By Donald Stratton
Recommended By Neela Vass, Head of Acquisitions

A memoir by a USS Arizona survivor describes his experience of the attacks that left him with burns over more than sixty-five percent of his body, his resolve to reenter service after a grueling recovery, and his contributions to some of the Pacific's most violent battles.

A companion work to a PBS series contains more than three hundred photographs, profiles of noteworthy personalities, and quotations from the newspapers, magazines, and people who were a part of the 1940s.

By Chris Kyle
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Tuesday, November 10, 2015. 7:30 PM.

American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon.

By Rick Atkinson

The first volume in a three volume work about the liberation of Europe opens in North Africa in 1942 and charts America's rise to world-power status by its involvement in a war on two fronts.

By Jack Jacobs

Presents a description of basic training in the American military, describing how the eight-week course imparts key physical, mental, and disciplinary skills to turn trainees into order-ready soldiers.

By Peter Englund

A narrative history of World War I explores its impact on everyday men and women, drawing on diaries and letters by twenty individuals from various countries to present an international mosaic of perspectives.

By Mark Bowden

Black Hawk Down is Mark Bowden’s brilliant account of the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War. On October 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into the teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia. Their mission was to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord and return to base. It was supposed to take an hour. Instead, they found themselves pinned down through a long and terrible night fighting against thousands of heavily armed Somalis. The following morning, eighteen Americans were dead and more than seventy had been badly wounded.

Became the movie: Black Hawk Down.

By P.W. Singer

Analyzes the growing use of children as soldiers in global conflicts, explaining how youngsters are recruited and abducted, indoctrinated, trained, and utilized as warriors; how changes in weapons technology and a breakdown of global order have led to the phenomenon; and how Western armies can prepare themselves.

By Paul Cornioley

Memoirs of the only female SOE agent to lead a French Resistance network during World War II.

By Stephen E. Ambrose

Chronicles the events, politics, and personalities of this pivotal day in World War II, shedding light on the strategies of commanders on both sides and the ramifications of the battle.

By Craig Shirley

Traces, day-by-day, the most important 31 days in the history of America’s participation in World War II, which snuffed out the lives of millions and changed history forever.

By James F. Dunnigan

A military advisor presents a history of weapons from ancient history to the present and posits that the Pentagon's present preoccupation with high-tech weapons is weakening America's military might.

By Ben Macintyre

Recounts the story of the six double agents--Bronx, Brutus, Treasure, Tricycle and Garbo, who would weave a web of deception so intricate that it ensnared Hitler's army and helped to carry thousands of troops across the Channel in safety on 6 June 1944, D-Day.

By Robert M. Gates

The former Secretary of Defense and director of the CIA recounts his service under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing his roles in such major events as the Bin Laden raid, the Guantánamo Bay controversy and the WikiLeaks scandal.

By Julian Jackson

This book charts the breathtakingly rapid events that led to the defeat and surrender of one of the greatest bastions of the Western Allies. Using eyewitness accounts, memoirs, and diaries to bring the story to life, Jackson recreates the intense atmosphere of the six weeks in May and June leading up to the establishment of the Vichy regime.

By John Keegan

Chronicles the events of the conflict from early diplomatic efforts to avert war, through the nightmarish campaigns and battles, to the end of the war and its repercussions.

By James Bradley

A chilling true story of World War II describes the story of eight young American airmen who were shot down over Chichi Jima, one of whom was rescued by an American submarine and went on to become president of the United States, and the other seven who were captured by Japanese troops and whose fate has remained a secret for nearly sixty years.

By David Finkel

Relates the author's experiences as an embedded reporter with Battalion 2-16. telling the story of the surge from the perspective of the someone who worked the soldiers every day.

By Robert Graves

Robert Graves records the events of his life up to the age of thirty-three when he left his native land for Majorca.

By Bill Berkeley

A gripping introduction to the political turmoil in Africa dispels the myth that ancient tribal hatred lies at the heart of the continent’s troubles by focusing on the tyrants and military leaders responsible for war and brutality.

By Barbara Wertheim Tuchman

A definitive Pulitzer Prize-winning re-creation of the Powderkeg that was Europe during the crucial first thirty days of World War I traces the actions of statesmen and patriots alike in Berlin, London, St. Petersburg, and Paris.

By Eric Greitens

The author describes how, after working as a humanitarian around the world, he realized that he could do nothing to prevent violence or people from becoming refugees and soon joined the elite Navy SEALs, where he drew on his humanitarian training as he battled injustice.

By Anthony Swofford

A memoir of the Gulf War by a front-line infantry marine recounts his struggles with the conflict on the front lines, his battles with fear and suicide, his brushes with death, and his identity as a soldier and an American.

By Bill O'Reilly

Presents an account of General George Patton's leadership during the final months of World War II in Europe, and the events surrounding his mysterious death.

By David Phillips

Describes the issues faced by members of the army unit once known as the Band of Brothers who saw some of the worst violence in Iraq which has resulted in many members suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder.

By Sarah Helm

Describes the life and espionage career of Vera Atkins, a talented agent who rose to the top of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), a British secret service dedicated to aiding resistance efforts throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, focusing on her personal quest to uncover the fate of twelve female agents who vanished during the war.

By Marcus Luttrell
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian
With Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian, Barney Levantino, Reference Librarian

Tuesday, November 11, 2014. 7:30 PM.

