You may find it useful.

  • The Art of Combat - By Joachim Meyer (trans by J Forgeng). This is out of print until next year but it is the best translation of Joachim Meyer's text available. It covers a wide range of plays intended, I think, for the instruction of fencers. It really is a wonderful resource and well worth getting your hands on.
u/trekkie00 · 2 pointsr/collapse

Perhaps something like The Army Survival Manual? I know it has first aid, foraging, methods of getting water, and ways to build shelter.

u/jackson71 · 2 pointsr/Documentaries

There have been several books written by officers on the Liberty that survived. The one by James Ennes is the best IMHO: https://www.amazon.com/Assault-Liberty-James-Ennes-Jr/dp/0972311602

u/Tehdo · 2 pointsr/geopolitics

I could easily write a 15 page paper on the Six-Day-War :) But that's not an offer.

Not sure how much I can help you if you aren't even going to post your initial thoughts on the event. Do you just want to take up our feelings on it?

Well anyway I'll just get the ball rolling by giving you a book on a significant incident that happened on the peripheral of the "war":

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Liberty-James-Ennes-Jr/dp/0972311602

I believe that reading this would be helpful for your report and also your understanding of geopolitics in the east beach of the Mediterranean. It's a well known book, you've probably even heard of it (at least if you're an American you have).

u/nordasaur · 2 pointsr/geopolitics

How could there not be a mention of the true classic?

http://www.amazon.com/Thermonuclear-War-Herman-Kahn/dp/141280664X

u/Made_of_Awesome · 2 pointsr/polandball
u/Gusfoo · 2 pointsr/askscience

> Also usually less damaging for the aggressor, the earth isn’t a big place, and nukes are big polluters

Less than one might expect. There is the short half-life energetic radiation hazard shit and the long half-life poisonous shit. They'll be distributed according to burst height and prevailing wind layers. But the world is a big place and even if we played all-out global thermonuclear war the radiation, while certainly detectable, isn't going to sicken everyone, or even close to it.

One large factor that acts to reduce the spread of radiounucletides is that almost all nuclear weapons are designed to explode several hundred metres above ground level. So instead of irradiating and aerosolising several tons of earth to drift down-wind it's just the bomb materials and small amounts of gas that define the fallout. The reason is that you get about 1.5 times more energy transfer to the target by bouncing the shock-wave of the initial detonation back to the target. See here for a diagram

If you're interested, there is a very good book link here about how to fight, and win, a nuclear confrontation. It's heavy on game theory and has some maths too but it is very readable.

u/mugrimm · 2 pointsr/ChapoTrapHouse

Blackwater by Jeremy Scahill is a great look into OIF which is the most significant event to happen in the region in the 21st century.

His book Dirty Wars is also excellent.

Also, Legacy of Ashes

This is all super American centric, but there's a reason for that.

u/CumredSkeltal · 2 pointsr/communism

There’s a very short book call War of the Flea by robert taber

It’s to the point, not as in depth as shadow1917’s post, but if you want a quick overview of specifically guerrilla war (vietnam and cuba) turning into a standing war then it’s helpful.

There’s also the Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerrilla by Carlos Marighella of Brazil.

I don’t know about any books on Focoism but an analysis of it would be interesting

u/zenstic · 2 pointsr/guns

The Art of the Rifle by Jeff Cooper

NOT the magpul 'art of the precision rifle' stuff, i wont say its shit, but ill spend my time reading cooper over watching that stuff any day of the week.the man is a legend, his writing is surpurb, and the information is timeless.

u/IndifferentPorchdog · 2 pointsr/guns

The bench is great for removing all human error so you can sight a rifle in. After that, it's not much use for building real shooting skills. Ask a soldier or a hunter how many times they've had the luxury of sitting down at a bench to set up their shots.

Jeff Cooper wrote a relatively inexpensive book that covers everything you ever wanted to know about how to shoot from field positions:
http://www.amazon.com/Art-Rifle-Jeff-Cooper/dp/1581605927/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1301327002&sr=1-1

My dad taught me to shoot from kneeling and prone as a kid and I've been doing it ever since, and I still learned more about those positions in that book, as well as others like rice paddy squat, etc. Most outdoor ranges will let you shoot from field positions as long as you don't get ahead of the line of benches. If not, it's time to find a new range.

u/Stubb · 2 pointsr/guns

The NRA offers a solid set of rifle and pistol 101 classes. One of these would be a good way to get started. After that, competition is a great way to meet experienced shooters and grow your skills. The same applies with classes taught by a good instructor. Check out IDPA for practical pistol shooting. You didn't specifically mention what kind of firearm you're planning to learn.

