For as long as there have been wars, there have been those who study war and record its consequences.
No matter how just a war may seem, there is always a responsibility for civilians to understand the cost of conflict. Books about war help remind us of the consequences of war, even if we’ve never experienced it ourselves.
Maintaining this intellectual curiosity won’t stop all wars, but it will allow us to keep those who wage war accountable.
In this post, we’ve rounded up 16 of the best books about war, including works of both fiction and nonfiction.
Fiction Books About War
Here are 7 of the best novels about war that feature tales of bravery, resilience, and loss.
1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
It’s 1939, and Liesel Meminger is a foster girl living in Nazi Germany. In her dark world, there’s something that brings her light—books. And she steals them whenever she gets the chance, sharing them with her neighbors during bombing raids, and with the Jewish man hidden in her basement.
With help from her foster father, Liesel learns to read, and later begins to write her own story, documenting the horrors of war and the duality of humanity.
2. All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
Paul Bäumer enlists with his classmates in the German army during World War I, full of youthful enthusiasm and guided by the promise of a quick war.
But everything they were taught about duty, culture, and progress falls apart with the first bombardment in the trenches.
Documenting years of vivid horror, Paul dedicates himself above all to fighting the hate that meaninglessly pits young men against one another.
3. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
This classic anti-war novel was the result of Vonnegut’s 23-year struggle to write about what he witnessed as an American prisoner of war in Germany.
Combining historical fiction, science fiction, autobiography, and satire into an account of the fictional Billy Pilgrim, who, like Vonnegut, experiences the destruction of Dresden.
Published at the height of the Vietnam War, Vonnegut’s darkly humorous and haunting story of political disillusionment, PTSD, and postwar anxiety remains as relevant and powerful as ever.
4. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Twelve-year-old Marie-Laure lives near Paris’s Museum of Natural History, where her father works. When the Nazis occupy the city, Marie-Laure and her father flee to the walled citadel of Saint-Malo, carrying what might be the museum’s most valuable and dangerous jewel.
In a mining town in Germany, orphan Werner Pfennig and his younger sister are enchanted by a crude radio they find that brings them news and stories from places they have never seen or imagined.
Werner becomes an expert at building and fixing these radios, and is enlisted to use his talent to hunt down the resistance. The novel interweaves the stories of Marie-Laure and Werner, highlighting how, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
5. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
In World War II Italy, bombardier Yossarian isn’t just furious because thousands of people he’s never met are trying to kill him; he’s more troubled by the fact that his own army keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service.
Here’s the “Catch-22”: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a request to be removed from duty, he’ll be proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
6. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
This collection of linked short stories follows a platoon of American soldiers in Vietnam, based on O’Brien’s own experiences.
Readers discover the stories of Jimmy Cross, Henry Dobbins, Rat Kiley, Mitchell Sanders, Norman Bowker, Kiowa, and Tim O’Brien—who survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of 43.
By including himself as the protagonist and using the names of real place, O’Brien blends fiction and nonfiction in this semi-autobiographical collection.
7. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Published in 1929 when Hemingway was 30, A Farewell to Arms is the definitive novel of World War I.
Set against the horrors of the battlefield on the Italian front, it follows an ambulance driver (much like Hemingway’s real-life experience) who falls in love with an English nurse and captures the harsh realities of war for those caught in its wake.
Nonfiction Books on War
The following nonfiction war books highlight the circumstances of different wars, from the Revolutionary War, to Vietnam, to Afghanistan.
8. 1776 by David McCullough
Award-winning historian David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the same year the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Using his extensive research of both American and British archives, McCullough brings to life the soldiers, farmers, schoolteachers, and everyone else who knew the whole American cause was riding on their success.
9. A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
A Rumor of War is Philip Caputo’s memoir of his service in the first ground combat unit deployed to Vietnam.
In March of 1965, Lieutenant Caputo arrived on the front lines, where he fought for the next sixteen months in one of modern history’s ugliest wars. When he returned home, he was not the same young man who had left.
Emotionally wasted and without his youthful idealism, Caputo published his story in 1977, and it has since become an essential text on the Vietnam War and what war does to those who serve.
