USMC Reading List–Revised

Photo credit: Hans

The Marine Corps puts out a reading list called the MARINE CORPS PROFESSIONAL READING LIST for all Marines. It carries a majority of the titles at the Library of the Marine Corps either in print or via the Ebrary Online Books subscription (available only for Marines). You can also find many titles at Navy Knowledge Online (NKO). Each Marine is required to read the Commandant’s choice “First to Fight” by LtGen (Ret) V. Krulak and a minimum of one book per grade per year.

If you want to kick-start your obligation, here’s the list recommended for officer candidates and Midshipmen. I’ve linked to those reviewed on USNA or Bust:

The Armed Forces Officer, DoD 2006
• My Men Are My Heroes by Nathaniel R. Helms
• United States Marines: A History by E. Simmons
• On Infantry by John A. English 2d Lieutenant / Warrant Officer/Chief Warrant Officer 2
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula
• Leadership: The Warrior’s Art by Christopher D. Kolenda
• The Mission, The Men and Me by Pete Blaber
• The Savage Wars of Peace by Max Boot
• Soldiers of God by David Hagberg
• The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey
• Storm Landings by Joseph H. Alexander
• A Tactical Ethic by Dick Couch
• The Village by Bing West, 1st Lieutenant / Chief Warrant Officer 3
• The Enlightened Soldier by Charles Edward
• Seeds of Disaster by Robert Doughty
• Stormtroop Tactics by Bruce Gudmundsson

• Command or Control by Marin Samuels
• The Breaking Point by Robert Doughty
• Fighting Power by Martin L. Van Creveld
• Transformation of War by Martin L. Van Creveld
• Attacks by Erwin Rommell
• Battle Leadership by Adolf Von Schell
• The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
• The Last Stand of Fox Company by Bob Drury

Finished with that list? Here’s the rest:

Commandant’s Choice Book

• First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps by LtGen Krulak Recruit/Poolee
• I’m Staying With My Boys by Jim Proser
• The United States Marines: A History by Edwin Simmons Private/Private First Class
• A Message To Garcia by Elbert Hubbard
• Rifleman Dodd by C.S. Forester
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• 1984 by George Orwell
• No True Glory by Bing West
• The Gift of Valor by Michael M. Phillips

Lance Corporal

• The 360 Degree Leader by John Maxwell
• The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield
• My Men Are My Heroes by Nathaniel R. Helms
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
• The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick
• We Were One by Patrick K. O’Donnell

Corporal

• Afghanistan by Stephen Tanner
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Tony Napoli
• Chosen Soldier by Dick Couch
• Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley
• Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides
• Noble Warrior by James E. Livingston
• Once a Marine by Nick Popaditch
• The Defense of Duffer’s Drift by Ernest Dunlop Swinton
• Marines in the Garden of Eden by Richard Lowry

Sergeant

• American Soldiers by Peter S. Kindsvatter
• Common Sense Training by Arthur S. Collins
• Counterinsurgency Warfare by David Galula
• From the Horse’s Mouth by Major Ted McKeldin
• The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
• A Soldier’s Load and the Mobility of a Nation by S.L.A. Marshall
• Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger
•  The Village by Bing West
•  Tip of the Spear by G.J. Michaels
• With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge

Staff Sergeant

• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
• American Spartans by James A. Warren
• The Arab Mind by Raphael Patai
• Attacks by Erwin Rommel
• Battle Cry by Leon Uris
• The Defense of Hill 781 by James McDonough
• The Face of Battle by John Keegan
• The Last Stand of Fox Company by Bob Drury
• McCoy’s Marines by James M. McPherson
• On Killing by Dave Grossman
• Soldiers of God by David Hagberg
• The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey

 Gunnery Sergeant

• Afghan Guerilla Warfare by Ali Jalali
• Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War by M. Sallah
• Islands of the Damned by R. V. Burgin
• Killing Ground on Okinawa by James H. Hallas
• The Mission, The Men, and Me by Pete Blaber
• On Command by Dave Grossman
• Ride the Thunder by Richard Botkin
• The Savage Wars of Peace by Max Boot
• Victory at High Tide by Robert Heinlein
• We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Harold G. Moore

Master Sergeant/First Sergeant

• The Accidental Guerilla by David Kilcullen
• Courageous Follower by Ira Chaleff
• Fields of Battle by John Keegan
• Forgotten Warriors by Thomas Hammes
• Ghost Wars by Steve Coll
• The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
• The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman
• The Passion of Command by Bryan Mccoy
• Seven Deadly Scenarios by Andrew Krepinevich
• The Sling and the Stone by Thomas X. Hammes
• Technology and War by Martin L. Van Creveld

 Master Gunnery Sergeant/Sergeant Major

• Achilles in Vietnam by Jonathan Shay
• At the Water’s Edge: Defending Against the Modern Amphibious Assault by Theodore Gatchel
• The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis
• The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam
• Crisis Leadership by Gene Klann
• The General by C.S. Forrester
• The Mask of Command by John Keegan
• No Bended Knee by Merril B. Twining
• On War by Carl Von Clausewitz
• A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

Captain / Chief Warrant Officer 4

• The Arab Mind by R. Patai
• The Defense of Hill 781 by James McDonough
• The General by C. S. Forrester
• Lions of Iwo Jima by Fred Haynes
• Lost Victories by Erich Von Manstein
• The Mask of Command by John Keegan
• Passion of Command by Bryan McCoy
• Sources of Power by Gary Klein
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Victory at High Tide by Robert D. Heinl
• We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Harold G. Moore

 Major/Chief Warrant Officer 5

• The Crucible of War by Fred Anderson
• The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
• This Kind of War by T. R. Fehrenbach
• The Landmark Thucydides by Robert Strassler
• The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of Little Big Horn by Nathaniel Philbrick
• The Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas Friedman
• Masters of War by Michael Handel
• Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer
• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Goodwin
• Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War by M. Sallah
• Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa by Joseph Alexander
• Wired for War by P. W. SingerJuly 11, 2011

 Lieutenant Colonel

• A Bell for Adano by John Hersey
• Accidental Guerilla by David Kilcullen
• At The Water’s Edge: Defending Against the Modern Amphibious Assault by Theodore Gatchel
• The Blitzkrieg Legend by Karl-Heinz Freiser
• The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier
• Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak by Robert Coram
• Carnage and Culture by Victor Hanson
• Defeat into Victory by William Slim
• Forgotten Warriors by Thomas Hammes
• A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin
• Seven Deadly Scenarios by Andrew Krepinevich

 Colonel to General

• Another Bloody Century by Colin Gray
• The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam
• The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis
• Decoding Clausewitz by Jon Sumida
• Dereliction of Duty by H.R. McMaster
• Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger
• Fault Lines: How Hidden Fractures Still Threaten the World by Raghuram Rajan
• How Wars End by Gideon Rose
• Tried by War by James McPherson
• Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime by Eliot A. Cohen
• • * Current, topical titles provided by Marine Corps University at each Executive Off-SiteJuly 11, 2011

If you’d like to reviwew any of these books for USNA or Bust, please contact us. You may win a free copy of USNA or Bust: How to Crack the Naval Academy Application.

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Jacqui Murray is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy midshipman.  She is webmaster for five blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, a columnist forExaminer.com, and a weekly contributor to Write Anything and Technology in Education. Currently, she’s working on a military thriller that should be ready this summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

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