AFA President’s Reading List – Dec 2009Michael M. Dunn President/CEO Air Force Association
To put together this list, I downloaded the reading lists of CJCS, CSAF, CSA, CNO, Commandant of USMC, NDU President, AU Commander, and the Commandants of most war colleges and staff colleges. I then asked about 10 noted Airpower experts – many of whom are authors themselves – which books would they recommend. I then collated their inputs to form this list – and left many of their editorial comments to help guide the reader. It is obviously not all-inclusive … but I think it is a list that any serious Airman or Airpower advocate should consider.
AIRPOWER BOOKSBoyne, Walter J. Aces in Command. Washington: Brassey’s, 2001. A pleaser--great stories about Olds, Zemke, Rickenbacker, etc.
Boyne, Walter J. Operation Iraqi Freedom. NY: Forge, 2003. An excellent account of airpower in OIF.
Clancy, Tom with General Chuck Horner. Every Man a Tiger. NY: Putnam’s 1999. I still think Horner's memoir is excellent.
Hallion, Richard, Storm Over Iraq: Air Power and the Gulf War. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 1997. Probably the best written description of how Airpower – from all Services – played the decisive role in Desert Shield/Desert Storm
Kenney, George, General Kenney Reports, Air Force History, Museum, 1996. Good overview of operational employment of airpower to include deception, clever planning, championing airpower, and field innovation.
Kozak, Warren, LeMay: The Life and Wars of General Curtis LeMay, Washington, DC, Regnery Publishing, Inc, 2009. This book shows a different side of perhaps the greatest Airman who ever served.
Lambeth, Benjamin S. The Transformation of American Air Power. Ithaca: Cornell Univ Press, 2000. A bit dated now, but still very good
McDougall, Walter A. …the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age. New York: Basic Books, 1985. An unsurpassed Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the development of America’s civil and military space programs; though now somewhat dated, it is still a remarkably valuable and insightful work, indispensable for understanding the transition from the aeronautics into the aerospace era.
Meilinger, Philip S. 10 Propositions Regarding Airpower. Washington: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1995. A tiny little booklet that was printed small enough to fit in a flight suit pocket. Essential thought-provoker that deserves continued perusal and discussion.
Miller, Donald L. Masters of the Air. NY: Simon & Schuster, 2006. The best book written about the 8AF during WWII. Outstanding.
Miller, Roger G. To Save a City: The Berlin Airlift, 1948-1949. College Station: Texas A&M Univ Press, 2000. Probably the best account of the Berlin Airlift out there.
Olsen, John, ed., A History of Air Warfare, [not yet released … but many experts contributed to it and recommended it to me.] This one-volume anthology provides a comprehensive analysis of the role that air power has played in military conflicts over the past century. Comprising sixteen essays penned by a global cadre of leading military experts, A History of Air Warfare chronologically examines the utility of Airpower from the First World War to the second Lebanon war, campaign by campaign.
Rich, Ben, Skunkworks., Little, Brown & company, 1996. A very readable history of the Lockheed Skunkworks. Value to today’s reader is that it shows how fast radically new technology machines can be built and fielded. In other words, twenty years for something like a F-22 or B-2 makes little sense and is not necessary.
Sheehan, Neil, A Fiery Peace in a Cold War: Bernard Schriever and the Ultimate Weapons, New York: Random House, 2009. Probably the best book I’ve read on both Gen Schriever and his work.
Thompson, Wayne. To Hanoi and Back: The USAF and North Vietnam, 1966-1973. Washington DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. The best thing on airpower over North Vietnam.
Waller, Douglas. A Question of Loyalty: Gen. Billy Mitchell and the Court-Martial that Gripped the Nation. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2004. The best researched, most nuanced, and most dispassionate biography of this controversial airman. After reading this, one will never be able to accept the notion of Mitchell as merely an unsophisticated “zealot.”
General National Security BooksColl, Steve, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, New York, Penguin Group, 2004. A well written account of the history of the CIA and United States in Afghanistan from the Soviet invasion to 9/11.
Dower, John, Embracing Defeat, New york: W. W. Norton & co, Inc., 1999. This Pulitzer prize winning book tells of the reconstruction of post-war Japan during US occupation and the struggle of the Japanese people to survive.
