War and Strategy

Warfare, military campaigns, grand strategy and the classic texts on conflict, plus first-hand accounts of combat. Read by officers, strategists and readers who take conflict as a lens on human affairs.

144 books

Books 144

The Wages of Destruction

T1 The Wages of Destruction

Adam Tooze · 2006 · The Nazi economy as an exercise in resource and financial constraint.

The Great Illusion

T2 The Great Illusion

Norman Angell · 1909 · The pre-1914 argument that economic interdependence makes war unprofitable

Tom Bower · 1997 · The dormant-accounts scandal and the first serious breach of Swiss secrecy.

The Pity Of War Explaining World War I

T2 The Pity Of War Explaining World War I

Niall Ferguson · 1998

The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conf

T2 The War of the World: Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West

Niall Ferguson · 2006

The Sleepwalkers

T2 The Sleepwalkers

Christopher Clark · 2013 · How Europe stumbled into 1914; decisions under uncertainty and momentum

T2 Treasury's War

Juan Zarate · 2013 · Insider account of the financial-warfare machinery that isolates Iranian banks.

T2 The Kill Chain

Christian Brose · 2020 · The defence procurement failure Palantir sells against.

Edward Fishman · 2025 · Sanctions and export controls as the force actually moving supply chains.

The 33 Strategies of War

T2 The 33 Strategies of War

Robert Greene

unverified

The Pentagon Wars

T3 The Pentagon Wars

James G. Burton · 1993 · Insider account of the Bradley programme and operational testing.

Hitler's Silent Partners

T3 Hitler's Silent Partners

Isabel Vincent · 1997 · Companion investigation into Swiss banks and looted wartime assets.

T3 It's Your Ship

D. Michael Abrashoff · 2002 · A naval captain on delegating authority to improve performance

Science, Strategy and War

T3 Science, Strategy and War

Frans P. B. Osinga · 2006

Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Ec

T3 Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy

Ayesha Siddiqa · 2007 · The army's foundations, land and industrial holdings mapped for the first time.

T3 Crossed Swords

Shuja Nawaz · 2008 · The army's internal history; essential for reading political risk here.

Prophets of War

T3 Prophets of War

William D. Hartung · 2010 · Lockheed Martin as a case study in the contractor-state relationship.

Great Games, Local Rules

T3 Great Games, Local Rules

Alexander Cooley · 2012 · How Central Asian states play outside powers off against each other.

Extreme Ownership

T3 Extreme Ownership

Jocko Willink, Leif Babin · 2015 · Navy SEAL leadership doctrine adapted to running teams and firms

Nat Eliason Alfred Lin Austin Rief Brant Cooper Casey Neistat Chris Powers David Cancel Marc Andreessen Michael Mauboussin Tim Ferriss Tobi Lütke Tom Bilyeu

T3 Team of Teams

Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, Chris Fussell · 2015 · Insider account of restructuring JSOC for speed of decision.

Changpeng Zhao Doug McMillon

The Weapon Wizards

T3 The Weapon Wizards

Yaakov Katz, Amir Bohbot · 2017 · How military procurement feeds the commercial technology pipeline.

Raj M. Shah, Christopher Kirchhoff · 2024 · Insiders on Pentagon-Valley contracting where Palantir won; Open Library unreachable.

