Hey everyone, recommend me some fictional war books to me. I'm interested in WWI, WWII, Vietnam, Present day, Civil War and the Revolutionary War. I have read a few Vietnam fictional books over the years.

I have the series by Eric Helm (who is two authors that actual served in Vietnam that went by the pen name Eric Helm) called Scorpion Squad, Vietnam Ground Zero and Super Vietnam Ground Zero. The Scorpion Squad books, I think there are four in that series, are the first books that lead to the other two series. I started reading Vietnam Ground Zero when I found out that there was a series before that. I read the first series and then re-read the first books in the second series. It did help make sense of things.

So what have you guys read and would recommend. It doesn't always have to deal with the character's being in war it can be after or before the war. I read just about anything.

Thanks everyone.

John Jakes series are good, W.E.B. Griffith, Herman Wouk winds of war; they are not all exclusively about war but the stories are set during war time.

Thanks I will look those up. I did have a couple of books from W.E.B. and they started off really slow but ended up being really good. I think I read the first two in the series and I cannot remember the series now.

Some good books I read as a private about Vietnam.

Leanord Scott

Charlie Mike
The Last Run
The Hill
Expendables

I still got them 20 plus years later.

Fields of Fire by Jim Webb (the senator)

Hammer of the Gods On Amazon

Here's just a few of my favorites.

"Armageddon",  by Leon Uris, Classic about Berlin and the Airlift just after WWII.  Great one.

Mark Berent Vietnam Air series: "Phantom leader", "Rolling Thunder", "Eagle Station", "Storm Flight", "Steel Tiger".

"A Reckoning For Kings" by Chris Bunch

"Clash of Steel" by L.H. Burruss.  Small group of high tech troops face a new Russian invasion of Afghanistan.

"Never So Few", by Tom Chamales.  Classic about WWII OSS in Burma.  Made into a so-so Frank Sinatra movie.

"SEAL Team One", by former Vietnam SEAL commander Dick Couch.  Possibly the very best novel about SEAL ops in Vietnam.  Couch has written a number of Non-fiction books about various Special ops units.

"The Four Deuces" by C. S. Crawford.  Mortar crews in Korea.

"Arc Light" and "Protect and Defend" by Eric L. Harry  Modern high tech warfare.

"Last of the Breed" by Louis L'Amour.  Escaped American pilot in secret Soviet Union camp.

"The Dying Place, by David Maurer.  The best ever written on SOG operations in Vietnam.  Thinly disguised account by real SOG vet Maurer.

"Shadow Over Babylon" by David Mason.  Fictional sniper assassination of Saddam Hussein.  Reminiscent of "The Day of the Jackal".  Excellent.

Two book series by Douglas Ryne Pearson: "Thunder One" and "October's Ghost"  Terrorist, Moamar Qaddafi, Fidel Castro, nuclear weapons, American Special Ops, and a American NEST expert.

"Siege of Silence" by A.J. Quinnell.  Kidnapped American ambassador, Special Ops unit to the rescue and in no mood to discuss things.

"Something of Value" by Robert Ruark.  Classic about the Kenya Mau Mau uprising.  BLOODY, horrific.
Also by Ruark, "Uhura".  Sort of a companion to the above.  Also bloody.

"38 North Yankee" by Ed Ruggiero.  Modern day North Korean invasion of the South.

"Brothers In Battle" by Con Sellers.  Korean War.

"White Star" by James Thayer.  Vietnam sniper is target of mysterious sniper.

Series by Tom Wilson:  "Termite Hill", "Lucky's Bridge", "Tango Uniform".  Vietnam air war, goin' downtown.

Herman Wouk's "Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance".  WWII  Was a good TV mini-series with Robert Mitchum.

By Jeff Sharra: "To the Last Man"  Brutal WWI story about American Marines.
WWII from North Africa to Germany then to Japan:  "The Rising Tide", "The Steel Wave", "No Less Than Victory", "The Final Storm".
His dad wrote "Killer Angels" about the Civil War.

"The Fist of God" by Frederick Forsyth.  Saddam Hussein's Super gun.  Mission to destroy it before it fires on Israel.

That's all I can remember off hand.  Some good one's.

Those are great books! I remember reading them when in high school. I think I have the first three but not Expendables. Looks like I need to get them out and read them again. They were really good.

Keep them coming guys. A lot of good books and authors.

