Summer 2025 Reading Recommendations!
Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading! Vacations can provide some time to do the book reading that most Americans (as we’ll see below), want to do (but may not get around to actually doing).
Anyway, here are some suggestions for your consideration.
I’ll start with a truly must-read book that was discussed in a recent post: retired Admiral Jim Stavridis’ new volume, The Admiral’s Bookshelf.
Another Stavridis book I’m recommending is The Restless Wave: A Novel of the United States Navy. Starting shortly before World War II, the book follows the career of a young naval officer and the challenges he faces – some more effectively than others. More than a coming-of-age novel, it is book loaded with leadership–and life–lessons. Brilliantly and thoughtfully written. (A lengthy preview is found here.) I understand a sequel is already in the works.
The Court at War: FDR, His Justices, and the World They Made, by Cliff Sloan. An intriguing study of the justices during wartime, and especially their interactions with FDR. Speaks to the impact of wartime on the Court’s decisions. Goes a little off the rails at the end with its critique of the current Court (circa 2023) but still worth a read.
The Hand Behind Unmanned: Origins of the U.S. Autonomous Military Arsenal, by Jacquelyn Schneider and Julia Macdonald. To truly understand the technological changes that are transforming the character of war, one needs to know the history. This is a thoroughly scholarly work (in the best sense of the term!) that is not simply a litany of achievements, but delves into the institutional culture, politics, and other factors that influenced the development of this weaponry. I know a bit about a few of the matters discussed, and the authors nailed them, and that gives me confidence in their work. Very impressive!
I currently own two books by Michel Paradis. The first is The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower. This is a highly readable account of Eisenhower and the challenges he faced in the run up to D-Day. This is not a hagiography, but rather an objective story of a complex man faced with perhaps the most daunting task any military leader has undertaken. Lots of new (or previously overlooked) material. It also contains excellent portraits of other World War II leaders. Deservedly called a “page-turner.”
The second Paradis book is Last Mission to Tokyo: The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raiders and Their Final Fight for Justice. A mesmerizing account of the fate of the American aviators captured by the Japanese after their stunning bombing raid on Japan early in World War II. Amazon’s description of the book says:
In Last Mission to Tokyo, Michel Paradis reveals the dramatic aftermath of the mission, which involved two lost crews captured, tried, and tortured at the hands of the Japanese, a dramatic rescue of the survivors in the last weeks of World War II, and an international manhunt and trial led by two dynamic and opposing young lawyers—in which both the United States and Japan accused the other of war crimes—that would change the face of our legal and military history.
I like to tell students that very often in war things are more complicated than they seem, and Last Mission to Tokyo is proof of that.
Allow me to give a very strong recommendation to one of the best novels I have ever read: Mark Helprin’s, The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, a War Story, a Love Story. Set in the near future, it tells the story of a senior Navy officer whose career is cut short when he gets crossways with the President over the officer’s advocacy of a new type of small but high-tech warship. With his career in tatters the officer is ordered to take the warship on its maiden cruise – a humiliation for an officer so senior. But he takes on the assignment with professionalism, only to find himself on a what becomes almost a suicide mission when war breaks out with Iran.
This book has it all, including multiple leadership lessons, insights into naval customs, explanations of high-tech weaponry, scenes of intense warfighting, deep philosophical musings, illustrations of the meaning of character, and, as the title indicates, a love story (involving a lawyer!). I listened to the audio version of the book, and I highly recommend that format.
Shorter books
Like something shorter? Here are several to consider:
Reflections on Captivity: A Tapestry of Stories by a Vietnam War POW, by Porter Alexander Halyburton. Shot down at age 24, the author spent over seven years in captivity before being freed in 1973. The book – just 216 pages – is a collection of 50 vignettes that illustrate not only the misery of the POWs, but also their character and leadership. It is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, and something to contemplate as we consider today’s travails.
Weighing in at only 240 pages, Admiral William H. McRaven’s new book, Conquering Crisis: Ten Lessons to Learn Before You Need Them, packs a real punch. Using historical examples as well as his own experience, this former SEAL (who commanded the operation that killed Osama Bin Laden among many others) doesn’t hesitate to relate mistakes he made in this first-rate teaching epistle. Written not only for those connected to the military, the book also offers useful insights for others facing tough decisions in crisis – especially leaders in any organization. The audio version is read by the author.
