So I have recently read 3 good war books - all WWII - and am looking for more

quote:

---

If you liked Band of Brothers I would definitely read The Pacific

---

I probably will eventually. I kind of want to get away from my WWII kick lately though.

Also I would imagine The Pacific to be a better read than BOB. BOB was a good book, but I found Ambrose's style to be a little confusing at times. If I hadn't seen the mini-series beforehand, I might have been lost in some parts as to what he was trying to illustrate for the battles.

Re: WWI -- have you read about the Christmas Truce?

I can recommend some WWI movies: Grand Illusion, Paths Of Glory, Dawn Patrol (either version), All Quiet On The Western Front... But I'm not really very well read on the subject. Barbara Tuchman's classic The Guns Of August deals with how the war began (there is also a documentary film based on her book) but I don't know if you'd be interested, as it deals with diplomacy rather than men in the trenches.

quote:

---

The Pacific was based on a book titled With The Old Breed.

---

Didn't know that. I'll check it out

The Pacific was also partially based on Helment for My Pillow by Robert Liecke (sp?), a couple of books on John Basilone and With the Old Breed

Like others have mentioned "With the Old Breed" is good.

I've only read one WWI book but it's not a military account. It focused more on the affects of the war on American society and economy.

In the fall I'm taking a reading seminar of US military history. I'll come back to this and let you know whats good.

If you decide to read a book or books about The Pacific, I'd go straight to the source books. Like others have said they are Helmet for my Pillow by Leicke and With The Old Breed by Sledge. Both are very good but With The Old Breed was the better of the two.

If you want to stay in WWII but something a little different, try a book on the Eastern Front. That is a pivotal part of the war that is often overlooked here in the US. I recently read War of the Rats about the famous sniper duel in Stalingrad. It wasn't a great book but it was a good summer read. For a nonfiction book on the that front there is War Without Garlands

quote:

---

One that hasn't been mentioned is Company K.

---

Which war is that about?

And I would highly recommend Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys to those who haven't read them. Flags is the more famous of the 2. It is written by James Bradley who is the son of one of the 6 men immortalized by the famous flag raising photo on Iwo. Great story where after his father's death he looks into the history of those 6 men and what they dealt with during the war. Not a spoiler as it is dealt with early but I found to be an interesting fact that not many people know - only 2 of those 6 made it off the island alive.

Flyboys was also written by Bradley and is very good as well. Deals with pilots that were shot down and held captive on the very tiny Pacific island of Chichi Jima. In both books he does a great job of explaning how the Japanese leaders bastardized the bushido concept to make their soldiers fight to a certain death in every instance.

A great (fiction) book about war is Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's about the Spanish Civil War, and guerilla warfare, not traditional army v. army battles, but it has some excellent stuff in it about the interactions of a small group under war conditions.