SICILY '43
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.
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.
Enemy at the Gates
1973
NON-FICTIONThe definitive account of the Battle of Stalingrad, told through the eyes of soldiers on both sides.
The Longest Day
1959
NON-FICTIONClassic account of the Normandy invasion from all perspectives — Allied, German, and French civilian.
Miracle at Midway
1982
NON-FICTIONDetailed reconstruction of the battle that turned the tide in the Pacific.
Kursk 1943
2013
NON-FICTIONAuthoritative account of the greatest tank battle in history.
An Army at Dawn
2002
NON-FICTIONPulitzer Prize-winning first volume of Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy covering the North Africa campaign.
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.
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.
The Road to Stalingrad
1975
NON-FICTIONFirst volume of Erickson's monumental two-volume history of the Soviet-German war, covering the catastrophic opening campaigns through the winter of 1942.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Battle of Kursk
1999
NON-FICTIONThe definitive operational history of Kursk — the largest tank battle ever fought — drawing on Soviet and German archives to provide a day-by-day account of the fighting.
Bagration 1944: The Destruction of Army Group Centre
1996
NON-FICTIONConcise operational account of Operation Bagration — the massive Soviet offensive that destroyed three German armies and broke the Eastern Front wide open in the summer of 1944.
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.