Orin Kerr’s The Digital Fourth Amendment: Privacy and Policing in Our Online World could not be more timely. It’s written in such a way that is accessible to the general public, yet also speaks to legal scholars and practitioners. In just 203 pages of text, the reader gets a primer on search and seizure law, an update on how technology is impacting it, and thoughtful ideas about the way ahead.
Richard Overy is one the top scholars of World War II. His new book, Rain of Ruin: Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan examines the air assault on Japan’s home islands in the 1944-’45 time frame. Though I don’t agree with all of his conclusions, you get a lot of history of airpower as employed against Japan in a relatively short (224 pages), well-written book.
(You may also find Overy’s recent book, Why War, of interest; it is reviewed here.
The Warrior Ethos, by Steven Pressfield. We hear a lot of talk about this topic coming out of the Pentagon these days, but what does it really mean? Pressfield’s 2011 book starts with the ancients and brings the concept into the modern era in a mere 112 pages. Incidentally, Pressfield is the author of one of my favorite books of all time, Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae.
In Progress
These are books I’m in the process of reading (and, yes, I like to read/listen to multiple books at once):
The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston 1777-1780, by Rick Atkinson. This absolutely superb history is second in Atkinson’s trilogy about the Revolution. I kind of collect books about the Revolution, but Atkinson’s are so thorough and so accurate, they may replace an entire shelf of lesser volumes.
The Book at War: How Reading Shaped Conflict and Conflict Shaped Reading, by Andrew Pettegree. This is more than just a book for bibliophiles. As a review says, it is a “history of how books were used in war across the twentieth century–both as weapons and as agents for peace [adding] The Book at War accounts for the power–and the ambivalence–of words at war.” I’m finding it fascinating!
The Rule of Law, by Tom Bingham. The phrase “rule of law” is tossed about frequently, but what does it really mean? This book seeks to answer that question. The author himself is quick to admit that the book is not really written for lawyers, but from my perspective – so far – it’s worth a read for the JDs! But those with an interest in discovering more about the “rule of law,” its history, and foundational cases; or those curious about how terrorism and the need for security might be impacting the intersection of the rule of law and civil liberties, will find this an interesting, timely and helpful read! Plus, you’ll have some info to share in the next neighborhood or online discussions on “rule of law.” The “rule of law” is more than an expression, and although people may choose to use the phrase in various ways, it’s important to understand the core of its construct in today’s world. (BTW, it’s just 174 pages!)
Just for fun: two thrillers!
The First Gentlemen: A Thriller by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
Midnight Black by Matt Greaney
Some previous reading lists:
Summer additions to the 2024 reading list for national/international security enthusiasts, 25 June 2024
Some suggestions to kick off your 2024 reading plan! 21 January 2024
Your summer 2023 reading recommendations are here! 31 May 2023
BTW, one of my earliest (and most comprehensive) list of recommendations (2006) is found here. (It also has my theory as to why reading is important, particularly for young military lawyers.)
Some concluding thoughts
Unfortunately, the statistics on reading are not encouraging. Last October the National Endowment for the Arts released a report whose title says it all: “Federal Data on Reading for Pleasure: All Signs Show a Slump.” In April NPR published a piece about another poll, and the article’s title is, again, revealing and…discouraging: “Most Americans want to read more books. We just don’t.”
Permit me to repeat something I mentioned in previous posts, including this fundamental belief: Those who do read will enjoy an asymmetric advantage in their careers and, really, in life.
In his final book (Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy) Henry Kissinger observed that “Intense reading can help leaders cultivate the mental distance from external stimuli and personalities that sustains a sense of proportion.” It can also provide a “storehouse” of knowledge from which “leaders can reason analogically.” He then adds:
“More profoundly, books offer a reality that is reasonable, sequential and orderly—a reality that can be mastered, or at least managed, by reflection and planning. And, perhaps most importantly for leadership, reading creates a ‘skein of intergenerational conversation’, encouraging learning with a sense of perspective. Finally, reading is a source of inspiration. Books record the deeds of leaders who once dared greatly, as well as those who dared too much, as a warning.”
Reading is actually a lifelong project. General Jim Mattis puts it bluntly:
