Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno released a proposed reading list on his Facebook page for Army, and more generally, military professionals. He asked followers for feedback and suggestions. WOTR has recompiled this list. Let us know your thoughts and what’s missing.
The Army in War
- 1776, David McCullough (2006).
- The AEF Way of War: The American Army and Combat in World War I, Mark E. Grotelueschen (2007).
- American Military History, Volume II, The United States Army in a Global Era, 1917-2008, Richard W. Stewart, ed. (2010).
- The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, George Packer (2005)
- Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, James M. McPherson (1988).
- Cables from Kabul: The Inside Story of the West’s Afghanistan Campaign, Sherard Cowper-Coles (2011).
- The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare: The Triumph of the West, Geoffrey Parker, ed. (2000, 2008).
- Counterinsurgency: Exposing the Myths of the New Way of War, Douglas Porch (2013).
- Crucible of War: The Seven Years’ War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766, Fred Anderson (2001).
- The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944, Rick Atkinson (2007).
- East of Chosin: Entrapment and Breakout in Korea, 1950, Roy E. Appleman (1990).
- The Echo of Battle: The Army’s Way of War, Brian McAllister Linn (2009).
- The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme, John Keegan (1983).
- Grunts: Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience, World War II Through Iraq, John C. McManus (2011).
- Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror, Mary Habeck (2007).
- Pacific Blitzkrieg: World War II in the Central Pacific, Sharon Tosi Lacey (2013).
- Personal Memoirs: Ulysses S. Grant, Ulysses S. Grant (1885; reprinted 1999.)
- Retribution: The Battle for Japan 1944-1945, Max Hastings (2008).
- The Road to Safwan: The 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Stephen A. Bourque and John Burdan III (2007).
- Summons of the Trumpet: U.S.-Vietnam in Perspective, Dave R. Palmer (1978; reprinted 1995).
- Supplying War: Logistics From Wallenstein To Patton, Martin van Creveld (1977).
- We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang – The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway (2002).
The Army Profession
- Nineteen Stars: A Study in Military Character and Leadership, Edgar F. Puryear, Jr. (2003).
- The Game: Unraveling a Military Sex Scandal, Robert D. Shadley (2013).
- Grey Eminence: Fox Conner and the Art of Mentorship, Edward Cox (2011).
- Invisible Wounds of War: Coming Home from Iraq and Afghanistan, Marguerite Guzmán Bouvard (2012).
- Leading Change, John P. Kotter (1996).
- On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Dave Grossman (2009).
- Once an Eagle, Anton Myrer (2001).
- Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, Chip and Dan Heath (2010).
Strategy and the Strategic Environment
- The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It, Joshua Cooper Ramo (2010).
- The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World, Niall Ferguson (2008).
- A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East, Lawrence Freedman (2008).
- The Cleanest Race: How North Koreans See Themselves and Why It Matters, B. R. Myers (2010).
- The Cold War: A New History, John Lewis Gaddis (2005).
- Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know, P.W. Singer and Allan Friedman (2014).
- Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia, Ahmed Rashid (2008).
- Forgotten Continent: The Battle for Latin America’s Soul, Michael Reid (2009).
- The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, Robert B. Strassler, ed. (1996).
- Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power, Robert D. Kaplan (2010).
- The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom, Evgeny Morozov (2011).
- Makers of Modern Strategy from Machiavelli to the Nuclear Age, Peter Paret, ed. (1986).
- The Masks of War: American Military Styles in Strategy and Analysis, Carl H. Builder (1989).
- On China, Henry A. Kissinger (2011).
- On War, Indexed Edition, Carl von Clausewitz, ed. By Michael Howard and Peter Paret (1989).
- The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World, Daniel Yergin (2011).
- The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World, Rupert Smith (2008).
- Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, Andrew J. Bacevich (2010).
- Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century, P. W. Singer (2009).
Lauren Katzenberg is an Assistant Editor at War on the Rocks.
Image: Army National Guard photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jim Greenhill
Timur 
Michael 
JAM 
Bob Mathers 
Mike Murdoch 
Grant Sutton 
Mark canaday 
I only see two classics on the list (Clausewitz and Thucydides). I’m not comfortable with the idea that everything we need to understand was learned after 1776 and by people born and raised between longitudes W 155 and E 39. Reading the Peloponnesian War alone takes a working understanding of economics, military tactics, and politics. But reading lists are always a toughy…
Men at war trilogy – Evelyn Waugh
Adolf Hitler, my part in his downfall – Spike Milligan
I strongly believe that “Unrestricted Warfare” (Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui, Beijing: PLA Literature and Arts Publishing House, February 1999), is a seminal publication that should serve as a marker to indicate the current and future state of warfare that the rest of the world will utilize to counter perceived hegemony of the US.
From dictatorship to democracy: a conceptual framework for liberation – Gene Sharp.
I would substitute Atkinson’s “An Army at Dawn” for “The Day of Battle.” The former talks about an Army that was unprepared for the conflict and had to adapt quickly. How bad was the U.S. Army in 1942? The British, who had been fighting the Wehrmacht for 3 years already, referred to the Americans as “our Italians.” Ouch.
I would strongly recommend all the works by Ayn Rand, both fiction and non-fiction. The reason is that we 1st need to be clear on our overall philosophy, particularly with regard to the proper role of government in a ‘free’ society as envisioned by our founding fathers, before we decide on who to fight and why. Lack of clarity on the philosophical issues leads to poor strategy and tactics in war time situations as they did in Vietnam. ie We were right about what would happen in SE Asia if the Communists took over, but we never clarified what our long term rational self interests were in Indochina. A confused and non-effective strategy resulted……,,Mike Murdoch
The Generals by Tom Ricks
I think you are overlooking one of the best Generals that ever served in the U.S.Army.General George S Patton jr. “Patton A Genius for War” Carlo D Este.”War As I Knew It”Gen Patton. “Patton “A Study in Command”H Essame.No General in the history of the Army worked more to prepare himself for command than Patton.
“Rommel and his Art of War”by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel.A great insight into his philosophy in the conduct of war and leadership.