Odierno’s Reading List

Odierno’s Reading List

Lauren Katzenberg

 Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno released a proposed reading list on his Facebook page for Army, and more generally, military professionals. He asked followers for feedback and suggestions. WOTR has recompiled this list. Let us know your thoughts and what’s missing.

The Army in War

o   1776, David McCullough (2006).

o   The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I, Mark E. Grotelueschen (2007).

o   American Military History, Volume II, The United States Army in a Global Era, 1917-2008, Richard W. Stewart, ed. (2010).

o   The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, George Packer (2005)

o   Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, James M. McPherson (1988).

o   Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West’s Afghanistan Campaign, Sherard Cowper-Coles (2011).

o   The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare: The Triumph of the West, Geoffrey Parker, ed. (2000, 2008).

o   Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of War, Douglas Porch (2013).

o   Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766, Fred Anderson (2001).

o   The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, Rick Atkinson (2007).

o   East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950, Roy E. Appleman (1990).

o   The Echo of Battle: The Army’s Way of War, Brian McAllister Linn (2009).

o   The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme, John Keegan (1983).

o   Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq, John C. McManus (2011).

o   Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror, Mary Habeck (2007).

o   Pacific Blitzkrieg: World War II in the Central Pacific, Sharon Tosi Lacey (2013).

o   Personal Memoirs: Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant (1885; reprinted 1999.)

o   Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-1945, Max Hastings (2008).

o   The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Stephen A. Bourque and John Burdan III (2007).

o   Summons of the Trumpet: U.S.-Vietnam in Perspective, Dave R. Palmer (1978; reprinted 1995).

o   Supplying War: Logistics From Wallenstein To Patton, Martin van Creveld (1977).

o   We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway (2002).

 The Army Profession

o   Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership, Edgar F. Puryear, Jr. (2003).

o   The Game: Unraveling a Military Sex Scandal, Robert D. Shadley (2013).

o   Grey Eminence: Fox Conner and the Art of Mentorship, Edward Cox (2011).

o   Invisible Wounds of War: Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan, Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard (2012).

o   Leading Change, John P. Kotter (1996).

o   On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Dave Grossman (2009).

o   Once an Eagle, Anton Myrer (2001).

o   Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath (2010).

Strategy and the Strategic Environment

o   The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It, Joshua Cooper Ramo (2010).

o   The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, Niall Ferguson (2008).

o   A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East, Lawrence Freedman (2008).

o   The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters, B. R. Myers (2010).

o   The Cold War: A New History, John Lewis Gaddis (2005).

o   Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman (2014).

o   Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid (2008).

o   Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul, Michael Reid (2009).

o   The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, Robert B. Strassler, ed. (1996).

o   Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, Robert D. Kaplan (2010).

o   The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Evgeny Morozov (2011).

o   Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Peter Paret, ed. (1986).

o   The Masks of War: American Military Styles in Strategy and Analysis, Carl H. Builder (1989).

o   On China, Henry A. Kissinger (2011).

o   On War, Indexed Edition, Carl von Clausewitz, ed. By Michael Howard and Peter Paret (1989).

o   The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Daniel Yergin (2011).

o   The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World, Rupert Smith (2008).

o   Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, Andrew J. Bacevich (2010).

o   Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, P. W. Singer (2009).

 

Lauren Katzenberg is an Assistant Editor at War on the Rocks.

 

4 Responses

1.       

Timur January 13, 2014 at 3:53 pm · Reply →

I only see two classics on the list (Clausewitz and Thucydides). I’m not comfortable with the idea that everything we need to understand was learned after 1776 and by people born and raised between longitudes W 155 and E 39. Reading the Peloponnesian War alone takes a working understanding of economics, military tactics, and politics. But reading lists are always a toughy…

2.       

Glen Grant January 13, 2014 at 6:29 pm · Reply →

Men at war trilogy – Evelyn Waugh
Adolf Hitler, my part in his downfall – Spike Milligan

3.       

Michael January 14, 2014 at 4:04 am · Reply →

I strongly believe that “Unrestricted Warfare” (Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, Beijing: PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House, February 1999), is a seminal publication that should serve as a marker to indicate the current and future state of warfare that the rest of the world will utilize to counter perceived hegemony of the US.

4.       

JAM January 17, 2014 at 12:00 am · Reply →

From dictatorship to democracy: a conceptual framework for liberation – Gene Sharp.