Great book. Also from JH, The Coddling of the American Mind
1491: Great insight at new discoveries about the Americas pre-Columbus and how what we're taught is school is wrong

Mig Pilot: Soviet MiG-25 pilot hates it so much in the USSR that he defects to Japan. We get to see the Russian's fast new jet for the first time and get a sneak peek into the Iron Curtain for the first time in the Cold War.

Black Ops by Ric Prado

Legendary CIA Operations Officer. From escaping Cuba at 10 to Air Force PJ then CIA this guy has led an exciting and amazing life.

Second MiG Pilot.

Somewhat related is America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Project CONSTANT PEG
Book by Gaillard R. Peck Jr

Might be some who flew in that outfit or fought against them! 😉

Another good book along these lines is "The Meaning of Human Existence" by Edward O. Wilson. He was an ant expert and naturalist with great insight into human nature. He passed away Dec 26, 2021 at the age of 92.

On a related note, Skunkworks was another great aviation book. The stories Rich tells as Kelly Johnson's right hand man are awesome.

I just picked up "The Blond Knight of Germany" after it came highly recommended. I'm sure the story of military aviation's highest scoring ace will be fun to read.

A lot of these older gems you can find in Thriftbooks.com cheaper than amazon and in great condition.

Thanks for the book rec.
I just finished his book "Consilience". Wish I had read it years ago, but better late than never.
A thoughtful man (E. O. Wilson) who tried to understand the big picture.

”Fulcrum” was good book also.


Not that long of a read, but Military History magazine published an interview that Hartman had done years before.

“Top Guns of the Luftwaffe” and “Luftwaffe Fighter Aces”, and “The First and the Last” (by Galland) are decent as well.

Agree. "Candide" is a hoot.
A somewhat similar style used in poking holes in nationalistic pretentiousness is "The Good Soldier Svejk" by Jaroslaw Hasek. The ending is not really a finale as the author died before finishing it, but by then the reader can almost write a version of it himself.

CBreezy,

I don't read a great deal of fiction. However I have gleaned some great truths from fiction that are simply too complex to explain in non-fiction. A fictional narrative can reveal them more easily.
My point is that I have benefited by occasionally getting out of my reading comfort zone.
That being said would recommend a non-fiction book from 2017 by Timothy Snyder, "The Road to Unfreedom". Though coming up on 5 years old it still is one of the best books that comes to my mind for some insight into the crises involving Putin(AKA Russia), Ukraine, Western Democracy, and much more.
Snyder is not a simple narrative styled Historian. To get much benefit from reading his work requires one (well myself anyway) to pay attention and periodically pause to reflect on his arguments and conclusions.

Chickenhawk

The Count of Monte Cristo

Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn

Indianapolis
Lynn Vincent
The story of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in WWII, what led up to it and how the Captain was made the scapegoat by the Navy.

Reminds of this absolutely great scene from Jaws:

Indianapolis Scene Jaws

Very well said!

Boys in the Boat is one of my all time fav books...really give one an idea of how hard the 1930's were for folks, and how present day people have zero idea of the struggles of the Great Depression.

Vulcan 607 - About the Operation Blackbuck raids in the Falklands War.

SkyGods - Find a free copy if you can, was written by a PanAm scab that became a Delta Pilot (A310 transfer). Good insight into the fall of PanAm.

Enterprise by Barrett Tillman - About CV-6, most decorated WWII Ship (and my personal fav boat)

Ian Toll has a GREAT 3 book series about the Pacific War: Pacific Crucible/Twilight of the Gods/Conquering Tide.

Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer...loads of information from a first hand witness writer to Nazi Germany, must read for any WWII student.

Based on your above books you should also read The Winds of War and War and Rememberence. Combined with reading the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich I would be scared half to death if I lived in Eastern Europe and worried in Western Europe. Only the incompetence of the Russian army would keep me from moving!

Stalin’s War: A New History of WWII - Sean McMeekin

Interesting take on how WWII was the primarily the ambition of Joseph Stalin, not Hitler; his ultimate success and spread of communism through Eurasia and China due in no small part to short sighted American generosity.

Interested in getting back into biographies, even better if it's an autobiography. Most of the books I've read are military related, but I'm looking to branch out to other individuals. The last biography I read was a few years ago, but it was American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Col Bud Day by Robert Coram. Great story! Any good ones that you've read recently?

David McCullough's biography of the Wright Brothers was very good.

His biography of John Adams, called John Adams, was also very good.

I recommend any books David McCullough has written.

If you like WWII books, I recommend John McManus‘ dozen WWII books. Riveting, well written. He is a university professor of history. A couple of years ago he did a sabbatical at Annapolis. Researched their archives. Just came out with the second of the trilogy on WWII in the Pacific..

He is regularly a talking head on the History channel.

