Recommendations based on The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Sommeby John Keegan

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944

    by Rick Atkinson
    A comprehensive and gripping account of the Allies' campaign in the Mediterranean during World War II.

    NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Majestic... Atkinson's achievement is to marry prodigious research with a superbly organized narrative and then to overlay the whole with writing as powerful and elegant as ... (Barnes & Noble)

  2. The Guns of August

    by Barbara W. Tuchman
    A riveting account of the events leading up to World War I and its devastating consequences.

    Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best nonfiction books of all time The Proud Tower, the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Guns of August, and The Zimmerman Telegram comprise Barbara W. ... (Goodreads)

  3. Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943

    by Antony Beevor
    The epic story of the Battle of Stalingrad and its devastating impact on WWII.

    The Battle of Stalingrad was not only the psychological turning point of World War II: it also changed the face of modern warfare. From Antony Beevor, the internationally bestselling author of, ... (Barnes & Noble)

  4. A Bridge Too Far

    by Cornelius Ryan
    Historical account of the Liberation of Europe during WWII, focusing on the Battle of Arnhem.

    A Bridge Too Far, is Cornelius Ryan's masterly chronicle of the Battle of Arnhem, which marshalled the greatest armada of troop-carrying aircraft ever assembled and cost the Allies nearly twice as ... (Goodreads)

  5. Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    An epic narrative of the American soldiers of Easy Company during World War II.

    As good a rifle company as any, Easy Company, 506th Airborne Division, US Army, kept getting tough assignments–responsible for everything from parachuting into France early DDay morning to the ... (Goodreads)

  6. We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang - The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam

    by Harold G. Moore
    An account of the Battle of Ia Drang in Vietnam, told from the perspective of the soldiers who fought it.

    Each year, the Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps selects one book that he believes is both relevant and timeless for reading by all Marines. The Commandant's choice for 1993 was We Were Soldiers ... (Goodreads)

  7. An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943

    by Rick Atkinson
    An account of the US Army's involvement in North Africa during WWII.

    WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND, NEW YORK TIMES, BESTSELLER,, In the first volume of his monumental trilogy about the liberation of Europe in WW II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the ... (Goodreads)

  8. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War

    by Mark Bowden
    A detailed account of the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, where US soldiers fought Somali militia in a brutal urban warfare.

    On October 3, 1993, about a hundred U.S. soldiers were dropped by helicopter into a teeming market in the heart of Mogadishu, Somalia, to abduct two top lieutenants of a Somali warlord. The action ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Fall of Berlin 1945

    by Antony Beevor
    A detailed account of the final days of World War II in Berlin, from the perspectives of both the German and Soviet sides.

    The Red Army had much to avenge when it finally reached the frontiers of the Reich in January 1945. Political instructors rammed home the message of Wehrmacht and SS brutality. The result was the ... (Goodreads)

  10. Battle Cry of Freedom

    by James M. McPherson
    A comprehensive history of the American Civil War, focusing on the political and military aspects.

    Filled with fresh interpretations and information, puncturing old myths and challenging new ones, Battle Cry of Freedom will unquestionably become the standard one-volume history of the Civil War. ... (Goodreads)

  11. With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

    by Eugene B. Sledge
    A soldier's harrowing account of his experiences in World War II.

    In his own book, Wartime, Paul Fussell called With the Old Breed "one of the finest memoirs to emerge from any war." John Keegan referred to it in The Second World War as "one of the most arresting ... (Goodreads)

  12. D-Day: The Battle for Normandy

    by Antony Beevor
    A comprehensive account of the pivotal World War II battle and its lead-up.

    "Glorious, horrifying..., D-Day, is a vibrant work of history that honors the sacrifice of tens of thousands of men and women."—,Time,Renowned historian Antony Beevor, author of, Stalingrad, and, The ... (Barnes & Noble)

  13. Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    A compelling account of courage, determination and sacrifice shown by the US Army during World War II.

    From Stephen E. Ambrose, bestselling author of, Band of Brothers, and, D-Day, the inspiring story of the ordinary men of the U.S. army in northwest Europe from the day after D-Day until the end of ... (Goodreads)

  14. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam

    by Neil Sheehan
    A detailed account of the Vietnam War, and one man's role in it.

