A Sniper in the Arizona by John Culbertson

 Memoir of a Marine Sniper in the "Arizona Territory" in Vietnam in 1967. A quick read, the combat action is more general platoon action than what one thinks of as classic sniper warfare.

Challenge for the Pacific by Robert Leckie

Leckie was a WW2 Marine veteran of Guadalcanal and several other campaigns. His story is included as part of the HBO Band of Brothers series The Pacific.

This book is Leckie's account of the Guadalcanal campaign. It's an excellent, engaging read, mixing description of the high level strategy with in-the-foxhole details. There are a lot of personal details about the individuals involved, and Leckie's own experiences on Guadalcanal give a realism not often reached in these type of histories.

Fields of Fire by James Webb

Vietnam War novel I've been intending to read for many years, and finally got around to it. An excellent read and highly recommended, although I don't think it is quite as good as Matterhorn or The 13th Valley. All three are outstanding.

Hitler's Greatest Defeat by Paul Adair

This refers to Operation Bagration, the Soviet Summer Offensive that began on June 22, 1944. We in the West focus primarily on DDay as the major military event of Summer '44, but it was Bagration that really did in the Wehrmacht, which saw 30 divisions destroyed in the matter of a few weeks.  This book is a concise, quick read on the subject.

Beyond Band of Brothers by Maj. Dick Winters

Personal war memories of Richard Winters, of Band of Brothers fame. Winters was an excellent leader and has a lot of insights into what is required of good military leaders.

One point he makes that isn't always appreciated is how important endurance is to a leader. Winters could keep going after most of his men were exhausted and, in that respect, could lead by example. He'd sleep a couple of hours, be refreshed, and keep going. In the Marine Corps, this was a challenge for me. I've never been a good sleeper, even under the best conditions, and managing fatigue was always a problem for me. I remember at OCS, as soon as the lights went out, I would hear guys snoring within a couple of minutes. I'd be so wound up it would take me several hours to go to sleep. Then I'd wake up an hour before reveille, not because I wanted to, but because it was so unpleasant to be startled awake by the shouting of the platoon sergeant that my body woke me up anticipating it. So I would gradually find myself in a state of serious sleep deprivation. When we were finally granted liberty, I checked into a hotel in town and slept for 14 hours straight.

It didn't get any better in the Fleet Marine Force. Out in the field, I had great difficulty falling asleep and would generally be a zombie after a few days. Probably a good thing I never saw combat.

Mustang Ace by Robert Goebel

Great war memoir by an 11 victory P-51 ace. The used copy I received happened to be endorsed in Goebel's own hand, and in between the pages was a letter from Goebel to another P-51 pilot.

Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes

Excellent Vietnam novel by a decorated Marine Officer. Maybe the best Vietnam novel I've read (another good one is The 13th Valley). Although I was never in combat, or in the Marine Corps during time of war, I underwent the same infantry training as Marlantes (which he references periodically throughout the book), so I am familiar with the routine tasks of infantry platoon leadership like leading patrols, setting up defensive positions, setting out listening posts, periodic position checks during the night, etc. Marinates relates the responsibility that goes with all this, and the fatigue that results from never getting more than a few hours of sleep with something always to do - along with the stress and terror of combat on top of it. Highly recommended.

We Were There at The Battle of the Bulge by David Shepherd

This is an (older) children's book that I remember from my youth. I happened to stumble across it while surfing Amazon and figured - why not pick it up for a couple of bucks? It's just as good as I remember and a great way to introduce kids to military history. I also have We Were There at the Battle of Gettysburg somewhere that I got many years ago... I can't remember if I ever got around to reading it to the kids.

Verdun by John Mosier

Interesting take on the Battle of Verdun in WW1 that takes on the conventional wisdom. Mosier makes a strong case that it was not, nor was intended to be, a battle of attrition. He points out things like the fact that the German casualty rate was no lower before and after the battle than during it. He also makes a good case that the first German Chief of Staff, von Falkenhayn, was way ahead of everyone else (both in Germany and among the Allied nations) in understanding the nature of the war.

Firebase Illingworth by Philip Keith

Excellent Vietnam battle story, late war.

Blood Red Snow by Gunter Koschorrek

Memoirs of a German soldier who served on the Eastern Front from the Battle of Stalingrad to the end of the war. Maybe the best of this type of book and the most intense first-person account of war I've ever read.

Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius

War memoirs by German Tiger tank ace and Knight's Cross winner.

Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian

Memoirs of the famous Hurrying Heinz of the Wehrmacht.

Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully

This is a thorough and somewhat revisionist history of the Battle of Midway. The authors don't challenge the conventional history - a glorious American victory based on superior intelligence, planning, tactical flexibility, individual initiative and a good bit of luck - but they do reveal many fascinating details that expose some unsung heroes and also overturn a few well-known but false truisms concerning the American triumph. Among the former is Lt. Dick Best, perhaps the most accurate dive-bombing aviator in the U.S. Navy. It turns out that only three dive-bombers attacked the Japanese carrier Akagi in the critical attack that sank three flattops. Best and his element were winging over to attack the Kaga when he noticed that it was also being attacked by the more famous C. Wade McCluskey and his planes. At the last second, Best changed his target to the Akagi and, among the three planes attacking, scored the only hit. But that hit was enough to turn the Akagi into an inferno. Had Best gone after the Kaga, the Akagi would have been left unscathed and capable of delivering a possibly devastating counterattack on the U.S. fleet. Best also scored a hit on the Hiryu in a later attack. Among the false notions concerning the battle is the claim that the Japanese carriers were caught with flight decks full of planes being refueled and rearmed. By analyzing the timeline of events the authors show that this cannot be true. In fact, the origin of the notion was probably as a means for the Japanese commanders to save face, as they could blame the disaster on unfortunate circumstance rather than poor planning and tactical performance. Highly recommended.

The Longest Winter by Alex Kershaw

Riveting account of an I&R platoon in the 99th Division during the Battle of the Bulge and afterwards in captivity. I knew remotely the story of a platoon that held up the entire northern German thrust for a day, but this book provides the first hand account details of how 18 men more or less ruined Wacht Am Rhein the first day of the operation.

Blitzkrieg by Len Deighton

Excellent account of the Battle of France, 1940, from the rise of Hitler to Dunkirk.

If I Die in a Combat Zone by TIm O'Brien

Another Vietnam diary. I can't seem to get enough of these.

France: Summer 1940 by John Williams

An account of the fall of France in 1940, part of the Ballantine series.

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat by John Lukacs

A history of the famous speech Winston Churchill gave on May 13, 1940, when he became Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Carnage and Culture by Victor Davis Hanson