I just receantly read the book All quiet on the western front and it was the greatest link to how war acturally affects people. It wasen't one of those books that glamorizes it, it actually got into the psyche of the soldiers on the front lines. I highly recommend it to everyone.
Try The Song of God, Bhagavad-Gita, 5th or 6th century. This is the story of Arjuna and the battle on the sacred field of Kurukshetra.
Some other good war stories.... Birdsong (Sebastian Faulks) Catch 22 (Joseph Heller) MASH (Richard Hooker) [note, it is almost nothing like the TV series] TTFN Sage
The Naked and The Dead, by Norman Mailer The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon all great books about war, and the human condition
On the inside cover of my copy it is proclaimed by somebody, "The greatest war novel of all time." I can't say I"ve read every war novel, but I woulnd't really hesitate to support that statement. I've never cried so much in a book. What I think makes it especially powerfully is that Erich Remarque was German, wrote it from the German perspective. So you can't possibly ignore the fact that there it wasn't a clear cut line of good against evil; it proves the humanity of both sides. The last paragraph at the very end . . . I love how it's on the back of the page, so you think it's all over, there's a blank page, but then you turn it over, and there it is... I've been wanting to read The Things they Carried, too.
This isn't exactly a war novel or book about the indiviual in combat, but "On the Origins of War" by Donald Kagan is good. Explains why nations would go to war. Persieved lost or gain of honor, interests (power / trade), and/or the fear of an up and coming unfriendly regional (or global) nation (or city state). He discusses historic examples from the Peloponnesian War (between Athens and Sparta), to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Also an interesting read.
I also like Stephen Crane's war poetry, in addition to the Red Badge of Courage. I don't think they really have titles, though.
Ernest Hemingway's "Farewell to arms" resembles Remarque's book in many ways. I would highly recommend reading it if you liked "All is Quiet on the Western Front".
"Farewell to Arms" - Ernest Hemingway is good, though i failed my english class i read it for because i skipped 3 weeks of the class. such is life, but it was the only book i liked reading for that class.
The Naked and The Dead, by Norman Mailer I have to second that one. Norman Mailer was a war vet himself, and the story he tells in that book is not a pretty picture (though the story itself is fiction). The book opens with a soldier trying to sleep, knowing that in only hours, they'd be fighting their way up a beach under heavy fire. It goes downhill from there, figuratively speaking, as they work their way upwards...
the lucifer principle by howard bloom. its not all about war, but its more about why people and groups of people act the way they do, including why they feel compelled to fight--so i guess thats really the nature of war, or thats how wars are started anyway. a very enlightening book, and a good read even if youre not looking for a book about war.
