While on the trip (especially on the plane flights), I had time to read four books – all excellent and highly recommended:
- American Patriot by Robert Coram. This is hands-down the best biographical work on a soldier of the Vietnam war that I have read. I was riveted, from the first page to the last. Colonel Bud Day (the subject of the book) is a man well worth knowing about – awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions while in prison in North Vietnam. He was the cellmate of John McCain; he and Mr. McCain helped each other survive that episode with their honor intact. Definitely in the “don't miss” category.
- Generation Kill by Evan Wright. An excellent and sympathetic portrayal of the Marines of the First Recon Battalion as they invaded Iraq in 2003. This book has been criticized in some quarters for its allegedly biased reporting of civilian casualties in the war, but I think those critiques are more borne of ideological biases of the critics, and not faulty reporting by Mr. Wright – bad things happen in wars to perfectly innocent people, and I'm inclined to believe that's just as true in Iraq as it has been in all the wars of the 20th and 21st centuries. This book is well worth your time, most especially if you'd like to read some inspiring stories about the young men and women in America's military today.
- Last of the Amazons and Gates of Fire, both by Steven Pressfield. These are the first two novels by Mr. Pressman that I've read, but they will not be the last. As the blurbs proclaim, his battle scenes are some of the most believable I've ever read. I've never been in combat, but I have been in the military – his portrayals of soldiers, especially in their ordinary lives, ring of truth and accuracy. Mr. Pressfield was a Marine (and his books are popular with our U.S. Marines today). Though he is not a professional historian, from everything I've read the historical events depicted in his novels are accurately represented, with some minor exceptions in timing, to improve the flow of the novel. The dialog is sprinkled with terms familiar to modern readers, and almost certainly not to contemporaries of the characters in his novels – the author takes this license to improve modern readers' understanding. I think it works, and brilliantly. Last of the Amazons is set in ancient Greece and its surrounding areas, and mainly is about the Amazon culture of women warriors. Gates of Fire is about the legendary (but real) Battle of Thermopylae, fought by a tiny detachment of Spartans and some allies against hordes of Persians. Both are superb, and highly recommended – and I will be reading the rest of Mr. Pressman's works.
