This book provides a survey of what the process of training is to get people to kill and what the killing does to those who do it. The book begins with a surprising and pleasing description of how difficult it is to get humans to kill their fellow man. The book is divided into several sections, each dealing with one major aspect of the role of killing or training people to kill in a war. The author feels that as well as being of literary benefit, this book can also help many people who deal with this subject. Another main objective is to help war veterans who have combat experience, future participants, interested civilians and loved ones and therapists trying to aid them.

The author had some very discernible biases, and the good news is that he clearly expresses these to the readers. He does so without apology. Some will agree with the author and find his views comforting and familiar. Others will be offended to various degrees. Nevertheless, at least the author's biases are clear. Likewise, the author recognizes that all officers, including those such as himself who have not ever personally killed anyone, do, in fact, bear a share in the responsibility and burdens of guilt but also share in what he labels "group absolution" for combat veterans. The book is very handy for those seeking a realistic and informative look at the subject.

-Book Rags

McFate demonstrates a lively and provocative way to think about modern warfare in a book laced with examples from the history of conflict as well as his own career as a soldier in the U.S. Army and a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. His starkest argument is that “conventional war is dead,” while lesser war and peace exist side by side, and that much great-power conflict takes place in a gray zone between the two. McFate does a good job conveying the messiness of contemporary warfare, describing a shift from wars between states to wars within states. Great powers pursue their interests by using whatever nonmilitary tools are available, from social media to trade, and try to avoid serious fighting. Nonstate actors, on the other hand, use whatever weapons they can get their hands on. At times, McFate overstates for effect. For example, he dismisses high-end conventional capabilities too readily: along with nuclear weapons, such military options—even when they are not used—help explain why great powers are wary about embarking on major wars.

-forgeinaffairs.com

The classic bestselling war memoir by the most decorated American soldier in World War II.

Originally published in 1949, To Hell and Back was a smash bestseller for fourteen weeks and later became a major motion picture starring Audie Murphy as himself. More than fifty years later, this classic wartime memoir is just as gripping as it was then.

Desperate to see action but rejected by both the marines and paratroopers because he was too short, Murphy eventually found a home with the infantry. He fought through campaigns in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. Although still under twenty-one years old on V-E Day, he was credited with having killed, captured, or wounded 240 Germans. He emerged from the war as America's most decorated soldier, having received twenty-one medals, including our highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor. To Hell and Back is a powerfully real portrayal of American GI's at war.

-goodreads.com

Ender's Game was first written in 1985, proceeded to win the Hugo and Nebula Awards (science fiction's highest honors), and has remained popular ever since. The story of a young boy who's conscripted at age 6 and trained to be a deadly killer without, somehow, losing his essential humanity has resonated with readers for decades. As of this writing, the novel is number one on the New York Times' Best Sellers for Mass Market Paperbacks.

Part of the reason why the book has remained consistently popular is the appeal of the main character, Ender Wiggin. Ender was literally bred to be a strategist by the government in the hopes of producing the ultimate military commander. And as he progressed through his schooling, Ender himself developed some leadership techniques that made him unbeatable in the mock "battles" that the children played.

In fact, the leadership skills displayed by Ender Wiggin have been so influential that the book has several times appeared on military college reading lists to provide examples of leadership. And while not everything Ender used is applicable to everyday life - we're not all soldiers, after all - there are four enduring leadership lessons from the book that can guide us in our organizations and businesses.

-Forbes, Book Review

We have a mix of scifi and dystopia here: Space, a government that spans the solar system, castes. Yes, I know, caste system isn’t a novel idea – people at the top will always try to make deify themselves. The one in Red Rising at least makes sense: it works seamlessly in the Gold’s favor. One of the key to a great leadership is to delegate all of the shitty tasks and to make your underlings believe they are working towards a better world: their toils are all for Society, for mankind. Whether it’s the Blues who are genetically modified to control spaceships, to the Pinks who are specifically designed to grant sexual pleasure: everyone believes that their purpose is to serve: a cog in the wheel. It’s the perfect lie, the slaves do not realize they are enslaved, and the foundation of this lie is built on the unwitting sacrifice of the Reds. The Reds, a caste of miners who still believes after almost a millennia that they are the pioneers: the first ones on Mars. They have faith that by doing dangerous work, they’re paving the way for a new generation – little do they know that they have no future.

