For me, 2010 was a great year for books. Out of all the books that I read or listened to during the past year I have selected these five as my favorites. As you can quickly see 4 of the 5 are military histories or military related. That’s not unusual for me, but what is different is how I consumed these great books. Out of the five books listed I read only one physical book – the old fashioned method. Of the other four I read them on my Apple iPad – a great reading machine – or listened to them as an audio book playing from my iPhone. When it comes to books I am no early adopter, so maybe my 2010 experience is just further evidence of how quickly the book market is changing.
Without further ado, here’s my list of my five favorite reads of 2010:
#1 Empires of the Sea: The Siege of Malta, the Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Center of the World by Roger Crowley
Amazon Kindle for iPad
The paperback version of this history book debuted in 2009 and I had been eying this book ever since. With my impending summer trip to Spain, I decided to read this book as part of my preparation for that trip. What a great choice! While the book, as suggested by its title, is focused on the 1565 Ottoman Siege of Malta and the Battle of Lepanto, the well-written account actually covers most of the time period when the great Ottoman sultans dueled Charles V and the Holy Roman Empire for control of the Mediterranean.
What makes this book so interesting to me are all the great characters that inhabit its pages. You’ll find great descriptions of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Emperor Charles the V, Barbarossa, the dreaded sea pirate, Knights Hospitallers in their red and white surcoats, magnificently exotic Janissary warriors, galley slaves by the tens of thousands, the golden boy Don Juan of Austria, and so many others.
This great account will open your eyes to the geopolitical realities of the 1500s in the Mediterranean. One must also wonder how history might have changed if Suleiman was successful at Malta or had avoided the crushing defeat at Lepanto.
During my visit to Spain I was fortunate to see many Lepanto-related objects – captured Ottoman naval flags, great paintings, swords, a full-size replica of a fighting galley, and even the ornate tomb of Don Juan of Austria, located in El Escorial.
#2 War by Sebastian Junger
Apple iBooks App for iPad
I had read Sebastian Junger’s blockbuster, A Perfect Storm, a few years back and really liked it. After hearing some good things about this new book of his, War, I decided to download a copy onto my iPad. I knew the book was about American soldiers deep in Afghanistan and thought that the book would be a traditional study of dusty soldiers doing their best against the odds, but this book proved to be something else altogether.
As a journalist embedded with a company of hardened US Army combat soldiers located in a mountainous valley of Afghanistan, Junger certainly saw and witnessed a great deal. This was no in-and-out embed. Junger seemed to really share some of the near-death experiences that this group of warriors faced. Its at this point that you expect the book to take the conventional “war is hell” approach, but Junger really surprised me by delving deeply into the emotions and motivations found deep within the warrior psyche. War becomes more of an insightful character study of the group dynamic within bands of soldiers. What may surprise most people, at least those who have not experienced prolonged combat, is that many soldiers derive powerful attractions to combat. For many of the young soldiers in Junger’s account, combat almost becomes an addiction, something that is difficult to live without. And within small combat groups, the interpersonal connections and sense of total brotherhood can surpass any other type of relationship that a man may forge outside of the military. While reading this book I was reminded of another one of my favorite books, James McPherson’s For Cause and For Comrades. McPherson’s book on the inner motivations of Civil War soldiers seems to parallel many of same themes that Junger explores, and in doing so makes me believe that what Junger was tapping into is a warrior ethic and mentality that may be timeless in nature. Why do soldiers continue to fight tenaciously, even in terrifying or near-hopeless circumstances? This book will help answer that age-old question.
