The Great Post-GMAP Book List

 

Author

Title

Who from

Comments by recommendor

Tiha von Ghyczy, Bolko von Oetinger and Christopher Bassford

Clausewitz on Strategy

Franz

a publication of the Strategy Institute of The Boston Consulting Group, Wiley 2001.
Essentially this is a book about the strategic mind and less about military strategy. Top reading.

Richard Neustadt and Ernest May

Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision Makers

Chap

Debby says the older version, by just May, is better.  She recommends The Use and Abuse of History instead.

Link is at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0029227917/qid=1054251042/sr=1-4/ref=sr_1_4/104-8322652-7733506?v=glance&s=books

 

Paris 1919

 

 

Ellickson

Order Without Law

Joel Trachtman

about cattle farmers in Shasta Valley.  Ellickson shows that although the law about lost cattle says one thing, farmers don't rely on it and have their own "rules," which make more sense.  These informal rules are enforced by reputation and social interaction--if you violate these rules, you can't be sued but you might be shunned.

Bjorn Lomborg

The
Skeptical Environmentalist

Bill Moomaw

The Lomborg work is an interesting case, and I urge you to take a look at it.  Some of it is factual, but it is selective in which facts it uses.  The work has been condemned by a branch of the Danish Academy of Science as not being objective. 

Hermann Ott

 

Katia

There is an excellent book by a German scientist Hermann Ott on European leadership in climate change.  It provides also excellent insights into the negotiations process and outlook on each of the key themes.  It must be available through Amazon.com.

Robert Timberg

The Nightingale’s Song

Jason

There is a great book (if you can get past the axe the author has to grind) by Robert Timberg about the intermingling of 5 Naval Acacemy graduates and President Reagan: John Poindexter, Robert McFarland, John McCain, Oliver North and James Webb.  Great insight into each person’s character. 

 

Fall From Glory

Chap

about Lehman's U.S. Navy.

Bob Woodward

Bush At War

Christian

Summary of post-9/11 decisions

 

the Road to Hell

John Hammock

There is a book, very critical of aid, called the Road to Hell.  Done by a journalist, and was very provocative.

Martin Van Creveld

The Transformation of War

Nicolas

 

Doris Lessing

The Jewel of Africa

Chap

I didn’t read it, just read the review.  It’s about Mugabe; written last year.

Anthony de Palma

 

Carlos

formerly the NYT correspondent in Canada and Mexico, and one of the first attempts to start visualizing what the North American continent will look like in the future based on the common interests of the three countries.

Montesquieu

Grandeur et Decadence des Romains

Nicolas

One of his main points links up with your analysis: the Republican laws that made Rome the master of an Empire became inappropriate for maintaining this very empire, as the laws were no longer appropriate once the cohesion of the small republic diluted itself in its expansion.  Citizenship - the core notion of the Roman Republic - became a fiction, Montesquieu writes.  In a way, he says that Rome was a victim of its own success.

Martin Gilbert

 

Debby Nutter

There is a wonderful book by Martin Gilbert, Churchill's great biographer, in which he finds everyone he could who ever worked for or with Churchill or their living relatives. The stories of his kindness and decency are compelling and
impressive.

Edwin Hoyt

How They Won the War in the Pacific: Nimitz and his Admirals

Gabe

Great story.

John Keegan

The First World War

Brett

john keegan's excellent book "The First World War" cites the allies of having lost 265,000 and the "Turks... had probably lost 300,000 men killed, wounded and missing." 

Hayao Kawai

Dreams, Myths &
Fairy Tales in Japan

Yoko

There is a wonderful book (though terrible translation into English) by a man called Hayao Kawai which explains very well, WHY the Japanese diplomacy or the dealings among themselves emphasizes "balancing of power" and neutralization of influences.

Isaac Taylor Headland

Isaac Taylor Headland

Erping

http://chineseculture.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldwideschool.org%2Flibrary%2Fbooks%2Fsocl%2Fcustomsetiquettefolklore%2FCourtLifeinChina%2Ftoc.html

Robert Kagan

Of Paradise and Power

Chap

http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersoniraq/story/0,12975,921773,00.html

Dick Morris

Behind the oval office

Kiat

explaining in fine details as to how Clinton's administration with low popularity after 2 years in the office got re-elected for the second term.

Mark Singer

Funny Money

Brett

This is about the collapse of the Penn Square Bank in Oklahoma City, and the significant impact of its poor loan practice, and subsequent "upstream" selling of the same loans to larger banks, ala Continental Illinois.

K. Osumi

Whales and the Japanese

Yoko

marine biologist specializes in whales and dolphins, also a head of The Whale Research Institute (Nihon Geirui Kenkyujo)

 

Stolen Valor

Chap

About Vietnam, fake medals, Agent Orange, etc.  http://www.stolenvalor.com/  a good and necessary book but after about five chapters it becomes really slow reading.

Jared Diamond

Guns, Germs and Steel

Chap

about how previous societies made bad decisions over the long term in exactly the manner we're discussing now. 

David Day

The Whale War

Tom

Interestingly I also bought a whaling book when I lived in Norway.