The leader, and only survivor, of a team of U.S. Navy SEALs sent to northern Afghanistan to capture a well-known al Qaeda leader chronicles the events of the battle that killed his teammates and offers insight into the training of this elite group of warriors.

By Ishmael Beah
Recommended By Pam Strudler, Programming & Arts Librarian, Jackie, Head of Readers' Services

Ishmael Beah described his experiences after he was driven from his home by war in Sierra Leone and picked up by the government army at the age of thirteen, serving as a solider for three years before being removed from fighting by UNICEF and eventually moving to the United States.

By Jeffrey McGowan

A gay man describes how he enlisted in the Army in the late 1980s and served with distinction for ten years by hiding his sexual identity and sacrificing his personal life and self-respect before resigning in 1998.

By Robert M. Edsel

Traces the lesser-known effort by an Allied division to find and secure European art that had been looted by the Nazis, outlining the dramatic story of how they risked their lives and raced against time with limited supplies and scraps of information, sometimes obtained from colorful sources.

Became the movie: The Monuments Men.

By Mark Owen

No Easy Day puts readers alongside Owen and the other handpicked members of the twenty-four-man team as they train for the biggest mission of their lives. The blow-by-blow narrative of the assault, beginning with the helicopter crash that could have ended Owen's life straight through to the radio call confirming Bin Laden’s death, is an essential piece of modern history.

By Charles London

Today, in violence–torn regions across the globe, 20 million children have been uprooted, orphaned, or injured by war, famine, and poverty. This is their story and ours.

By Bob Dole

The former U.S. Senate Republican leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee recounts his inspirational experiences of serving with the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, during which he suffered a dangerous shrapnel wound that resulted in a three-year struggle for survival.

By Breaking the Silence

Hundreds of Israeli soldiers speak out about the Palestinian occupation, revealing that their presence is not merely for defense, but also to accelerate the acquisition of Palestinian land and work against an independent Palestinian nation.

By Nicholas Irving with Gary Brezek

A memoir by a Special Operations Direct Action Sniper traces his extraordinary career during the War on Terror, which was marked by his record-setting deployment to Afghanistan and his face-off against an enemy sniper known only as The Chechnian.

By Howard Wasdin

SEAL Team Six is a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and counterinsurgency. In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes chronicle, Howard Wasdin takes readers deep inside the world of Navy SEALS and Special Forces snipers, beginning with the grueling selection process of Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S)—the toughest and longest military training in the world.

By Anthony Beevor
Recommended By Ralph Guiteau, Readers' Services Librarian

Presents a single-volume history of the world's largest conflict, from Manchuria in 1939 to the Soviet invasion of northern China six years later, describing the human drama of soldiers, civilians, and political leaders.

By Jack Coughlin

A portrait of highly regarded Marine Corp gunner sergeant Jack Coughlin traces his successful active duty record and his personal life, offering a look into the cover world of long-range precision rifle shooters.

By Dan Mills

When Sgt. Mills and the rest of the 1st Battalion flew into Iraq in April, 2004, they were soon fighting for their lives. Sniper One is a breathtaking chronicle of endurance, camaraderie, dark humor, and courage in the face of relentless, lethal assault.

By Joe Drape

An inside look into the 2011 season of the West Point football team reveals the unique pressures and expectations that make a year of Army football so much more than just a tally of wins and losses.

By Tony Geraghty

A history of mercenaries explores the ways in which soldiers for hire have been an essential component of modern and privatized warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing the myriad ways in which they are viewed in different parts of the world while offering insight into their lesser-known military activities.

By Tony Geraghty

A history of mercenaries explores the ways in which soldiers for hire have been an essential component of modern and privatized warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, describing the myriad ways in which they are viewed in different parts of the world while offering insight into their lesser-known military activities.

By Joseph Farris

Compiles the author's letters and sketches that chronicle his experiences fighting in Europe in World War II.

By William Stevenson

A portrait of World War II British spy Vera Atkins describes her recruitment at the age of twenty-five by a legendary spymaster, her work within Winston Churchill’s covert intelligence agency, and her pivotal work for Allied forces.

By David H. Hackworth

The commanding officer of an infantry battalion in Vietnam in 1969 recounts how he took over a demoralized unit of ordinary draftees and turned it into an elite fighting force, and describes its accomplishments.

By John Steinbeck

The author of The Grapes of Wrath (published in 1939) kept writing for close to three decades. At the age of 64, at the end of 1966, he put on combat boots, went to Vietnam, and wrote a series of essays for Newsday over the course of about six months.

By Elise Forbes Tripp

Between spring 2005 and fall 2006, Tripp (American history, Holyoke Community College, Massachusetts) conducted non-directed interviews with 30 members of the US military, simply letting them say what they wanted about their experience in Iraq.

By John Nunnley

From war diaries and memoirs come first-person accounts of how the common soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army fared during the Second World War. The focus is on the Burma front, where nearly 200,000 of the 300,000 Japanese troops met their deaths. Their stories tell how they started out eager to conquer a faraway land, and how they came to feel isolated and virtually forgotten, with the constant battering by Allied air superiority and submarine attack.

By Kevin Dockery and Bill Fawcett

Six Navy SEALs who trained to fight terrorism in this elite branch of the military share how the program got started, their torturous instruction in the frozen wilds of Canada, and their dangerous missions in Vietnam.

By Benson Bobrick

Through his letters, chronicles the firsthand experiences of a young Union Army soldier in the Civil War during which he struggled to survive harsh weather, food rationing, battle wounds, and the death of his brother.