There's a lot of culture and history wrapped up with firearms. Unintended Consequences is a great way to get a quick overview of that. I see that it's now out of print and rather pricey, but perhaps your library has it.

Tactical Pistol Shooting is a good text on serious use of a pistol. After that, Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals is your guide to reaching the stars. The book will make no sense the first time you read it, but keep shooting and returning to it, and it will not only take your shooting to the next level but change the way you experience the world. Gabe Suarez's books are also good discussions on fighting with pistols. The hardware section in In the Gravest Extreme is woefully out of date, but the sections on legal use of lethal force still apply.

FM 23-10 is a good text on shooting a rifle. The Art of the Rifle is a very readable intro text but leaves out a lot of important things. Jim Owens's book on sight alignment and trigger control is a masterpiece, and his others are worth the price. Green Eyes, Black Rifles is the best book I've found for getting down to business with an AR-15.

But really, you're not going to learn all this from books. They'll mostly help once you've reached a level of proficiency where you can begin to accurately self assess your performance. Note that you'll be ahead of 95% shooters at that level. See Unskilled and Unaware of It for an overview of that. I thought I knew how to shoot a pistol when I showed up for my first IDPA pistol class and ended up getting my ass handed to me. It was quite a humbling experience. After that, I took some classes, spent time shooting with master-class pistoleros, and developed my skills. A few years later I was placing at the top of local matches and teaching other newbies to shoot. I've gotten fairly good with a rifle and carbine thanks to a few classes and shooting with guys that have spent time downrange.

Julie Goloski likely wouldn't appreciate the comments on male family members being the only ones qualified to teach shooting ;-)

Can't help you with shotguns.

u/mrdevlar · 1 pointr/LSD

Mad amounts of amphetamines. As was most of the Third Reich.

There is a reason why the combination of amphetamines and LSD lead to a 'bad trip'. One loosens awareness, the other contracts it.

u/entactoBob · 1 pointr/researchchemicals

Lol, maybe for those involved in the Manhattan Project, perhaps… Although Hitler took daily injections of meth, cocaine, and opiates according to a new book called Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany.

u/LordCurlyFry · 1 pointr/WorldofTanks

For a more tactical point of view you have Heinz Guderian's treatise on armored warfare; Achtung - Panzer! In it, he crafts the very tactics that were employed in the war.

Panzer Commander: The Memoirs of Colonel Hans von Luck is also quite good and may be more what you're looking for. Hans von Luck was a commander in Rommel's Panzer divisions at many points in the war including El Alamein, during D-Day, and on the eastern front.

u/datenschwanz · 1 pointr/todayilearned

Oh man. There's an interesting passage about Lenin's body in a book about the siege of Leningrad and the extreme measures they took to ensure its safety.

https://www.amazon.com/900-Days-Siege-Leningrad/dp/0306812983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483886332&sr=8-1&keywords=900-Days-Siege-Leningrad%2F

u/van_12 · 1 pointr/ww2

A couple that I've read from Antony Beevor:

Stalingrad, and its follow up book The Fall of Berlin 1945. Beevor has also written books on the Ardennes, D-Day, and an all encompassing book on WWII. I have yet to read those but can attest that his two Eastern Front focused books are fantastic

I would also highly recommend The 900 Days: The Siege of Leningrad by Harrison Salisbury. Absolutely haunting stuff.

u/WorkersPlaytime · 1 pointr/WorldofTanks

Much like the locals learnt to do during the Siege of Leningrad, you need to avoid the one side of each street that is vulnerable to artillery.

u/generalwill · 1 pointr/AskReddit

The 900 Days: The Siege Of Leningrad by Harrison Salisbury. This was one of the most compelling history books I've ever read. Beautifully written.

