Venture onto the battlefield with titles that help you understand the human experience during war.
Brave generals, rugged landscapes, and failed military strategies make for captivating popcorn flicks. But stories of real-life war heroes deserve more than two hours of screen time.
There’s a lot more to learn about the men and women behind the world’s biggest events—the ones who fought and sacrificed, who became heroes. This Veteran’s Day, dive into their stories and get the chance to see their true selves—their perseverance against ugly circumstances, the personality clashes of their leaders, and the humanity that drives them. No matter your genre of preference, these titles will move you.
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In this first installment of the Army of the Potomac trilogy, Bruce Catton uses clear, sharp prose to immerse readers in the early tensions of the Civil War, including those between Lincoln and the charismatic McClellan. Meanwhile, the soldiers in the Union Army struggled under the leadership of incompetent commanders but kept fighting for their cause. With the same graceful narration that won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, Catton uses the stories from diaries, letters and field reports to bring soldiers’ experiences on the battlefield to life.
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Joseph L. Galloway was the only journalist on the ground during the horrific Ia Drang battle in Vietnam—and it’s easy to see why. Surrounded by 2,000 enemy soldiers, the 450 men of the First Battalion, Seventh Calvary fought one of the most savage battles of the Vietnam War. More than a story of battle tactics and strategy, this New York Times bestseller portrays the battle through the eyes of hundreds of men who fought, depicting a human side of war that is rarely seen.
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In war as in life, there are certain turning points that foreshadow a twist of fate. And in military history, attacking Russia almost never ends well—not even for Germany’s formidable army in World War II. While capturing Russia’s Stalingrad began as a likely victory for the Third Reich in 1942, it turned into a five-month slog with Russia that marked the decline of Germany’s military dominance. In this classic retelling that inspired the movie Enemy at the Gates, starring Joseph Fiennes and Jude Law, William Craig illuminates everything from the clash of large military powers to the thrilling accounts of soldiers and survivors.
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As we thank soldiers for their sacrifices on Veteran’s Day, it’s important to remember the toll that PTSD takes on many lives. War has always been traumatic, but Lt. Col. Grossman shows how modern armies are trained out of their anti-killing instincts—and how the media uses the same techniques on civilians. From the stories of war veterans to violent video games on the home front, On Killing explains how we are all being trained out of our humanity.
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Soldiers immersed in war recognize its costs every day. But for the rest of us, it can be difficult to fully understand the sacrifices they make. Few writers narrate these hardships better than Ron Kovic, who was paralyzed during the Vietnam war and went on to become an anti-war activist. Kovic’s story shows how even a young, crackling patriotism isn’t enough to offset the physical and emotional costs of combat—and the poor treatment of veterans that often follows.
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