Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The mother of all reading lists: Some other suggestions for your beach reading

Just to make sure you don’t get bored over the summer, here are some other military history reading lists for you: Rep. Ike Skelton’s overview list. Ten of my own favorites (the list would be a bit different now — in part because of the interesting comments on this post). A Pentagon reading list. A ...

Flickr
Flickr
Flickr

Just to make sure you don't get bored over the summer, here are some other military history reading lists for you:

Just to make sure you don’t get bored over the summer, here are some other military history reading lists for you:

Rep. Ike Skelton’s overview list.

Ten of my own favorites (the list would be a bit different now — in part because of the interesting comments on this post).

A Pentagon reading list.

A reading list from Guantanamo Bay detainees.

A pre-deployment list for platoon leaders going to Afghanistan.

My list for a friend deploying to Afghanistan:

The 101st Airborne’s list for Afghanistan.

And the 10 best post-deployment books.

Here’s my list of what to read if you are a civilian going to work at the Pentagon. 

But if you really want to have a fun summer, here is a reading list on terrorism:

Here’s one on COIN:

One on intelligence.

Here’s D’Este’s besties on WWII:

A "gun nut’s" list.

A unusual Vietnam War list.

Adm. Stavridis’ list of fiction (20 novels).

This guy also has some better suggestions near the end of his interview.

For real obscurity, a Tory’s reading list.

To top it off, here are some roundups I did of reading lists:

One — and two.

And yet another one.

And a study of the solder’s load!

For a change, here is a list of books I never finished:

Since then, to my regret, I finished The Education of Henry Adams — one of the most overrated books I’ve ever read, along with Liddell Hart’s Strategy.

And a list of books about Iraq to avoid.

Finally, once you get tired of reading, here is a list of terrific war movies.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1

More from Foreign Policy

Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler walks by a State Department Seal from a scene in The Diplomat, a new Netflix show about the foreign service.

At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment

Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and French President Emmanuel Macron speak in the garden of the governor of Guangdong's residence in Guangzhou, China, on April 7.

How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China

As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin greets U.S. President George W. Bush prior to a meeting of APEC leaders in 2001.

What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal

Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.

A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.
A girl stands atop a destroyed Russian tank.

Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust

Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.