Below are the last three books i've recently finished. If you're a sucker for a good 'military history' story like i am you might find these books interesting...
-The Last Expedition: Stanley's Mad Journey Through the Congo (Daniel Liebowitz)
"In 1887, Henry Stanley set out to rescue Mehemet Emin Pasha, governor of the southern Sudan, from the Islamic jihad. Known as the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, it took three years; thousands of dollars; and the lives of several hundred, if not several thousand people, to rescue Emin Pasha from Equatoria. The expedition shot, burned, and looted its way across Africa."
-My Friend the Mercenary (James Brabazon)
*"British documentarian Brabazon entered Liberia in 2002 to film rebel forces in that country's civil war, taking along bodyguard Nick du Toit, a mercenary and former soldier in South Africa's apartheid-era army. Nick joins a byzantine conspiracy to overthrow the government of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea and invites Brabazon to film the prospective coup, a proposal that crosses the boundaries of journalistic ethics, though it strongly appeals to Brabazon's lust for adventure and cash."
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca (Andrés Reséndez)
*In 1528, a mission set out from Spain to colonize Florida. But the expedition went horribly wrong: Delayed by a hurricane, knocked off course by a colossal error of navigation, and ultimately doomed by a disastrous decision to separate the men from their ships, the mission quickly became a desperate journey of survival. Of the three hundred men who had embarked on the journey, only four survived—three Spaniards and an African slave. This tiny band endured a horrific march through Florida, a harrowing raft passage across the Louisiana coast, and years of enslavement in the American Southwest."
I would definitely recommend all three, but particularly My Friend the Mercenary. It reads like a political thriller; tough to put down. Really gives you a perspective into what some of these rebel movements are comprised of and what role professional soldiers play underneath the radar.
