The Praetorians By Jean Lartéguy

Out of print for decades and praised by the likes of Stanley McChrystal, Robert Kaplan, and David Petraeus, The Praetorians picks up in the footsteps of The Centurions. When a group of French paratroopers serving in the Algerian war are called to answer for actions they consider necessary, however immoral, they plot a coup that results in a new French government and in the death of one of their own. Based on the events of May 1958 in France, The Praetorians continues with some of Lartéguy's most persistent, and most pertinent, themes: counterinsurgency, the ugly, self-conflicted nature of modern war, and the seemingly unbridgeable gulf between the experiences of soldiers and of the civilians they serve. A former soldier himself, Lartéguy writes with unique authority on war and with a clear insight into the human costs of global conflict.