Heretic Apostate said:
I'm a WW2 naval buff. Just an amateur, but I enjoy reading about the naval battles of WW2, especially in the Pacific theater. I've got At Dawn We Slept (Pearl Harbor) and Miracle at Midway (Midway). But I want more. More, more, more!
Pretty much, I'd like to find a book that lists the ships of the major combatants, not just the techno-babble stuff ("beam 25m, length at waterline 200m" *yawn*...), but in-depth stuff. In addition, I'd like descriptions of tactics, maybe in-depth analyses of some significant battles (Midway, Coral Sea, the Turkey Shoot, the hunting of the Bismarck, and so on), stuff like that. I've looked at the reviews of a few books on Amazon, and haven't managed to find what I'm looking for. (Gawd, I miss the old card files at the library... It was so much easier finding related stuff that way...)
If it's common at libraries (but not reference books), that'd be great. Otherwise cheap-ish books through Amazon would do. (Nothing over, say, $30-ish.)
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In addition, I'm looking for post-modern military stuff. Hard facts-based speculation on what the military will look like in 20+ years, with emphasis on armor, artillery, close air support, and naval.
Anyway, thanks for any help!
There is very little on the "Post Modern" Military stuff outside of things like Popular Science/Mechanics. Simply because nobody is really sure where things are going to be in 10 years never mind 20. There was a horrible book called "The Future of War" by the Friedman's, but I would avoid it as they clearly have little or no idea of where things are going.
Frankly beyond some fairly obvious conclusions (More Stealth, More Computers, More UAVs, More standoff-precision weapons) I'm really not sure that you can predict things. First World militaries are dependent on Technology more than ever and it's a bad idea to try and make predictions about that sort of thing.
It's worth noting that nobody in the past century has seemed to have a good idea of what would be important in the next war (Calvary charges against machine guns in WWI, Battleships vs Carriers in WWII, etc...)
A good way to look at the more expensive books is to hang out at the cafe in a borders or B&N and read it there. Borders usually seems to have a better military history section and that usually includes a number of books on things like battleships, cruisers etc... If you want in depth information try the books on single classes of ships. I have one on the Iowa class and another on the Spruance class which tell you damm near everything you could possibly want to know.
Kaigun, while a bit esoteric is a VERY comprehensive guide to the origins and development of the Imperial Japanese navy with regards to both personel, tactics and technology.
Soldiers of the Sun: The Rise and Fall of the Imperial Japanese Army
by Meirion Harries - Is a fascinating look at how the Japanese army came to be such a dominant force in prewar politics and why it was such a brutal merciless institution.
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan -- by Ronald H. Spector, is one of the most readable books on the naval war and has a number of fascinating insights to what the institutions were like. At one point the author describes two Japanese captains literally wrestling in the briefing room for the right to lead the attack they were planning. Another was how poor recon was back then. The Japanese in particular, for example would go out, encounter 2 destoyers and a light cruiser, drop their bombs and come back thinking that they had sunk a battleship and damaged 4 cruisers, when only light damage had been scored if any.
If you want a VERY good look into the military and how things actually work/have worked, try reading pretty much anything written by James F. Dunnigan. He does a superb job of making things clear and understandable in quite a witty manner. In no particular order here's some of his books you might want to check out.
How to Make War (Fourth Edition) : A Comprehensive Guide to Modern Warfare in the Twenty-first Century
The Perfect Soldier: Special Operations, Commandos, and the Future of Us Warfare
Dirty Little Secrets of the Twentieth Century
The Pacific War Encyclopedia
Getting It Right: American Military Reforms After Vietnam and into the 21st Century
Dirty Little Secrets: Military Information You're Not Supposed to Know
Dirty Little Secrets of World War II : Military Information No One Told You...
The Next War Zone: Confronting the Global Threat of Cyberterrorism
Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific
Digital Soldiers: The Evolution of High-Tech Weaponry and Tomorrow's Brave New Battlefield
From Shield to Storm: High-Tech Weapons, Military Strategy, and Coalition Warfare in the Perisan Gulf
Shooting Blanks: War Making That Doesn't Work
Victory and Deceit: Deception and Trickery at War
