Marine Corps Reading List
Title: The Killer Angels
Author: Michael Shaara
Book Description:
The Killer Angels, first published in 1974, is a historical fiction novel about the Battle of Gettysburg fought in July 1863. It tells the story of the days leading up to the battle and the battle itself through the eyes of key combatants on both sides. The author, Michael Shaara, won a Pulitzer Prize for […]
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Title: The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations
Author: Samuel P. Huntington
Book Description:
In a classic work, Samuel P. Huntington challenges most of the old assumptions and ideas on the role of the military in society. Stressing the value of the military outlook for American national policy, Huntington has performed the distinctive task of developing a general theory of civil-military relations and subjecting it to rigorous historical analysis.
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Title: Treasury’s War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare
Author: Juan Zarate
Book Description:
How the US uses economic embargoes and financial tools as weapons against terrorist groups and “rogue states” such as North Korea, Iran and Syria. Juan Zarate, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, is a former federal prosecutor who joined the U.S. Treasury Department after the 9/11 attacks to figure out […]
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Title: Battle Cry
Author: Leon Uris
Book Description:
Battle Cry is a fictional novel set during World War II, focusing on the experiences of a group of U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater. The book follows the 6th Marine Regiment as they train, deploy, and fight through some of the war’s most challenging and pivotal battles, including Guadalcanal, Tarawa, and Saipan. Uris, a […]
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Title: Corps Values
Author: Zell Miller
Book Description:
The author recounts the simple but powerful lessons he learned as a United States Marine: the core values we must embrace if we are to be successful as individuals and as a nation. Only by incorporating such time-honored Marine qualities as pride, discipline, courage, brotherhood, and respect into our personal and professional lives can we […]
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Title: Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character
Author: Jonathan Shay
Book Description:
Examines the psychological devastation of war by comparing the soldiers of Homer’s Iliad with Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Although the Iliad was written 27 centuries ago, it has much to teach about combat trauma, as do the more recent, compelling voices and experiences of Vietnam vets.
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Title: TEAM OF RIVALS: THE POLITICAL GENIUS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Author: Doris Kearns Goodwin
Book Description:
Biography of Abraham Lincoln, centered on his mastery of men and how it shaped the most significant presidency in the nation’s history. Throughout the turbulent 1850s, each of his “rivals” energetically sought the presidency as the conflict over slavery was leading inexorably to secession and civil war. Lincoln’s understanding of human behavior and motivation enabled […]
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Title: The War that Ended Peace: The Road to 1914
Author: Margaret MacMillan
Book Description:
The War That Ended Peace brings vividly to life the military leaders, politicians, diplomats, bankers, and the extended, interrelated family of crowned heads across Europe who failed to stop the descent into war: in Germany, the mercurial Kaiser Wilhelm II and the chief of the German general staff, Von Moltke the Younger; in Austria-Hungary, Emperor […]
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Title: Battle Cry Of Freedom: The Civil War Era
Author: James M. McPherson
Book Description:
Recounts the momentous episodes that preceded the American Civil War, is a chronicle of the war itself, and includes the author’s view on such matters as the slavery expansion issue in the 1850s, the origins of the Republican Party, the causes of secession, internal dissent and anti-war opposition in the North and the South, and […]
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Title: Rifleman Dodd
Author: C. S. Forester
Book Description:
“Rifleman Dodd” is a novel written on the account of a British foot soldier who encounters impossible odds and extremely difficult challenges during the Peninsular War which took place around 1810. This story combines historical fact and adds a personal touch by incorporating fictional characters in order to captivate its audience.
