These were my favorite five books that I read in 2022. All excellent works that might be useful for a great many of you.
Here is my annual best books list
Soldiers From Experience: The Forging of Sherman’s Fifteenth Army Corps, 1862–1863 by Eric Michael Burke
Burke’s novel concept of tactical culture, alongside his brilliant prose, makes this an instant classic in American Civil War historiography. A must-read for anyone interested in how and why units operate the way they do. In addition, this book is significant for understanding the character of Sherman’s March through the south. This is the first book-length examination of an army corps in the Western Theater. One of its primary findings and contributions to the field is the link he uncovers between nineteenth-century combat and the transformation of US wartime strategy from “conciliation,” which aimed to protect the property of Southern civilians, to “hard war,” which would forgo such protections. In so doing, he demonstrates that every tactical encounter can have immense strategic impacts.
What makes this book even better is Burke’s incredible prose. To me, the guy can flat-out write and is on par with some of the best in the business.
Coming to Terms with John F. Kennedy by Stephen F. Knott
Knott is a professor at the US Naval War College. This book is equal parts memoir, historiography, and critical analysis of the President most associated with his life. He recounts his experience growing up in an Irish Catholic Massachusetts household that revered Kennedy and then saw him off to work at the Kennedy presidential library and museum. Knott revered Kennedy but turned away from his brand of Liberalism during the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, like many liberals. But as he aged and watched American conservatism taken over by a demagogue like Donald Trump, Knott returned and reassessed his relationship with the 35th President.
What makes this book great is its balanced analysis that outlines what other, more politically minded books make of the Kennedy era. Knott deftly combines that analysis with his own to provide a uniquely balanced work on such an important and polarizing figure of the American century.
Bravo Company: An Afghanistan Deployment and Its Aftermath by Ben Kesling
This compelling book resonated with me and my experiences in airborne units in Afghanistan. Kesling, a seasoned reporter for the Wall Street Journal and one-time Marine Corps infantry officer, brings all his journalistic chops and military experience to bear in this book. The book reads at a frenetic pace that captures the reality of life in the 82nd Airborne during the height of the Global War on Terror. Ultimately, this is the heartbreaking tale of one company’s deployment and the trials and tribulations as its members come to terms with their service.
Kesling is at his best describing the day-to-day reality of life in the military before, during, and after combat. Kesling writes with brutal honesty and incredible realism. He is often so detailed that the reader almost feels like they can touch the mud walls of Afghan compounds or the litters of Bravo company casualties. This book is an incredible treatment of one corner of the war that serves as a tragic microcosm for the overall American experience in Afghanistan. His description of the journey that is the veteran’s healthcare system, and the gulf between how the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) treat their returning soldiers, is this book’s most important contribution. I cannot recommend this book enough to anyone interested in war and its consequences.
The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan by Elliot Ackerman
An incredible and fascinating book about the fall of Afghanistan. Written in a back-and-forth style, Ackerman assists in coordinating evacuation efforts in August 2021 while on vacation with his family in Italy. Ackerman smoothly goes back and forth between his work doing that and his experiences as a marine and later CIA officer working in the country. It is, therefore, an intensely personal memoir of Ackerman’s service and a dramatic account of his improvised efforts to extricate Afghans from the country amid the collapse of the government and the return to power of the Taliban. Ackerman is an incredible writer and an ideal voice for the 21st Century generation of veterans.
Toward the end, he talks about his concerns with the increased politicization of the US military and the growing divide between our professional soldier “warrior caste” and the majority of the population with no connection. He touches on the military-industrial complex and applies that logic to politics in calling out the “political-industrial conflict” for manipulating Americans for profit. Overall an important book that should be read by all Americans, those who served, and those who never dreamed of doing so.
On Operations: Operational Art and Military Disciplines by B.A. Friedman
Bret Friedman offers a trenchant analysis of the origins of the idea of an “operational level of war,” which he debunks as a myth. War is prosecuted through a series of tactical actions coordinated by “operational art” to meet the military portion of a strategy set to achieve political ends. Friedman’s book convinced me of the fallacy of an operational level of war. He demonstrates that an operational “level” is doctrinally toxic and theoretically redundant. It is a needless complication when we already have operations and operational art/campaign design concepts. In reality, it’s just tactics and strategy linking the two through operational art (planning and warfighting functions). There is no need for a different level of war.
The “operational level” is likewise often defined inconsistently — it’s not a hierarchical level of an organization because it involves all echelons of staff from a platoon up through the Pentagon and National Security Council staff. Furthermore, the operational level is rooted in bad history. The Soviets wanted to separate the overbearing Communist Party from what they were doing militarily. And then, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was used to legitimize Donn Starry and his concept of AirLand Battle. Overall a fantastic contribution to the theoretical field of thinking about war and operational art.
What ties these books together is my passion for understanding both my own experiences and the broad experiences of Americans in leadership and at war. I read for my profession but also for processing.
