BOYD: THE FIGHTER PILOT WHO CHANGED THE ART OF WAR
On War
1832
NON-FICTIONThe foundational text of Western military theory. Clausewitz's analysis of war's nature, strategy, and the relationship between war and politics.
Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition
2005
NON-FICTIONDetailed military history of Napoleon's greatest victory.
1812: Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow
2004
NON-FICTIONZamoyski's devastating account of the Grande Armée's catastrophic Russian campaign, told through the voices of soldiers on both sides.
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era
1988
NON-FICTIONPulitzer Prize-winning single-volume history of the Civil War era. The standard work on the causes, course, and consequences of the conflict.
The Guns of August
1962
NON-FICTIONPulitzer Prize-winning account of the first month of WWI. Tuchman shows how miscalculation and momentum dragged Europe into catastrophe.
When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler
1995
NON-FICTIONThe authoritative operational history of the Soviet-German war, integrating Soviet archives unavailable to earlier historians.
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.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
1960
NON-FICTIONClassic history of Nazi Germany from its origins through its destruction, by a journalist who lived in Berlin and witnessed events firsthand.
The First World War
1998
NON-FICTIONAuthoritative single-volume history of WWI covering all fronts and theaters, emphasizing the devastating human cost of industrialized warfare.
Dreadnought: Britain, Germany, and the Coming of the Great War
1991
NON-FICTIONMassie traces the naval arms race between Britain and Germany that set the stage for WWI, through the personalities of kings, admirals, and politicians.
Napoleon: A Biography
1997
NON-FICTIONSweeping biography of Napoleon drawing on psychology and politics as well as military history to present a fully rounded portrait.
Grant
2017
NON-FICTIONDefinitive biography of Ulysses S. Grant, rehabilitating his reputation as both general and president through deep archival research.
The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians
2006
NON-FICTIONRevisionist history arguing that the fall of Rome was caused primarily by external military pressure from the Huns and Goths.
Alexander of Macedon, 356–323 B.C.: A Historical Biography
1974
NON-FICTIONThe most scholarly biography of Alexander the Great, placing his campaigns in their full political, economic, and cultural context.
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.
The Years of Triumph: The First World War (Seven Years War Global History)
2001
NON-FICTIONClear single-volume account of the Seven Years' War — the first truly global conflict — covering all theaters from North America to India.
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.
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.
Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945
2010
NON-FICTIONComprehensive account of the strategic bombing campaign against Japan, covering B-29 operations, fighter escort tactics, and the firebombing raids that preceded the atomic bombs.
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin
2010
NON-FICTIONGroundbreaking history of the mass killings in the lands between Germany and Russia — Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states — during the Second World War.