Narrative historical accounts of wars (in the style of Bruce Catton) for Questionland Seattle

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Narrative historical accounts of wars (in the style of Bruce Catton)

I love Bruce Catton's books on the American Civil War. I'd like to find books on other *mostly* recent wars (American Revolution, WWI, WWII, Napoleonic, etc.) but with the same style as Catton: Very thoroughly detailed, not just the battles, but environments, politics, culture at the time, and most importantly, plenty of focusing in on specific people and telling their personal accounts and interesting tangential information about them.

Any recommendations?

Urgutha Forka asked in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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Fnarf

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Catton is great, but I really believe the new standard for Civil War histories has been set by James McPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom which is just plain remarkable. Seriously: I read it in a single marathon 48-hour stretch, barely moving the whole time; and then immediately read it again.

But you've already read about the Civil War...

Have you read The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman, about WWI? Brilliant, untoppable. They will make you want to read her The Proud Tower: A Portrait of the World Before the War, 1890-1914 and The Zimmermann Telegram (about the US entry into the war) immediately after.

The best book ever written about WWI, though, isn't strictly speaking history at all; it's The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell. This might be the best book I've ever read -- so powerful, so illuminating, so unexpected. It will blow your mind. Even if you don't give a damn about English poets like Sassoon and Owen, you'll come away from this book believing that WWI was the pivotal stupidity of the entire stupid century of evil.

Another essential book on war that strays a bit from your question but gives much-needed perspective on the real horror of it is The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme by John Keegan, which is about the soldier's experience, everything from boredom and regimentation to terror, injury and death. Again, you will come away aghast at the repulsiveness of WWI.

Fnarf answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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I haven't read Catton but it sounds like you would like Robert K. Massie. He's got a 2 part series on WWI titled Dreadnought and Castles of Steel, the first book focuses entirely on the political situation leading up to WWI, specifically the naval arms race, from the different perspectives of various persons involved. He really focuses in on each individual and gives their stories great personal detail. The second book is WWI from start to finish, focusing on the naval war between England and Germany. Really good historical books.

Massie also wrote Peter The Great, which contains a war and is also a very good book, and two other Russian history books about the Romanovs.

I'm going to go ahead and add Catton to my reading list now

brain answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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Massie is brilliant and Dreadnought is a book you will love. Can't recommend it enough.

Brain is a brain.

infernactual commented about 1 year ago | Report

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Cool, thanks for the (double) recommendations!

Catton's three volumes on the Civil War ('The Coming Fury,' 'Terrible Swift Sword,' and 'Never Call Retreat,' are simply amazing. The level of detail is unbelievable, but he avoids making it too technical or academic by interspersing it with the personal accounts of individual soldiers, politicians, and other citizens. For example, he'll describe the scenery at Fredericksburg, the players, weather, morale, troop placement, objectives, etc., but then has little snippets of Gen. Burnsides' feelings at the time (taken from personal letters and letters of his aides) as well as Gen. Lee's feelings and thoughts. He also includes a few 'what-ifs' based on some of the particular commander's styles, and if they had been switched in the battle, things may have turned out quite differently.

The entire series is like that. Really engaging.

Urgutha Forka commented about 1 year ago | Report

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Russ Campbell, NWEBS

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First person accounts have always held my interest best. My interest was heavily in aviation experiences of WWI, but later got into other realms of that war.

Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis
Singularly the best reading on being a pilot, a series of anecdotal stories, some very tragic, a few that will have you laughing very hard. You can pick this up and read a few pages at a time as there are no formal chapters but short vignettes.

Fighting The Flying Circus by Edward Rickenbacker
America's ace, not the best individual account but essential if you are interested in the air war of American pilots.

Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die: Memoirs of a World War I Marine by Elton Mackin
What happens to men who have one idea of battle until they experience the reality of it.

Gentlemen Volunteers: The Story of the American Ambulance Drivers in the Great War by Arlen Hansen
A completely different view of the war, both discussing the logistics of moving the wounded and the experiences of those that did.

Outwitting the Hun by Pat O'Brien
I have a good collection of WWI books and a sub-collection of books about prisoner escape stories across several wars (many out of print and all packed away, so I am drawing on memory here). This one sticks out as an amazing story of perseverance in escape and return back to allied forces.

Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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I could recommend a bunch of books, esp. WWII submarine stories. They are frequently told by the people in the ship (Skipper, XO, etc.). Thriller style reading.

BUT, I'm going to recommend that you get a DVD based on a book: Band of Brothers is perhaps the best TV Miniseries ever made and it is an amazing and personal account of WWII.

It produced by Spielberg and Hanks so it is not a Ken Burns doc. It is an amazing story, brilliantly acted by people who (were) unknown. But the best parts are that the story is interspersed with interviews with the guys who were actually there. Unbeatable.

infernactual answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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I own the Band of Brothers miniseries and have watched it, oh, 25-30 times maybe. Yes, it is without a doubt the best film portrayal of the 101st Airborne's tour of duty in WWII. And I also loved the first time I watched it at the end when all those guys who were interviewed were finally revealed as the real people there.

Also, in case you didn't know, Richard Winters just died recently... a couple months ago, I think.

I'm planning to get The Pacific miniseries too, just haven't had much time lately.

Anyway, thanks!

Urgutha Forka commented about 1 year ago | Report

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Even though she is mainly known as a romance author, Georgette Heyer's novel An Infamous Army about the Battle of Waterloo is used in military schools in Britain.

The March by E. L. Doctorow is an on-the-ground account of Sherman's March during the Civil War.

Two novels about WWI:

A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin

Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks

mishalibrarian answered in Book Recommendations about 1 year ago | Report

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