#3 Life by Keith Richards
Audio Book/iPhone
Life by Keith Richards? Eh? How did this book make it onto your list? I’m not even sure why it was that I decided to listen to this book during my painful commutes into and out of Washington DC, but I’m sure glad that I did. Maybe my choice here was the natural opposite after listening to a biography on Dietrich Bonhoeffer? Anyway, facing an account filled with endless vulgar language, rampant heroin usage, recurring petty criminality, discourses on how to employ a knife in a fight, close shaves with the law, and many other sex, drugs, and rock & roll moments, I found this biography to be totally compelling and almost impossible to stop listening to. Part of that attraction may have been forged by the three narrators used to cover this autobiography – Johnny Depp, some other unknown narrator with a great cockney accent, and Keith himself. Each brings a lot of character and emotion. But I think so much of the attraction here is Keith Richards himself. This autobiography is so totally open, so completely removed from the typical high-posturing that you find in this genre. And the amount of insightful, self-critical thought is completely refreshing. I also think that this book is useful as a historical account of the 1960s/1970s counter-cultural movements.
When you strip away all the nasty drug use, ill behavior, and rockstar antics, you are left with a Keith Richards who clearly is someone who deeply loves music – something that I don’t think you can say about every rock or pop star you encounter. The account is filled with stories of Richards exploring country music, reggae, blues, other genres of music, and a wide variety of guitar playing techniques. He seems constantly fascinated with musical technique and musical artforms. This is the part of the book that really resonated with me. Rather than being dismissive of other musical genres, Richards seems to revel in just about anything that involves great musicianship.
#4 The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic by Robert O’Connell
Physical Book
Cannae. Ah, Cannae, the perfect battle….or so one who has never really read a book on this battle is led to believe. Cannae, fought between Rome and Carthage in 216 BC, is often held up as the model for how to conduct a battle of annihilation.
When I saw this new book on the Battle of Cannae from Robert O’Connell I just knew that I was going to have to drop everything else and read this. What I found is that this book is really much more than just a detailed battle analysis. Really this book is a campaign study of the Second Punic War – a very interesting and instructive period of military history. The Second Punic War essentially teaches you that winning all of the battles doesn’t necessarily mean that you win the war – maybe an instructive lesson for us as we sit in Iraq and Afghanistan year upon year? Hannibal, the consummate military commander, defeats legion upon legion of Roman forces, but with each passing month his army grows weaker living so far away from his bases in Spain and North Africa. In the end Hannibal is forced to give up all of this Italian territory and retreat to defend Carthage itself.
In addition to giving the reader an excellent overview of the battles and strategies employed, I thought that O’Connell also did a good job of describing what it must have been like for many of the unfortunate soldiers who were to face Hannibal’s Numidian cavalrymen or Scipio Africanus’ principes.
#5 The War Lovers: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, and the Rush to Empire, 1898 by Evan Thomas
Amazon Kindle for iPad
I wasn’t certain if I wanted to read this book, but I had really enjoyed Evan Thomas’ previous releases and thought that I’d give this War Lovers book a go. I’m glad I did. This book follows Theodore Roosevelt, William Randolph Hearst, and Henry Cabot Lodge prior to, during, and shortly after the Spanish-American War of 1898-1899. I thought Thomas did a great job of detailing how the great deeds of Civil War heroes had so deeply ingrained themselves into the psyches of these men. Roosevelt, in particular, feared that he would never been seen as a great man or leader since he had not been tested in combat. This warlike attitude, in Roosevelt’s mind, also translated to the United States on a national level. Great countries engage in great wars – if I may loosely paraphrase TR. This rabid desire for war and for military glory seems archaic by our modern standards, but there it is plain as day.
Thomas goes into some interesting detail describing some of the absurdities and posturings of William Randolph Hearst and Roosevelt. Roosevelt’s actions on Cuba seem martial enough, but also stretched in terms of their true military value.
In the end the book ends on a sad, but proper note. Roosevelt’s almost medieval desire for the test of combat would also translate into expectations for his children. And in 1918, his son Quentin, maybe his favorite son, was shot down and killed over the Western Front during World War One. This death affected Roosevelt greatly, so much so that many say that he never really recovered from that loss. This final chapter I think add the necessary and tragic antidote to all of his earlier warmongering.
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Postnote: I’m halfway through “What Technology Wants” by Kevin Kelly – a fascinating, mind expanding book, on how our world of rapidly developing technologies is almost self-propelled. I’m sure if I had finished that book earlier it would have made my list.