    This passionate, epic account of the Vietnam War centres on Lt Col John Paul Vann, whose story illuminates America's failures & disillusionment in SE Asia. A field adviser to the army when US ... (Goodreads)

  15. The Forgotten Soldier

    by Guy Sajer
    A memoir of a German soldier's experiences during WWII, depicting the horrors of war.

    Forgotten Soldier recounts the horror of World War II on the eastern front, as seen through the eyes of a teenaged German soldier. At first an exciting adventure, young Guy Sajer’s war becomes, as ... (Goodreads)

  16. History of the Peloponnesian War

    by Thucydides
    Detailed account of the protracted war between Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece.

    Written four hundred years before the birth of Christ, this detailed contemporary account of the long life-and-death struggle between Athens and Sparta stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its ... (Goodreads)

  17. Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War

    by Evan Wright
    A journalist embedded with a Marine battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, providing a raw and unfiltered account of modern warfare.

    Another nameless town, another target for First Recon. It's only five in the afternoon, but a sandtorm has plunged everything into a hellish twilight of murky, red dust. On rooftops, in alleyways ... (Goodreads)

  18. On War

    by Carl von Clausewitz
    A comprehensive analysis of the nature and principles of war, including its political and social aspects.

    Carl von Clausewitz's On War has been called, "not simply the greatest, but the only truly great book on war." It is an extraordinary attempt to construct an all-embracing theory of how war works. ... (Goodreads)

  19. The Longest Day

    by Cornelius Ryan
    A riveting account of the Allied forces' D-Day invasion of Normandy during WWII.

    First published in 1959,, The Longest Day, is one of the bestselling military history books of all time, and the inspiration for the legendary 1962 film. Cornelius Ryan pioneered a new style of ... (Barnes & Noble)

  20. Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

    by Jon Krakauer
    A gripping narrative of the 1996 expedition on Mount Everest that resulted in tragedy.

    When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. ... (Goodreads)

  21. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

    by William L. Shirer
    The definitive story of Nazi Germany, its rise and fall, and its lasting impacts.

    Hitler boasted that The Third Reich would last a thousand years. It lasted only 12. But those 12 years contained some of the most catastrophic events Western civilization has ever known. No other ... (Goodreads)

  22. War

    by Sebastian Junger
    A gripping account of the experience of soldiers in combat and the psychological aftermath of war.

    In his breakout bestseller, The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger created "a wild ride that brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea and the often futile attempts of humans to withstand ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Selfish Gene

    by Richard Dawkins
    A study of evolutionary biology, exploring how genes act and how they impact behavior.

    Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The ... (Goodreads)

  24. 1776

    by David McCullough
    A riveting account of the events leading up to and during the American Revolution.

    In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence - when the whole American ... (Goodreads)

  25. A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance: Portrait of an Age

    by William Manchester
    A vivid portrayal of the medieval world, its beliefs, and practices, and the emergence of the Renaissance.

    From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose, and with the grace ... (Goodreads)

  26. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

    by J.D. Vance
    An exploration of the struggles of working-class Americans, and the power of family and culture to shape one's life.

    Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for ... (Goodreads)

  27. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

    by Thomas S. Kuhn
    An analysis of how scientific progress is made, and the role of paradigms and paradigmatic shifts.

    A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, ... (Goodreads)

  28. The Art of War

    by Sun Tzu
    Ancient Chinese military treatise outlining strategies for success in battle.

    Twenty-Five Hundred years ago, Sun Tzu wrote this classic book of military strategy based on Chinese warfare and military thought. Since that time, all levels of military have used the teaching on ... (Goodreads)

  29. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies

    by Jared Diamond
    Tracing the origins of human civilizations through the lens of geography, technology, and biology.

    "Diamond has written a book of remarkable scope ... one of the most important and readable works on the human past published in recent years." Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a national bestseller: ... (Goodreads)

  30. Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life

    by Alison Weir
    Biography of a medieval queen and her legacy, exploring her remarkable life and impact.

    In this beautifully written biography, Alison Weir paints a vibrant portrait of a truly exceptional woman and provides new insights into her intimate world. Renowned in her time for being the most ... (Goodreads)