Since its inception in 1969, the Military Book Club has been providing the military enthusiasts with the finest books on warfare, weaponry, and a range of related topics. The club relies on what could be called a standard operational procedure for book clubs: an enticing introductory offer is combined with an obligation to buy a certain amount of books within a certain amount of time at a discounted price, and spiced with an attractive catalog that helps the members wade through the plethora of reading choices.
Let's see how this works in more detail.
The Military Book Club actually features two different selections. Initial selection is intended for prospective members: it is available for everyone to search through and browse. This is where you choose your 5 introductory books from. Member selection expands on this inaugural library significantly, and is accessible to active members only.
Initial Selection
To potential members, the Military Book Club offers quite an extensive assortment of books – mostly hardcover editions – on a wide range of military subjects. History, for example: from ancient/medieval warfare via Frontier Wars and the American Civil War, to both World Wars, the Vietnam War, Cold War... Whether you are interested in Roman conquests; the military history of the American Revolution; would like to know what really happened at Little Bighorn; get a deeper insight into general Lee's army; take a close look at the week-long Battle of Saigon... you need look no further: the MBC has plenty of resources on any of these subjects to keep you studying for months.
Or, you might be partial to the contemporary war, whether this be accounts on specific prominent events from Iraq or Afghanistan engagements or tactics of modern warfare in general.
Speaking of warfare, there are several sections at MBC carrying books dedicated to its different types. Air warfare: you'll find aircraft guides from WWI via WWII to powerful modern-day machines, and accounts on air combat since its inception. Naval warfare: chronicles and portrayals of the famous and the less famous events and battles from worlds naval history, taking place both on and below surface level. Ground warfare: descriptions of strategies and tactics employed by the world's most eminent war leaders in the world's most notorious conflicts, plus guides to ground warfare weaponry, from personal rifles to comprehensive identification volumes of heavy armored fighting vehicles.
World Wars have a special place at the Military Book Club, especially WWII. Fascinating first-person accounts of the famed operations and battles – taken from both sides of the battle line – are available: members of 101st Airborne remembering the most hellish battles of the European Theater; the fast-paced cockpit view of the war above Germany as seen by airmen from both sides; the story of a German sniper on the Eastern Front etc. Of course, the picture would not be complete without a detailed inventory of the weaponry used, and you'll find books on everything from a guide to Allied fighters to a complete panorama of the Waffen-SS Panzerdivision equipment.
Not to make the impression that MBC is all about history, we should mention that the club features several sections on contemporary military topics such as modern weaponry and military equipment, anti-terrorism, elite forces, military skills, contemporary covert operations... and so on.
Naturally, the large majority of books The Military Book Club offers are non-fiction, but some fiction is available, by authors such as W.E.B. Griffin or Jeff Shaara, who are known for supreme authenticity and great attention to detail in depicting the military surroundings their plots are usually taking place in.
Important note: the MBC editors choose books carefully. At Military Book Club you'll only find books whose objectivity and truthfulness cannot be disputed, books whose relevance in the realm of military interests is justified. The authors are people who were there, soldiers who walked the walk and have earned the right to do the talk. Also, space is being given to respected military historians, analysts, technologists – and these include generals and former Cabinet members – to explain and elaborate.
Member Selection
Members have a much wider selection of books to choose from. They have access to all the books carried by other Booksonline.com clubs (over 70,000 titles), including The Literary Guild, Book-of-the-Month Club (for a bit more "literary" selection), Crafter's Choice, One Spirit Book Club (spiritual and inspirational books), Science Fiction Book Club, Mystery Guild, Children's Book of the Month, History Book Club and many others. Note that all the same rules apply to these books (a purchase counts toward member's commitment obligation etc).
Joining
Joining Military Book Club is quite easy: it takes only a few minutes and can be done on the club web site. Not even a credit card is necessary. To each new member MBC extends a great introductory offer: 5 books of your choice for $1. Simply start shopping and add five books to your cart. When done, you will be taken to a page where you can review the contents of your shopping cart. At this point you can still remove an item if you change your mind and continue shopping for another one. You are also offered an opportunity to buy one more book for 50% off the publisher's price (look in the upper right corner) and thus reduce your commitment right away. It's a fair offer, so you might want to take it.
At the next stage you will need to enter your personal information, which includes your name, shipping address and e-mail address. Phone number is optional. That done, you will be prompted to choose your billing method. You can either pay by credit card, or select the “Bill Me” option in which case you will be sent an invoice to the address you provided on the previous page.
The last step requires you to set up a password which you'll need to access the members only area. Setting up the password will also confirm your membership. And that's it. You're in.
Modus Operandi
Membership at MBC implies an obligation to buy two more books at the club's regular prices within one year. As a member you will receive the free Military Book Club Magazine approximately once every 3 weeks. Each issue of the Magazine features two Selections, new books chosen by MBC's editors as the hottest titles of the moment. In addition, there will be dozens of other books for you to consider.
The Magazine offers real value. There is a growing range of books in every theater of military reading coming out each month, so the editors have to cut through a lot of titles to present you the ones you should consider. This free magazine helps you keep current with the happenings in the military corner of the literary world and find out about the latest relevant titles from your favorite subjects before they even hit the stores. Many people actually keep memberships in different book clubs mainly for this reason: to receive recommendations on what's hot.
