Sgt. Major Mike Barnett offers this list of 54 books for Marines to read so they can better understand the history and culture of of the USMC. There are some great works here.
“13 Cent Killers: The 5th Marine Snipers in Vietnam,” by John J. Culbertson
“Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character,” by Jonathan Shay
“Always Faithful: A Memoir of the Marine Dogs of WWII,” by William W. Putney
“Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander’s War in Iraq,” by Peter R. Mansoor
“Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest,” by Stephen Ambrose
“Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era,” by James M. McPherson
“Bayonet! Forward: My Civil War Reminiscences,” by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
“Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign, Korea 1950,” by Martin Russ
“Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power,” by Victor Davis Hanson
“Colder Than Hell: A Marine Rifle Company at Chosin Reservoir,” by Joseph R. Owen
“Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and their Families,” by Keith Armstrong, Dr. Suzanne Best, Dr. Paula Domenici and Bob Dole
“Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945,” by Field-Marshal Viscount William Slim and David Hogan
“Edson’s Raiders: The 1st Marine Raider Battalion in World War II,” by Joseph H. Alexander
“Endless War: Middle-Eastern Islam vs. Western Civilization,” by Ralph Peters
“Fields of Battle: The Wars for North America,” by John Keegan
“First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps,” by Victor H. Krulak
“Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae,” by Steven Pressfield
“Gods and Generals,” by Jeff Shaara
“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … And Others Don’t,” by Jim Collins
“Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle,” by Richard B. Frank
“Heroes Among Us,” by Major Chuck Larson, John McCain And General Tommy Franks
“Iwo Jima: Portrait of a Battle: United States Marines at War in the Pacific,” by Eric Hammel
“Leading the Charge: Leadership Lessons from the Battlefield to the Boardroom,” by Tony Zinni and Tony Koltz
“Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War,” by Karl Marlantes
“A Message to Garcia,” by Elbert Hubbard
“Okinawa: The Last Battle of World War II,” by Robert Leckie
“Once a Marine: The Memoirs of General A. A. Vandegrift Commandant of the U.S. Marines in WW II,” by A.A. Vandegrift and Robert B. Asprey
“Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery,” by Nick Popaditch and Mike Steere
“Patton: A Genius for War,” by Carlo D’Este
“The Reminiscences of a Marine,” by John Archer Lejeune
“Rifleman Dodd,” by C.S. Forester
“The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power,” by Max Boot
“Semper Fi: Business Leadership the Marine Corps Way,” by Dan Carrison and Rod Walsh
“Silent Warrior: The Marine Sniper’s Story Vietnam Continues,” by Charles Henderson
“Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan,” by Robert D. Kaplan
“The Art of War,” by Sun Tzu
“The Bridge at Dong Ha,” by John Grider Miller
“The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War,” by David Halberstam
“The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme,” by John Keegan
“The General,” by C.S. Forrester
“The Gift of Valor: A War Story,” by Michael M. Phillips
“The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat,” by Robert Drury and Tom Clavin
“The Lions of Iwo Jima,” by Major General Fred Haynes and James A. Warren
“The Marines of Montford Point: America’s First Black Marines,” by Melton Alonza Mclaurin
“The Mask of Command,” by John Keegan
“The Navajo Code Talkers,” by Doris A. Paul
“The Village,” by Bing West
“Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War,” by M. Sallah and M. Weiss
“Victory at High Tide: The Inchon Seoul Campaign,” by Robert Debs Heinl
“War in the Pacific 1941-1945,” by Richard Overy and Dale Dye
“We Were One: Shoulder to Shoulder with the Marines Who took Fallujah,” by Patrick K. O’Donnell
“We Were Soldiers Once … And Young: Ia Drang — The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam,” by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway
“With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa,” by E.B. Sledge
“Wounded Warriors: Those for Whom the War Never Ends,” by Mike Sager
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