To add to:
Another Leon Uris.  The classic "Battle Cry".  Semi-autobiographical about his WWII experience as a Marine.
Somewhat dated by todays standards, but still a great read.

fields of fire, written by vietnam vet and navy cross winner Jim Webb, Dem running for pres who also wrote the movie "rules of engagement" is a great book


flight of the intruder is good




red army and red storm rising are both great books about the cold war if it went hot


 

Oops its not fictional but it is very good.




 

The 13th Valley

Tiger the Lurp Dog

"13th Valley" is my favorite Vietnam book, followed closely by "Fields of Fire".

 

I read the 13th Valley years ago and liked it. I'm trying to think if I still have a copy. I loaned it to a friend and not sure I got it back. I might have to pick up another copy.

Have you guys read the Hatchet series of books? The first one in the series is when he is just a kid and in a plane crash. The later books in the series he is in Vietnam. I have them but have not read them yet. The first book "Hatchet" was really good for a young adult book.

To add to the list - "Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War" by Karl Marlantes

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.

I have this book. Its in my to read pile right now. I also have Nama-Rama. I look forward to both of these.

Whatever you do, don't buy the "sequel." Closing Time is horrible.

How has no one said "Red Storm Rising" yet?  An awesome WWIII book.

Probably because this thread is about WWI and WWII books. WWIII hasn't happened...yet.

I wasn't thinking about WWIII when I did this thread but I would take a list of those too. I do like books of this nature some of more of the what if but a lot of them have ideas that are coming true.

So add WWIII or end of the world type of books. I'm interested in those.

In that case, Team Yankee in addition to RSR.

Just read "The Marines of Autumn," by James Brady.  Jesus, a superb book about a WW2 Marine that is teaching somewhere, and get recalled to active duty in Korea in time for the Chosen Reservoir Campaign.  Excellent, excellent book.

Thank you adding those to the list! My every growing list lol.

Now that sounds really interesting. Chosen Reservoir is something I have wanted to learn more about but have not. Might be a good book to push me into actual historical facts and more books on those that were there. Adding this one to the list!

Another one of my "modern warfare" faves is Red Phoenix by Larry Bond, who helped write RSR.

For WWII, try Bomber by Len Deighton.
Fiction, set on the fictional day of June 31, 1943.
Very fact based and period correct.
British bomber raid on the Rhur goes off course and destroys the wrong target.

Reread the thread title...."and more"

A couple of recommendations in the realm of literature by those who lived it:

Robert Graves  "Goodbye to All That"  WWI, he lived it.

Erich Maria Remarque  "All Quiet on the Western Front"  WWI, he lived it.

Curzio Malaparte  "Kaputt"  WWII, disaffected Italian Fascist who witnessed the wheels come-off for the Axis at Stalingrad/Eastern Front.

Samuel Fuller  "The Big Red One"  WWII, he lived it, he wrote it and then he directed the movie.

Norman Mailer  "The Naked and the Dead"  WWII,  was a grunt in Philippines.

James Jones  "From Here To Eternity"  WWII,  25th ID, he was at Schofield Barracks for the Pearl Harbor attack, and survived the war.

Tim O'Brien  "Going After Cacciato" "The Things They Carried" "If I Die In a Combat Zone:  Box Me Up and Ship Me Home"  Vietnam

Gustav Hasford  "The Short-timers"  Vietnam, was sorta the basis for Full Metal Jacket the movie.

Regards,

Hking

"Proud Legions" - John Antal.

The Rhinemann Exchange. by Robert Ludlum, WW2 spy novel

Killing Rommel. by Steven Pressfield, WW2 Africa War Long Range Desert Patrol

On the Beach. by Nevil Shute, post WW3 end of the world book.

ETA:
Without Remorse. by Tom Clancy.  Vietnam war era fiction

Thanks everyone. Keep them coming. We are getting a really good list going.

Robb White's WW2 novels were 'young adult' fiction but make excellent reading today.  I started reading them in fourth grade (1977) but I can't imagine grade school kids reading or appreciating them today.

Flight Deck

Torpedo Run

Up Periscope

Silent Ship, Silent Sea

The Survivor

There are a few more, White was a Naval Officer during WW2 and knew his stuff.  He also wrote the movies House on Haunted Hill and Death Watch.

A Farewell to Arms. I came to post All quiet on the Western Front, but somebody beat me to it.

I read this back in High School in the late 60's in preparation for being drafted and going to the war.



http://www.amazon.com/Hell-In-Very-Small-Place/dp/030681157X


I ended up there 1971-1972. The war was nothing like the book.

LINK FIXED

Thank you, I will have to look that one up as the link isn't working for me. Also, thank you for your service and welcome home.