It was Aristotle – Alexander the Great's teacher – who said, "We make war that we may live in peace." Centuries later, politician-inventor Benjamin Franklin observed, "There never was a good war or a bad peace." Followed by the 1960s bumper sticker "Make love, not war."

For every war, there are those who write about it, including Ernest Hemingway ("For Whom the Bell Tolls"), Norman Mailer ("The Naked and the Dead"), Joseph Heller ("Catch-22"), Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ("Slaughterhouse-Five"), Jean-Paul Sartre ("The Aftermath of War"), Philip Caputo ("A Rumor of War") and Tim O'Brien ("Going After Cacciato"), to name a few.

Here's a sampling of recent nonfiction titles about more current conflicts:

• "Big Boy Rules: America's Mercenaries Fighting in Iraq" by Steve Fainaru (Da Capo, $26, 288 pages): Washington Post correspondent Fainaru won a Pulitzer Prize for his series on the mercenary soldiers operating in Iraq (the war America has outsourced). His book expands on that theme. Despite sometimes Kafkaesque anecdotes showing the mercenaries' general incompetence, of particular disturbance are his accounts of alleged killings of Iraqi civilians.

One follow-up: Last week, five employees of the Blackwater Worldwide security company surrendered themselves in federal court in Utah, and will be tried next year for their involvement in the killing of more than a dozen Iraqis thought to be civilians. A sixth Blackwater employee already has pleaded guilty to the killing of one Iraqi and is working with the prosecution.

• "Powder," edited by Lisa Bowden and Shannon Cain (Kore, $17.95, 140 pages): This brief but potent collection of essays, remembrances and poetry was written by 19 women who offer their perspectives of being on the front lines "from Vietnam to Iraq."

• "HOGs in the Shadows: Combat Stories From Marine Snipers in Iraq" by Milo S. Afong (Berkley, $15, 288 pages): A HOG is the acronym for Hunter of Gunmen, a.k.a. a sniper. In these 13 accounts by sharpshooting Marines and their support teams during Operation Iraqi Freedom, readers will find tension, danger and a whole vocabulary of military jargon. The author served as a scout-sniper team leader.

• "The Mission, the Men, and Me: Lessons From a Former Delta Force Commander" by Pete Blaber (Berkley, $25.95, 336 pages): Delta Force is the military's elite counterterrorist team, and Blaber was one of its on-the-ground leaders. He chronicles some of his many covert operations in hot spots around the world – Iraq, Somalia, Afghanistan, etc. – and punctuates each one with lessons "than can be an effective weapon … in business and life."

New on the shelves

Looking for something to read? Try these:

"Once Upon a Time in War: The 99th Division in World War II" by Robert E. Humphrey (University of Oklahoma Press, $24.95, 366 pages): While on the topic of books about war, here's a special one: Humphrey, a professor of communications at California State University, Sacramento, chronicles the wartime activities of the 99th Infantry Division, which endured the horrific Battle of the Bulge to go on to other major conflicts. Beyond that, Humphrey traced the 99th's wartime route across parts of Europe, attended the 99th's emotional reunion in 2001, and subsequently interviewed many of the 99th's surviving members, "focusing on the thoughts, feelings, actions and experiences of the men involved in infantry warfare."

• "Divine Justice" by David Baldacci (Grand Central, $27.99, 400 pages): Four books ago, best-selling novelist Baldacci created the fictional Camel Club, a group of four men who investigate government conspiracies ("The Camel Club," "The Collectors," "Stone Cold"). In this entry, we find club leader Oliver Stone on the run for the assassinations of two politicians who arranged his wife's murder.

• "Cruel Intent" by J.A. Jance (Touchstone, $25.95, 352 pages): Beastlier Jance has four series going, one of which stars perky Ali Reynolds (and her extended family). Seems the man she hired to refurbish her house in Sedona, Ariz., has been accused of killing his wife. Now the former TV newscaster has to clear him ASAP so he can finish the job in time for her Thanksgiving celebration. Oh, those pesky murders!

• "The Ecco Anthology of Contemporary American Short Fiction," selected by Joyce Carol Oates and Christopher R. Beha (Harper, $18.94, 784 pages): Super-prolific Oates, a winner of the National Book Award, turns her considerable talents to this compilation of tales by some of the biggest names in the business – Russell Banks, Ann Beattie, Michael Chabon, Thomas McGuane, Annie Proulx, et al.

• "Instant Egghead Guide: The Mind" by Emily Anthes, in conjunction with Scientific American magazine (St. Martin's, $14.95, 240 pages): Not only is this book educational, it's quite entertaining. As part of the "60- Second Science" series, it gives readers small bites of intriguing data – in this case, about the brain. It's thorough and includes how the brain controls and/or affects our emotions, sex drive, senses, decision- making and much more. The "Cocktail Party Tidbits" sprinkled throughout are useful, as in, " 'Brain freeze' or 'ice cream headache' is the unpleasant sensation (from swallowing something cold) caused by the rapid temperature change of the blood vessels along the roof of the mouth."

Upcoming author appearances

• John A. McKinsey for "The Lincoln Secret" (Martin Pearl, $13.99, 469 pages): Dixon-based attorney McKinsey offers an intriguing historical mystery involving a question of Abraham Lincoln's true parentage – and long- hidden secrets involving Lincoln and the Civil War. There are those who are willing to commit murder to keep the truth from coming to light, as the protagonists discover.

Events: 2 p.m. Tuesday and 2 p.m. Saturday at Borders, 500 First St., Davis, (530) 750-3723.