If you want to get close to imagining the horrific devastation that the nazis delivered, this book will get you closer. extremely well researched, etc, and explains why the soviets were so ill prepared. highly recommend.

http://www.amazon.com/900-Days-Siege-Leningrad/dp/0306812983
isbn 0306812983

u/admorobo · 1 pointr/suggestmeabook

Are you reading "A Spy Among Friends" by Ben Macintyre? His last book, Double Cross is a fascinating, compulsively readable history of the British double agent system developed and run by MI5 during WWII. Philby makes several appearances throughout the story.

I'd also recommend Spycatcher by Peter Wright, former assistant director of MI5, which details his career as a counterespionage operative in Post-War England. It was famously suppressed by the Thatcher administration upon initial release due to the fact that it named names and embarrassed many senior members of the British Intelligence services.

u/bobqjones · 1 pointr/books

you should also read BIOHAZARD by Ken Abilek. he ran Biopreparat in the old Soviet Union. he defected after the breakup. it gives first hand accounts of the Soviet bioweapons program, and is scary as hell.

u/trimbo · 1 pointr/WTF

> The Soviets also spent a considerable amount of effort to weaponize smallpox in a variety of different ways

Biohazard by Ken Alibek is a terrifying read about their work on this. Very much worth reading if you would like to know what the Soviets were up to in the 70s-80s with bioweapons.

u/irishjihad · 1 pointr/Military

The Ken Alibek book was also a great read.

u/shallowpersonality · 1 pointr/IAmA

I recommend Biohazard. On the edge of my seat most of the time. Author defected to US and wrote the book. I had hoped you had read it. I wanted to hear your take on it.

Ever listen to Art Bell, the radio host?

GMU Huh. Chain Bridge road. 123. Favorite DC monument. Mine is the einstein bronze sculpture and the Awakening.

Biohazard - non fiction book link
http://www.amazon.com/Biohazard-Chilling-Largest-Biological-World-Told/dp/0385334966

u/well_uh_yeah · 1 pointr/AskReddit

You should totally read this book. Or maybe The Hot Zone or Demon in the Freezer. All are very entertaining and terrifying reads.

These sorts of weapons are scary because in some cases their use is probably strategically preferable because they can destroy populations without destroying infrastructure, which is useful if you want to invade somewhere. Also, they can get out of hand and spread on their own once deployed, unlike a bullet.

I'm in no way an expert; just speculating.

u/TheDevilsFair · 1 pointr/CasualConversation

I had the same New Year's resolution a few years ago and ended up reading 65 books that year. I ran out of books I wanted to read and scrambled to find more. So you'll have weeks you'll read anything you can get your hands on which can be hit or miss, but I liked being taken out of my normal, nonfiction, reading patterns.

Here are a few If my favorites:

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston

Demon In The Freezer by Richard Preston

The Snakehead by Patrick Keefe

John Dies At The End by David Wong

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer

Death's Acre by Dr. Bill Bass

Biohazard by Ken Alibek

u/JC_Dentyne · 1 pointr/conspiratard
u/bitter_cynical_angry · 1 pointr/worldnews

That was a very interesting article. Reminds me a lot of some of the points made in Carnage and Culture.

u/TruthyBrat · 1 pointr/DrainTheSwamp

Also, if you haven't read VDH's Carnage and Culture - Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power you should. It's the antidote to Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fate of Human Societies, which is foisted upon many in college.

u/nastylittleman · 1 pointr/WarshipPorn

Neptune's Inferno was excellent, but not quite as riveting as Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors.

Got started on At All Costs, but haven't yet dug in.

Whadda ya got for me?

u/MadCard05 · 1 pointr/WorldOfWarships

If you guys liked this interview you should read Neptune's Inferno.

It's a book that tells the story of the USN at Guadalcanal, and it's built using first hand accounts like that of Captain Ruiz, Captain's Log, After Action Reports, and all sorts of sources, and it's blended into a book that really hits home about just how brutal the war at sea was, and how ordinary men can do extraordinary things when they have to.

