Recommend a military history book . . .

[TheGrayMouser]

For historical fiction then I think Bernard Cornwell's Saxon stories are really very good. The series comprises so far of the following novels -The Last Kingdom, The Pale Horseman, The Lords of the North, Sword Song, The Burning Land and Death of Kings.

Hmm hadnt heard about those, I just read "The Archers tale" by same author.. Pretty good but I fear all his series are going to end up with the same Richard Sharpe type action ( just swap baker rifle for longbow and there ya go )


Mary Renault has some real good historical fiction on Alexander, ancient greece( Theseus) , Succesors etc
Mika Waltari : The Roman , The Etruscan, the Adventurer(1500's) all great reads
H Sienkiewicz: Fire in the Steppe et al ( ie "The Trilogy") great books if you can find them, and have time to read 5000 plus pages!

not really the same but David Drake, best known for high fantasy sci fi has some really good short stories set in close to the collpase of the Roman Empire. Even has a hoot of a yarn re King Arthur.

[stockwellpete]

Hmm hadnt heard about those, I just read "The Archers tale" by same author.. Pretty good but I fear all his series are going to end up with the same Richard Sharpe type action ( just swap baker rifle for longbow and there ya go )

Well, yes, that's what I thought at first and it meant that I didn't read him for a long while. But these Saxon stories set in Alfred's time are really very good indeed. Great atmosphere and interesting characterisations, and above all very solid historical research.

[Hoplite1963]

If your looking for books of use in designing scenarios for Field Of Glory my website http://snapupwargames.weebly.com/ now has section devoted to them. “Book Reviews” (broken down by date and listed alphabetically) are found under “Research Resources” under the “Resource Centre” Tab.

Enjoy and fee free to comment.
Ian

[stockwellpete]

I am currently reading "Stephen and Matilda: the civil war of 1139-53" by Jim Bradbury (1996). Very interesting and lots of details about military developments and castles in the 12thC. It is a very useful book to read, if like me, you are eagerly awaiting the release of "Oaths of Fealty" for the PC game later in the year.

Jim Bradbury also wrote "The Medieval Archer" (1985) which, amazingly, I have just found in my local library.

[Nakedcelt]

Just finished John R Hale's Lords of the Sea. A highly entertaining account of the ancient Athenian navy and it's impact on the ancient world, in particular the city itself.

While we're on the subject - whatever happened to "Galley Battles"?

[lecrop]

"With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World" by Alfred S.Bradford. Simply amazing.

[stockwellpete]

I have discovered a short series of historical novels by Ross Laidlaw. There are three of them so far - "Theodoric", "Attila" and "Justinian". I am reading the first one now and it is very pacy and well-written. Similar to the sort of stuff that Bernard Cornwell does so well.

And I have borrowed a large format "coffee-table" type book called "The Art of War" (Quercus 2010) which is comprised of a number of essays about ancient and medieval commanders, including Sun Tzu, Xenophon, Alexander the Great, Hannibal, Julius Caesar, Aetius, Attila, Theodoric, Belisarius, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa, Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Henry V, Suleyman the Magnificent and Oda Nobunaga. It is beautifully illustrated too. There is going to be a second volume published covering the early modern and modern periods in due course. Definitely worth a look this is.

[cothyso]

Guys, really, if you're interested in historical fiction, you have no excuse to not read Christian Cameron's books, they are the best I've read so far. And Steven Pressfield's too.

[Sharkall]

Guys, really, if you're interested in historical fiction, you have no excuse to not read Christian Cameron's books, they are the best I've read so far. And Steven Pressfield's too.

I've thoroughly enjoyed Christian Cameron's books Though I'm the type that goes for fantasy, and historical fiction is the flavor, not the other way around.
I never heard about Steven Pressfield, but will check him out.
Other things (still fiction) I could rec:
- A Place Called Armageddon, by C.C. Humphreys
- Paul Kearney's Macht series. A terribly underrated author.

P.S. you were saying something about lists of books and ebooks, could you expand a little please ? (maybe with a message)

[Triarii]

A couple more recent reads to recommend
One in period one out; One fiction one fact.

'Sworn Sword' James Aitcheson.
Debut novel set against the backdrop of the continued saxon resistence and rebellions of 1067 onwards in the north-east of England.
A good believable yarn.

