Recommendations based on Citizen Soldiers: The US Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germanyby Stephen E. Ambrose

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

  1. 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)

  2. D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    A comprehensive account of the pivotal World War II invasion of Normandy.

    Now illustrated with an extraordinary collection of over 125 photos, Stephen E. Ambrose’s D-Day is the definitive history of World War II’s most pivotal battle, June 6, 1944, the day that changed the ... (Barnes & Noble)

  3. Undaunted Courage: The Pioneering First Mission to Explore America's Wild Frontier

    by Stephen E. Ambrose
    Epic tale of exploration and adventure as Lewis and Clark traverse the American wilderness.

    'This was much more than a bunch of guys out on an exploring and collecting expedition. This was a military expedition into hostile territory'. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson selected his ... (Goodreads)

  4. 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)

  5. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

    by Dick Winters
    An account of World War II by a decorated officer who led the legendary Easy Company.

    They were called Easy Company—but their mission was never easy., Immortalized as the Band of Brothers , they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe—an unparalleled record of bravery under ... (Goodreads)

  6. 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)

  7. 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)

  8. Flyboys: A True Story of Courage

    by James D. Bradley
    The story of nine American airmen shot down over Chichi Jima during World War II and their brutal treatment by the Japanese.

    Over the remote Pacific island of Chichi Jima, nine American flyers-Navy and Marine pilots sent to bomb Japanese communications towers there-were shot down., Flyboys, a story of war and horror but ... (Goodreads)

  9. 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)

  10. Flags of Our Fathers

    by James D. Bradley
    A tribute to the brave soldiers who raised the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima during WWII.

    In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who ... (Goodreads)

  11. Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

    by Robert Leckie
    A WWII Marine's first-hand account of his harrowing experiences in the Pacific Theater.

    Now the inspiration behind the HBO series THE PACIFIC Here is one of the most riveting first-person accounts to ever come out of the Second World War. Robert Leckie was 21 when he enlisted in the US ... (Goodreads)

  12. Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

    by Hampton Sides
    True story of the remarkable rescue of prisoners of war in the Philippines during WWII.

    On January 28, 1945, 121 hand-selected U.S. troops slipped behind enemy lines in the Philippines. Their mission: March thirty rugged miles to rescue 513 POWs languishing in a hellish camp, among them ... (Goodreads)

  13. 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)

  14. John Adams

    by David McCullough
    Biography of the second President of the United States and his contributions to the founding of the nation.

    The enthralling, often surprising story of John Adams, one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived. In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous ... (Goodreads)

  15. 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)

  16. 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)

  17. 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)

  18. 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)

  19. 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)

  20. The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914

    by David McCullough
    Historical account of the construction of the Panama Canal, and the struggles of those who built it.

    On December 31, 1999, after nearly a century of rule, the United States officially ceded ownership of the Panama Canal to the nation of Panama. That nation did not exist when, in the mid-19th ... (Goodreads)

  21. Washington's Crossing

    by David Hackett Fischer
    A detailed account of George Washington's daring crossing of the Delaware River during the American Revolution, and its impact on the war.

    Six months after the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution was all but lost. A powerful British force had routed the Americans at New York, occupied three colonies, and advanced within ... (Goodreads)

  22. Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever

    by Bill O'Reilly
    A detailed account of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and its impact on the nation.

    A riveting historical narrative of the heart-stopping events surrounding the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and the first work of history from mega-bestselling author Bill O'Reilly, The anchor of, ... (Goodreads)

  23. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

    by Erik Larson
    A family's struggle to cope with the darkness of Nazi Germany, as seen through one man's courage.

    The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from ... (Goodreads)

  24. Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History

    by S.C. Gwynne
    Epic tale of the Comanche tribe's rise and fall in North America.

    In the tradition of, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, ... (Goodreads)

  25. 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)

  26. 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)

  27. 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)

  28. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

    by Doris Kearns Goodwin
    A comprehensive study of the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, and the unique cabinet he assembled.

    Winner of the Lincoln Prize Acclaimed historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's political genius in this highly original work, as the one-term congressman and prairie lawyer rises from ... (Goodreads)

  29. The Rape of Nanking

    by Iris Chang
    A harrowing account of the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers during the Nanking Massacre in 1937.

    In December 1937, the Japanese army invaded the ancient city of Nanking, systematically raping, torturing, and murdering more than 300,000 Chinese civilians. This book tells the story from three ... (Goodreads)

  30. His Excellency: George Washington

    by Joseph J. Ellis
    Biography of the first President of the United States and the key role he played in the founding of the nation.

    To this landmark biography of our first president, Joseph J. Ellis brings the exacting scholarship, shrewd analysis, and lyric prose that have made him one of the premier historians of the ... (Goodreads)