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This is an enlightening book. Pettegree writes well but the book could have done with a bit more editing and proof-reading; it is slightly repetitive in places and there are a (very) few typos. It is also slightly annoying that British private soldiers are repeatedly referred to by the American term 'enlisted men'. A more substantive criticism relates to the statement that during the Middle Ages the works of classical historians were 'buried among the collections of Christian texts in ... monastic libraries, to be rediscovered' during the Renaissance (p 38). This is a somewhat old-fashioned view and surely not entirely correct. William the Conqueror and his companions were well acquainted with Suetonius's 'Lives of the Caesars'; the chroniclers who recorded William's deeds plagiarised Suetonius and other classical authors in a knowing manner that shows that they expected their references to be recognised by their hearers/readers.
But I learned a lot from this book about the uses and abuses of books and other printed matter in wartime from the later 19th century to the present. There is an emphasis on the two World Wars and particularly the Second, but this seems entirely justified. Pettegree has thrown some useful light on a neglected aspect of the experience of warfare.