Goodby to all that---Robert Graves

[Baruch Menachem]

A very interesting war memoir from 1927 about the author's service in the Somme region of France during the first world war. The author served for about 18 months from early 1915 till late 1916, when he was taken out by a grenade and invalided for the rest of the war.

It is a memoir of frustration and anger. The leadership had no clue what they wanted, had no idea how to get there, the soldiers just wanted a good enough wound to get out and the everyone was stuck in a morass of cupidity, cowardice, lice and incompetence.

It seems to be the first and best anti war war memoir. Graves is a very talented writer, and he makes you see the whole thing clearly. He later wrote I Claudius.

 

[Ropey]

A very interesting war memoir from 1927 about the author's service in the Somme region of France during the first world war. The author served for about 18 months from early 1915 till late 1916, when he was taken out by a grenade and invalided for the rest of the war.

It is a memoir of frustration and anger. The leadership had no clue what they wanted, had no idea how to get there, the soldiers just wanted a good enough wound to get out and the everyone was stuck in a morass of cupidity, cowardice, lice and incompetence.

It seems to be the first and best anti war war memoir. Graves is a very talented writer, and he makes you see the whole thing clearly. He later wrote I Claudius.

A most excellent read Baruch. There were so many returnees with small wounds. My grandfather (father's side) was in WWI and he was willing to share his experiences.

In war time, there is much that is cloudy.

 

[midcan5]

Orwell's book is all of the above, it tells a story of battle that is more real than most but it includes the various alliances and other insanity that is war. Iraq stuff is below that.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Homage-Catalonia-George-Orwell/dp/0156421178/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: Homage to Catalonia (9780156421171): George Orwell: Books[/ame]


Iraq war as told by the soldiers and others.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Operation-Homecoming-Afghanistan-Families-Endowment/dp/0226094995/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, Updated Edition (Research Division Report / National Endowment for the Arts) (9780226094991): Andrew Carroll: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Love-Rifle-More-than-You/dp/B0042P5HV6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: Love My Rifle More than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army: Kayla Williams, Michael E. Staub: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/My-War-Killing-Time-Iraq/dp/0425211363/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: My War: Killing Time in Iraq (9780425211366): Colby Buzzell: Books[/ame]

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Deserters-Tale-Ordinary-Soldier-Walked/dp/0802143458/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8]Amazon.com: The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq (9780739486511): Joshua Key, Lawrence Hill: Books[/ame]

 

[Ropey]

I found R.H. Haldeman's book "The Fog of War" an extremely good book on the human condition in war.

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara (2003) - IMDb

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfPwR00HXM0]Clips from the Fog of War - YouTube[/ame]