Knight’s Cross: A Life of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel by David Fraser. It’s going to feel weird reading a book about a German general in WWII but for Rommel we must make an exception. Yes, he fought for a terrible cause. But he did so brilliantly — as a soldier, strategist, and leader. His victories in North Africa were the stuff of legend, and had the US and British troops not ultimately had better resources, the whole thing might have turned out very differently. You cannot read about Rommel and not like and admire the man. I’m saying this so you’ll be prepared and ready to remind yourself that that doesn’t excuse his actions. But you can still learn from them. The concept for BookWars was developed after a chance meeting between filmmaker Jason Rosette—who had been selling used and out of print books at a streetside bookstand to generate cash between film production and editing jobs—and Emmy Award-winning New York-based documentary filmmaker Michel Negroponte, at Mr. Rosette's sidewalk bookstand in 1995. The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: From Marathon to Waterloo by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy.You could argue that every battle affects history. But there are a select few that change the world immediately and permanently. The Battle of Marathon meant the triumph of Western civilization over Eastern civilization and set the stage for democracy. The American victory at Saratoga over the British meant the success of the revolutionary cause. Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo changed Europe and made Britain the dominant power. The reason this book stops at Waterloo and mentions nothing of the Civil War, or the World Wars, is that it was written in 1851. It’s a unique historical document that gives greater influence to our classical past. If you’re a strategy nut, read this. The Liberator by Alex Kershaw.Col. Felix Sparks (later to be a Brigadier General) lands in Sicily in the first European invasion and makes it all the way to the gates of Dachau. He basically saw the entire trajectory of the Allied fight and victory over the Axis powers in WWII and this book is required reading for that reason. It gives you a full sense of just how awful the fighting in WWII really was and the quiet heroes who did it. Along with the other WWII books mentioned here and below, I recommend Ken Burns’ documentary The War, if only because it is largely based on these books and gives you a sense of the whole picture. I appreciated the graphs and numbers worked in and I was actually able to digest the statistics within Thomason’s writing and explanation which I personally am not usually very capable of

In terms of predicting the future of the book, Thompson explains that speculating is hard to do. However, reflecting on recent patterns, he suggests that book publishing ‘will not be a one-way shift from print to digital […] but rather co-existent cultures of print and digital’ (426). Book Wars is well worth reading to understand where the book was in the latter part of the twentieth century and where it is headed well into the twenty-first. It is clearly here to stay, on our shelves as well as on our screens. In the closing moments of BookWars, the narrator admits that after all the recent problems with the city, he has grown restless; he realizes that he wants to do something different, and wants to change his occupation at last. A single massive rainstorm is enough to convince him to give up his street bookselling activities. Book Review: Metrics at Work: Journalism and the Contested Meaning of Algorithms by Angèle ChristinIn Book Wars: The Digital Revolution in Publishing , John B. Thompson explores the digital transformations that have turned book publishing on its head over the last 30 years. Offering a noteworthy study of recent changes to the publishing world, this work is well worth reading to understand where the book was in the latter part of the twentieth century and where it is headed well into the twenty-first, writes Amy Lewontin .

Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization by John Robb.If you want to understand the future, read this book. John Robb is one of the greatest living systems thinkers in the world. The name for the kind of warfare John Robb studies is known as 4th Generation Warfare. You can think of him as a modern John Boyd — applying his thinking not to troop warfare or Pentagon politics but to super-empowered individuals, decentralized groups, and economics. I first read this book while researching for a speech Robert Greene (see below) was giving at West Point. I’m not sure any other text has shaped my view of politics and international affairs in the time since. There was no up-front money to continue editing and still no funding, so the director worked a variety of jobs to sustain himself and production of the movie, working as a freelance film editor, voice-over artist, and an assortment of temporary and odd jobs.This book tells the story of the turbulent decades when the book publishing industry collided with the great technological revolution of our time. From the surge of ebooks to the self-publishing explosion and the growing popularity of audiobooks, Book Wars provides a comprehensive and fine-grained account of technological disruption in one of our most important and successful creative industries. Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae by Steven Pressfield.It might seem weird to recommend a book of fiction on this list, but smarter people than I — and many actual soldiers — have all raved about the accuracy and poignancy of this book. It is perhaps the clearest and best book written on the 300 Spartans who fought the Persians (and sacrificed themselves) at Thermopylae.