The current Featured Selections will be sent to you automatically, unless you tell the club otherwise. You can do so online, via the club web site, or by returning the Member Reply Form (included with the Magazine) through regular mail. This practice is known as “negative option” or “advance consent” marketing and it has been utilized by book clubs such as MBC for more than eight decades. Some people consider it a nuisance, a relic of the past, others find it convenient.
While we are inclined to agree with the former group, in all fairness it needs to be said that these days the hassle really is reduced to a minimum: it's just a matter of logging in to your account on the club's official web site, selecting the “Featured Selections” tab and clicking on the “Don't Send” button. And that's it. You're done. It only takes a minute or so of your time once every three weeks. The important thing is not to forget to do it, and the Military Book Club will even assist you in the matter by sending you a reminder e-mail before the Selection is shipped.
Finally, if you do happen to forget to cancel the Selection, you can always send it back if you really don't want it. You won't even have to pay for the return postage so long as the package was not open.
Managing Your Account Online
In this respect the Military Book Club deserves much plaudit: the web site makes it easy and convenient to manage every aspect of your membership online. View detailed order and payment history; check the account balance, remaining commitment, and the shipping status of all recent orders; respond to the current Featured Selection or view older Selections; change your billing and shipping address and other personal details including payment method; choose shipping method, and, of course, browse or search MBC's entire library and place orders.
You might also want to participate in the club's online community called The Mess Hall, where you can share your own book reviews and recommendations with other club members. This is also the place to find exclusive interviews, read profiles of your favorite authors and excerpts from their latest books.
Membership at MBC is not exactly a “till death do us part” affair. Once your commitment is fulfilled, you are free to cancel your membership. The process, not surprisingly, is a trifle more difficult than joining. You don't have an option to simply close your account online, but instead have to send an e-mail to the club's customer service, or a written cancellation request to the Member Service Center. A bit of a complication, in our opinion not entirely necessary. But then, perhaps we are being too finicky here. It is, after all, just one simple e-mail.
It goes without saying that you will always be welcome back should you decide to rejoin. You can do so simply by visiting the club web site and enrolling again, as described earlier in this review. However, there might be an even better way to do it. If you don't cancel your e-mail subscription as well, you are likely to receive periodic invitations to rejoin the club; usually there is a special offer attached to such an invitation, and these offers are often even more advantageous than the standard one available on the web site (lower commitment, for example).
From the great introductory offer, via club discounts to various special offers, savings are undoubtedly one of the best things about the Military Book Club and for many probably the #1 reason to join. This being such an important subject, we have put together a separate page with detailed information on it and a real-world example.
Shipping Rates
A word or two on shipping charges as they are somewhat complicated. With the initial order the cost is $5.74 for the first book and $1.99 for each additional book. Somewhat high, but we suspect this goes some way toward recouping the loss MBC has to be generating by giving you first 5 books for practically nothing. With subsequent orders the charges are $3.99 for the first book and $2.49 for others. If your total order exceeds $25, the club will charge you $2.49 flat shipping rate for the whole package.
Free shipping would have been better; it certainly has a nicer ring to it, plus all decent online book shops are offering it. That said, with online retailers not each and every item is usually eligible for free shipping, so you might end up having to pay for it anyway. The Military Book Club, on the other hand, will ship you everything you put in your basket for $2.49 as long as the total of your order exceeds $25. So, all things considered, this is not a bad deal.
For credit card orders, Express Delivery is available. Express orders incur an additional $5.99 per shipment. State sales tax will be added if shipped to NY, PA, IN, TX, TN, NJ, or SC.
Payment
The Military Book Club gives you an option to pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), or be billed later. If you choose to pay by credit card, you will be charged when your order ships. Otherwise, the bill will arrive with the shipment and you can settle it either by using your credit card, or by sending in money order or check.
In order for this to work, the club grants you a certain amount of credit. Each time you pay on time, your credit increases, up to a maximum of $500. Note that you might be charged a late fee (approximately $4), if your bill is not settled on time. However, this fee can usually be removed by giving a call to customer support and explaining why the payment is late.
Billing methods are part of your profile and you can add or change your preferred method as you like. You will also have a chance to change the method during the checkout process. If you don't, the method specified the last time you ordered from the site will be used.
If you are a military enthusiast who appreciates a good book on warfare, weaponry, or any of the related topics, then joining the Military Book Club is certainly worth a serious consideration. You get five books for next to nothing, up to 50% discount on all subsequent books you purchase, plus a shiny magazine in your mail every three weeks or so with book reviews and recommendations coming from people who are as passionate about the subject as you are.
Since you are not required to part with any money up front, joining is completely devoid of risk. If for whatever reason you don't like the introductory package, or if you simply change your mind, just return the package to the Military Book Club within 20 days and that's that. No strings attached.
The only real downside to the whole deal is the somewhat awkward business model the club employs, which requires you to take action if you don't want to take action – that is, buy the proposed book. In our opinion, however, just getting a free magazine with recommendations on what to read outweighs this inconvenience by a hefty margin.
Good thing is, even if you feel the practice is an absolute deal breaker, you can still take advantage of the incredible introductory offer of 5 books for $1 if it tickles your fancy. How? Join, take care of the commitment at once and cancel. You can walk away with 7 high quality, hard-bound military books for less than $60, and that includes shipping charges. Hardly a deal you will find anywhere else.
