War Novels

[the other mike]

i've asked this from other places, but i hardly got any good replies.

i'm looking for war fiction; preferably from the grunt's POV. basically the equivalent of band of brothers or saving private ryan or the dirty dozen. i notice WW2 books come in three different flavors: spies, the planners/famous personalities and the resistance. as far as i know, the typical soldier's adventures are under-represented.

i'd also be interested in modern conflicts and other wars; as long as its from a soldier's perspective. remember, fiction only! no non-fic please! and i'm looking for war action. someone recommended WEB griffin. i tried him, and while i enjoyed his books, they DEFINITELY do not represent what i'm looking for. the more recent the book the better.

its sad that sci-fi seems to be doing a better job at representing these kinds of stories than regular fiction.


-mike

[Lukeh]

You have to check out Derek Roberson's War Story

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/467507.War_Story

It follows an English RAF squadron in WW1. It has a great dark soldiers humor about it. In the beginning of the war everything is all chivalrousness and full of honor, but by the end its all down in the mud trying to survive. It does a good job of showing the decay of the pilots through this change.

A lot of the pilots are stiff lip upper class Englishmen as well, which makes for a good read.

theres two other books in the serious both good, but the time line is wierd to work out. This is best to read first. Oh each is pretty stand alone.

EDIT: It reminds me a lot of the Union story lines in Abercrombies Heroes. There is definitely a sergeant Tunny story line.

[JimN]

I haven't read any fiction like that (other than science fiction) but here are some links that might be helpful:

http://www.vietnamwar.net/fiction.htm

http://101books.net/2012/03/08/the-best-of-vietnam-war-fiction/

http://www.amazon.com/Shiloh-A-Novel-Shelby-Foote/dp/0679735429

http://www.amazon.com/Mister-Roberts-Novel-Classics-Literature/dp/1591143659/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337947144&sr=1-1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction_based_on_World_War_II

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiction_based_on_World_War_I

I'm guessing if you dig through that info you'll find at least a war stories from the soldier's perspective. I think the Vietman War has probably spawned more work like that than some other wars.

Good luck!

[Jeppe]

Not a novel, but the absolutely best eye witness account from the Pacific Theater of WWII is E. B. Sledge's With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa.  If you haven't read it, you really should check it out.

[BobBretall]

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara.  This won the Pulitzer in 1975 and was the basis for the movie "Gettysburg".