I don't think any non-fiction has ever hit me quite the way that this book did, and it's because of stories just like Captain Ruiz's.

u/cassander · 1 pointr/Ask_Politics

Start here

u/Melanthis · 1 pointr/books

I got my undergrad in History (with an emphasis on Military History) and am working on a masters in Military History. My last class was Military Though and Theory, and we read Makers of Modern Strategy. I LOVED the book. Also, if you're gonna buy Clausewitz, be sure to get the Howard/Paret version.

u/mcsey · 1 pointr/AubreyMaturinSeries

I'll just go ahead and leave this right here http://www.amazon.com/The-Royal-Navy-Napoleonic-Era/lm/31C0AQAP2Z11 I highly recommend books 2-5, and you can download the first book from Gutenberg (I think).

http://www.amazon.com/Patrick-OBrians-Navy-Illustrated-Companion/dp/0762415401 Pictures... purty

SPOILERS for A-M and (minor) Hornblower
I don't think there's any fiction that is more accurate than O'Brian (on any subject anywhere for that matter), but Forrester's Hornblower series is worth reading for more "naval life". Hornblower and Aubrey were even on station together for the capture of the Spanish treasure frigates! Hornblower does a Hornblowery thing though and laughs when Aubrey gets screwed out of the treasure a mere political point.

Lastly for some quick mindless fun plus tall ship video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze8Y1gokHyA

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9hsQpB3zA (all four parts are in the related videos, and all worth it)

u/verywickedfellow · 1 pointr/PatrickOBrian

Patrick O'Brian's Navy: The Illustrated Companion to Jack Aubrey's World https://www.amazon.com/dp/0762415401/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zbJ8yb6MBDKDG

u/Traumwanderer · 1 pointr/witcher

Do you have both Thedas books? The second one is also great.

I gifted the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Characters and World Compendium to a friend and he seemed to like it very much.
There are a lot of similar things for Tolkiens universe.

My personal favourite companion book is Patrick O'Brians Navy.

u/JustDiveIn · 1 pointr/AskReddit

There's some cool stuff in "The Sunflower". It's a collection of essays and short stories written by average people as well as some famous ones. I think the Dalai Lama wrote one of the essays. It might give you some inspiration.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sunflower-Possibilities-Forgiveness-Paperback/dp/0805210601

u/projectemily · 1 pointr/AskReddit

I personally cannot give you advice on what you should do. But you might find it helpful in the long term to read The Sunflower by Simon Wiesenthal .

u/LLrobot · 1 pointr/AskReddit

This debate on whether you should forgive or even if you can forgive reminds me of a book on the same question. It's called The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness and is basically about Simon Wiesenthal; him being asked forgiveness by a Nazi officer on his deathbed during his internment at a concentration camp, his response, and various other notable people's opinions on how he should have responded.

It's a fantastic book on the nature of forgiveness, might help you on your decision.

u/Stupoopy · 1 pointr/AskReddit

This will get buried, but read the book: "The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness"

Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Sunflower-Possibilities-Forgiveness-Paperback/dp/0805210601

You do not have to click it, but it is not a referral link. Basically the premise of the book is a Jewish man in a concentration camp was brought to an SS officer (this is a true story). The man was dying and wanted forgiveness. He wanted absolution from a Jew, and had one brought to him, who he then proceded to confess to. When asked for forgiveness, he said nothing.

He always wondered whether he did the right thing and wrote this book to explore that idea. Should he have forgiven him? Condemned him? It also has writings from others on the same topic. Anyway, it might be worth checking out.

u/FantasticBastard · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Purchase the US Army Survival Manual. It's full of information about first aid, tracking and trapping animals, navigating, improvised shelters and water collection methods. I keep a copy of this in my backpacking pack at all times.

Also, make and keep a bug out bag (again, this is my backpacking pack). It should contain basic survival items like a water filtration and purification system, first aid kit, versatile clothing, sewing kit, non perishable food, a weapon and appropriate ammo, a good knife, some para cord, topographic maps of the area you intend to retreat to and planned route to escape the city if you live in one.