Illuminatus! trilogy, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.
Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, but go back to his earlier works such as "Player Piano" and "The Sirens of Titan". These are downright prophetic.
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
Dune by Frank Herbert.
Fear and Loathing: On the campaign Trail 1972 by Hunter S. Thompson. Plus anything else by HST.
Seven Days in May by Fletcher Knebel and Charles W. Bailey II.

If anyone wants a fascinating 50,000’ view of the history of civilization in under 6 hours, Will and Ariel Durant’s The Lessons of History is a good (free) audiobook on Audible. It is simultaneously dated and timeless, revealing some interesting trends in human nature. Plenty to chew on.

"19 minutes to live" by Lew Jennings- his personal memoir of his time in Vietnam as a cobra pilot, including some stories from his colleagues. Fascinating read, and a really interesting perspective to hear about for people with no military background like myself.

Devotion, a book about the Navy’s first black carrier pilot. Comes out as a movie in the fall.

The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker. History of Transatlantic slave trade from 1700-1807 from perspective of slaves, sailors, and captains. Astonishing what humans will do to each other to accumulate wealth.

King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is another truly depressing account of man's inhumanity to man during the rubber trade ravage of the Congo.

i remember reading this in college and it is really good and really disheartening. Great rec

To go along with the 5 year Outlook and BTC threads, I highly recommend Money Mischief by Milton Freidman (in his younger years). A great historical recap of what is money and currency, and their use throughout history; and how governments have used and abused them along the way.

A5S

"The World of Yesterday: Memories of a European" - Stefan Zweig

A beautiful lookback at the dying days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the Hapsburgs, through WWI, and ending as clouds are gathering because of Hitler and WWII (author passed away in 1942)

I hope they serve beer in hell. -Tucker Max

*********s finish first. -Tucker Max

The Silk Road

This reminded me of two hilarious books I read that haven’t been mentioned yet (I don’t think) if you like to laugh.

”$hit my dad says” and “I suck at girls” by Justin Halpern.

Also “Not Taco Bell Material” by Adam Corolla. (I was reading this while on a flight commuting and I was laughing so hard, my seat mate asked me what I was reading, and that she was buying it as soon as we landed.)

Air pirates (paper only)

If you like Alternate Histories Harry Turtledove has quite a few. His first was "Guns of the South" where South Africans time travel back to the Civil War and provide AK-47's to Confederate Soldiers.

Then he has a book where the South also wins a 2nd Civil War fought in the 1880's, then a series of books follows where the CSA and the USA fight each other in WW1 and WW2.

One of my favorite series Harry wrote started with "In the Balance" where in 1942 at the height of WW2 Aliens invade Earth so the Axis and Allies have to join forces :rolleyes: This series of books continues with a total of 7 I think going up to the 1980's.

Harry Turtledove (spoiler alert: light reading, suitable, for uh, deadheading) is great on an e-reader.

Current rec: "A Struggle for Power: The American Revolution"- Theodore Draper.

Excellent read about the American Revolution from the English "colonists" (re: opportunists with a charter/patent..nothing wrong with that.), the British, and the French concerns about the whole fracas.

Get the hardback from the usual vendors for a couple of bucks and change. A bit "scholastic" (narrative choices necessary to make history interesting); if you're into the US revolution, you can do a whole lot worse than this book. NOT a hagiography,. but not Howard Zinn either.



(https://www.amazon.com/Struggle-Powe.../dp/0812925750)

Similar to above, I’ve been working on Rick Atkinson’s, ‘The British are Coming.’ It’s the first of a 3 volume; 1775-1777. Soft cover. Written really well and quickly showed me how little I knew about the American Revolutionary War.

The Spymaster of Baghdad by Margaret Coker.

Excellent story of how the Iraqi intelligence unit The Falcons infiltrated ISIS.

Just heard on the news that he passed away a couple days ago. "America's Historian"

"Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the FBI, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence." - Bryan Borough. https://smile.amazon.com/Days-Rage-U...0795943&sr=8-1

1968-1975: you wouldn't believe the amount of violence and terror bombing that was commonplace in the USA. Or the actions of the FBI. Completely memory holed. Seriously. Hundreds of bombs/bomb threats (and actual bombs) every year. (Looking at you, Puerto Rico)

NYC movie goers actually booing theatre management for evacuating the space due to a bomb threats. Can you imagine? NYC was TOUGH back in the day.

(ASIDE: David McCullough, along with Steven Ambrose, was one of my absolute favorite contemporary US history historian. His presence will be sorely missed. Loved that guy. Used a manual typewriter, as all true writers do. Narrated Ken Burns PBS "The Civil War" Series; "Napoleon" on PBS (fantastic!!! primer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrbiSUgZEbg), and many others. RIP. Your kind no longer walks among us. The world is a lesser place now that you are are gone.)

Unsung Eagles by Jay Stout

I can't remember if I already posted this, but it's a great book about the average joe fighter pilot in the war. Each chapter is another persons story that end with a short blurb about what they did after the war. Great book!




Banana Republic type stuff there...