10. The Campaigns of Alexander by Arrian
Written over 400 hundred years after Alexander’s death, Arrian’s account remains the most reliable and complete portrait of the man and his achievements.
Drawing insights from his own experience as a military commander, Arrian details Alexander’s violent suppression of the Theban rebellion, his defeat of Persia, and his numerous campaigns that resulted in new cities and the destruction of others.
While presented as a charismatic, unparalleled leader, Arrian also makes it clear that he was frequently tempted by power and possessed a limitless ambition.
11. The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote
The first volume of writer, historian, and journalist Shelby Foote’s three-part historical narrative opens with Jefferson Davis leaving the US Senate, and ends on the bloody battlefields of Antietam and Perryville.
Exhaustively researched and powerfully written, this series captures the bloody reality of America’s Civil War.
Although the book is historical nonfiction, it unfolds like a riveting narrative, and is complete with maps throughout.
12. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
A definitive account of the Holocaust and World War II, Anne Frank’s diary documents the hunger, fear, boredom, and constant cruelties of hiding from the Nazis in confined quarters.
In 1942, with the Nazis occupying Holland, the Franks and another family hid themselves in the “secret anexe” of an old office building.
Thirteen at the time, Anne began to record her vivid impressions of her experiences in a tone that is thoughtful, moving, and at times humorous. Her account is held up around the world as a testament to human courage, especially the courage of a brilliant young woman whose life was tragically cut short.
13. The Art of War by Sun Tzu
Now over 2,000 years old, this classic of Chinese philosophy is attributed to Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu.
The ancient treatise lays out a systematic, rational approach to the tactics and strategies that the world’s greatest leaders have applied not only to the military, but also to business, law, martial arts, and sports.
This edition, translated by Lionel Giles, is complete with Giles’s extensive annotations and commentary on Sun Tzu’s aphorisms and proverbs.
14. The Face of War by Martha Gellhorn
Although she’s often mentioned in reference to her love affair with Ernest Hemingway, Martha Gellhorn led an extraordinary journalistic career of her own that spanned five decades.
From the Spanish Civil War in 1937 through Central America’s wars of the mid-1980s, this collection features Gellhorn’s best work on foreign conflicts, reflecting her deep empathy for people, as well as her own openness and vulnerability.
15. The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
New York Times foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins guides us through the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, the aftermath the 9/11 attacks, and the American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Filkins is the only American journalist to have reported on all of these events, and he presents his experiences in this riveting narrative.
16. Night by Elie Wiesel
Although technically a memoir, Wiesel’s Night is written in powerful prose, with his teenaged self as the narrator.
The book traces Wiesel’s real-life experiences of the horrors he witnessed and survived in Nazi death camps as a teenager.
While Wiesel details the daily terrors of life during the Holocaust, he also reflects on what the Holocaust was, what it meant, and what its legacy will be.
17. The Hooligans of Kandahar by Joseph Kassabian
During the peak of the Afghanistan War, Joseph Kassabian is the youngest among a group of soldiers dropped by helicopter into the remote mountains outside of Kandahar City.
The squad is headed by Slim, an alcoholic and mentally unstable Staff Sergeant prone to violent outbursts. Mismanaged and overlooked by command, it’s up to Joseph to lead his team of soldiers who aren’t even old enough to drink.
As they face Taliban sleeper agents and daily threats to their lives, the squad must rely on each other to survive.
The Most Prolific War Books
Whether they’re works of fiction or nonfiction, the books on this list remind us of the consequences of war, but also the resilience of the human spirit and the power of kindness.
If you enjoy reading books about war, check out some of our favorite World War II novels and books about history.
Do you have a favorite book about war? Tell us about it in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 10 Books About Veterans: Tales of War, Heroism, and Healing
- The 8 Best World War II Novels
- 11 David McCullough Books That Bring History to Life
- Book Burning: A Brief History of Bibliocide
As a blog writer for TCK Publishing, Kaelyn loves crafting fun and helpful content for writers, readers, and creative minds alike. She has a degree in International Affairs with a minor in Italian Studies, but her true passion has always been writing. Working remotely allows her to do even more of the things she loves, like traveling, cooking, and spending time with her family.
