Compulsively Aimless

How would any of us act during the chaos of war?  Here's a small collection of books on the subject.  1.  War, Sebastian Junger (2010),  Junger, author of The Perfect Storm , lived among soldiers in a remote fire base in eastern Afghanistan for 15 months.  Junger observes the experiences of the soldiers in Afghanistan in an effort to understand experiences of soldiers throughout history.  Bought new.  2.  The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo & The Somme, John Keegan (1976).   Keegan is one of the foremost scholars on warfare made a study of battles fought 500 years apart.   Keegan profiles the histories from standpoint of the foot soldier.  Bought used from State Department bookstore. 3.  War and Intelligence, John Keegan (2004).   Keegan's scholarship on how intelligence has been used by Nelson seeking Napoleon's fleet, Stonewall Jackson during the Civil War, and the British cracking...

1.  Guadalcanal Diary, Richard Tregaskis (1943).   War correspondent Tregaskis was the original embedded journalist who wrote this classic WWII account of the Marines fighting in the South Pacific.  Written in a series of journal entries.  Black and white photos.  Bought used, no recollection where.   2.  Invasion Diary, Richard Tregaskis (1944).  Tregaskis's follow up to Guadalcanal Diary, Invasion Diary follows the American landings in Italy in 1943.  Black and white photos.  Judging by the map in the book, I may have bought at a used book store on Beaver Island, Michigan.  Once owned by gentleman who lived on Harvard Street, Norfolk, VA.     3.  The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography, Guy Sajer (1990). Told  from the perspective of a German soldiers on the Russian front.  Bought from the Department of State used book store.   4.  Soldat: Reflections of German S...

I recently became obsessed about the end of wars.  It started, not intentionally, with the book, Bloody Crimes about the last days of the Civil War.   I can't imagine what the country went through to heal and come together.  Lincoln was assassinated and Jefferson Davis was trying to evade capture to keep the Confederate cause alive, even after General Lee surrender.  It’s unlikely the country will ever endure such a period of turbulence again.  I began to wonder how people behave at the end of wars, at the end of causes.  Why do some fight to the end, even when it's hopeless.  What’s left for the living?  How do the victors conduct themselves and how do the defeated return to society?  In putting together this list, I found my interest goes all the way back to my junior high years when I was fascinated by WWII.  The book Hitler: The Last Ten Days was my earliest purchase.  The rest came in the last several years--mostly World War ...