You could wade through the Commandant’s Reading List, or you could just check out these five books written by Marines, for Marines. Sometimes you can have your crayons and eat them too.
1. No True Glory, Bing West [shopping_cart_button text=”$20″ price=”Buy Now” url=”https://www.amazon.com/No-True-Glory-Frontline-Fallujah-ebook/dp/B0067A909E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=historynet02-20&linkId=bf308c92a262e83fa567bab0aef38e26&language=en_US”]
In a frontline account of the 2004 Battle of Fallujah, in which Marines were told to attack, withdraw, and attack once again. West, a Vietnam veteran, highlights the often frustrating link between politics and combat, and its deadly consequences.
2. The White Donkey, Maximilian Uriarte [shopping_cart_button text=”$19.97″ price=”Buy Now” url=”https://www.amazon.com/White-Donkey-Terminal-Lance/dp/0316362832/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=historynet02-20&linkId=6441d9e2070e0560b602acdd2592d905&language=en_US”]
In this graphic novel, the reader follows Abe, a young Marine serving in rural Iraq contending with the monotony and horror of war. Described as “A powerful, compulsively page-turning, vivid, and moving tribute to the experience of war and PTSD, for Uriarte, “the creation of The White Donkey was a journey in of itself. To this day, it remains an accomplishment I am immensely proud of. It is a distillation of what I could take away from my experience in the Corps.”
3. With the Old Breed, E.B. Sledge [shopping_cart_button text=”$12.99″ price=”Buy Now” url=”https://www.amazon.com/Old-Breed-At-Peleliu-Okinawa/dp/0891419063/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=historynet02-20&linkId=ab0f9992ac29d2f5f8850f67c688ea87&language=en_US”]
Widely regarded as the best battle memoir of World War II, veteran E.B. Sledge brings the horrifying reality of fighting in the Pacific to readers through his quiet dignity and honesty alike.
4. Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet, Lewis B. Puller Jr. [shopping_cart_button text=”$14.96″ price=”Buy Now” url=”https://www.amazon.com/Fortunate-Son-Healing-Vietnam-Vet/dp/0802136907/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=historynet02-20&linkId=034d574ec3a0a6903962cdbe5c54a464&language=en_US”]
Son of the famed Marine General Lewis “Chesty” Puller, Puller Jr. arrived in Vietnam as a first lieutenant less than a year after graduating college. There he lost both legs and parts of his hands when he stepped on a booby trap. After being medically discharged from the service, Puller Jr. went on to write this Pulitzer Prize winning memoir. The scars of war, however, ultimately overwhelmed Puller Jr. He committed suicide in 1994.
5. Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officer’s Combat Experience in Iraq, Jane Blair [shopping_cart_button text=”$24.95″ price=”Buy Now” url=”https://www.amazon.com/Hesitation-Kills-Female-Officers-Experience/dp/1442208767/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=historynet02-20&linkId=8795219b0ca549e8cd6a94ca7667b3d4&language=en_US”]
Serving in an aerial reconnaissance unit during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Blair’s memoir is one of the few books written by a woman who has experienced combat firsthand. Drawing on a journal she kept during her deployment, Blair “bridges the gap between those who have experienced the Iraq War firsthand and those in America who could only follow its life-altering events from a distance.”
[hr]
*This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something through our site, we might earn a commission.