As for being part of a group, develop a skill that is valuable to other survivalists. A simple skill that will come in handy would be sewing. Clothes and shoes will need constant maintenance in the wilderness. Learning some basic blacksmithing and would be excellent for making tools. Understanding the basic mechanics of a firearm and how to repair one would also be immensely valuable. Take at least take a CPR & First Aid course. Learn how to navigate in the wilderness and how to predict weather patterns.

u/MrGreeves · 1 pointr/pics

I'd switch out the Catcher in the Rye for this I have a copy and it has some real useful information. And no, it's not just for combat scenarios.

u/MoonJive · 1 pointr/AskReddit

Forgot to also mention, I have about 3 copies of this in various locations. Incredible resource that has been of use plenty of times. Once, stranded on Short Key during a monster storm it was used as kindling for a fire (one of the reasons it is printed on untreated paper).
Seriously, go buy a copy now.

u/Modsruinreddit · 1 pointr/navy

Much of the crew believes the attack was intentional. The people who were there, particularly the deck officers like LCDR James Ennes have gone on the record claiming there is no way it was not deliberate, and that much of what was in the official report was false, and things were omitted and altered, as claimed by those on board who were never allowed to go on the congressional record and testify about the attack. Why would a Navy LCDR serving on the ship adamantly lie? Also CIA director Richard Helms and Secretary of State Dean Rusk believed the attack was deliberate.

Claiming it was an error...they were flying their holiday colors for fucks sake. Huge letters on the bow, "GTR 5" signifying who they were. Israelis claimed they believed it was the Egyptian ship El Quseir which looks nothing like the Liberty!

Also the CO Capt. McGonagle following the incident never came out to make public claims, but in 1997 during the ships reunion he was quoted saying:

"I think it's about time that the state of Israel and the United States government provide the crew members of the Liberty and the rest of the American people the facts of what happened, and why . . . the Liberty was attacked 30 years ago today.

"For many years I have wanted to believe that the attack on the Liberty was pure error," Captain McGonagle said.

But "it appears to me that it was not a pure case of mistaken identity. It was, on the other hand, gross incompetence and aggravated dereliction of duty on the part of many officers and men of the state of Israel."

LDCR James Ennes wrote a book about it "The Assault on the Liberty"

u/smsc · 1 pointr/politics

If you were really a Vietnam Vet, you would remember LBJ's falsification of the Gulf of Tonkin incident which he used to escalate the war in Vietnam, and his shameless recalling of jets sent to assist the USS Liberty (two times!) as it was under attack which Israel hoped would be blamed on Egypt, drawing US into the 1967 war. LBJ covered up the entire incident which left 34 dead and 171 wounded.

Can you possibly imagine the howls of outrage if Bush pulled BS like that rather than LBJ, especially if the attacker was Arab, not Israeli? Appalling.

u/xingfenzhen · 1 pointr/Sino

North Korea is absolutely safe in this case, because like you said America values lives. And this has being the rationale behind China's minimal deterrence policy during the cold war. Because, during the game between the Soviet Union and the US, have nuclear weapon means it will be used as a easy game board for whatever political gains as the risks always outweigh the benefits. This is the game North Korea is playing now, basically North Korea is China during the cold war.

However, if the said country does pose a real threat, there is little qualms about taking the nuclear option, if there is little risk of return fire. See US plans to wipe the Soviet Union off the map in 1945, while the US has the nuclear advantage and the knowlege that the Soviets will soon have them too. US plans for first strike during the cuban missile crisis, while the US still the advantage of European and Turkish sites, while the Soviet haven't fully brought up the Cubans ones yet. And last the Herman Kahn's excellent book On Thermal War, where millions of lives lost is just statistic and can be calculated and sacrifice to pressed for an advantage.

Now the question is, what is China's position now. Does America see China on the same level as Soviet Union. Even worse, during the cold war, it quiet clears in the west (and in some circles inside the soviet union), long run the west will win. As long as the west contain soviet aggression and check soviet advances, then victory will be assured. This idea is vocalize most succinctly in the long telegram. In fact, the most dangerous time for nuclear exchange was in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union is clearly losing and the fear was the Soviets would go for it and hope a surprise a counterforce attack will prevail.

China, it seems that China is on the trajectory to to eclipse the US in the next two decade in terms of economical, comprehensive national power and even military power. And China is seeming to chart its own institution, national policy and governmental ideology that's different from the West and would not to controlled or guided by the west (this make it very different from Japan fear in the 1980s). So essentially, China no longer a north korea, but more like the United States, and the United State is a bit like the Soviet Union, with its leadership position erroting, the doubts emerge both about her exceptionalism as well as superiority of its ideology.

