1 A People's Army by
Fred Anderson was a quick interesting read, about the Massachusetts
militia during the French and Indian War.  It focuses  more on who was
in the militia and why they joined than on the fighting.





Frontiersmen in Blue by Robert
M Utley was an interesting read, describing the United States Army in
the west in between the Mexican  War and Civil War.



Here are a couple more that I liked recently



The Village and No True Glory by Bing West

House to House by Kieth Nolan

1453 by Roger Crowley

2 Just finished "Flags of Our Fathers". James Bradley, son of "Doc" Bradley, one of six in "the picture". A timely read.

Imagine bailing out of Iwo Jima after 3-thousand fatalities.

3 "Band of Brothers," but you've probably already read it or seen the series.

4 Winston Groom's books on World Wars I and II - A STORM IN FLANDERS and 1942:  THE YEAR THAT TRIED MEN'S SOULS are both humane yet unsentimental, lay reader-oriented pieces of historical/military writing.  Jeff Shaara's THE RISING TIDE (WW II) and TO THE LAST MAN (WW I) are historical fiction, somewhat in the style of his father's books like GODS AND GENERALS, that describe the experiences of real characters.  In THE RISING TIDE, which I read just last week, he handles America's entry into WW II in a unique way, though spends around as much time on Rommel as he does on Patton and Eisenhower.  As a side note, I never knew before that likely the first soldiers killed in battle by Americans in the western theater were... French.  Since you seem more interested in non-fiction, I'll leave my fiction recommendations there- though good war fiction can be as illuminating as good non-fiction in my opinion - so instead I'll also recommend VDH's other books, most of which are more readable (less technical) than A WAR LIKE NO OTHER.  THE SOUL OF BATTLE and CARNAGE AND CULTURE are terrific.  BLOOD AND THUNDER is another very useful book about the Indian wars, specifically the American encounter with the Navajo and other tribes and the settling of the American West.  It's not at all afflicted by political correctness, but it's also far from uncritical - both of American amoraliy and, conversely, of misguided intentions.  It was kind of the background I always wanted to all of those Westerns.  The key figure is Kit Carson, and the key locations are in the environs of Santa Fe, but the story stretches all the way across the continent.  That's enough for now, though I'm sure I could think up a few others...

5 "The Commandos"  by Douglas C. Waller.   This gives a good look at our various elite troops. SEAL's, Delta Force, and more. I really enjoyed it. Hell Week! OMG!!!  You need to read this        
                        USA, all the way!

6 Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar.....a very thoughtful look back at how and when the wheels came off the trolley. A fresh re-evaluation of the conventional wisdom regarding our failures in that venture, and a timely work in terms of current events. Best, George

7 1. The Second World War - W.S. Churchill

2. The Great War in Modern Memory - Paul Fussell - also by Fussell - The Boy's Crusade, Thank God for the Atomic Bomb

3. MacCay - Extrordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds - Esp section on the Crusades

4. Lamb - Iron Men and Saints

8 I just picked up a copy of "The War of the World--Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West" by Niall Ferguson.  I have not had a chance to read it yet, but I heard the author interviewed on one of the radio talk shows (Hugh Hewitt?) and it promises to be quite an informative read.

9 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

Battle of Thermopylae is extremley releavent to todays world.  A mere 300 Spartans did the impossible holding the thousands of the Persian/Muslim horde back from the Western World at a distant mountian pass only to be DEFEATED BY A TRAITOR that informed the Muslims of another mountian pass.

I am casuasly exited about the movie 300 it truley could be a great way for Hollywood to do there job of rallying the people.  The fact they have been openly in full Sedition mode worries me.

10 Delta Force is a good read. I was going to mention a couple of other books that I liked, but I see Moose and Colin already wrote them down.

11 Here is some obscure books that are driving the fight currently:
 
Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula
War of the Flea by Robert Taber
Sling and the Stone by Hammes
 
And if you are up for it Counterinsurgency and the War on Terror by Robert Cassidy.  It is a read that demands your attention (Something you can't read in small doses).  He is one of the few soldiers who has thought about what we are doing and how we do it.
 
I have more ideas, but I am tstop this here and prevent a TPS report
 
Pete

12 To the Last Cartridge by Robert B. Smith was enjoyable, if slightly embellished.

And The Fringes of Power by (Sir) John Colville is a fascinating read.

