I wanted to take on an ambitious reading project to bring some life into this blog. The list both predates and goes beyond the Cold War with emphasis on academic history, literature, and memoir.
My goal is not to write formal reviews for each book, but to post general reflections - making connections, raising questions, and keeping the larger picture in view as I go. Ideally, I'll work through the list over the course of a year.
I plan to mostly move in chronological order, though I'm starting in the middle with Gambling with Armageddon by Martin J. Sherwin - an existential study of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Master Reading List (30 Books): War, Literature, & Memory 1900–2024
I. Pre-1914: Illusion of Stability
The Proud Tower — Barbara Tuchman
II. World War I: Descent into Catastrophe
The Sleepwalkers — Christopher Clark
The Guns of August — Barbara Tuchman
Testament of Youth — Vera Brittain
The Great War and Modern Memory — Paul Fussell
III. Interwar Period: Crisis, Ideology, Collapse
The Lords of Finance — Liaquat Ahamed
Darkness at Noon — Arthur Koestler
Homage to Catalonia — George Orwell
The Gathering Storm — Winston Churchill
IV. World War II: Total War & Moral Extremes
The Coming of the Third Reich (Trilogy) — Richard J. Evans
The Forgotten Soldier — Guy Sajer
Catch-22 — Joseph Heller
V. Holocaust & Civilian Catastrophe
Hiroshima — John Hersey
The True Story of Hansel and Gretel — Louise Murphy
Schindler's List — Thomas Keneally
The Holocaust in American Life — Peter Novick
VI. Cold War & Nuclear Age
Postwar — Tony Judt
The Dead Hand — David E. Hoffman
Gambling with Armageddon — Martin J. Sherwin
Bomb Power — Garry Wills
You Are One of Them — Elliott Holt
VII. Vietnam: Breakdown & Disillusionment
Dispatches — Michael Herr
Going After Cacciato — Tim O’Brien
A Bright Shining Lie — Neil Sheehan
Matterhorn — Karl Marlantes
An Army Afire — Beth Bailey
VIII. Post-Cold War & Contemporary Conflict
Black Hawk Down — Mark Bowden
Redeployment — Phil Klay
The Pentagon's Brain — Annie Jacobsen
IX. Coda: Alternate History / Reflection
The Man in the High Castle — Philip K. Dick
