Leadership Reading List - Courtesy of the US Military

I've decided to stop swimming upstream when it comes to the world. It seems to me that a lot of folks have come and gone who have figured out how things work (at least better than I have now) and it's worth my while to understand what they have to say. If I can apply what they've learned, well then maybe I can avoid having the sky fall down on me all the time.

So, in start of my journey. I'm putting up the following list of leadership-related books provided to me by a classmate and friend who was in the US military. I suppose reading these books would be good food for any student of life.

SPECIAL FEATURE

• Kosovo, Bosnia, Balkans

BASIC LIST

• Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer
• Bodyguard of Lies by Anthony Cave Brown (description of deception and intelligence operations during WWII)
• Bravo Two Zero by Andy McNab (leadership)
• Built to Last by James C. Collins (management)
• The Commandos by Douglas P. Waller
• Mogadishu! Heroism and Tragedy by Kent DeLong and Steven Tuckey (history)
• Perilous Options by Lucien S. Vandenbroucke (terrorism issues)
• Savage Peace: Americans at War in the 1990s by Daniel P. Bolger (history, theory)
• SPEC OPS by William H. McRaven (theory)
• The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey (management)
• The Art of War by SunTzu (theory)
• The Company They Keep by Dr. Anna Simons (anthropological study of SF)
• The Transformation of War by Martin van Creveld (theory)
• Unconventional Warfare: Rebuilding U. S. Special Operations Forces by Susan L. Marquis (history, issues)
• We Were Soldiers Once, and Young by Harold Moore (leadership, values)
• Message to Garcia by Elbert Hubbard (values)
• Brown Water Black Berets by Thomas J. Cutler

INTERMEDIATE LIST

• 1st Air Commando Group by R.D. VanWagner (Air Force special operations history)
• Battle from the Start by Brian Steele Wills (history)
• Brave Men, Dark Waters by Orr Kelly (UDT/SEAL history)
• Delta Force
• The Elite by Samuel Katz (counterpart forces (Israeli)
• From OSS to Green Berets by Aaron Bank (Special Forces history)
• Hazardous Duty by MGEN John Singlaub (leadership, history)
• Inside the Blue Berets by Steven J. Zaloga (counterpart forces (Russia))
• Lawrence of Arabia, The Authorized Biography of T.E. Lawrence by Jeremy Wilson (leadership)
• The Marauders by Charlton Ogburn (history)
• The Memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby, ed. by Charles W. Russell (history)
• Naked Warriors by Francis Fane (UDT history)
• North Korean Special Forces by Joseph Bermudez (counterpart forces (North Korea))
• Principled-Centered Leadership by Stephen Covey (leadership)
• The Raid by Benjamin F. Schemmer (joint special operations history)
• Reflections of a Warrior by Franklin Miller (Special Forces history)
• Rudder's Rangers by R.L. Lane (history)
• SAS: Phantoms of the Jungle by David Horner (counterpart forces (Australian SAS))
• The Silent Warriors of WWII by L. Zedrick (history)
• Skorzeny's Special Missions by Otto Skorzeny (history, leadershipl
• SEALs: UDT/SEAL Operations in Vietnam by T.L. Bosiljevac (UDT/SEAL history)
• SOG by John Plaster (history)
• Those Gallant Men by John Berry (Special Forces history, values, ethics)
• The War of the Flea by Robert Taber (history)
• We Led the Way by William Darby, et. al. (Ranger history)
• Who Dares Wins by Ton Geraghty (counterpart forces (UK SAS))
• Wild Bill Donovan the Last Hero by A.C. Brown (history)
• The Next World War: Computers Are the Weapons & the Front Line is Everywhere by James Adams (Information Warfare)
• The Cobra Ev,n(by Richard Preston (biological terrorism)
• Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme by Richard Brodie (PSYOPs)
• One Point Safe by Andrew and Leslie Cockburn (NBC proliferation)

ADVANCED LIST

• Machiavelli on Modern Leadership by Michael A. Ledeen
• Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions by Gary Klein (Note Chapters 13 and 17)
• The Art of the Long View: The Path to Strategic Insights for Yourself and Your Company_by Peter Schwartz (management theory) .
• Insurgency and Terrorism: Inside Modern Revolutionary Warfare by Bard E. O'Neill (theory)
• Managing Contemporary Conflicts by Max Manwaring and William Olson (theory)
• Modern Irregular Warfare_translated by George Gregory (theory, history)
• On Guerrilla Warfare_by Mao Tse-Tung translated by Samuel B. Griffith (theory)
• Special Operations and National Purpose_by Ross S. Kelly (theory, issues)
• Special Operations Forces: An Assessment_by John Collins (issues)
• Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers_by Richard E. Neustadt and Ernest R. May (strategic planning)
• Unconventional Conflicts in a New Security Era: Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam_by Sam C. Sarkesian (theory)
• War in the Shadows: The Guerrilla in History_by R.B. Asprey (history)