Military Reading Lists

This post is from 2015. While there are still some useful links here, this post has been replaced by the PME Prezi.

Looking for some military reading lists for inspiration? Want to know what senior commanders think we should be reading? Here are some lists to get you started:

• Australian Chief of Army’s Reading List – philosophers of war, character of land warfare, culture and conflict, military organisation culture and behaviours, strategy and doctrine, logistics, command and leadership, intelligence, professional ethics, military innovation and adaptation, amphibious warfare, thinking creatively, contemporary security contexts, and military history.

• West Point Officer’s Professional Reading List – military classics, nature and practice of war, face of battle, experience of war, wars and warfare from the ancients through the 21st Century, war and combat.

• U.S. Army Chief of Staff’s Professional Reading List – broken into three sections focused on: Armies at War: Battles and Campaigns, the Army Profession and Strategy and the Strategic Environment.

• U.S. Special Operations Command Commander’s Reading List – leadership, threat, strategy, intelligence, technology and innovation.

• Military Professional Reading Lists – a great collection – “You’ll find 2223 books on 79 revisions of 43 different military reading lists” and their list of military reading lists.

• Defence Academy of the United Kingdom – Chief of Defence Staff Reading List – strategy, warfare, partners, people

• Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staffs Reading List

• Joint Forces Staff Collge Commandant’s Professional Reading List 

• Special Operations Command Pacific Reading List – gives a geographic twist

• LTGEN James Mattis’ Reading List – lists for all ranks, non-commissioned officers, sergeants, warrant officers, and junior through to senior officers

• Marine Corps Reading Lists
  • Levels: Entry (Officer and Staff Cadets), Primary (Lieutenants), Career (Captains), Intermediate (Major to Lieutenant Colonel), Senior (Colonels)
  • Logistics
  • Strategic Thinking
  • Leadership
  • Aviation
  • Counterinsurgency
  • Cyberwarfare & Security
  • Roots of Maneuver Warfare

• U.S. Naval War College – Wargaming Reading List

• Red Team Reading List

• U.S. Army Cyber Professional Reading List

• Last but not least is the Mother of All Reading Lists by Thomas E. Ricks

Found a good reading list? Feel free to email it to: groundedcuriosity@gmail.com so we can share your discovery.