Memorial Day 2025 has passed, but books about battlefield bravery are great reads all year. Some of the world’s great literature concerns war because it tends to bring out the best, and worst, in humans. Honoring them shouldn’t be confined to one day.
We’re building a community one book at a time by sharing the reads that inspire us. Check out these recommendations to find your next good read. And if you are looking for more recommendations or have one of your own, click the buttons below!
Recommendation: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien
Why it’s a good read: Set in Vietnam, this collection of short stories covers the weight of war – what the American soldier-protagonists not only physically carried but the guilt and confusion they hauled around psychologically. O’Brien, who based the book partially on his own experiences, crafted an emotional read that portrays the complexity of war’s effect on its participants far better than most other books and films covering the same territory. It’s simply a masterpiece.
Synopsis: Young men sent to a war they don’t understand to feel its effects they don’t anticipate, with plenty of well-written surprises that go so far beyond simple us-versus-them.
Recommendation: “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque
Why it’s a good read: Because it’s very well-written, humanizing the “other” side – the German side – set in World War I. It’s stark and dark in its descriptions of battle, contrasting a bright life back home and dreams of glory with the ugly shift in humanity and terror brought by battle. The reader feels the tragedy ripping away the potential and optimism of the young. It’s an unforgettable book.
Synopsis: An illustration of the paradox of sending optimistic young men just starting life to likely die and/or suffer for the rest of their lives for reasons they likely can’t grasp. Remargue based his story – called by many the greatest war novel ever written – on his own experiences.
Recommendation: “Guadalcanal Diary” by Richard Tregaskis
Why it’s a good read: Tregaskis was one of the great World War II correspondents and his account of the U.S. invasion of the Solomon Islands is a fascinating snapshot into not only war coverage, but journalism in the 1940s. Tregaskis took the readers along as he landed with U.S. forces and chronicled the soldiers he came to know as they dug in to battle Japanese forces. The book was a bestseller and later made into a film.
Synopsis: The Solomon Islands campaign was pivotal and came early in the war (beginning in Aug.1942). Tregaskis was there for seven weeks and it was one of the first long form pieces of modern journalism chronicling the war.