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iyaayas01 posted:Also On Killing is underpinned basically by bullshit, as the studies by SLA Marshall showing US soldiers in WWII weren't firing their weapons were........not historically accurate (by that I mean they were more or less made up). Grossman's response when this was pointed out was basically "well none of his critics are published anymore, he's still revered in the Army, and I'm on the Commandant's Reading List and getting all sorts of speaking engagements, so suck it." Also Grossman has a hard on for saying that violence in our culture (specifically video games, more specifically first person shooters) is directly influencing kids to kill, to the point where he's in the pearl clutching camp of arguing that Doom was directly responsible for Columbine. I think it would be an understatement to call that line of thought problematic. On Killing is still worth reading, but go into it with eyes open and I wouldn't recommend his other stuff. Echoing this. SLA Marshall's data was always suspect, and someone here (can't remember who) put it best that his studies were less about showing men weren't killing and more about getting the archaic leadership of the U.S. Military to revise and revamp it's combat training methods instead of just doing a shitload of PT and shooting at square targets as it had been done for the previous 50+ years. Also bears repeating that Grossman's takes on psychological stuff is mostly good in On Killing, sociological stuff, not so much. Blaming rap music, violent movies and video games for inner city violence is pretty  Anyways, some recommendations of my own Crucible of War A fantastic book on the Seven Years War(AKA The French and Indian War) and the effects that helped to bring on the American Revolution. The book is extremely well written (as well as concise) and doesn't feel like a chore at all to read through. Also the prologue opens up with a pretty  story about one of Washington's first forays into the Ohio River Valley as a militia officer. Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway Probably the best book written about the Battle of Midway and it does a pretty awesome job destroying a ton of myths surrounding the battle, including the "lost squadron" allowing the SBD's to bomb the Japanese without coming into intense AA fire and Japan being on the verge of launching a fatal strike against the American carriers. Barrakketh posted:The High White Forest by Ralph Allen is a pretty good book if you have the chance to pick it up This sounds good, gonna grab it at the library tonight or tomorrow. Thanks!
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Aug 19, 2016 17:28
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Burning Beard posted:Tommy by Richard Holmes Echoing this. He also wrote a similar book called Redcoat about the life of a British infantryman from the American Revolution through the Napoleonic Wars. I've yet to read it but I hear it's really good.
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Sep 7, 2016 16:05
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Burning Beard posted:More fodder Totally picking this up. Since Richard Holmes died before he could do another book like Tommy but for WWII and beyond, this seems exactly up that same alley. Thanks! Burning Beard posted:Ivan's War
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Sep 12, 2016 15:47
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Smiling Jack posted:Dispatches and Matterhorn are loving amazing. David Simon could probably write the phone book, and I'd still probably read it cover to cover. Homicide is really really loving good.
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Sep 13, 2016 15:48
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FWIW, a ton of Irish went and joined the British army because gently caress Nazis.
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Apr 10, 2017 02:21
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I forgot about that, didn't he say he only did it out of protocol or some poo poo? Either way, hosed up on his part.
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Apr 10, 2017 22:28
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666 posted:Matterhorn is a masterwork in how it brings it's characters to life (and kills them off). It's probably the only war novel that has made me cry reading it. loving vancouver, man It's been seven years since I've read it but yeah, Vancouver 
Handsome Ralph fucked around with this message at 04:00 on Oct 24, 2017 |
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Oct 24, 2017 03:58
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