Several days ago Bob Settle hit me up for an update on my book recommendations. This will take a minute, but here goes. I am mostly drawing from the last couple of years, and sticking, I think for the most part, to non-fiction. If you don't want to read all the prose, scroll down and I compiled a little list toward the end of this post. But if you do you'll miss all my musings and explanations... your choice.
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| Books, books, books, books, books. |
I love Stephen Ambrose books. As great as his World War II works are: Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, D-Day, etc., my two favorites so far are Nothing Like it in the World, about the building of then Transcontinental Railroad, and Undaunted Courage, which tells the epic story of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 1800's.
I have had a lifelong love affair and endless fascination with our U.S. National Parks, as well as histories of the exploration of the American West and how westward expansion and settlement impacted the various Native-American tribes. Empire of Shadows, by George Black, covered both topics and was a really great read. I highly recommend it.
Next I'll add a pair of books co-written by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. As much as I liked several of Tom Clavin's solo books, Tombstone, Dodge City, and Wild Bill, his works with Bob Drury are superior. I definitely recommend The Last Stand of Fox Company, a Korean War. Chosin Reservoir USMC story that is at once gripping and awe inspiring. I recently read their Blood and Treasure, Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier. I really liked this book. It humanized Boone, whose legend is nearly comic book stuff, and described early U.S. expansion and settlement into Kentucky, a state I have lived in and owned a home in for 30 years.
The next two books that make my list are two that I read prior to the pandemic, both of which I am fairly certain I will read again. One Bullet Away, by Nathaniel Fick. This book is one of the best USMC book I ever read in that it really gives one a sense of what the Corps is and who Marines are. This is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the Marines. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand, is the story of Luis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete and World War II airman. Between his survival on a raft, survival in a Japanese POW camp, and his story after the war, this is one of the best stories I ever read about any aspect of the Pacific Theater in WWII.
David McCullough has become perhaps my favorite author of historic, non-fiction. I am currently reading The Path Between the Seas, about the construction of the Panama Canal. I'm almost halfway through and I already know it needs to be on this list. His John Adams is in my top 10 history books of all time and if you love our country and our history and you haven't read it, you have to. The Great Bridge, which chronicles the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge in the late 1800's, is an epic and I can't recommend it highly enough. McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, which covers Theodore Roosevelt's younger years, is absolutely must read stuff. I read several other of McCullough's works, 1776., The Wright Brothers, The Pioneers, and have his The Johnstown Flood, Truman, and The Great Journey, Americans in Paris all lined up on my yet to be read collection. But Adams, the Bridge, Mornings, and the Path, which I'm reading now, are the four I most highly recommend.
I recently read The Last Stand, Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, by Nathaniel Philbrick. This book fits perfectly into the genre I've come to love, expansion into the west and the plight or fate of Native Americans as the expansion took place. I definitely recommend it. Toward the book's conclusion I learned that there were veterans of the 7th Cavalry who took place in the Wounded Knee massacre in December, 1890. I had a copy of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, many years ago, but never read it and somehow got disconnected from it. So I ordered a new copy and it is high on my list for 2022. Also on my list for 2022, while I am writing about Bury My Heart, I also have Empire of the Summer Moon, Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanche Tribe by S.C. Gwynne cued up for 2022. When I'm ready for more about Custer and the Little Bighorn, I have Stephen Ambrose's Custer and Crazy Horse also on my shelf to be read.
Last year and this I read three by Hampton Sides. Blood and Thunder, The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West. That book was really well written and fits with those listed in the preceding paragraph as far as genre and content. And as far as conquest goes, I think it is fair to say it is the story of the conquest of the Native-American tribes more than of the west itself, although there iis also described in it the conflicts with Mexico that led to annexation of what would become the western states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, etc.
Hampton Sides also wrote In the Kingdom of Ice, the epic story of the USS Jeanette's disastrous but amazing attempt to sail to the North Pole in the 1800's. I can't recommend this one highly enough. I have to thank the aforementioned Bob Settle for this great recommendation. The Other Hampton Sides book I read this year is On Desperate Ground, which paired with The Last Stand of Fox Company, comprised a great study of the US Marines in the Korean War. In On Desperate Ground, Sides does a good job exploring Douglas MacArthur's leadership. I'll leave it at that.
Even though it's been a couple of years, I should include Life, Keith Richards 2010 Autobiography. If you love the Stones like I do, this book is an absolute must. It's written in a way that I could imagine Keith in the room telling the story to me in person as I read it. Highly recommended for 60's and 70's rock fans. A must.
Last but not least in this post, another book I read some time back, but which anyone who is interested in the Pacific Theater in WWII and the US Marines ought to read, With the Old Breed, by E.B. Sledge. Along with the aforementioned One Bullet Away (Fick), no book I ever read gave a clearer understanding of what it was like for Marines in island to island combat in WWII. I give this book my highest recommendation.
Rated on a scale of 1-10, here are my recommendations in list format, with each Rating - Title - Author:
10/10 - Nothing Like it in the World - Stephen Ambrose
10/10 - Undaunted Courage - Stephen Ambrose
8/10 - Empire of Shadows - George Black
10/10 - The Last Stand of Fox Company - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
8/10 - Blood and Treasure, Daniel Boone and the Fight for America's First Frontier - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
10/10 - One Bullet Away - Nathaniel Fick
10/10 - Unbroken - Laura Hillenbrand
TBD - The Path Between the Seas - David McCullough
10/10 - John Adams - David McCullough
9/10 - The Great Bridge - David McCullough
9/10 - Mornings on Horseback - David McCullough
9/10 - The Last Stand, Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn - Nathaniel Philbrick
8/10 - Life - Keith Richards
9/10 - Blood and Thunder, The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West - Hampton Sides
9/10 - In the Kingdom of Ice - Hampton Sides
9/10 - On Desperate Ground - Hampton Sides
10/10 - With the Old Breed - E.B. Sledge
I have a ton of fiction lined up for 2022 and also some great non-fiction. Remind me and I'll post an update toward the end of next year.
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