![]() ![]() “Following the Army War College dictum: no matter the question, the answer is always Clausewitz.” War and Peace (1868) by Leo Tolstoy “Absolutely essential for understanding the human phenomenon of war.” “ On Warrepresents the most ambitious effort ever made by a theorist of human conflict to systematize war and understand it for what it is.” “The first great book on war in all its aspects, and still one of the best.” On War (1832) by Carl von Clausewitz “Written more than 2,000 years ago, this book still contains the best description of why countries go to war, the best funeral oration and the best depiction of political realism ever set down in print.” Few military historians have done it as well, none better.” Thucydides examines the great themes of war from the highest levels of the making of strategy and policy to the moral dimensions and the sharp end of battle. “One of the ironies of the writing of military history is that the greatest book on war ever written was the second history ever written-namely, this work. “Homer presents the clash of fundamental approaches: straightforward martial power and prowess, as embodied by Achilles, and wisdom or cunning, as practiced by Odysseus.” History of the Peloponnesian War (423–411 BC) by Thucydides “Even after thousands of years, it still conveys the intensity of combat with startling immediacy.” Whoever he was, he had the brilliant idea of cutting through all the myths and legends surrounding the Fall of Troy (if historical, it would have happened around 1200 BC) to focus on a single theme: the anger of Achilles.…Through Achilles the pity, terror and horror of war is focused, as well as its screaming thrills and delights.” “Probably there was one great master-later called Homer by the Greeks-who pulled the whole thing together around 750 BC. Their thoughtful responses, some of which are quoted herein, resulted in a long list of worthy, must-read books-and a clear consensus on the 10 best, which are listed on the following pages in chronological order. ![]() We polled a panel of contributors to Military Historyfor their choices of the top 10 war books of all time. It could have been The Guns of August, A Farewell to Arms, Anabasis, Stalingrad, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Longest Day, Sword of Honour, Gates of Fire, Patton, A Rumor of War, The Great War and Modern Memory, Dispatches, Good-bye to All That, Tarawa or none of the above. Most readers who care about history can point to a few favorites, the novels, memoirs or narrative histories that first drew the curtain on a panorama of conflict, triumph and tragedy. The truly powerful books, though, the ones that enlighten and move us, are few in number. So it’s no surprise that even today, “war books” comprise a growth segment in the publishing industry, with more titles appearing each year than any one reader could possibly get through. ![]() For city-states, nations, empires, even entire civilizations, war can mean survival and hegemony-or collapse and utter destruction. For individuals, it often means life or death. It is also the activity in which the stakes could not be higher. ![]() The reasons are obvious: It is the human activity in which emotions and actions simply could not be more intense. Since the dawn of recorded history, war has proven an irresistible, inexhaustible and universally appealing subject. ![]()
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