Celebrate National Military Appreciation Month: Inspiring Adult Fiction and Nonfiction Reads

Updated March 25, 2026
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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 veteran
Williams, Leah (Television producer)
DVD
Today, America has nearly eighteen million living military veterans, from the 'Greatest Generation' to men and women coming home from recent tours in Afghanistan and Iraq. They join the now-silent ranks of American veterans reaching back to our earliest conflict, the Revolutionary War.
The art of war
Sunzi
Paper Book
For more than two thousand years, Sun-tzu's The Art of War has provided leaders with essential advice on battlefield tactics and management strategies. An elemental part of Chinese culture, it has also become a touchstone for the Western struggle for survival and success, whether in battle, in...
Beverly Hills spy / The Double-agent War Hero Who Helped Japan Attack Pearl Harbor
Drabkin, Ronald
Paper Book
"A beguiling tale of espionage and double-dealing in the years leading up to World War II. ... Strap in for a narrative that demands a suspension of disbelief--and richly rewards it." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review); Best Books of February Selection The untold story of...
Billy Lynn's long halftime walk
Fountain, Ben.
Paper Book
Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and a finalist for the National Book Award "Brilliantly done . . . grand, intimate, and joyous." --New York Times Book Review From the PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of the critically acclaimed short story collection,...
Black Hawk down : a story of modern war
Bowden, Mark
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestseller The "riveting" (Wall Street Journal) account of the 1993 operation in Mogadishu, Somalia--the longest sustained firefight involving American troops since the Vietnam War On October 3, 1993, about a hundred elite U.S....
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...
Chamber divers : the untold story of the D-day scientists who changed special operations forever
Lance, Rachel
Ebook
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).
The Country Under Heaven
Durbin, Frederic S.
Ebook
"Best Books of 2025: Science Fiction" Award--The Financial Times "A Best Horror Book of the Year"--New York Public Library Louis L'Amour meets H.P. Lovecraft in this thrilling western epic about a former Civil War soldier wracked by enigmatic visions . . .
Cracking the Nazi code : the untold story of Agent A12 and the solving of the Holocaust code
Bell, Jason (Professor of philosophy)
Paper Book
The thrilling true story of Agent A12, the earliest enemy of the Nazis, and the first spy to crack Hitler's deadliest secret code: the framework of the Final Solution. In public life, Dr. Winthrop Bell was a Harvard philosophy professor and wealthy businessman. As an...
Every day is a gift : a memoir
Duckworth, Tammy
Paper Book
In this New York Times bestseller, discover the inspiring story of Illinois senator and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth. "Raw, unfiltered, powerful." --Adm. William H. McRaven  In Every Day Is a Gift, Tammy Duckworth...
Grunt : the curious science of humans at war
Roach, Mary
Paper Book
Grunt tackles the science behind some of a soldier's most challenging adversaries--panic, exhaustion, heat, noise--and introduces us to the scientists who seek to conquer them. Mary Roach dodges hostile fire with the U.S. Marine Corps Paintball Team as part of a study on hearing loss and...
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 . . . ...
No Bullet Got Me Yet : The Relentless Faith of Father Kapaun
Stansifer, John
Paper Book
*A 2025 Kansas Notable Book!* The incredible story of Father Emil Kapaun, the most decorated chaplain in US military history, who has been declared "Venerable" by Pope Francis and is now a step closer to Sainthood. Father Emil Kapaun, a humble...
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...
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
TheNew York Timesbest selling book that takes you inside SEAL Team Six - the covert squad that killed Osama Bin Laden SEAL Team Six is a secret unit tasked with counterterrorism, hostage rescue, and counterinsurgency. In this dramatic, behind-the-scenes...
The siege : a six-day hostage crisis and the daring special-forces operation that shocked the world
Macintyre, Ben
Paper Book
"For six days, it was the Iranian Embassy on Princes Gate in London that riveted the world. . . . Macintyre's superb reconstruction restores it to vivid, complex life."--The Washington Post A thrilling tick-tock recounting of one of the most harrowing hostage situations and...
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 : a work of fiction
O'Brien, Tim
Paper Book
One of the first questions people ask about The Things They Carried is this: Is it a novel, or a collection of short stories? The title page refers to the book simply as "a work of fiction," defying the conscientious reader's need to categorize this masterpiece. It is both: a collection of...
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,...
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
Paper Book
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...
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 Wives
Gorrindo, Simone
Paper Book
"[Simone] Gorrindo's prose is inviting and fluid, and her storytelling is intimate and vivid...[an] engaging, evocative memoir." --The New York Times Book Review "A hopeful, unifying memoir." --People This profoundly intimate memoir...
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
Paper Book
"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 Carpenter was...

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