The United State currently have counterforce capabilities against China, while China only have limited countervalue capabilities. Additionally, the US is confident about it capability of tracking Chinese submarines. This means while a surprise first strike by the US will not only completely destroy China, it will also have a resonable chance of destroying most of China's nuclear arsenal as well. The US missile defense system could have catch the few missile missed by that first strike, leave the US mostly unscached (and in the views of a confident commander, completely unscached) in such an exchange and permanently stop a force that could not be stopped in the future. With other rational and moral leaders in power, this is very unlikely, even though RAND just recently published war plans with China. But with Trump in power, he might just wonna make it a reality.

With China archiving MAD, this places the possibility of a winnable nuclear war with China completely out of the windows, and would ensure the relative peace we all had since the end of WWII. And it is a policy that will not ending up saving Chinese lives, but American ones as well.

u/robertodeltoro · 1 pointr/worldnews

Whether the State Department is or isn't assassinating people isn't really up for debate. There has been ample reporting on the issue by both the human rights organizations and the U.S. press; hell, Diane Sawyer covered the issue of the drone assassinations on World News a few weeks ago, the ACLU is embroiled in a prominent lawsuit against the State Dept. over it, etc. A respected journalist has just released a well-documented book that will bring you up to speed on this, if you're interested, but at any rate, again, as pkwrig alludes, the State Department is assassinating people left and right, in several countries, several of the victims by now have been Americans, and that really isn't debatable.

u/blah6700 · 1 pointr/worldnews

Actually, it is the reverse. Saudi Arabia is acting on the behalf of the US. The US supplies all arms, targets, intelligence, logistical support, etc. Bush initiated covert operations in Yemen, using drones, special forces and agents. Obama continued these operations but determined that operations needed to be escalated to traditional bombing campaigns. President Obama felt that direct action by the US was not politically feasible so assigned Saudi Arabia to carry out the US's goals.

The book, Dirty Wars, covers this well and in depth.

u/conspirobot · 1 pointr/conspiro

josieKM: ^^original ^^reddit ^^link

in the book dirty wars by jeremey scahill it is pretty clear that Al-Awlaki was forced to become an informant of some description. He is also used frequently as a person who allegedly motivates others such Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and others who face terror charges..

And they all seem to allegedly get their ideas from Inspire magazine which also has very doubtful origins (some journalists say CIA produce it). So its like when they want to prosecute someone they use Al-Awlaki + Inspire - I usually get suspect when I read those linked to someone.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/07/5-reasons-to-doubt-al-qaeda-magazines-authenticity/59035/
http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Wars-The-World-Battlefield/dp/156858671X

u/TheTruthYouHate1 · 1 pointr/Military
u/Urbandruid · 1 pointr/preppers

Deep survival

Bushcraft

These are the two that come to mind. Deep survival focuses on frame of mind, and bushcraft focuses on skills. It's a good balance.

Edit: the art of the rifle if this doesn't motivate you to learn about shooting, nothing will.

u/9mmIsBestMillimeter · 1 pointr/Firearms
u/rokhana · -1 pointsr/worldnews

I don't think you've answered my question.

>I think that they are dealing in supposition and that those statements show that they actually have no reason to believe what they say they believe.

They are short quotes intended to demonstrate that officials, not conspiracy loons and Jew haters, don't believe the official story. They weren't intended to be an exposé on the reasons for why they believe what they believe.

The quoted officials and survivors have expounded on the reasons for their position in writing and interviews. Here is the 1967 diplomatic note from Secretary of State Dean Rusk to the Israeli ambassador where he explains why he doesn't believe the USS Liberty could have been mistaken for anything it wasn't. James Ennes, one of the attack survivors, wrote a book on the incident. The linked documentary also interviews Ennes and other survivors.

>The Israelis had no cause whatsoever to attack Americans, and would not have wasted the resources without some cause.

Israel was at war with Egypt. I'm not however here to argue that Israel intentionally attacked the USS Liberty or that it had a motive to do so, anyone interested in making an actual opinion for themselves about the events is welcome to do their own research, read the transcripts of Israeli military transmissions released by the Jerusalem Post in 2004 or watch any of the available documentaries on the incident.

>Your quotes would have indicated what the cause was if any existed.

