Good Brutality of War Books?

[BoldAsLove]

Know any good classic books that focus on the brutality of war? I need some suggestions!

 

[lyssword]

All quiet on the western front is the one I have read about ww1 (*hint, the title is ironic)

 

[murban135]

Originally posted by: lyssword
All quiet on the western front is the one I read about ww1 (*hint, the title is ironic)

All Quiet on the Western Front is the best example that I can think of. The Red Badge of Courage would also be good.

 

[gamepad]

I just started "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides. It's "The epic account of world war II's greatest rescue mission."

So far, the Japanese violently massacred 150 American POWs, so I'd say this book has some good brutality.

 

[dannybek]

Fields of Fire by James Webb is a good read. I recommend it.

 

[Reckoner]

Gates of Fire, which deals with the Battle of Thermopylae. 300 Spartans holding off a million Persians.

 

[LordMorpheus]

Flyboys is a historical book about the brutality of humanity in WWII. Nonfiction.

Slaughterhouse Five is a different take on a war novel.

both good books.

 

[AndrewR]

A little more recent one that is very gritty, though it involves herion addiction, too (of the author), is My War Gone By, I Miss It So, by Anthony Loyd. He became a photojournalist and covered the Bosnian war and then later the war in Chechnya. A good one on Vietnam is Street Without Joy by Bernard Fall, a French journalist who was killed covering the American part of the war. It's considered one of the finest accounts of Vietnam.

Lastly, I HIGHLY recommend Frontsoldaten by Stephen G. Fritz (Kentucky Press). It's based on the diaries and letters of common German soldiers during WWII, and it is absolutely the most vivid account of war I have ever read (and I've read hundreds of books at this point). It's a very obscure book, but I checked that it is on Amazon for $12. Seriously, this book will change your entire outlook on the war and what it was like to be a part of it.