I don’t remember how we got there, but it came up conversation with a work colleague that I’ve read a lot of military history over the years. This was relevant because this person is a former West Point grad and Army officer with a fair bit of Military History on his bookshelf which could be seen on a photo he shared of the bookcase.
As you might expect, there was a fair number of books in common, especially in the “classic” art of war and strategy areas. So, in fairness here are photos of my (current) military history bookshelf. I say current because this is one of four bookcases remaining in the living room of my house (down from 6-1/2). This is the non-fiction area, though not all are mine; my wife likes to read as well. So this collection has gone through 2 prunings already. Most of the pruned titles are either too lightweight to want to read or refer to again. Or, I have an eBook version now. And, it does not include audiobooks.
I’ve read or at least read in all of these pretty much. Some are references like an encyclopedia or an atlas, not something you read cover to cover.
The organization is more or less by topic except for the top shelf. That one is folios and paperbacks, sorted by size for simplicity. All the other shelves are typical sized hardbacks or trade paperbacks and amiable to sorting. List is Author – Titles:
- The West Point Atlas of American Wars – Volume II 1900-1918
- West Point Atlas for the Second World War (Europe and the Mediterranean)
- West Point Atlas for the Great War
- The West Point Atlas of War – World War I
- Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I
- Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I
- Ronald Heifeman – World War II
- Dwight D Eisenhower – Report by The Supreme Commander to the Combined Chiefs of Staff on the Operations in Europe of the Allied Expeditionary Force 6 June 1944 to 8 May 1945
- Hammond – Historical World Atlas
- Great Battlefields of the World
- CIA Documents On The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
- Ancient & Medieval Warfare
- Andrew Duncan And Michel Opatowski – War in the Holy Land – From Meggido To The West Bank
- Cowley & Parker – The Readers Companion to Military History
- Michael Stephenson – Battlegrounds
- Campaign Series 25 – Leipzig 1813
- Campaign Series 20 – Jena 1806
- New Vanguard 22 – Panther Variants 1942-1945
- Essential Histories – The hundred Years War 1337 – 1453
- Men-At-Arms 50 – Medieval European Armies
- Men-At-Arms 85 – Saxon, Viking, and Norman
- Matthews – Heros and Warriors – Richard Lionheart
- James F. Dunnigan & Auston Bay – A Quick and Dirty Guide to War (3rd Ed)
- Alan Moorehead – Galipoli
- George Patton – War As I Knew It
- Ronald Lewin – Rommel
- Hans von Luck – Panzer Commander
- Peter G. Tsouras – Fighting in Hell
- David Kahn – The Codebreakers
Shelf two is largely Art of War and Grand Strategy. Not focused on any particular period.
- John Keegan – The Profession of Arms
- Paret – Makers of Modern Strategy
- Michael I. Handel – Masters Of War – Classical Strategic Thought
- Niccolo Machiavelli – Art of War
- Hughes – Moltke on the Art of War
- Clausewitz – On War
- Mao Tse-tung – The Art of War
- Baron Antoine Henri De Jomini – The Art of War
- Jablonsky – Roots Of Strategy (Book 4)
- Martin van Creveld – Supplying War
- Summers – On Strategy – A Critical Analysis of the Vietnam War
- Sun Tzu – The Art Of War
- B.H. Liddell-Hart – Strategy
- Musashi – A Book of Five Rings
- Martin van Creveld – Command in War
- Wm. Darryl Henderson – Cohesion: The Human Element In Combat
- Steven Ozment – A Mighty Fortress – A New History Of the German People
- Dupuy – A Genius for War
- Martin van Creveld – The Transformation of War
- Ropp – War In The Modern World
- Goerlitz – The German General Staff
- Contamine – War In The Middle Ages
- Chaliand – The Art Of War In World History
- Griffith – Forward Into Battle
- John Keegan – The Face Of Battle
- Joseph Campbell – The Hero With A Thousand Faces
- Godfrey Hutchinson – Xenophon And The Art Of Command
- Paret – Understanding War
This shelf has some left over Art of War, Alternative history and some antique china plates because…IDK.
- Peter G. Tsouras – Dixie Victorious
- Wawro – Franco-Prussian War
- White – The Campaigns of Napoleon
- Roy Atkins – Nelson’s Trafalgar
- Macksey – The War for America, 1775-1783
- The Dawns Early Light
- David Day – Conquest
- John Keegan – Intelligence In War
- Gudmundsson – On Artillery
- Gray – The Leverage of Sea Power
- Hammes – The Sling And The Stone
- Dupuy – The evolution of Weapons and Warfare
- John Keegan – A History of Warfare
- Eggenberger – An Encyclopedia Of Battles: Accounts Of Over 1,560 Battles From 1479 B.C. To The Present
- The Harper Encyclopedia Of Military Biography
The next shelf is almost all WWII oriented books.
- Huston – Biography Of A Battalion
- Voss – Black Edelweiss
- Carius – Tigers In The Mud
- Cornelius Ryan – A Bridge Too Far
- General Heinz Guderian – Achtung-Panzer!
- Cornelius Ryan – The Last Battle
- Alastair Borthwick – A British Infantry Units Actions From El Alamein to the Elbe 1942-1945
- Macksey – Rommel Battles And Campaigns
- Rommel – Infantry Attacks
- Chant – Warfare and the Third Reich
- Clayton Craig – The End Of The Beginning; From The Siege Of Malta To The Allied Victory at El Alamein
- Dennis Showalter – Patton And Rommel – Men Of War In The Twentieth Century
- Michael Reynolds – The Devil’s Adjutant – Jochen Peiper, Panzer Leader
- James Lucas – Battle Group!
- Carlson – Joe Rochefort’s War
- D’Este – Decision In Normandy
- Robert J. Kershaw – ‘It Never Snows In September
- Seymour – Yours to Reason Why
- David Downing – The Moscow Option – An Alternative Second World War
- Peter Tsouras – Disaster At D-Day
- Kipling – Department Ditties and Barrack Room Ballads
- Correlli Barnett – The Swordbearers
- War Book of the German General Staff
- Orgill – Armored Onslaught
- Gordon A Craig – The Germans
- Griffith – Battle Tactics if the Western Front
- Robert B. Asprly – The German High Command at War
- John Keegan – The First World War
Final shelf is then end of the WWII books and everything more modern than that.
- Bernard B. Fall – Hell in a Very Small Place
- Dobson Payne – The Terrorists, Their Weapons, Leaders and Tactics
- West – Small Unit Action In Vietnam
- John Clark Pratt – Vietnam Voices
- Donald Knox – The Korean War – Pusan to Chosin
- Coffey – Iron Eagle
- Simpson – Inside The Green Berets
- Orr Kelly – From a Dark
- Bercuson – The Secret Army
- B.H. Liddell-Hart – The German Generals Talk
- Die Deutschen Panzer 1926-1945
- Adelbert Hall – An Infantryman in Stalingrad
- B.H. Liddell-Hart – The Rommel Papers
- Operation Barbarossa
- Triumphant Fox
- Winston Churchill – The Gathering Storm
- Bryan Perrett – Knights of the Black Cross
- Jonathan Bastable – Voices From Stalingrad
- Geoffrey Jukes – Stalingrad
- J. F. Leahy – Come From Away: The Plot to Assassinate Churchill 1941
- Brennan – Brennan’s War
- General Heinz Guderian – Panzer Leader
- Erich von Manstein – Lost Victories
- Keresey – PT 105
- David Kahn – Kahn On Codes
- David Kahn – Seizing the Enigma
- Peter Fleming – Operation Sea Lion