The quotes weren't intended to provide a cause for the attack. They were intended to dispel the false impression your comment gave that skepticism about the incident is associated with antisemites when the fact is that respected members of the intelligence community and high ranking military officers don't believe it was an accident.

u/Karl___Marx · -2 pointsr/worldnews

Read about the Soviet T-34 tank. It was the most deadly tank of WWII and practically won the war on its own.

German generals were in complete shock during its introduction on the Eastern Front. You can read some of their thoughts in various books:

https://www.amazon.com/Achtung-Panzer-Cassell-Military-Classics/dp/0304352853

"We had nothing comparable", Major-General F.W. Mellenthin, Chief of Staff of XLVIII Panzer Corps.

"The finest tank in the world", Field-Marshal Ewald von Kleist, First Panzer Army.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVg6gFmuRlE

Learn some history.

u/Wood_Warden · -2 pointsr/gifs

I am born and raised in America.

>It's not offense on countries with resources we deem valuable that's just a stupid talking point that has no merit.

Has no merit? http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/0452287081

>Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign "aid" organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources. Their tools included fraudulent financial reports, rigged elections, payoffs, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time of globalization.

>I was initially recruited while I was in business school back in the late sixties by the National Security Agency, the nation’s largest and least understood spy organization; but ultimately I worked for private corporations. The first real economic hit man was back in the early 1950s, Kermit Roosevelt, Jr., the grandson of Teddy, who overthrew the government of Iran, a democratically elected government, Mossadegh’s government who was Time‘s magazine person of the year; and he was so successful at doing this without any bloodshed—well, there was a little bloodshed, but no military intervention, just spending millions of dollars and replaced Mossadegh with the Shah of Iran. At that point, we understood that this idea of economic hit man was an extremely good one. We didn’t have to worry about the threat of war with Russia when we did it this way. The problem with that was that Roosevelt was a C.I.A. agent. He was a government employee. Had he been caught, we would have been in a lot of trouble. It would have been very embarrassing. So, at that point, the decision was made to use organizations like the C.I.A. and the N.S.A. to recruit potential economic hit men like me and then send us to work for private consulting companies, engineering firms, construction companies, so that if we were caught, there would be no connection with the government.


Or how about this book? http://www.amazon.com/Dirty-Wars-The-World-Battlefield/dp/156858671X

>America's hand is exposed in this sprawling investigation of autonomous US military operations and the abuse of executive privilege that escalated global war. New York Times bestselling author Scahill (Blackwater) pulls no punches from right or left in his exposure of governments that passively authorized the use of torture in interrogation, marked an American citizen for death without due process, and empowered a military branch to conduct warfare on their terms, turning at least four countries into warzones. Interviews with U.S. army colonels, former CIA officers, Somali warlords, and a Yemeni sheik are only a few focal points in Scahill's narrative prism. Years of ground investigation are chronicled in stock terms, creating an accessible and shuddering effect: congress "asleep at the wheel;" an enemy of the state "on a collision course with history;" government officials who "cut their teeth" in the White House. Even in Scahill's most frustrated moments fact supplants editorial, adding valiancy and devastation to his brutal portrayals.


Your view of America is unrealistic.. or you haven't been paying attention.

u/LocalAmazonBot · -4 pointsr/worldnews

Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:

Amazon Smile Link: this book


|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|




This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.

u/amcdermott20 · -8 pointsr/AskHistorians

A good non-Israel approved book is Assault on the Liberty by James Ennes. It is specifically about the attack on the US intelligence vessel by Israeli bombers and torpedo boats during the Six-Day war, not the Yom Kippur war, but OP would probably find it very interesting nonetheless.

u/PBRStreetgang67 · -17 pointsr/AustralianPolitics

Never, never, never.

Regulating the media is, literally, the first step towards fascism.

Every dictator who has ever lived has made control of the media his first goal. Don't let the people hear any voice but yours. George Orwell knew it, Philip K Dick knew it, Ray Bradbury even judged the temperature at which it would occur.

The Master himself only mentions it casually as it's such a well-known trope in geopolitics. It's a given, a basic, first-order tactic. And here is the ABC, our national broadcaster demanding that our democracy, for which hundreds of thousands have fought and died, immediately accept their dominion over the distribution of information.

I've been a long supporter of the ABC as a reliable news source, but, today, I am finally giving way to the Liberal claim of ABC bias. Anyone who advocates for censorship of the press is my enemy.