By Major Dominic J. Caraccilo

This millennium year was replete, as most years are, with terrific works of military history. Following are my choices as the year’s best.

Of course I was constrained to the books I had actually read. Additionally, I was also at the mercy of publishers, who provided what books they thought were worthy of review. In any case, I have identified a large population of works published

in late 1999 through early 2001. Although the choices may appear to be subjective, I can assure you that I chose books based on readability, novelty, organization, completeness, applicability to their genre, uniqueness, and even aesthetics. In many cases I list more than one book for each category when the competition was tight. I did so because I chose to offer accolades for each book rather than making the hard choice.

Note: Because I am the author of my own military history books I could not in good conscience NOT claim my own work. This choice rests lightly on my conscience for if I did author such a book without the perception that it was best in its genre (at least in my mind) then I spent the years writing it for naught—I hope readers will forgive me this indulgence.

Best Book of the Year

A War To Be Won: Fighting the Second World War by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, The Belknap Press of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 2000, 640 pages, photographs, maps, appendices, bibliography, notes, index, $35.00 hardcover.

Encompassing the full spectrum of battle, from the strategies that mold a war to the tacticians that fight on the land, sea, and air, Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, two of the country’s premier military historians, present arguably the best single volume on World War II. This book is quite possibly one of the best military nonfiction books of this century.

Best Publisher

John Wiley & Sons of New York, New York—Offers a wide variety of top quality books. Aesthetically one of the best in the business and editorially unequivocal. Absolutely chooses only the best books for publication.

Runner-up: Naval Institute Press of Annapolis, Maryland.

Best Small Publisher: Aegis Consulting Group of Bedford, Pennsylvania—Run by the Bonn family of military and authorship distinction, this small publisher offers a unique variety of superbly written memoirs from the World War II era.

Best Books by Military Era

The Dawn of Military History to the Roman Era: 600 BC–1 BC: Battles of the Greek & Roman Worlds: A Chronological Compendium of 667 Battles to 31 BC by John Drogo Montagu, Greenhill (Stackpole), Mechanicsburg, Pa., 2000, 256 pages, maps, illustrations, tables, bibliography, index, $49.95 hardcover.

Augustus: The Golden Age of Rome by G.P. Baker, Cooper Square Press, Lanham, Md., 2000, 324 pages, maps, bibliography, index, $18.95 softcover.

The Decline of Rome: 200-400 BC: In Quest of the Lost Legions: The Varusschlacht by Major Tony Clunn, MBE, Minerva Press, London, UK, 1999, 337 pages, photographs, illustrations, maps, tables, appendices, and bibliography $39.95 hardcover.

The Middle Ages, 400-1500: Medieval Warfare: A History edited by Maurice Keen, Oxford University Press, N.Y., 1999, 340 pages, illustrations, maps, tables, bibliography, notes, index, $40.00 hardcover.

The Age of the Mongols, 1200-1400: Genghis Khan by R.P. Lister, Cooper Square Press, Lantham, Md., 2000, 232 pages, tables, bibliography, notes, index, $16.95 softcover.

16th Century Warfare: Sir Francis Drake: The Queen’s Pirate by Harry Kelsey, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., maps, illustrations, bibliography, index, $40.00 hardcover, $18.95 softcover.

17th Century Europe: War for the Every Day: Generals, Knowledge, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, 1680-1740 by Erik A. Lund, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 199, 242 pages, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index; $65.00 hardcover.

American Revolution: John Laurens and the American Revolution by Gregory D. Massey, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2000, 327 pages, photographs, illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index; $34.95 hardcover.

War of 1812: Joshua Barney: Hero of the Revolution and 1812 by Louis Arthur, W.W. Norton & Company, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2000, 226 pages, illustrations, photographs, maps, notes, selected bibliography, and index $32.95 hardcover.

Civil War: A Great Civil War: A Military and Political History, 1861-1865 by Russell F. Weigley, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, In., 2000, 612 pages, maps, notes, bibliography, index, $35.00 hardcover.

A Bohemian Brigade: The Civil War Correspondence, Mostly Rough Sometimes Ready by James M. Perry, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, New York, N.Y., Burd Street Press, 2000, 305 pages, photographs, illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index; $27.95 hardcover

Wild West: Gatewood & Geronimo by Louis Kraft, The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, N.M., 2000, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $49.95 hardcover, $19.95 softcover.

The Fox and the Whirlwind: General George Crook and Geronimo, A Paired Biography by Peter Aleshire, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., 2000, 372 pages, photographs, notes, bibliography, index; $30.00 hardcover

World War I: Over There: The United States in the Great War, 1917-1918 by Byron Farwell, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2000, 336 pages, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2000, 640 pages, photographs, maps, bibliography, notes, index, $27.95 hardcover, $15.95 softcover.