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Title: Blink: The Power Of Thinking Without Thinking
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Book Description:
This is a book about how we think without thinking, about choices that seem to be made in an instant-in the blink of an eye-that actually aren’t as simple as they seem. Why are some people brilliant decision makers, while others are consistently inept? Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others […]
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Title: Boyd: The Fighter Pilot who Changed the Art of War
Author: Robert Coram
Book Description:
John Boyd, considered by many to be the greatest U.S. fighter pilot ever, is the man who, in simulated air-to-air combat, defeated every challenger in less than forty seconds. His manual of fighter tactics changed the way every air force in the world flies and fights. Boyd was a rebel who cared not for his […]
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Title: BRUTE: THE LIFE OF VICTOR KRULAK, U.S. MARINE
Author: Robert Coram
Book Description:
Biography of LtGen Victor “Brute” Krulak (USMC, Ret.). He went on daring spy missions, was badly wounded, pioneered the use of amphibious vehicles and use of helicopters in warfare, and masterminded the invasion of Okinawa. In Vietnam, he developed a holistic military strategy in stark contrast to the Army’s “Search and Destroy” methods. Yet it […]
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Title: CARNAGE AND CULTURE: LANDMARK BATTLES IN THE RISE OF WESTERN POWER
Author: Victor Hanson
Book Description:
Examines 9 landmark battles from ancient to modern times from Salamis, where outnumbered Greeks devastated the slave army of Xerxes, to Cortes’s conquest of Mexico to the Tet offensive. Looking beyond popular explanations such as geography or superior technology, the author argues that it is in fact Western culture and values–the tradition of dissent, the […]
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Title: COMMAND CULTURE: OFFICER EDUCATION IN THE U.S. ARMY AND THE GERMAN ARMED FORCES, 1901-1940, & THE CONSEQUENCES FOR WORLD WAR II
Author: Jorg Muth
Book Description:
The United States Army and the German Armed Forces traveled different paths to select, educate, and promote their officers in the crucial time before WWII. The author explores the paradox that in Germany officers came from a closed authoritarian society but received an extremely open minded military education, whereas their counterparts in the United States […]
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Title: DEFEAT INTO VICTORY: BATTLING JAPAN IN BURMA AND INDIA 1942-1945
Author: Field Marshal Viscount William Slim
Book Description:
This detailed autobiography by British Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) is a first-person account of the retaking of Burma during World War II. In this book, Slim honestly examines his decisions as a leader and consequences of those decisions, both good and bad. Defeat into Victory is widely regarded as a classic memoir of high […]
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Title: FORGOTTEN WARRIORS: THE 1ST PROVISIONAL MARINE BRIGADE, THE CORPS ETHOS, AND THE KOREAN WAR
Author: Thomas X. Hammes
Book Description:
At the outbreak of the Korean War, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade in less than ten days, even though no such brigade existed at the time. Assembled from the woefully under stength 1st Marine Division and 1st Marine Air Wing units, the Brigade shipped out only 6 days after activation, […]
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Title: HOT, FLAT, AND CROWDED: WHY WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND HOW IT CAN RENEW AMERICA
Author: Thomas L. Friedman
Book Description:
A provocative look at the biggest challenge facing us today–our hot, flat and crowded world. Climate change and rapid population growth mean that it’s no longer possible for businesses (or the rest of us) to keep doing things the same old way. Things are going to have to change—and fast. The author provides a bold […]
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Title: JUST AND UNJUST WARS: A MORAL ARGUMENT WITH HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS
Author: Michael Walzer
Book Description:
Examines the moral issues surrounding military theory, war crimes, and the spoils of war. The author studies a variety of conflicts over the course of history, as well as the testimony of those who have been most directly involved—participants, decision makers, and victims. He specifically addresses the moral issues surrounding the war in and occupation […]
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Title: MILITARY INNOVATION IN THE INTERWAR PERIOD
Author: Williamson Murray
Book Description:
This volume of comparative essays studies major military innovations in the 1920s and 1930s and explores differences in innovating exploitation by the seven major military powers. It investigates how and why innovation occurred or did not occur, and explains much of the strategic and operative performance of the Axis and Allies in WWII.
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Title: RIPPLES OF BATTLE: HOW WARS OF THE PAST STILL DETERMINE HOW WE FIGHT, HOW WE LIVE, AND HOW WE THINK
Author: Victor Hanson
Book Description:
The effects of war refuse to remain local: they persist through the centuries, sometimes in unlikely ways far removed from the military arena. The author explains how the Athenian defeat at Delium in 424 BC brought tactical innovations to infantry fighting; it also assured the influence of the philosophy of Socrates, who fought well in […]
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Title: THE AGE OF THE UNTHINKABLE: WHY THE NEW WORLD DISORDER CONSTANTLY SURPRISES US AND WHAT WE CAN DO ABOUT IT
Author: Joshua Cooper Ramo
Book Description:
Presents a new model for understanding our dangerously unpredictable world. Drawing upon history, economics, complexity theory, psychology, immunology, and the science of networks, the author describes a new landscape of inherent unpredictability–and remarkable, wonderful possibility.
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Title: THE WARRIORS: REFLECTIONS ON MEN IN BATTLE
Author: J. Glenn Gray
Book Description:
A philosophical meditation on what warfare does to us and an examination of the reasons soldiers act as they do. The author explains the attractions of battle—the adrenaline rush, the esprit de corps—and analyzes the many rationalizations made by combat troops to justify their actions. The author notes that “War reveals dimensions of human nature […]
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Title: This Kind Of War: The Classic Korean War History
Author: T. R. Fehrenbach
Book Description:
History of the Korean War written from the perspective of those who fought it. Partly drawn from official records, operations journals, and histories, it is based largely on the compelling personal narratives of small-unit commanders and their troops. As Americans and North Koreans continue to face each other across the 38th Parallel, this book offers […]
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Title: Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare
Author: Colin S. Gray
Book Description:
This book looks into the future to provide some intriguing answers about the ways Western armed forces—which have traditionally been trained to fight conventional, not guerrilla, warfare—may need to evolve.
