Celebrate Veteran's Day: Inspiring Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Reads

Updated October 29, 2025
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1795 : the order of the furies : a novel
Natt och Dag, Niklas
Paper Book
Two unlikely allies work to end the reign of a powerful cabal of depraved hedonists in 18th-century Stockholm in this spellbinding finale to the #1 internationally bestselling historical trilogy that is filled with "plenty of twists to satisfy thrill-starved readers" (The Washington Post)....
An American dreamer : life in a divided country
Finkel, David
Paper Book
A man navigates the deep divisions in America today and discovers that sometimes change can start by finding common ground with your neighbors in this immersive account by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Thank You for Your Service and The Good Soldiers. "A...
American Heroes: From the #1 Bestselling Authors of Walk in My Combat Boots
Patterson, James
Paper Book
In this instant #1 national bestseller from the authors of Walk in My Combat Boots, "American Heroes is a gripping collection of firsthand accounts...capturing the indomitable spirit of our nation's finest" (Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Terminal List series...
Billy Lynn's long halftime walk
Fountain, Ben
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Critics' Circle Award for Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Fiction, and a National Book Award Finalist Three minutes and forty-three seconds of intense warfare with Iraqi insurgents--and the video that went viral--transformed the Bravo Squad into...
Black Hawk down : a story of modern war
Bowden, Mark
Paper Book
Recounts a 1993 firefight in Mogadishu, Somalia, that resulted in the deaths of eighteen Americans and more than five hundred Somalis, examining the rationales behind the disastrous raid.
Blind tiger
Brown, Sandra
Paper Book
From a New York Times bestselling author, a war-weary soldier jumps from a moving freight train to avoid trouble-and lands in more than he bargained for. On the day Thatcher Hutton arrives in Foley, Texas, a local woman goes missing. Thatcher becomes the...
Ceremony
Silko, Leslie
Paper Book
The great Native American Novel of a battered veteran returning home to heal his mind and spirit One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years More than thirty-five years since its original publication, Ceremony remains...
Chamber divers : the untold story of the D-day scientists who changed special operations forever
Lance, Rachel
Paper Book
The previously classified story of the eccentric researchers who invented cutting-edge underwater science to lead the Allies to D-Day victory In August 1942, more than 7,000 Allied troops rushed the beaches of Normandy, France, in an all but-forgotten landing. Only a small...
Code girls : the untold story of the American women code breakers of World War II
Mundy, Liza
Paper Book
The award-winning New York Times bestseller about the American women who secretly served as codebreakers during World War II--a "prodigiously researched and engrossing" (New York Times) book that "shines a light on a hidden chapter of American history" (Denver Post).
Dark Frontier
Harffy, Matthew
Paper Book
A thrilling historical western set in 1890s Oregon, from the author of the critically acclaimed Bernicia Chronicles. An English soldier turned police officer escapes to the American West for a new life, but things in Oregon prove far harder than he expected. A man can...
The Dead We Honor
Johnstone, William W.
Paper Book
Small town America is under attack-but one group of patriots are fighting back-in this explosive contemporary thriller from the bestselling Johnstones . . . THE FIGHT FOR THE SOUL OF AMERICA BEGINS Welcome to Maverick, Iowa. Once a thriving farm community, the...
Every day is a gift : a memoir
Duckworth, Tammy
Paper Book
In this New York Times bestselling book, learn the incredible story of Illinois senator and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth and see what inspired her to follow the path that made her who she is today.​ In Every Day Is a Gift, Tammy...
Grunt : the curious science of humans at war
Roach, Mary
Paper Book
A New York Times / National Bestseller "America's funniest science writer" (Washington Post) Mary Roach explores the science of keeping human beings intact, awake, sane, uninfected, and uninfested in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war. Grunt<...
Healing Wounds : A Vietnam War Combat Nurse's 10-Year Fight to Win Women a Place of Honor in Washington, D.C
Evans, Diane Carlson/ Welch, Bob (CON)/ Galloway, Joseph (FRW)
Paper Book
Featured in Kristen Hannah's new book The Women What is the price of honor? It took ten years for Vietnam War nurse Diane Carlson Evans to answer that question--and the answer was a heavy one. In 1983, when Evans came up with the vision for the first...
The Heart That Fed : A Father, a Son, and the Long Shadow of War
Sciacchitano, Carl
Paper Book
A PUBLISHERS WEEKLY TOP 10 BEST BOOK OF 2024 A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BEST NEW COMIC OF 2024 FOR ADULTS A brilliant, "powerful" (Booklist) graphic memoir, and a loving son's exploration of his tumultuous relationship with his father, told through...
How Good It Is I Have No Fear of Dying : Lieutenant Yulia Mykytenko's Fight for Ukraine
Marlowe, Lara
Paper Book
Publishing on the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine: The gripping, heartrending story, told in her own words, of a formidable 29-year-old woman serving as a commander on the front lines of the War in Ukraine -- and an intimate, hair-raising look at modern warfare . . . ...
The military history book
Gilbert, Adrian
Paper Book
Discover the key themes and big ideas behind the key events in the history of warfare--from the dawn of civilization to the 21st century. Tracing the epic 5,000-year story of warfare from the earliest battles to the War on Terror, The Military History Book explores and...