World War II Overseas: The Greatest War: Americans in Combat, 1941-1945 by Gerald Astor, Presidio, Novato, Calif., 1999, 1033 pages, photographs, notes, and bibliography; $39.95 hardcover.

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers, Bantam Books, N.Y., May 2000, 384 pages, maps, photographs, notes, and bibliography; $24.95 hardcover.

World War II in the Continental U.S.: Widow-Makers & Rhododendrons: Loggers-The Unsung Heroes of World War II by Doris Winter Hubbard, Helgate Press, Central Point, Ore., 2000, 162 pages, photographs, references, $19.95 oversized softcover.

Air War: Black Cross-Red Star: The Air War Over the Eastern Front, Operation Barbarossa, 1941 by Christer Bergström and Andrey Mikhailov, Pacifica Military History, Pacifica, Calif., 2000,307 pages, maps, glossary, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $39.95 hardcover.

Korea: The Battle for Pusan: A Korean War Memoir by Addison Terry, Presidio, San Marin, Calif., 2000, 233 pages, maps, glossary, photographs, $27.95 hardcover.

Vietnam: American Tragedy by David Kaiser, The Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2000, 566 pages, maps, photographs, abbreviations, notes, bibliography, index, 29.95 hardcover.

Desert Storm: Order of Battle: Allied Ground Forces of Operation Desert Storm by Thomas D. Dinackus, Hellgate Press, Central Point, Oregon, 2000, 175 pages, maps, photographs, tables, appendices, bibliography, index, &17.95 softcover.

The Irritable Heart: Gulf War Syndrome and the Limits of Modern Medicine by Jeff Wheelwright, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2001, 352 pages, notes, bibliography, index, $26.95 hardcover.

Smaller Scale Contingencies: The Serbs: History, Myth & the Destruction of Yugoslavia by Tim Judah, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 378 pages, appendices, illustrations, photographs, tables, notes, bibliography, index, $15.95 softcover.

Best Illustrated Volume

Historic Sail: The Glory of the Sailing Ship from the 13th to the 19th Century by Joseph Wheatley, text by Stephen Howarth, Greenhill Books (Stackpole), Mechanicsburg, Penn., 2000, 208 pages, 91 color plates 14 x 15 each, glossary, appendix, bibliography, $85.00 hardcover (13” x 12.5”)

Best Book on Battlefields

Pennsylvania Battlefields & Military Landmarks by Arthur P. Miller Jr. and Marjorie L. Miller, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Penn., 2000, 224 pages, maps, photographs, index, $19.95 softcover.

Best Biography

Hitler: 1936-1945 Nemesis by Ian Kershaw, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, New York, 2000, 1115 pages, photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index, $35.00 hardcover.

Best Pictorial Histories

Assault on the Empire: Stemming the Tide of Conquest, 1942-1943 by John W. Lambert, Specialty Press, North Branch, Minn., acronyms, photographs, $18.95 softcover.

Best Reference Books

American Military Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present, Volumes I & II by John C. Fredricksen, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, Calif., 1999 926 pages, photographs, notes, bibliography, and index; $175.00 hardcover.

The Oxford Companion to American Military History edited by John Whiteclay Chambers II, Oxford University Press, 1999, 916 pages, maps, appendices, index, $60.00 hardcover.

The Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Warfare by Byron Farwell, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2001, 928 pages, illustrations, photographs, maps, bibliography, $75.00 hardcover.

Best in Military Ethnic

World War II and the American Indian by Kenneth William Townsend, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, N.M., 2000, 272 pages, photographs, notes, bibliography, notes, $35.00 hardcover.

The Jewish Threat: Anti-Semitic Politics of the U.S. Army by Joseph W. Bendersky, Basic Books, 2000, 539 pages, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $30.00.

Best History Audiobook

The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 by Anthony S. Pitch, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 1999, 4 cassettes, $29.95 Audiobook.

Best Memoirs (all eras)

Eye of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey written and illustrated by Private Robert Knox Sneden, edited by Charles F. Bryan, Jr. and Nelson D. Lankford, The Free Press, New York, N.Y., 2000, 384 pages, illustrations, and index; $37.50 hardcover.

Unsung Valor: A GI’s Story of World War II by A. Cleveland Harrison, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., 2000, 355 pages, maps, photographs, $28.00 hardcover.

German Boy: A Refugee’s Story by Wolfgang W.E. Samuel, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., 2000, 357 pages, photographs and maps, $30.00 hardcover.

Five Years, Four Fronts by Georg Grossjohann, Aegis Consulting Group, Bedford, Pa., 1999, 204 pages, photographs, maps, illustrations, tables, appendices, notes, bibliography, and index; $19.95 softcover, $29.95 hardcover.