'Italy's Sorrow' James Holland
Narrative history of the war in Italy 1944-45. It is an excellent read easy to follow and containing many first hand viginettes from across the spectrum of experience of combatants; English and Commonwealth, French, North African, American, German, Italian facist and Italian partisan and of the civilians.

[keyth]

'Battle Cry of Freedom' by James M. McPherson.
Excellent, well-written and fascinating military, political and social examination of the American Civil War.

'The Great Siege: Malta 1565' by E. Bradford.
Great read, packed with detail.

'Fatal Colours: Towton, 1461' by George Goodwin has already been mentioned but I'll give it another plug here

'A Writer at War' which has been put together from Vassiliy Grossman's notebooks by Anthony Beevor is an excellent insight into the Eastern Front.

[stockwellpete]

I came across this web site recently . . .

http://darkagewargaming.wordpress.com/

It is actually the website of the historian Guy Halsall who has written two books on the period concerning the Fall of the Roman Empire. His ideas are very heavily influenced by Goffart.

http://www.york.ac.uk/history/staff/profiles/halsall/

Also very well worth reading if you are interested in this period is Peter Heather, the author of "The Fall of the Roman Empire" and "Empires and Barbarians" who takes some different views from Halsall. They both mention each other's work in their writings and their disagreements are very respectful.

[shunwick]

Guys,

A useful reference work is Timelines of War - David Brownstone and Irene Franck. It is a large format book, quite thick and it covers global military history from 100,000 BC to 1994 AD (the year it was published). The notes are very short, as you might expect, but it covers just about everything and is a very good starting point for further research.

Best wishes,
Steve

[Triarii]

Fiction
I have been enjoying Harry Sidebottom's series set in the Eastern Roman Empire and dealing with the conflict with Shapur I's Sassinid Empire (very FoG). They start with "Warrior of Rome". Don't be put of by the title a great book and if you enjoy it.

I can recommend this as a good read too - I read all the series over my summer holiday.

And almost as an omen the next one is published in a couple of weeks "Wolves of the North" shame it wasn't 'sea'!

[Nakedcelt]

Not strictly military history but George Macdonald Frazer's 'The Complete MacAuslan' is superb; based loosely on the Flashman author's experiences as a young Subaltern in a Highland regiment in N Africa and Scotland just after WW2. One of the many things that comes out is Frazer's expansive knowledge of military history - highly recommended!

[ZeaBed]

Victory at Poitiers, The Black Prince and the Medieval Art of War (Copyright © Christian Teutsch 2010 Pen & Sword Military, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Great Britain). I think it was fellow FoGer Ari Kujala who recommended this book to me last year. I originally approached it based on my own interest in the Battle of Crecy (26 August 1346).

Teutsch’s main focus is on the Battle of Poitiers, and it is a thoroughly solid work of scholarship by someone whose primary background is military (a good thing here). But he also deals with “The Lessons of Crecy” in pages 21-45 of the aforementioned edition. As Teutsch notes, “There are no fewer than four different possibilities depicted in sketches by various historians.” Crecy has been a historian’s Gordian Knot – a muddle of sourcing reliability and disparate scholarly interpretation for centuries. He examines a “fifth possibility” and in my opinion does that convincingly, marshaling solid research and analysis together with plausible inference.

[hidde]

I can highly recommend the books by Stephen W. Sears. He has written several books on famous ACW battles.
Detailed acounts of the time before each battle and what lead to it. And of the battle itself, of course.
I like the fact that he's not afraid to speculate about "what ifs" had the commanders made different decisions than they did.
Not everyone like that approach but I think it adds to the description of what actually happened.

And, if I may, I would recommend you to take a look at a fun little game also (hope that's ok with Slith).
It's a one man project and a free beta.
It's called Quadriga. http://www.turnopia.com/
You are one of eight chariot drivers at an ancient race track. Highly addictive and pretty hard to win.
I find it paramount to have a good start as it's very difficult to catch up.
Invest in a light chariot that will give you good acceleration...but be aware of lacerations and crashes by the opponents since with a light chariot you are vulnurable to those!

[stockwellpete]

I have just finished reading Henri Barbusse's anti-war novel "Under Fire" which is about WW1 and pre-dates Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front". A very good read.