Peace Is a Shy Thing: The Life and Art of Tim O'Brien
Vernon, Alex
Paper Book
The first literary biography of Tim O'Brien, the preeminent American writer of the war in Vietnam and one of the best writers of his generation, drawing on never-before-seen materials and original interviews. "Vietnam made me a writer." --Tim O'Brien ...
The red horse : a Billy Boyle World War II mystery
Benn, James R.
Paper Book
The convalescent hospital Billy and Kaz find themselves in after their most recent exploits, is really a secret installation for those in the world of clandestine warfare to recover from wounds, physical and emotional. Some are allowed to leave; others are deemed security risks and are kept in...
The River We Remember
Krueger, William Kent
Paper Book
AN EDGAR AWARD NOMINEE In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by a shocking murder, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling novel, an instant New York Times bestseller and "a work of art" (The Denver Post). On Memorial Day...
The Sailing of the Intrepid: The Incredible Wartime Voyage of the Navy's Iconic Aircraft Carrier (Original)
Williams, Montel
Paper Book
*A New York Post Best Book of the Week* From twenty-two-year naval and marine veteran Montel Williams comes a page-turning history of how one World War II aircraft carrier's crew defied all odds, redefining the very meaning of what it means to...
Same bed different dreams : a novel
Park, Ed
Paper Book
PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST * A wild, sweeping novel that imagines an alternate secret history of Korea and the traces it leaves on the present--loaded with assassins and mad poets, RPGs and slasher films, pop bands and the perils of social media "Your view of twentieth-century...
SEAL Team Six : memoirs of an elite Navy Seal sniper
Wasdin, Howard E.
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller. When the Navy sends their elite they send the SEALS. When the SEALS send their elite they send SEAL Team Six SEAL Team Six is a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism hostage rescue and counterinsurgency. Now Howard Wasdin takes readers deep into their world beginning...
Send me : the true story of a mother at war
Skovlund, Marty, Jr.
Paper Book
The extraordinary story of American special operator and trailblazer Shannon Kent, who was killed at the age of 35 by a suicide bomber while hunting high value targets on a classified mission in Syria in 2019.  Of the 1.3 million active-duty service members in the U...
Shoot like a girl : one woman's dramatic fight in Afghanistan and on the home front
Hegar, Mary Jennings.
Paper Book
"A must-read about an American patriot whose courage and determination will have a lasting impact on the future of our Armed Forces and the nation."--Senator John McCain On July 29, 2009, Air National Guard major Mary Jennings "MJ" Hegar was shot down while on a Medevac...
Soldier girls : the battles of three women at home and at war
Thorpe, Helen
Paper Book
From an award-winning, "meticulously observant" (The New Yorker), and "masterful" (Booklist) writer comes a groundbreaking account of three women deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, and how their military service affected their friendship, their personal lives, and their families. ...
The things they carried
O'Brien, Tim
Paper Book
"O'Brien has written a vital, important book--a book that matters not only to the reader interested in Vietnam, but to anyone interested in the craft of writing as well."--Michiko Kakutani, New York Times A classic work of American literature that has not stopped changing...
Valiant Women : The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II
Andrews, Lena S.
Paper Book
National Bestseller * Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist A groundbreaking new history of the role of American servicewomen in WWII, illuminating their forgotten yet essential contributions to the Allies' victory, hailed as "an ingenious look at WWII" (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review) ...
Walk in my combat boots : true stories from America's bravest warriors
Patterson, James
Paper Book
Discover "the stories America needs to hear" (Admiral William H. McRaven, US Navy (Ret.)) with these moving and powerful recollections of war, told by the men and women who lived them. Walk in my Combat Boots is a powerful collection crafted...
The war on warriors : behind the betrayal of the men who keep us free
Hegseth, Pete
Ebook
AN INSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FROM PRESIDENT TRUMP'S NOMINEE FOR SECRETARY OF DEFENSE Real men fought for our freedoms. It's time we fought for theirs. Pete Hegseth joined the Army to fight extremists. Then that same Army called him one. The military Pete joined twenty...
What feasts at night
Kingfisher, T.
Paper Book
An Instant New York Times, USA Today, and Indie Bestseller A Barnes & Noble Best Horror Book of 2024 A Goodreads Best Horror Choice Award Nominee Enter a cold, silent forest and find out what feasts at night in this new gothic tale...
The women
Hannah, Kristin
Paper Book
A #1 bestseller on The New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times! From the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes Kristin Hannah's The Women--at once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a...
The women with silver wings
Landdeck, Katherine Sharp
Ebook
"With the fate of the free world hanging in the balance, women pilots went aloft to serve their nation. . . . A soaring tale in which, at long last, these daring World War II pilots gain the credit they deserve."--Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of Code...
You are worth it : building a life worth fighting for
Carpenter, Kyle
Paper Book
The youngest living Medal of Honor recipient delivers an unforgettable memoir that "will inspire every reader" (Jim Mattis) NATIONAL BESTSELLER ^ A Marine Commandant's Reading List selection On November 21, 2010, U.S. Marine Lance Corporal Kyle...
Your Presence Is Mandatory
Vasilyuk, Sasha
Paper Book
Winner of the 2025 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature | Gold Medal Winner for the 94th Annual California Book Awards | Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A riveting debut novel, based on real events, about a World War II veteran with a secret that...

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