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Title: DERELICTION OF DUTY: LYNDON JOHNSON, ROBERT MCNAMARA, THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF, AND THE LIES THAT LED TO VIETNAM
Author: H. R. McMaster
Book Description:
Analysis of how and why the United States became involved in an all-out war in Southeast Asia. Based on transcripts and personal accounts of crucial meetings, confrontations and decisions, it re-creates what happened and why. The book focuses on: President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, McGeorge Bundy and other top officials.
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Title: DIPLOMACY
Author: Henry Kissinger
Book Description:
Overview of the history and an account of Henry Kissinger’s negotiations with world leaders. The author describes how the art of diplomacy has created the world in which we live, and how America’s approach to foreign affairs has always differed vastly from that of other nations.
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Title: HOW WARS END: WHY WE ALWAYS FIGHT THE LAST BATTLE: A HISTORY OF AMERICAN INTERVENTION FROM WORLD WAR I TO AFGHANISTAN
Author: Gideon Rose
Book Description:
This book recreates the choices that presidents and their advisers have confronted during the final stages of each major conflict from WWI through Iraq. The author “puts readers in the room” with U.S. officials as they make decisions that affect millions of lives and shape the modern world—seeing what they saw, hearing what they heard, […]
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Title: MILITARY POWER: EXPLAINING VICTORY AND DEFEAT IN MODERN BATTLE
Author: Stephen Biddle
Book Description:
Systematic account of force employment’s role and how this account holds up under rigorous, multi-method testing. The results challenge a wide variety of standard views, from current expectations for a revolution in military affairs, to mainstream scholarship in international relations, and orthodox interpretations of modern military history. The author argues that force employment is central […]
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Title: MODERN STRATEGY
Author: Colin S. Gray
Book Description:
The book is a major contribution to the general theory of strategy; it makes sense of the strategic history of the twentieth century, and provides understanding of what that strategic history implies for the century to come.
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Title: SUPREME COMMAND: SOLDIERS, STATESMEN, AND LEADERSHIP IN WARTIME
Author: Eliot A. Cohen
Book Description:
This book offers compelling proof that, as Clemenceau put it, “War is too important to leave to the generals.” By examining the shared leadership traits of four politicians (Abraham Lincoln, Georges Clemenceau, Winston Churchill, and David Ben-Gurion) who triumphed in extraordinarily varied military campaigns, the author argues that active statesmen make the best wartime leaders, […]
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Title: THE FEDERALIST PAPERS
Author: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
Book Description:
This book explains the complexities of a constitutional government—its political structure and principles based on the inherent rights of man. Scholars have long regarded this work as a milestone in political science and a classic of American political theory. It is commonly referred to the third “sacred writing” of American political history, behind the Declaration […]
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Title: THE GUNS OF AUGUST
Author: Barbara Tuchman
Book Description:
This book brings to life the people and events that led up to WWI. The author clearly articulates just how the war started, why, and why it could have been stopped, but wasn’t.
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Title: THE LANDMARK THUCYDIDES: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Author: Robert B. Strassler
Book Description:
Comprehensive guide to the Peloponnesian War. It includes several maps, brief informative appendices by classical scholars, explanatory marginal notes on each page, an index of unprecedented subtlety, and numerous other useful features.
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Title: THE LANDSCAPE OF HISTORY: HOW HISTORIANS MAP THE PAST
Author: John Lewis Gaddis
Book Description:
A look at the historian’s craft as well as a strong argument for why a historical consciousness should matter to us today. For example: What is history and why should we study it? Is there such a thing as historical truth? Is history a science? This book is a “historical method” for beginners, a reaffirmation […]
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Title: The little book of economics : how the economy works in the real world
Author: Greg Ip
Book Description:
From inflation to the Federal Reserve, taxes to the budget deficit, the author walks us through how the economy really works and its role in our everyday life. Contains plain-English explanations of important economic terms, concepts, events, historical figures and major players.
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Title: The Revenge of Geography : What the map tells us about coming conflicts and the battle against fate
Author: Robert D. Kaplan
Book Description:
This book offers a new prism through which to view global upheavals and to understand what may lie ahead for continents and countries around the world. The author builds on the insights, discoveries, and theories of great geographers and geopolitical thinkers of the past to look back at critical points in history, and then to […]
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