-Read at Midnight, Book Review

The Fort is a stellar retelling of the Penobscot Expedition. In 1779, at the height of the American Revolutionary War, 700 British troops and three sloops-of-war established a small fort in northern Massachusetts. The rebel government in Boston dispatched 900 men and 42 ships to dislodge them. The Americans were paralyzed by interarm rivalry and a crippling lack of professionalism, while the British were disciplined and officered by veteran commanders. This translated into a rather daunting task for the Massachusetts troops and one which Cornwell portrays well.

As to be expected from Cornwell, the book is excellently written – the central figures of Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth (American) and Brigadier General Francis McClean (British) are especially well characterised. In addition, it contains useful lessons about the difficulties stemming from joint operations and poor professional military education. It also repeatedly emphasizes the importance of decisively concentrating force. These remain useful takeaways for any leader today.

-Grounded Curiosity, Book Review

Commissar Ciaphas Cain has a reputation for derring-do, heroism, and selfless leadership. However, he is actually a self-professed coward who attempts to shirk responsibility at every opportunity. This is complicated by his role as a political officer in an embattled, fanatical, and galaxy-spanning military. The book and its sequels are framed as memoirs, with Cain retelling his adventures and providing ample justification to explain how every heroic act was the product of self-serving cowardice.

Besides being rather funny, the Cain books are valuable reading because they deal with the nature of courage. To what extent do his protestations of cowardice ring true? Is a man who does heroic things out of fear or blind chance less worthy of respect than someone with avowedly purer motives? As a leader, what is the best way to leverage self-interest to help accomplish the mission? Of course, leadership textbooks and biographies deal with these questions too, often from a more authoritative perspective, but more perspectives certainly can’t hurt.

One note for the prospective readers – the Cain books are set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. You don’t have to know much about the setting to understand what’s going on, but it might be wise to have Lexicanum open on the side, just in case.

-Grounded Curiosity, Book Review

Terry Pratchett’s work is consistently amazing, and much of it is applicable to the military professional. However, his 1997 book Jingo is particularly valuable. In it, fishermen from the city-state of Ankh Morpork and the empire of Klatch simultaneously find an island equidistant between both nations. As is standard procedure for such things, nationalist impulses begin propelling both countries to war. Commander of the Ankh Morpork City Watch, Sir Samuel Vimes, is highly unimpressed with this. He is also displeased by an attempted political assassination and sets off to investigate it, which brings him onto a collision course with political intrigue and the onrushing conflict.

Jingo is, like all of Pratchett’s Discworld books, a comedy. However, it directly grapples with important issues surrounding jingoism and racial prejudice. A memorable and emotional scene involves an attempted hate crime against a family of Klatchian immigrants living in Ankh Morpork. While the military from both nations are treated rather scathingly, Jingo is a highly readable primer on the dangers of militarism and bigotry.

-Grounded Curiosity, Book Review

Siddhartha follows a man who is struggling to "combine business and spirituality," McLennan explained in a (different) interview with Insights' Deborah Petersen this past winter. "He becomes a rich merchant who is at first unattached to material success, concentrating on putting his customers first and acting ethically with all stakeholders. But then he becomes covetous, succumbs to the 'soul sickness of the rich,' and becomes not only mean-spirited but also suicidal."

Eventually, he finds something like balance ferrying travelers across a river, "providing spiritual mentoring to some, but finding that most people simply want good transportation services."

-Business Insider, Book Review