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

Reading rainbow: Listing the lists

Some of H.R. McMaster’s greatest hits, and more.

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Reading_rainbow2ndlogo

 

 

— Some of H.R. McMaster’s greatest hits.

— Sen. John McCain’s list of favorite books. I was surprised at how many of my own favorites are on this list.

— An excellent list of readings on military leadership.

— A list of books about women in the military. (And why do we have the phrase “women soldiers”? Shouldn’t it be “female soldiers”?)

— Barno and Bensahel’s summer reading list.

— The “Army/Navy etc. Times” list.

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon’s list of five.

— A Naval officer’s top five.

— And more.

Royal Air Force reading list.

— Favorite books of some University of Chicago professors.

— Angry Staff Officer’s summer reading plan, which may not have survived its first contact with reality.

— An introduction to military innovation.

— The Guardian goes with a very British (and some American) list of the 100 best nonfiction books. The compiler does like Orwell, but inexplicably picks his Road to Wigan Pier, which is marred by a sloppy second half.

— And why not? Steve Earle’s list of his five favorite Rolling Stones songs. (Me, I can’t listen to any Stones’ albums these days except for “Exile on Main Street,” and I even edited that down to one album.)

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

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