The topic for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday is “all-time-favorite books in [x] genre.” I chose “war” as my genre, though I’m approaching it very broadly and including both fiction and non-fiction books. (Also of note: I didn’t plan it this way, but I think this is the only one of my TTT lists so far on which no female authors appear. I know there are a number of female writers of military science fiction; I need to find more straightforward military fiction by women.)

• A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway. Goes without saying. This is my all-time-favorite book, period, and while I suppose it may be argued that it’s not a “war book” proper it’s set on the Italian Front during WWI and the war is the true catalyst of the story. The description of the Italian retreat after the Battle of Caporetto is unforgettable.
• Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell. Orwell is one of my favorite writers, but not for his fiction. His non-fiction is spectacular, and this, his autobiographical account of his service in a socialist unit of the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War, is his best.
• The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien. This is a harrowing, semi-autobiographical account of the author’s service in Vietnam. It’s not a novel proper but a collection of related short stories, and it doesn’t deal with the big picture but rather in vignettes and snippets that detail the day-to-day human cost.
• The Killer Angels, Michael Shaara. A Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel of the Battle of Gettysburg. I’ve never cared for American Civil War history but this novel is one of my favorites for the no-nonsense prose and because of the way Shaara makes his characters and topic approachable and time-transcendent.
• All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Remarque. This one should go without saying, too; it’s the classic novel on the horror and heart-breaking futility of war. It’s the coming-of-age story of a generation that never got the chance to come properly of age.
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway. I’ve found this to be Hemingway’s most formidable book—the only one of his it took me multiple tries to get through. But it was well worth it in the end. Again, the focus is at least as much on the day-to-day human cost as on the big picture, though the book’s discussion of duty and the Cause is remarkable.
• Band of Brothers, Stephen Ambrose. I enjoy most of Ambrose’s books, to be honest, but this one is my favorite. It follows Easy Company (506th PIR, 101st Airborne) from training to D-Day and then across Europe through Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge, and eventually to Berchtesgaden. Though non-fiction, it’s written and reads like a novel, with a cast of memorable characters. HBO’s miniseries of the same name is equally worth checking out.
• Hiroshima, John Hersey. This is a well-written, concise non-fiction account of the bombing of Hiroshima. Hersey, a journalist, interviews survivors and recounts their stories. The result is powerful.
• Bloodlands, Timothy Snyder. This is an excellent historical monograph on the brutal treatment by Hitler and Stalin of Eastern and Baltic Europe. It’s exceptionally difficult reading, but it’s necessary reading.
• Black Hawk Down, Mark Bowden. An account of the 1993 urban firefight in Mogadishu between U.S. forces and Somali militia. It’s the basis for Ridley Scott’s fine movie of the same name, but the book excels by giving voice to members of the Somali opposition.