The Good Soldiers

War

Sebastian Junger · 287 pages

Junger, author of "The Perfect Storm," turns his brilliant and empathetic eye to the reality of combat in this on-the-ground account that follows a single platoon through a 15-month tour of duty in the most dangerous outpost in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley.

Dispatches

Michael Herr · 260 pages

Written on the front lines in Vietnam, *Dispatches* became an immediate classic of war reportage when it was published in 1977. From its terrifying opening pages to its final eloquent words, *Dispatches* makes us see, in unforgettable and unflinching detail, the chaos and fervor of the war and the surreal insanity of life in that singular combat zone. Michael Herr’s unsparing, unorthodox retelling

House to House: An Epic Memoir of War

David Bellavia, John R. Bruning · 347 pages

In November, 2004, a U.S. infantry squad in Fallujah plunged into one of the most sustained and savage urban battles in the history of American men at arms. Ssg. Bellavia and his men confronted an enemy who had had weeks to prepare, booby-trapping houses, arranging ambushes, rigging entire city blocks as explosive-laden kill zones, and even stocking up on steroids. Entering one house, alone, Bella

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War

Evan Wright · 356 pages

They were called a generation without heroes. Then they were called upon to be heroes. Within hours of 9/11, America's war on terrorism fell to those like the twenty-three Marines of the First recon Battalion, the first generation dispatched into open-ended combat since Vietnam. They were a new pop-culture breed of American warrior unrecognizable to their forebears - soldiers raised on hip ho

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand · 514 pages

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Se

Black Hawk Down

Mark Bowden · 486 pages

Late in the afternoon of Sunday, 3 October 1993, 140 elite US soldiers abseiled from helicopters into a teeming market neighbourhood in the heart of the city of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take them about an hour. Instead, they were pinned down through a long and terrible night in a hostile city,

Lions of Kandahar: The Story of a Fight Against All Odds

Rusty Bradley, Kevin Maurer · 280 pages

One of the most critical battles of the Afghan War is now revealed as never before. Lions of Kandahar is an inside account from the unique perspective of an active-duty U.S. Army Special Forces commander. As then-Captain Rusty Bradley he began his third tour of duty in southern Afghanistan in 2006, the Taliban were poised to reclaim Kandahar Province, their strategically vital onetime capital. To

Sniper One

Dan Mills · 349 pages

When Sgt. Mills and his regiment flew into southern Iraq they were supposed to be winning hearts and minds, but instead they were soon fighting for their lives in defence of their HQ, Cimic House in Al Amarah. This is the story of that defence and the unexpected hardships British soldiers had to experience.

My War Gone By, I Miss It So

Anthony Loyd · 334 pages

Nothing can prepare you for Anthony Loyd 's portrait of war. It is the story of the unspeakable terror and the visceral, ecstatic thrill of combat, and the lives and dreams laid to waste by the bloodiest conflict that Europe has witnessed since the Second World War. Born into a distinguished military family, Loyd was raised on the stories of his ancestors' exploits and grew up fascinated with war.

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History

Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, Jim DeFelice · 502 pages

The astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, whose record 150 confirmed kills make him the most deadly sniper in U.S. military history.

A Rumor Of War

Philip Caputo · 356 pages

In March of 1965, Marine Lieutenant Philip J. Caputo landed at Danang with the first ground combat unit committed to fight in Vietnam. Sixteen months later, having served on the line in one of modern history's ugliest wars, he returned home - physically whole, emotionally wasted, his youthful idealism shattered. A decade later, Caputo would write in A Rumor of War, "This is simply a story about wa

The Forever War

Dexter Filkins · 376 pages

National Bestseller Winner of the National Book Critics Circle AwardA New York Times Book Review Best Book of the YearOne of the Best Books of the Year: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Boston Globe, and TimeAn instant classic of war reporting, The Forever War is the definitive account of America's conflict with Islamic fundamentalism and a searing exploration of its

First Light

Geoffrey Wellum · 352 pages

"Geoffry Wellum tells the ... true story of his coming of age amid the roaring, tumbling dogfights of the fiercest air war the world has ever seen. It is the story of an idealistic schoolboy who couldn't believe his luck when the RAF agreed to take him on as a 'pupil pilot' at the minimum age of seventeen and a half in 1939. In his fervor to fly, he gave little thought to the coming war"--Jacket.

Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Band of US Soldiers Who Rode to Victory in Afghanistan

Doug Stanton · 372 pages

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier

Ishmael Beah · 234 pages

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone (1990s). Beah was 12 years old when he fled his village after it was attacked by rebels, and he wandered the war-filled country until brainwashed by an army unit that forced him to u

In the Company of Heroes: The Personal Story Behind Black Hawk Down

Michael J. Durant, Steven Hartov · 416 pages

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq

Thomas E. Ricks · 487 pages

The definitive military chronicle of the Iraq war and a searing judgment on the strategic blindness with which America has conducted it, drawing on the accounts of senior military officers giving voice to their anger for the first time.Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post senior Pentagon correspondant Thomas E. Ricks's Fiasco is masterful and explosive reckoning with the planning and execution o

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Eugene B. Sledge · 352 pages

Fields of Fire

James Webb · 415 pages

The story of a platoon of Marines fighting in Vietnam evokes the ambiguous and gruesome character of the war and contrasts man's realization of war's dangers with his attraction to war as the ultimate test of survival.

We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam

Harold G. Moore, Joseph L. Galloway · 481 pages

Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was *We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young*. In November 1965, some 450 men of the 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry, under the command of Lt. Col. Hal Moore, were dropped by helicopter into a small clearing in the Ia Drang Vall

Service: A Navy SEAL at War

Marcus Luttrell · 364 pages

The author, a Navy SEAL, returned from his star-crossed mission in Afghanistan with his bones shattered and his heart broken. So many had given their lives to save him, and he would have readily done the same for them. As he recuperated, he wondered why he and others, from America's founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything, including themselves, for the sake of family, nation, a

Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945

Max Hastings · 640 pages

Armageddon is the epic story of the last eight months of World War II in Europe by Max Hastings--one of Britain's most highly regarded military historians, whose accounts of past battles John Keegan has described as worthy "to stand with that of the best journalists and writers" (New York Times Book Review).In September 1944, the Allies believed that Hitler's army was beaten, and expected that the

Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor

Clinton Romesha · 389 pages

An account of the horrendous October 2009 attack on the American Combat Outpost Keating in Afghanistan, told in a frank, engaging vernacular by the staff sergeant and Medal of Honor winner. Romesha ably captures the daily dangers faced by these courageous American soldiers in Afghanistan.--

13 Hours: The Inside Account of What Really Happened In Benghazi

Mitchell Zuckoff · 352 pages

The harrowing, true account from the brave men on the ground who fought back during the Battle of Benghazi. This book presents, for the first time ever, the true account of the events of September 11, 2012, when terrorists attacked the US State Department Special Mission Compound and a nearby CIA station called the Annex in Benghazi, Libya. A team of six American security operators fought to repel