Acute Literary
A Sunday reading list from another mother’s son. Gordon Alanko, aka Teflon Don, home safe at Acute Politics with another simple, wistful, evocative post that reminds me how much I miss him, back when he was the best American combat writer on the ground in Iraq. I knew there was a reason why he was that good.
My parents raised me in a house that had virtually every open wall covered up by a bookcase. I read through most of the Encyclopedia Brittanica as a kid, and I hit up old chemistry and linear algebra textbooks for what I could understand. We read classics at family dinners and on road trips- The Swiss Family Robinson, The Wind in the Willows. I loved historical fiction, especially books from the age of sail.
Iraq was good to me on the reading front. I had a lot of spare time to fill, and instead of watching Simpsons, Girls Next Door or whatever $2 DVD the Iraqi vendor had just added to his lineup with a bunch of the other guys, I read. I got through Atlas Shrugged , The Face of Battle and The Mask of Command. I read Fiasco and The Golden Bough. I read through the Bible.
I haven’t been as much of a reader since I’ve been home. College classes hit hard, and my perfectly delightful girlfriend occupies a good bit of my time as well. Still, though… I recently read most of the way through Martin von Crevelds The Culture of War (the library asked for it back before I quite finished). I enjoyed it, though longtime Clausewitz fans may disagree. The Al Qaeda Reader is on my nightstand, and Militant Islam in Southeast Asia is waiting for its turn. The Islamist and Doug Stanton’s Horse Soldiers are in the mail.
That stuff’s all good. Reminds me of when I used to read more books. I’ll need to start an “Acute Politics recommends” section at Crittenden’s Boutique Right-Wing Warmonger’s Bookshop. But I like reading Don. He made me have to try not to weep a couple of times, when he broke the news about places other people aren’t supposed to know about, spilling some of the worst-kept secrets in the world. Some people like to call themselves poet warriors. Gordon is one. I’m guessing he isn’t quite done yet. Hope not. Like I said, I miss Don, but not so much because I know he’s still around.
Your quick Acute Politics reader:
Little Saddam (guest-blogged at this site).
Leaving, Dead Eyes and The Anti-Iraq
Back home, Intrusions.
Less literary, more reportage at A True Martyr; an ISF Primer; and Militias. A little technical media criticism in Left of Boom.
Acute Reporting rounds up his embed with the 3rd ID around Iskandariyah earlier this year.
Before there was Teflon Don, there was Michael at A Day in Iraq, in his time the best American combat writer in Iraq. Scroll down to “A Brief Uncertainty,” but poke around. As the grunts would say, it’s all good.
Topics: Iraq, literary, military
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:16 pm on Saturday, May 9, 2009
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