13

"We were soldiers once, and men" I found to be a good book.  Additionally "Operation Certain Death" was a book I found hard to put down.  "Spectator in Hell" and Frank McClynns "1066 The Year of Three Battles" are both well written books.  "Gates of Fire", although essentially a novel, is a fantastic read with regard the Battle of Thermopylae.

14 Carnage and Culture also by VDH.
 
Great lessons from numerous battles throughout history.
 
Book focuses on western military tactics as opposed to those from other cultures.  Book illustrates this by analyzing battles from Guagemela to Tet.

15 Hi there; long time reader, first time commenter. Excellent work!

Two books that immediately spring to my mind are:

Seize The Fire by Adam Nicolson.
It's a moment-by-moment telling of the actions and motivations of the men on both sides of the battle. It also shatters the myth of Nelson's death.

Curse of the Narrows by Laura M MacDonald.
Probably the hardest book I've ever read, because it's a countdown to the Halifax Explosion in 1917.

16 The Great Siege: Malta 1565 by Ernle Bradford.

Excellent history and read on the Ottoman Empire attempt to obliterate the Knights of St. John on the island of Malta.

17 Savage Wars of Peace by Max Boot

18 The Rising Sun by John Toland is a great read, if you are at all interested in WWII in the Pacific. I loved this book, even if it was long. It was full of facts I was truly unfamiliar with, and was the first book I'm aware of that also gave a Japanese perspective of the war.

19 Robert Kaplans Imperial Grunts. Contemporary, not historical.

20 Any biography of Richard Francis Burton except the Fawn Brodie one. The Epic Of Gilgamesh. (Not deliberate history, but illuminating nevertheless.) The White Nile. The Rise And Fall Of The Roman Empire. From Time Immemorial. The Travels Of Marco polo.


Too many to name.

21 The Frontiersman by Allen W. Eckert.  Excellent book about Simon Kenton, Daniel Boon, and the Shawnee Indians.  You'll really love the detailed account of how the indians burn their enemies at the stake (it's something we should do to terrorists).
 
 If you survive... by Joe Wilson (no not that one).  D-Day to the end of WW2.  When this soldier returned to the U.S. he had to be weened off of Army rations because his body couldn't handle regular food (talk about a long deployment).
 
About Face by Col. David Hackworth.  About his experiences in Korea and Vietnam.

22 First time I'm going to ever print a comment thread. Thanks everyone!

23 Try "Jefferson's War - America's First War Agaisnt Terror" re: the Barbary pirates....scary parallels there!

24

For my fellow 'zionist pigs' I suggest "Fire & Steel" by Samuel M. Katz, detailing four decades of action by the Israeli 7th Armored Brigade.

Quote 'There were tanks we sent into battle with only half the amount of ammunition. I remember one of the young platoon commanders telling me "Brigade Commander, Brigade Commander, I don't have a full supply of ammunition,"  and I said to him "Never mind, the Syrians don't know how much ammunition you've got. You have forty shells! Get up there because we are pressed for time right now, we'll complete your ammunition supply while fighting" --a thing we really did.'

Lots of interesting stuff !                      USA, all the way!

25 Josephus  The Jewish Wars
Tuchman  The Guns of August
Fussell  The Great War and Modern Memory
Keegan  Six Armies in Normandy

Josephus & Tuchman if you're serious
Fussell, if you have an IQ above 130
Keegan, to be drawn in and discover how it was

26 For an almost cinematic portrayal of the British Navy (believe me, you
will enjoy it) and how it shaped the modern world, try "To Rule the
Waves" by Arthur Herman. "The Sea Hawk" with Errol Flynn must have been
inspired by one of the early episodes in the Caribbean.

27 Shit! I'm Impressed.

28 Anything by Steven Pressfield.  For Example:
 
Gates of Fire - Novel about the Battle of Thermopylae
Tides of War - Alcibiades and the OPelloponnesion War

29 catmman, I agree about carnage and culture, excellent book. Author littely pores over many major battles and major wars over history, especially in dealing why "Western" Societies produce MUCH better fighters than other cultures (example, why Greeks though far fewer in number were able to fend off and eventually destroy the Persian Empire, as well as explain why the Spanish Conquistadors could topple the Aztec Empire, and others...)
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnage_and_Culture
Wikipedia entry
http://victorhanson.com/
Author's official website
 
He wrote another book called "Guns, Germs, and Steel" along a similar vein.