Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Community, Truth & Lies, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Historical Fiction, Military & War, European History, World History, Romance
Military Reads
Our Military Reads Collection features works that examine military service, conflict, and peace. Representing global perspectives and a broad range of literary genres, these selections explore the impacts of wars both real and imagined on civilians and service members alike.
I Must Betray You
In Another Country
In Country
In Flanders Fields
In Memoriam
In the Garden of Beasts
In the Lake of the Woods
In the Likely Event
In The Shadow Of The Banyan
Into That Darkness
Iphigenia in Aulis
Iron Curtain Speech
Island of a Thousand Mirrors
I Survived the American Revolution, 1776
It's Your Ship
I Will Fight No More Forever
Johnny Got His Gun
Johnny Tremain
Journey to Topaz
Jubilee
Publication year 2022
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Community, Truth & Lies, Loyalty & Betrayal
Tags Historical Fiction, Military & War, European History, World History, Romance
Publication year 1925
Genre Short Story, Fiction
Themes Loneliness, War, Masculinity, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Love, Marriage
Tags Historical Fiction, World War I, Education, Education, Military & War, American Literature, World History, Classic Fiction
“In Another Country” is a short story by Ernest Hemingway first published in Scribner’s Magazine in 1927. Hemingway was one of the most celebrated writers of his time and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954. His works include short stories and novels as well as journalism and non-fiction studies, such as Death in the Afternoon (1932), about bullfighting. This guide refers to the version of “In Another Country” reprinted in the 1938... Read In Another Country Summary
Publication year 1985
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Coming of Age, Conflict, Family, War
Tags Historical Fiction, Military & War, Mental Illness, Education, Education, American Literature, Southern Literature
In Country, published in 1985, is Bobbie Ann Mason's debut novel. The story takes place in Hopewell, Kentucky, in 1984, 10 years after the end of US involvement in Vietnam. Mason grew up on a dairy farm outside Mayfield, Kentucky, and is thus well-acquainted with the rural South and its people. The classic coming-of-age story follows protagonist Samantha Hughes (known as Sam) as she seeks to discover the truth about her father and his death... Read In Country Summary
Publication year 1915
Genre Poem, Fiction
Themes Memory
Tags Lyric Poem, Military & War, Classic Fiction
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Love, Sexual Identity, War
Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, LGBTQ+, Military & War, World War I
Publication year 2011
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Guilt
Tags Holocaust, Politics & Government, European History, World War II, Military & War, World History, Biography
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson is a non-fiction book published in 2011. It recounts the early years of Germany's Nazi regime from the perspective of the American ambassador, William Dodd, and his family. In Berlin, the family watches with growing horror as Hitler increases his dictatorial control over Germany, rearms the country in preparation for war, and conducts a national campaign of violent... Read In the Garden of Beasts Summary
Publication year 1994
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Mystery & Crime Fiction, Horror & Suspense, Military & War, Modern Classic Fiction, Historical Fiction
A thriller with an unsolved mystery at its core, In the Lake of the Woods by Tim O’Brien, explores love and the nature of the heart, then carefully explicates the psychological damage of war and the toll it takes on individuals, families, and society as a whole, through the story of one man—John Wade. The plot’s central mystery—the disappearance of Kathy Wade—is one of several unveiled in this novel. O’Brien constructs a novel in which... Read In the Lake of the Woods Summary
Publication year 2023
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes War, Grief, Love
Tags Modern Classic Fiction, Romance, Horror & Suspense, Military & War, Mental Illness, Trauma & Abuse
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Grief, Coming of Age
Tags Historical Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, Social Class, Asian History, Politics & Government, Social Justice, Vietnam War, Military & War, Asian Literature, World History, Arts & Culture
In the Shadow of the Banyan (2012) is a historical fiction novel by the Cambodian American author Vaddey Ratner. Set in the 1970s during the Cambodian genocide, the book’s perspective is from Raami, a seven-year-old girl and the daughter of a minor prince whose family is among the millions of Cambodians persecuted by the Khmer Rouge. While Raami’s story hews very closely to Ratner’s own real-life experiences, the author chose to write a work of... Read In The Shadow Of The Banyan Summary
Publication year 1974
Genre Biography, Nonfiction
Themes Guilt, Good & Evil, Justice, War
Tags World War II, Holocaust, Crime & Law, Military & War, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Biography
Publication year 410
Genre Play, Fiction
Themes Family, Loyalty & Betrayal, Community, War
Tags Dramatic Literature, Military & War, Mythology, Classical Period, Fantasy, Classic Fiction
Publication year 1946
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes War, Power & Greed, Politics & Government
Tags Politics & Government, Military & War, European History
Publication year 2012
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Race
Tags Historical Fiction, Military & War, Modern Classic Fiction, World History
Nayomi Munaweera was born in Sri Lanka in 1973 as ethnic tensions on the island nation were rising. Island of a Thousand Mirrors (2012) is her first novel and a work of fiction built upon real events leading up to and during the Sri Lankan Civil War that lasted from 1983 to 2009. The story explores cyclical ethnic tension and the impacts of civil war from the perspectives of two female narrators, one from the... Read Island of a Thousand Mirrors Summary
Publication year 2017
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Coming of Age, Family, Colonialism, War
Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Military & War, World History, American Revolution, Action & Adventure
Publication year 2002
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Perseverance, Teamwork, Equality
Tags Leadership, Military & War, Business & Economics, Self-Improvement, Biography
Publication year 1877
Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction
Themes Wins & Losses, War, Indigenous Identity, Justice
Tags US History, Military & War
Publication year 1939
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Disability, War, Social Class
Tags Historical Fiction, Horror & Suspense, World War I, Military & War, World History, Classic Fiction, Politics & Government
Publication year 1943
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Safety & Danger, Loyalty & Betrayal, Justice, War, Politics & Government, Self Discovery, Coming of Age, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage
Tags Historical Fiction, Children`s Literature, Action & Adventure, American Revolution, Education, Education, Military & War, World History, Classic Fiction
Originally published in 1943, Esther Forbes’s Johnny Tremain is a classic middle-grade historical fiction/adventure novel. After a prideful accident ends 14-year-old Johnny Tremain’s promising career as a silversmith, his search for a new trade leads to his direct involvement in the early events of the American Revolution. The novel won a Newbery Medal and explores themes of self-sacrifice, humility, and change. Citations in this study guide refer to the 2018 eBook edition released by Houghton... Read Johnny Tremain Summary
Publication year 1971
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Perseverance, Race, Coming of Age, Family, Immigration, Nation, Politics & Government, War, Justice
Tags Historical Fiction, World War II, US History, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Military & War, World History
Published in 1971 by Japanese American author and educator Yoshiko Uchida (1921-1992), Journey to Topaz is the first children’s novel to address the United States government’s forced relocation of people of Japanese descent to wartime prison camps during World War II. The novel follows the Sakane family’s life as they are forced to move from their comfortable home in Berkeley, California, to the Topaz War Relocation Center, a concentration camp, in the harsh Utah desert... Read Journey to Topaz Summary
Publication year 1966
Genre Novel, Fiction
Themes Family
Tags Historical Fiction, Race & Racism, African American Literature, Military & War, Southern Literature, World History, Classic Fiction
Margaret Walker’s 1966 novel, Jubilee, is based on the story of Walker’s maternal great-grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. The historical fiction novel is sometimes described as a corollary to Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind—the epic story of a strong Southern woman who lives during the antebellum period, the Civil War, and Reconstruction; though, the Southern woman in this story is black, and her strength comes from having endured the withering degradation of slavery.Plot SummaryJubilee... Read Jubilee Summary