RIFLEMAN DODD

by C.S. Forester

Cut off from his regiment by enemy forces pursuing his British comrades in retreat, Rifleman Matthew Dodd commits himself to fighting his way back to friendly lines. Dodd’s simple, unyielding devotion to his duties as a soldier exemplifies core values – honor, courage and commitment – which all Marines are expected to demonstrate. He never thinks in terms of surrender. He doesn’t just escape and evade – he continues to perform as a rifleman, killing enemy soldiers. In one of the opening chapters, Dodd is discovered by a French soldier as he is making his way back to his company. He flees in the opposite direction and finds himself scaling a steep hill. The French don’t wish to follow him any farther. Instead of escaping from the impending danger, Dodd single-handedly takes on a cluster of soldiers at the foot of the hill and beats them. When he finally returns to his unit, no one knows of the deeds he has done, and his simple reward is a hot meal and the company of his mates.

ENDER’S GAME

by Orson Scott Card

From New York Times bestselling author Orson Scott Card, Ender’s Game is the classic Hugo and Nebula award-winning science fiction novel of a young boy’s recruitment into the midst of an interstellar war.

To develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut―young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs?

GATES OF FIRE

by Steven Pressfield

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

At Thermopylae, a rocky mountain pass in northern Greece, the feared and admired Spartan soldiers stood three hundred strong. Theirs was a suicide mission, to hold the pass against the invading millions of the mighty Persian army.

Day after bloody day they withstood the terrible onslaught, buying time for the Greeks to rally their forces. Born into a cult of spiritual courage, physical endurance, and unmatched battle skill, the Spartans would be remembered for the greatest military stand in history—one that would not end until the rocks were awash with blood, leaving only one gravely injured Spartan squire to tell the tale.

BATTLE CRY

by Leon Uris

Originally published in 1953, Leon Uris’s Battle Cry is the raw and exciting story of men at war from a legendary American author. This is the story of enlisted men — Marines at the beginning of World War II. They are a rough-and-ready tangle of guys from America’s cities and farms and reservations. Led by a tough veteran sergeant, these soldiers band together to emerge as part of one of the most elite fighting forces in the world. With staggering realism and detail we follow them into intense battles — Guadalcanal and Tarawa — and through exceptional moments of camaraderie and bravery, Battle Cry does not extol the glories of war, but proves itself to be one of the greatest war stories of all time.

FIELDS OF FIRE

by James Webb

They each had their reasons for joining the Marines. They each had their illusions. Goodrich came from Harvard. Snake got the tattoo—“Death Before Dishonor”—before he got the uniform. Hodges was haunted by the ghosts of family heroes. They were three young men from different worlds, plunged into a white-hot, murderous realm of jungle warfare as it was fought by one Marine platoon in the An Hoa Basin, 1969. They had no way of knowing what awaited them. Nothing could have prepared them for the madness to come. And in the heat and horror of battle they took on new identities, took on one another, and were each reborn in fields of fire.

Fields of Fire is James Webb’s classic novel of the Vietnam War, a novel of poetic power, razor-sharp observation, and agonizing human truths seen through the prism of nonstop combat. Weaving together a cast of vivid characters, Fields of Fire captures the journey of unformed men through a man-made hell—until each man finds his fate.

TO AMERICA

by Stephan E. Ambrose

In To America, Stephen E. Ambrose, one of the country’s most influential historians, reflects on his long career as an American historian and explains what an historian’s job is all about. He celebrates America’s spirit, which has carried us so far. He confronts its failures and struggles. As always in his much acclaimed work, Ambrose brings alive the men and women, famous and not, who have peopled our history and made the United States a model for the world. Taking a few swings at today’s political correctness, as well as his own early biases, Ambrose grapples with the country’s historic sins of racism, its neglect and ill treatment of Native Americans, and its tragic errors. Throughout, Ambrose celebrates the unflappable American spirit. Most important, Ambrose writes about writing history. “The last five letters of the word ‘history’ tell us that it is an account of the past that is about people and what they did, which is what makes it the most fascinating of subjects.” To America is an instant classic for all those interested in history, patriotism, and the love of writing.

Page 1 From 5 next page →