It seems we have enough interest for a reading group. Now the question is which book. I suggest we look for consensus. By that I mean not just a simple majority, but also that there be no book chosen that anybody just can't live with. To that end I'm going to list the books that have been suggested, in the order they were suggested, and let everybody vote. If there is a book you just can't see yourself reading, by all means point that out. I also suggest we try to make a selecting by this weekend, and begin the reading group on March 19th, three weeks from tomorrow. That gives everybody time to get the book and to begin reading it.

The books are:

Company Commander, Charles B MacDonald

An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson.

Gettysburg, Gingrich and Forstchen.

One of Bernard Cornwell's "Sharp Series." Though that begs the question, which one.

Flyboys, James Bradley.

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides

The Bloody Forest by Gerald Astor

The Marines of Autumn by James Brady

The Spartans by Paul Cartledge

365 Days by Ronald Glasser

Seven Roads to Hell by Donald R. Burgett

Some naval fiction, with "wooden ships and iron men." That also gets into, which title?

USS Seawolf, Patrick Robinson.

Good bye Cobber, god bless you.

Run with the Horsemen; by Ferrol Sams

Ok, those are the books. Please reply here with what you'd like to read. If you don't want to insult anybody by saying you can't stand the idea of a particular book you can PM me with it. I'll also begin to PM everybody who replied to the original thread with this thread so we can start getting the vote out.

My vote here... and why not start at the beginning... April 1799, Seringapatam, India... "Sharpe's Tiger"

Sharpe for me too!!!!

Gday

Despite my patriotic raving i am going to back Von Cuda with his Gettysburg vote, his description has me keen and curious.

An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson.

I'm going to stick with Jim on this one, too...may be a trend to discuss the entire liberation trilogy from Mr. Atkinson in time's to come?
Gunny

An Army at Dawn, Rick Atkinson

I looked at the paperback at the weekend, and nearly bought it then.

Well, I started it last night, got through the intro and have read the first 20 or so pages... I'm not entirelly convinced though...Jim

I just checked the original thread and it looks like Jratz is the only one who responded to it who hasn't voted yet. I just sent him a PM to see this thread.

It seems An Army at Dawn is a clear winner, so far, but at least one member, VonCuda, has an issue with it because of it's length. I'm easy either way but I can see where Hermon is coming from here.

Hermon do you feel stongly enough about NOT doing An Army at Dawn that if we do it you would feel insulted or anything?

Here I am -- was out of town for a few days ....

I have Army at Dawn, have not read it, and could vote for it, although I agree it is long, and add that my time is a bit tight right now.

Now, how are we doing this (read it all, read sections & discuss before going on, etc) & what are the time frames ? Also do we have one or more central questions to focus our discussions ?

From my perspective, I am most interested in how well the transition of the US Army from a small garrison force in the 20's & 30's is addressed, if at all.

John

Looks like An Army at Dawn has consensus. For those of you who wanted Gettysburg or one of the Sharpe series hopefully we'll do this again after this book.

John the way I have it planned is to divide the book up into sections. I'm not sure if it will be by chapter or set of chapters, or what just yet. Those interested will read the unit and then we'll post our thoughts about it. I'll try to post ahead of time some possible subjects for discussion.

On the theory that I wouldn't mind owning the book any way, if we discussed it or not, I picked up a 2nd hand copy for $8.00, paper back, at a used book store on the way home tonight.

For those of you who don't have a copy Amazon has it listed for $17.78 new, hardcover, or from $14.90 used hardcover. Paperback they have it new for $$10.88 or used from 70 cents! We will begin discussing it on March 19th. I will start every new thread with the title R.G. Army at Dawn and the section or chapter. I'll post more as we get closer.

Hello, Gents...
For those who do not own this book, do an E-bay search (if you're comfortable with E-bay) and you will have some pleasing results...there are some hardcover editions listed as low as $2.99 "buy it now" with cheap postage...just a thought, if you wish!
Gunny

Rodger:
What is our goal for the 19th -- so far I've managed to get thru the Prologue. I need to force a reading schedule upon myself ...

BTW: IN the prologue, near bottom of page 3 I believe, he makes reference to America's "first battles" ... There is a great book that addresses this subject -- the 1st battles, lessons learned, etc -- and I assume he was refering to it indirectly.

America's First Battles 1776-1965, by Heller & Stofft.


John

If your'e doing An Army At Dawn, I'm keen to join. I have a personally autographed hard-cover copy, which I started, but stopped last sumer when we moved into our new house. Now that I'm settled in, I'd like to get going on it again.

BTW, like most war stories, it starts out a little slow (gotta have the set up), but the stories are stirring.

Rick Atkinson's a good guy and does thorough research. Who would have guessed GEN Mark Clark was such a complicated fellow?? read the book!

Look for a post later tonight with a suggested schedule. Still planning on starting on the 19th.