I’m reading a book called A Writer at War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945, and it is excellent.
This book consists of (translated) writings from the author’s notebook while he was assigned to the Red Army newspaper Krasnaya Zvesda (Red Star), and serving on the front line as a war correspondent, as well as historical notes about the author and the campaigns he experienced. Grossman’s accounts are similar to Isaac Babel’s (the Bolshevik precursor to Hunter Thompson) in tone and topic, but his prose is more modern and direct.
I have to say that war journals like this one trump any other attempts at the medium of military history writing.
In the same vein, recent books by former soliders like James Swofford (Jarhead) and embedded journalists (Generation Kill, by Evan Wright) have broadened the genre considerably, but I prefer the more rare writings from bygone eras to the media circus that modern warfare has become.
[Typo spawned idea: warefare, cyberattacks and their defense — either that or people throwing consumer items at each other in Wal-mart stores. Note to self: try to coin that cheesey term, but assume that it’s already been done. Take credit for it anyway. End note]
Zinger’s WWII re-enactment enthusiast neighbor would probably like this one if he hasn’t already read it.