Keegan, John, Face of Battle, New York: Penguin Group, 1976. Outstanding study of opposing strategies employed in famous battles – a primer on battle at the soldiers’ level – what he hears, sees, smells, and feels, … and helps us understand why we need Airpower.
Kilcullen, David, The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One, London: Oxford University Press, 2009. Provides detail on the "soft" side of low intensity warfare- namely culture and people issues,
Lewis, Bernard W., Islam and the West, Oxford University Press, New York 1993. The best single book on Islam for the Western reader.
Sharansky, Natan, The Case for Democracy, New York: Public Affairs, 2004. A compelling book, by one of the first Jews permitted to immigrate to Israel from the Soviet Union, which makes the case that the desire for democracy and freedom runs deep in the psyche of all peoples, everywhere.
Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11., New York: random House, Inc, 2006. This Pulizer Prize winning book is the most important book on the list. It describes how Al-Qaeda was formed and tells the stories of bin Laden, Zawahiri, and others.
Airpower Books – Part IIArnold, Henry H. Global Mission. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1949 (also Blue Ridge Summit, PA, Tab Books, 1989). If an Air Force member reads just one book on air leadership, this should be the one. Arnold writes with great honesty and bluntness of his evolution as an Airman. One finishes the book thankful he was on our side.
Budiansky, Stephen: Air Power: From Kitty Hawk to Gulf War II. New York: Viking, 2003. Wide-ranging, well-written, and vigorously argued, Budiansky’s book is the best one volume history of military air power written to date.
Burroughs, William, Deep Black, Berkley Publishers Group, New York 1988. Provides an in-depth look at air borne surveillance starting with the planes and cameras of WW II and ends with the techno-marvels that are flying today.
Copp, DeWitt, Forged in Fire: Strategy and Decisions in the Air War Over Europe Doubleday, New York 1983. Records the quest for American air power and the recognition of air power as an independent military force and provides a look at the men who developed American air power and were responsible for creating the modern Air Force.
Fisher, David, A Summer Bright and Terrible, Shoemaker Hoard, 2005. Biography of ACM Stuffy Dowding, planner and executer of the air defense of England. Reads well. Highlights importance of airpower, technology development, thinking beyond the conventional wisdom, and of senior officers willing to oppose the politicians.
Frandsen, Bert, Hat in the Ring: The Birth of American Air Power in the Great War, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2003. Outstanding account of airpowers first leaders and legends.
Glines, Carroll V., The Doolittle Raid: America’s Daring First Strike Against Japan, Schiffer Publishing, 1991. An account of the first strike against the Japanese following Pearl Harbor.
Grant, Rebecca, The Radar Game: Understanding Stealth and Aircraft Survivability, IRIS Independent Research, Washington D.C., 1999. Grant provides comprehensive information about low observable technology.
Hurley, Alfred F., Billy Mitchell: Crusader for Airpower, Indiana University Press, Bloomington 1975. A good read on the origins and development of airpower.
Meilinger, Philip S. Hoyt S. Vandenberg: The Life of a General. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989 (also Bolling AFB: Air Force History and Museums Program, 2000). Thoughtful examination of the Air Force’s most important early chief, who steered the service through the roles and missions debate, through the Berlin Crisis and Korea, and on into the burgeoning nuclear era of the Eisenhower years.
Olsen, John, Strategic Airpower in Desert Storm, Portland, OR: Frank Cass Publishers, 2003. Good overview of the concept and execution of the first Gulf War. Important reading for those whose view of that war was warped by or reflects Scale’s A Certain Victory.
Olsen, John, John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power, Potomac Books, Dulles VA, 2007. In my opinion, the biggest problem with most Airpower books is that they discus things in such a tactical fashion—dogfights, CAS, etc. For example, go to the Air and Space Museum downtown and you will be hard-pressed to find books that explain why air power matters, how it can support the nation, why you don’t want to fight at the last tactical mile, etc. This means that most people do not have resources available to help them understand the strategic underpinnings of air power. This is one of the few books that does a good job in conveying this message
Slightly Older History: The Invasion of Italy
