Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968
Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968 by Thomas E. Ricksby Thomas E. Ricks
Shares rank 15 of 51 history books by recommenders
Praised for treating civil rights protests as military campaigns, with detail on activist training and the strategic use of nonviolence.
Praised for treating civil rights protests as military campaigns, with detail on activist training and the strategic use of nonviolence.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Highly recommended, very good read
“Rick's book is just so very good and my poor internet comment can't possibly do it justice.”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “The AI Backlash Could Get Ugly” “is an incredible book that I strongly recommend”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “Iran students stage first large anti-government protests since deadly crackdown” “got me to check the book out”
Comment from 13 May 2026 in “The AI Backlash Could Get Ugly” Civil rights history as military strategy
“It looked at the history of the civil rights movement from the perspective of a military historian, analyzing each step as its own military campaign.”
Comment from 7 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in the last year?” “documents the intensive training that activists underwent during the civil rights movement which was crucial for their success”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] (1963)” “I found reading the book Waging A Good War very educational about the deliberate, strategic use of nonviolence”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack” Educational on training and nonviolence
“documents the intensive training that activists underwent during the civil rights movement which was crucial for their success”
Comment from 19 Jan 2026 in “Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.] (1963)” “I found reading the book Waging A Good War very educational about the deliberate, strategic use of nonviolence”
Comment from 13 Apr 2026 in “Sam Altman's home targeted in second attack”
Other history books people recommend
The four most recommended other history books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Dawn of Everythingby David Graeber and David Wengrow | 23 | 5 | 82% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Cadillac Desertby Marc Reisner | 18 | 0 | 100% | 11 | — | Approved |
| The Boxby Marc Levinson | 16 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Sapiensby Yuval Noah Harari | 13 | 9 | 59% | 8 | — | — |
| Waging a Good War: A Military History of the Civil Rights Movement, 1954-1968by Thomas E. RicksThis page | 6 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“got me to check the book out”
“Rick's book is just so very good and my poor internet comment can't possibly do it justice.”
“I found reading the book Waging A Good War very educational about the deliberate, strategic use of nonviolence”
“is an incredible book that I strongly recommend”
“documents the intensive training that activists underwent during the civil rights movement which was crucial for their success”
“It looked at the history of the civil rights movement from the perspective of a military historian, analyzing each step as its own military campaign.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.