IWO JIMA: BLOODBATH IN THE BONINS
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa
1981
MEMOIROne of the most powerful firsthand accounts of combat ever written. A U.S. Marine's unsparing memoir of the Pacific island-hopping campaign.
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
2011
NON-FICTIONDefinitive account of the brutal naval campaign for Guadalcanal, covering six major sea battles fought in Iron Bottom Sound.
Guadalcanal Diary
1943
MEMOIRWar correspondent's firsthand diary of the Marines' desperate first weeks on Guadalcanal — one of the earliest eyewitness accounts of WWII Pacific combat.
Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War
1980
MEMOIRManchester revisits the Pacific battlefields of his youth, weaving personal memoir with historical narrative across Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, and Okinawa.
Peleliu 1944: The Forgotten Corner of Hell
2005
NON-FICTIONHarrowing account of the First Marine Division's assault on Peleliu — one of the bloodiest and most controversial battles of the Pacific War, fought over an island of questionable strategic value.
Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World
2006
NON-FICTIONScholarly account of the Battle of Thermopylae by a leading classicist, examining the historical reality behind the Spartan stand and its extraordinary afterlife in Western culture.
A Time for Trumpets
1985
NON-FICTIONComprehensive history of the Battle of the Bulge by a historian who fought in it.
Shattered Sword
2005
NON-FICTIONRevolutionary account of Midway from the Japanese perspective, debunking many myths.
Miracle at Midway
1982
NON-FICTIONDetailed reconstruction of the battle that turned the tide in the Pacific.
Gates of Fire
1998
FICTIONA vivid fictional account of the 300 Spartans who held the pass at Thermopylae. Widely regarded as the finest military historical novel ever written.
Persian Fire: The First World Empire and the Battle for the West
2005
NON-FICTIONHolland's gripping narrative of the Persian invasions of Greece, from Marathon to Salamis, and how a tiny Greek coalition stopped the mightiest empire on earth.
The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265-146BC
2000
NON-FICTIONDefinitive modern account of all three Punic Wars, from Hannibal's crossing of the Alps to the final destruction of Carthage.
Band of Brothers
1992
NON-FICTIONThe story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, from D-Day to the end of the war in Europe. Basis for the HBO miniseries.
Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan
1985
NON-FICTIONComprehensive single-volume history of the Pacific War covering strategy, tactics, leadership, and the experience of soldiers and sailors on both sides.
Citizen Soldiers
1997
NON-FICTIONThe story of the American infantryman in the ETO from the breakout after D-Day to the fall of Germany, based on hundreds of veteran interviews.
The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic
2010
NON-FICTIONAccount of Hannibal's invasion of Italy and the catastrophic Roman defeat at Cannae, the tactical masterpiece that still influences military thought.
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
2005
NON-FICTIONRevisionist operational account of Midway from the Japanese perspective, drawing on previously unavailable Japanese records to overturn the conventional American narrative.
Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors
2004
NON-FICTIONThe story of the Battle off Samar — when a tiny force of destroyers and destroyer escorts charged the most powerful Japanese surface fleet of the war to defend the Leyte Gulf invasion.
Kokoda
2004
NON-FICTIONThe dramatic story of Australian and American troops fighting Japanese forces along the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea — the campaign that stopped Japan's advance toward Australia.