War

From the Trojan War to World War II to the Iraq War, history has been shaped by humanity's tragic capacity to wage war. In this thematic collection, we have gathered fiction and nonfiction texts that investigate both the lessons and the senselessness crystallized in the aftermath of military conflict.

Snow Falling on Cedars

by David Guterson

Publication year 1994

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Race, War, Equality

Tags Historical Fiction, Mystery & Crime Fiction, Race & Racism, World History, Romance, Classic Fiction

David Guterson’s Snow Falling on Cedars (1994) explores the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, a fictional Japanese American man accused of killing his white neighbor over a land dispute. The novel is set in the decade following World War II, and post-war racial tensions linger. Racism and discrimination toward Japanese Americans feature prominently, as the novel’s central community has a large Japanese American population. The novel delves into the complex relationships between the defendant, his... Read Snow Falling on Cedars Summary

Soldiers Heart

by Gary Paulsen

Publication year 1998

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes War, Fear, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, American Civil War, Military & War, Mental Illness, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, US History, World History

Gary Paulsen’s young adult novel Soldier’s Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers highlights a young soldier’s experience in the Civil War. Many of the novel’s plot events are based on historical records, as is the novel’s main character Charley, who is based on the actual soldier Charley Goddard. However, Paulsen takes liberties within the story and notes that parts of the... Read Soldiers Heart Summary

Soldier's Home

by Ernest Hemingway

Publication year 1925

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes Loneliness, War, Family, Masculinity

Tags Historical Fiction, American Literature, Modernism, Military & War, Education, Education, Classic Fiction

“Soldier’s Home” is a short story first published in Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 debut collection In Our Time. The version discussed in this guide is from The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway: The Finca Vigia Edition (Scribner, 2003).The story’s protagonist is Harold Krebs, a young man who returns home to Oklahoma after serving in World War I. It is one of many works by Hemingway, a WWI survivor, to show the impacts of the war... Read Soldier's Home Summary

Soldier X

by Don L. Wulffson

Publication year 2003

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Guilt, Memory, Language, Race, Coming of Age, The Past, Friendship, War, Safety & Danger

Tags Historical Fiction, Action & Adventure, Military & War, World War II, Holocaust, Education, Education, World History

... Read Soldier X Summary

Solitude and Leadership

by William Deresiewicz

Publication year 2009

Genre Essay / Speech, Nonfiction

Themes Power & Greed, War, Self Discovery, Emotions/Behavior: Courage

Tags Philosophy, Leadership

“Solitude and Leadership” is a speech by William Deresiewicz delivered in October 2009 to the freshman class of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Deresiewicz is an author, essayist, and former professor of English at Yale University. The lecture was published in The American Scholar in spring 2010, and this guide refers to the version hosted on the periodical’s website.Deresiewicz opens by acknowledging the apparent contradiction in the title of his speech, given... Read Solitude and Leadership Summary

Some Desperate Glory

by Emily Tesh

Publication year 2023

Genre Short Story Collection, Fiction

Themes Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Revenge, Gender Identity, Language, Sexual Identity, Coming of Age, Future, Space, Family, Friendship, Self Discovery, Community, Nation, Politics & Government, War, Justice, Power & Greed, Science & Technology

Tags Science Fiction, LGBTQ+, Fantasy

... Read Some Desperate Glory Summary

Spare Parts

by Buzz Williams

Publication year 2004

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Themes War

Tags Gulf War, Military & War

After his brother Lenny joins the Marine Corps, Williams dreams of following in his footsteps. When Lenny dies a few years later, Williams joins the Marine Reserves. For a year he serves as a “weekend warrior,” while attending college, until, in August of 1990, Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi Army invades Kuwait. Williams’s unit is activated in November and he is forced to leave college and go to war.Through training, deployment, and eventually combat, Williams journeys toward... Read Spare Parts Summary

Sparks Like Stars

by Nadia Hashimi

Publication year 2021

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Love, War, Grief, Family, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Guilt, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Colonialism, Globalization, Immigration

Tags Historical Fiction, Survival Fiction, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Arts & Culture

... Read Sparks Like Stars Summary

Steppenwolf

by Hermann Hesse

Publication year 1927

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Loneliness, Masculinity, Mental Health, The Past, Self Discovery, War, Art, Beauty, Literature, Music, Religion & Spirituality

Tags Life-Inspired Fiction, Philosophy, Existentialism, German Literature, World History, Psychology, Psychology, Philosophy, Classic Fiction

Steppenwolf, originally published in German in 1927, then translated into English in 1929, is the eighth novel published by Swiss German novelist Hermann Hesse. The novel was commercially successful upon publication, and it remains a popular novel to the present day. However, Hesse remarked that whereas his intention was to find humor in life and resist despair, Steppenwolf has often been misunderstood as a glorification of suffering. Much of Hesse’s body of work addresses spiritual... Read Steppenwolf Summary

Stepping on the Cracks

by Mary Downing Hahn

Publication year 1991

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil, War, Friendship

Tags Historical Fiction, Bullying, World History, Relationships, World War II, Children`s Literature, Military & War, Realistic Fiction

Shy, 12-year-old Margaret and her high-spirited friend Elizabeth question their beliefs about WWII when they discover that the brother of their school nemesis is a deserter in Mary Downing Hahn’s middle grade historical fiction novel, Stepping on the Cracks (1991). The novel explores themes of moral ambiguity, war, friendship, and domestic abuse, drawing on Hahn’s childhood memories of growing up in College Park, Maryland. In a short biography at the end of the novel Hahn... Read Stepping on the Cracks Summary