Through the Valley: Vietnam, 1967-1968 by James F. Humphries, Lynne Rienner, Publisher, Boulder, Colo., 1999, 335 pages, maps, glossary, illustrations, charts, photographs, notes, bibliography, and index; $30.00 hardcover

The Eyes of Orion: Five Tank Lieutenants in the Persian Gulf War by Alex Vernon with Neal Creighton, Jr., Greg Downey, Rob Holmes, and Dave Trybula, The Kent State University Press, Kent, Ohio, 1999, 330 pages, maps, diagrams, photographs, tables, appendices, bibliography, index, $35.00 hardcover.

Best Books on:

Expeditionary History: Custom of the Sea: A Shocking True Tale of Shipwreck, Murder, and the Last Taboo by Neil Hanson, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, N.Y., 2000, 315 pages, illustrations, and bibliography; $24.95 hardcover.

Ghosts of Cape Sabine: The Harrowing True Story of the Greely Expedition by Leonard F. Guttridge, Berkley Books, New York , N.Y., 2000, 354 pages, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $13.95 softcover.

Arms and Armament: Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350: Western Europe and the Crusader States by David Nicolle, Greenhill Books (Stackpole), London, 1999 revised edition, 636 pages, maps, pictures, glossary, bibliography, notes, and index; $49.95 hardcover.

Arms & Armour of the Crusading Era 1050-1350: Islam, Eastern Europe and Asia by David Nicolle, Greenhill Books (Stackpole), London, 1999 revised edition, 576 pages, maps, pictures, glossary, bibliography, notes, and index; $49.95 hardcover.

Theory: Principles of War for the Information Age by Robert R. Leonhard, Presidio Press, Novato, Calif., 2000, 287 pages, illustrations, bibliography, index, $19.95 softcover.

POWs: Surviving Bataan and Beyond: Colonel Irvin Alexander’s Odyssey as a Japanese POW edited by Dominic J. Caraccilo, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 1999.

A Gallant Company: The Men of the Great Escape by Jonathan F. Vance, Pacifica Military History, Pacifica, Calif., 2000, 329 pages, photographs, index, $29.95.

Complete Histories: The War and the World: Military Power and the Fate of Continents, 1450-2000 by Jeremy Black, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 2000, 334 pages, photographs, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, $18.95 softcover.

Military History Relating to Business World: The Genius of Robert E. Lee: Leadership Lessons for the Outgunned and Underfinanced by Al Kaltman, Prentice Hall Press, Paramus, N.J., 2000, 352 pages, photographs, illustrations, index, $24.00 hardcover.

Foreign Units: Eighth Army’s Greatest Victories: Alam Halfa to Tunis 1942-1943 by Adrian Stewart, Leo Cooper, 1999, 216 pages, photographs, maps, bibliography, and index; $9.95 hardcover.

Alternate History: The Invasion of Japan: Alternative to the Bomb by John Ray Skates, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2000, maps, illustrations, notes, bibliography, index, $16.95 softcover.

Naval History: Flawed Victory: Jutland, 1916 by Keith Yates, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2000, 352 pages, photographs, maps, appendices, abbreviations key, bibliography, index, $34.95 hardcover.

Naval Warfare in the Age of Sail: War at Sea 1756-1815 by Bernard Ireland. W.W. Norton & Company, New York, N.Y., 2000, 240 pages, illustrations, index, $49.95 oversized hardcover.

Aviation History: Shadow Flights: America’s Secret Air War Against the Soviet Union by Curtis Peeples, Presidio Press, Novato, Calif., 2000, 322 pages, illustrations, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $27.95 hardcover.

Historical Fiction: Dog Company Six by Edwin Howard Simmons, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2000, 303 pages, $24.95 hardcover.

Proud Legions: A Novel of America’s Next War by John Antal, Presidio Press, 1999, 398 pages, photographs, notes, and bibliography; $27.50 hardcover.

The Cold War: The Fifty Year War: Conflict and Strategy in the Cold War by Norman Friedman, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md., 2000, 597 pages, maps, notes, bibliography, index, $38.95 hardcover.

Reprint: The Custer Myth by W.W. Graham, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 2000, 413 pages, illustrations, maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $19.95.

Dominance and Technology: The Dynamics of Global Dominance: European Overseas Empires, 1415-1980 by David Abernathy, Yale University Press, New Haven, Conn., 2000, 500 pages, tables, notes, bibliography, index, $35.00 hardcover.

Pearl Harbor: The Attack on Taranto: Blueprint for Peal Harbor by Thomas P. Lowry and John W.G. Welhamm, Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, Pa., 2000, photographs, notes, bibliography, index, $14.95 softcover.

Books on Custer: Under Custer’s Command: The Civil War Journal of James Henry Avery compiled by Karla Jean Husby, edited by Eric J. Wittenburg, Brassey’s, Inc., Dulles, Va., 2000, 224 pages, maps, appendices, notes, bibliography, index, $24.95 hardcover.

Books on Napoleon: The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte by Robert Asprey, Basic Books, New York, N.Y., 2000, 608 pages, illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index, $37.50 hardcover.

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