Hard Truths by Congressman Mike Waltz.

Former Green Beret turned politician. Lots of great stories from his time as Green Beret and as a politician, and just lots of talk of persevering. It has a political slant for sure, but I found it to be a worthwhile read. He expresses lots of frustration about Afghanistan, both on the pullout and the on the inability of the low level soldiers to get things done due to bureaucracy. As someone who twice deployed to Afghanistan, about 10 years apart, I feel much of his frustration.

 

Did you check out his interview with Shawn Ryan? Pretty good.



Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin (Jocko also has an outstanding interview on The Shawn Ryan Show).

As I read this book, I kept thinking I need to send Ed, RG, and the entire EVP “Leadership Commitee” a copy. They need its lessons in a bad way.

 

If we're recommending American political writings, may I suggest the treatise:

"A Disquisition on Government" by John C. Calhoun.

Quite short.

Definitely not written by a ghostwriter. Former Secretary of War, 7th Vice President, US Senator, Secretary of State, but had some modern day naughty opinions (naughty for good reasons).

Still lionized by the US Senate, however. By both parties. Power talks.

 

Ya, his Shawn Ryan interview is what prompted me to pick it up. Read a few Willink books, good stuff. Leadership Strategies was a good one as well.



Thanks for the point out, listening to it now.

 

"The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and their Secret World War." - Stephen Kinzer

It's like a John LeCarre novel, only actual history (ish).

Inside every man are two wolves: John and Allen.

Sex maniac/Cold War provocateur meets high ideals "democracy" advocate pre/post Cold War. Brothers. Yeah, THAT "Dulles" for Texas fans.

Great read. Readily available at libraries.

It's like American Cold War policy Good v Evil only between two brothers fighting for the US. And personal profit/proclivities.

https://www.amazon.com/The-Brothers-...=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

 

If anyone has recommendations on a book about Operation Barbarossa or the Eastern Front of WW2 as a whole, I'm all ears[/QUOTE]

I also agree with. . .

"When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler"
By David Giantz
and Jonathon House

A terrific, well researched history of the Eastern Front 1941-45. I read it several years ago, a few years passed, and I read it again.

Another good read is "Endgame 1944"
by Jonathan Dimbleby

It covers the Red Army's crushing advances of 1944.

 

Not Barbarossa specific, but I'd say also check out Erich Hartmanns biography The Blond Knight of Germany.

Bf-109 pilot and highest scoring ace ever. Spent the majority of his time in WW2 in the eastern front. Very entertaining read and a hell of a life story. I just finished this morning Tigers in the Mud which is about a Tiger tank commander also on the eastern front and a fun read.

In my search for a good book on Barbarossa I ended up pivoting to reading memoirs from soldiers who fought in it. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer comes very highly recommended and is next on my list. I'll be reading that next.

"When Titans Clashed" has been in my list for a while but I think I'm finally going to pull the trigger on it.

 

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer comes very highly recommended and is next on my list. I'll be reading that next.

I also recommend the book, too. I really enjoyed it. A good read covering one soldier's experience on the Eastern Front 1943-45. So not Operation Barbarossa, but it's still worthwhile.

 

The Happiest Man on Earth by Eddie Jaku


If you want a book that puts life into perspective, here is one to throw on top of the pile. Recommended by a buddy and it did not disappoint. This guy tells his story of surviving through two notorious death camps, losing nearly all of his family to the Nazis, and coming out the other end to be the "happiest man on Earth." He has a wonderful message at the end and about being happy.

 

His Majesty's Airship is a masterpiece. A triumph. While aviation professionals are sure to love it, it's so well written and briskly paced that general readers will enjoy it, too.


The book uses the story of R101, an enormous English zeppelin that crashed and burned in the fields of Northern France, as its entrée to a general history of lighter-than-air travel. By integrating the narrative of R101’s doomed flight with a general history of the zeppelin, writer S.C. Gwynne injects what could be a dry history with the horrific fascination of the slow-motion train wreck. In fact, Gwynne goes one better: he leads with an introduction to Christopher Birdwood Thomson, Secretary of State for Air, prime mover behind the R101 program, probable future viceroy of India, and doomed R101 passenger. In the first twenty pages of this remarkable history, Gwynne offers the reader morbid fascination, historical interest, and personal stakes. How could anyone not go all in on His Majesty’s Airship?

Once committed, readers are granted a tour of one of early aviation’s dead ends. We begin with Count Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin, who was introduced to lighter-than-air flight during his time as an official observer with the Union Army during the Peninsula Campaign. Following his Army career, Zeppelin committed all his resources to creating the airship that would bear his name. He was a laughingstock—until he succeeded and, at the age of 70, became the hottest entrepreneur in Europe. There was just one problem: the zeppelin was a bad idea. Underpowered, ungainly (particularly in rough weather), and extremely flammable, these large dirigibles were good for little more than short tourist hops on clear summer days. Nevertheless, the German government went all-in on zeppelins as strategic bombers during WWI: never mind that they very rarely succeeded in actually hitting anything. Still, the zeppelin caught the British imagination. What if these huge airships could be purposed for intercontinental travel, knitting together the Great Empire with stately, comfortable, swift air travel? What if Britain could create its own zeppelin industry out of whole cloth, compensating for its lack of institutional knowledge with British exceptionalism? What if the Secretary of State for Air could conceive of and direct the creation of such an intercontinental airship and use it for a round-trip journey to India, cementing his claim to the next viceroyalty of India and, not incidentally, impressing his girlfriend?



What comes next will be familiar to readers of The Challenger Launch Decision, The Limits of Expertise, or any history of the Titanic: rushed production; pressure from on high to get it done, regardless of official ‘safety first’ posturing; unheeded warnings from inside experts; “get-there-itis”; disaster. This drumbeat is all the sadder because it seems baked into human psychology. We do it, again and again throughout history. It makes one wonder whether human progress depends on those flukes, those times when the inevitable doesn’t happen and the new thing actually works.



S.C. Gwynne delivers all this tension, all this history, all this organizational psychology, all this human interest, in a brisk, conversational, occasionally amusing 249 pages (plus end notes). I love this book as much for its accessibility and brevity as for its educational value. I’ll be recommending this book to my fellow pilots for years to come. I’m recommending it to you now. His Majesty’s Airship absolutely soars.