Best Factual War Books?

MrBigglesworth

I've found myself enjoying factual war-time stories ('nam, ww2) recently. Or more precisely, war accounts told in the first person from the soldiers point of view.
Ones I've read and enjoyed:

Band Of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
Firebirds by Chuck Carlock
Nam by Mark Baker

Any other suggestions?

ykt0di9url7bc3

The first World War by AJP Taylor
From Boer War to Cold War same author

davros

I'm currently reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence (i.e. Lawrence of Arabia), his account of the Arab Revolt and the fight against the Turks.

An English publisher has just produced a new edition of the original 1922 text - very hard to get otherwise. I bought a cloth-bound, gilt-edged edition. Well worth it, in my opinion.

Brerrabbit

Not really a big fan of war books, but one I remember as being excellent was "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason.

hmmm.. got my ould lad "band of brothers" for Christmas,must borrow it and have a read.

deRanged

Chickenhawk is fantastic.

I read Jarhead the other day - set in the persian gulf war - well worth a read. it's frightening really - gives an insight into the mind of the average marine.

echomadman

Band of Brothers is a good read.

The Penguin Book of War, a collection of short stories describing war and batles throughout history, is well worth a read.
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2242/1609_276/60070718/p1/article.jhtml

An Intimate History of Killing: Face-to-Face Killing in Twentieth-Century Warfare, is a good read, but gets a litle repetitive.
http://www.granta.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=53

Most of my Nam non-fiction is in my collection of NAM magazines that i got as a kid, great collection, outlining the military and geo-political effects that war had, indepth analysis along with a lot of first hand accounts from troops from both sides of the conflict. You sometimes see them in second hand bookshops


not exactly factual but:

The book of "The Thin Red Line" is based on the writers experiences in the Pacific theatre in WWII is a really good read.

Tales of the South Pacific is similar, its fiction but contains a lot of anecdotes and is based on James A. Micheners experiences in WWII

DapperGent

Again Chickenhawk is fantastic.

Best war book I've ever read personally is A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan also about Veitnam.

The 13th Valley by John M. Delvechio is well worth a look but isn't as good as the other two. [edit] Also it's fiction, though very true to life [/edit]

Stalingrad and Berlin: The Downfall by Anthony Beevor are good WWII stuff.

Manach

From a 1st-persons view, 3 I have enjoyed are
"Jarhead" Anthony Swofford - an account of the Gulf War
"If I die in a Combat Zone" Tim O'Brien - Vietnam War
"The 10,000" by Xenophon - Greek Mercenaries