August 25, 2011
The Alternative U.S. Army Professional Reading List
I have a tremendous amount of admiration for Gen. Marty Dempsey, but his professional reading list for the U.S. Army (.pdf) leaves a lot to be desired. As a service to the readership, I am offering my own professional reading list. I have kept the general categories used by Gen. Dempsey but have replaced the "leadership" category with one on civilian-military relations. My reading list is automatically superior to Gen. Dempsey's because mine does not include one of the worst novels ever written. I have denoted those books on which Gen. Dempsey and I agree with an asterisk.
History and Heritage
The War for America, 1775-1783
Foote's The Civil War (YES, ALL THREE VOLUMES, DAMMIT)
The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War*
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa (YES, I KNOW HE WAS A MARINE)
Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina
Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age
Surprise, Security, and the American Experience
Civilian-Military Relations
The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations
Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime
The New American Militarism: How Americans Are Seduced by War
Critical Analysis and the Global Context
(read alongside Michael Howard's Clausewitz: A Very Short Introduction)
Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point*
The Culture of National Security
Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do And Why They Do It
Intelligence: From Secrets to Policy
