Book report,

I just finished reading Don't Tread on Me: A 400-Year History of America at War, from Indian Fighting to Terrorist Hunting. It was the back cover blurbs that sold me, and they weren't lying.

Sure, it gets to toeing the neoconservative interventionist party line in the last chapter or two, but that manages to not detract from the good time offered by the first 360-odd pages of crackling, snarky writing. If you want to read it as straight military history and avoid the worst of the political cant, you can just put it down around Tet anyway.

I especially enjoyed the first two thirds, up to and including the Civil War, a great deal of which was laugh-out-loud funny.

If you're looking for a penetrating insight into the mind of one or two great captains or a dissection of the TO&E of V Corps at Kettle Hill, this isn't the book for you. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a broad overview that covers plenty of the nooks and crannies that get ignored by history textbooks and the Hitler Channel, as well as makes you chuckle to read, then you'll like this one.