A Senior Enlisted Reading List
Edward Lewis
Maritime Institute, Vice President of Business Development - Task Force Movement, Maritime Chair - USCG (Ret)
I recently heard “three things determine how different you will be in 12 months: the places you go, the people you meet, and the books you read.” If you go to places you always go, converse with like-minded people, and study what you know, you will be no different in 12 months. This my friends is an unfortunate choice many will make. To me, reading helps add insights into the story of life and gain a better understanding different points of view. For a senior enlisted leader this is critical. You may disagree (violently) with the authors below and that may be the point. Study is more about grasping a counter point of view than it is adopting that view or countering it.
READING LIST-First, what to what to avoid!
Roberts: Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
You don’t necessarily need to avoid this book. The author is one of the few honest “leadership” experts I’ve seen. In the introduction, he thanks his son for helping him select the metaphorical leader, Attila the Hun. It is very important to understand that most leadership books use a person or situation to “sell” the author’s view or agenda. If you want to learn about Dr. King, Lincoln, or Washington, read a history book. Don’t buy the author’s philosophy based on the metaphor, the person referenced may not agree with the assumed position.
Here are the books that I recommend.
Understanding Literature
Foster: How to read literature like a Professor - Read this first. Seriously, it will change the way you view reading. ?
History, Political Science, Economics, Philosophy and Cultural Understanding
Emperor Haile Sellassie I: My Life and Ethiopia’s Progress. Volume one is split between the history and culture of Ethiopia and Italy’s invasion (start of WWII). Volume two covers Italy’s occupation and the Emperor’s effort to maintain recognition of his government and people. He was a remarkable leader of character and this book provides more insight than any five on this list combined.
Brookhiser: Alexander Hamilton American
Barber: A Passion for Democracy
Patrick Buchanan: A Republic not an Empire
Walter Mead: Special Providence, American Foreign Policy and how it changed the world
Sylvia Nasar: Grand Pursuit, the story of economic genius
Lawrence Birken: Hitler as Philosophe
Karl Marx: Das Capital and Communist Manifesto
Barton: Spiritual Heritage Tour of the United States Capital
Larzelere: The Coast Guard at War
John Keegan: The Face of Battle
Michael Dobbs: Saboteurs, The Nazi raid on America
Metaxas: Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy
Brian Chin: Artillery at the Golden Gate
Winston Churchill: Winston Churchill’s Speeches - 51 (1934-45)
John Oller: the Swamp Fox (about Francis Marian, revolutionary war, John S. Mosby followed his path)
Sam R. Watkins: Company Aytch (memoir of a civil war private)
John S. Mosby: The memoirs of Colonel John S. Mosby (person that taught Gen. Patton how to fight)
Andrew Carroll: My Fellow Soldiers, General Pershing and the Americans that won the great war. (Patton fought with Pershing in Mexico and WWI)
Chris Whipple: The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency (should be required reading for CSELs)
Understanding Oceana and Asia
Liberation Guam Remembers Ben Blaz: Bisita Guam, Let us Remember, Nihi Ta Hasso
Carlton Skinner: After Three Centuries: Representative Democracy and Civilian Government for Guam (1st civilian governor of Guam, recommended integration of the sea-services)
领英推荐
George Kerr and Mitsugo Sakihara: Okinawa, the history of an island people (foundational)
Sun Zsu: The Art of War (specifically the one translated by Thomas Cleary, I have five translations)
Miyamoto Musashi: The five rings
Various Chinese authors, the seven military classics of ancient China: Taigong’s Six Secret Teachings, Methods of the Sima, the Art of War, Wuzi, Wei Liaozi, three Strategies of Huang Shigong, and Questions and Replies. (Short books stacked with profound thoughts)
Col Hiromichi Yahara: The Battle for Okinawa (senior surviving Japanese officer)
Mitsuo Fuchida: For That one Day (memoir by on-scene commander of the attack on Pearl Harbor)
Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney: Kamikaze Diaries, Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers
Hiroo Onoda: No Surrender, my Thirty-Year war
Poole: Phantom Soldier, The Enemy’s Answer to U.S. Firepower
Kamura, Koya, and Tetsujiro Inouse: Admiral Togo: A memoir
Pu Yi: The last Manchu, Autobiography of Aisin-Gioro Puyi (last Chinese Emperor)
Chiang Kai-Shek: China’s destiny and Chinese Economic Theory
Mao Zedong: Quotations from Mao Zedong (little red book)
Barnabas Mam: Church Behind the Wire, a Story of Faith in the Killing Fields
Speeches and interviews worth reading or watching online
Haile Selassie’s appeal to the UN, 1936
Dwight Eisenhower’s last Presidential Address ?
General Douglas MacArthur’s departing remarks to Congress (audio online)
USS Sea Cloud IX-99, Racial Integration for Naval Efficiency, LCDR Carlton Skinner, USCGR
The President’s committee on equality of treatment and opportunity in the armed services, 25-26 April 1949 (Carlton Skinner testimony)
Oral History Interview with Carlton Skinner for the John F. Kennedy Library (Nov 17, 1970)
Leadership Address by Maj C. A. Bach, Giving Farewell Instructions to the Graduating Student Officers of the Second Training Camp at Fort Sheridan, Wyoming, in 1917
Leadership and Communication
Moore and Penk: Treating PTSD in military personnel
Slone and Friedman: After the War Zone
Watson and Brown: Leadership Secrets of the Salvation Army
Kerry Patterson: Crucial Conversations and Crucial Confrontations
Lee Iococca: Where have all the good leaders gone?
Malcolm Gladwell: The Tipping Point
Well, that's my list for now. I'm looking for a copy of Yi Sun-Sin's diary in English. I'll add a post once I track it down.
Operations Superintendent
1 年Great, great, great post! Gen Mattis said that if we haven’t read thousands of books, we’re functionally illiterate. Our experiences in one career or one life cannot prepare us for the challenges we’ll face. We must hear, read, observe the experiences and challenges of others. Thanks for sharing this very diverse collection.
Management Analyst/Project Management @ City of Norfolk, VA | BBA
1 年I don’t think I’ve heard that saying before but I believe it and the reasoning you provided to be true. I also agree with your point about not agreeing with but learning from some of the books listed. I have only read about four of these books so I have some enjoyable work to do. Thanks for adding a brief summary of the book it makes it easier to select from.