The History of the Peloponnesian War

T4 The History of the Peloponnesian War

Thucydides · 1526

Ryan Holiday Matt Mullenweg Satya Nadella

John Hersey · 1702

Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

T4 Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant · 1885

The Art of War in the Middle Ages

T4 The Art of War in the Middle Ages

Charles Oman · 1885

Paul Graham Sam Altman

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

T4 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

William L. Shirer · 1901

The German Generals Talk

T4 The German Generals Talk

B.H. Liddell Hart · 1948

Patrick Collison Paul Graham

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World

T4 The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World

Edward Shepherd Creasy · 1955

All Quiet on the Western Front

T4 All Quiet on the Western Front

Erich Maria Remarque · 1956

Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma

T4 Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945

William Slim · 1956

Slaughterhouse-Five

T4 Slaughterhouse-Five

Kurt Vonnegut · 1956

Alexis Ohanian Joel Connolly Mario Gabriele Sophie Bakalar

James Salter · 1956

Patrick Collison

Johnnie Johnson · 1956

Mine Were Of Trouble

T4 Mine Were Of Trouble

Peter Kemp · 1957

Marc Andreessen

The Spanish Civil War

T4 The Spanish Civil War

Hugh Thomas · 1961

Marc Andreessen

The Guns of August

T4 The Guns of August

Barbara W. Tuchman · 1962

The Fall of Constantinople 1453

T4 The Fall of Constantinople 1453

Steven Runciman · 1965

T4 Once An Eagle

Anton Myrer · 1968

Patrick Collison Stanley McChrystal

Vincent Cronin · 1971

T4 The Civil War

Bruce Catton, James M. McPherson · 1971

The Causes of War

T4 The Causes of War

Geoffrey Blainey · 1973

Hugh Popham · 1974

American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964

T4 American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964

William Manchester · 1978

With the Old Breed

T4 With the Old Breed

E. B. Sledge · 1981

The Conquest of Gaul

T4 The Conquest of Gaul

Julius Caesar · 1983

Eisenhower Soldier and President

T4 Eisenhower Soldier and President

Stephen E. Ambrose · 1987

Mohnish Pabrai Jamie Dimon

T4 Flying Start

Hugh Dundas · 1988

David H. Hackworth · 1989

Bret Victor Jeff Atwood Tim Ferriss

The Long Gray Line

T4 The Long Gray Line

Rick Atkinson · 1989

The Second World War

T4 The Second World War

John Keegan · 1989

Military Misfortunes

T4 Military Misfortunes

Eliot A. Cohen · 1990

Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doct

T4 Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior

James Stockdale · 1993

A.M. Gray · 1994

My American Journey

T4 My American Journey

Colin Powell · 1995

Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

T4 Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot

James B. Stockdale · 1995

Why the Allies Won

T4 Why the Allies Won

Richard Overy · 1995

The Landmark Thucydides

T4 The Landmark Thucydides

Thucydides · 1996

Angel in the Whirlwind

T4 Angel in the Whirlwind

Benson Bobrick · 1997

T4 Gates of Fire

Steven Pressfield · 1998

Chris Fussell Ron Conway

Antony Beevor · 1998

Richard Branson

Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World

T4 Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

John W. Dower · 1999

Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (The Am

T4 Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant (The American Civil War)

Ulysses S. Grant · 1999

Ulysses S. Grant

T4 Ulysses S. Grant

Brooks D. Simpson · 2000

Yamamoto Tsunetomo · 2001

Hitler: Downfall: 1939-1945

T4 Hitler: Downfall: 1939-1945

Volker Ullrich · 2001

Marc Andreessen

David Stumpf · 2002

Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy: The T

T4 Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy: The Timeless Leadership Lessons of History's Greatest Empire

Partha Bose · 2003

T4 Certain to Win

Chet Richards · 2004

Nuclear Terrorism

T4 Nuclear Terrorism

Graham Allison · 2004

To Rule the Waves

T4 To Rule the Waves

Arthur Herman · 2004

T4 Brave New War

John Robb · 2007

T4 Lone Survivor

Marcus Luttrell · 2007

Larry Ellison Marc Andreessen

The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean W

T4 The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War

David Halberstam · 2007

Gary Brecher · 2008

Wealth, War and Wisdom

T4 Wealth, War and Wisdom

Barton Biggs · 2008 · Open Library unreachable during build; every openlibrary.org query failed with connection errors

Embedded: A Marine Corps Adviser Inside the

T4 Embedded: A Marine Corps Adviser Inside the Iraqi Army

Wesley R. Gray · 2009 · Naval Institute Press memoir, not an investing book. Open Library unreachable this pass.

Timothy Snyder · 2010

Eric Weinstein Peter Thiel

Judging Edward Teller: A Closer Look at One

T4 Judging Edward Teller: A Closer Look at One of the Most Influential Scientists of the Twentieth Century

Istvan Hargittai · 2010

Karl Marlantes · 2010

Patrick Collison

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival,

T4 Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand · 2010

Andrew Wilkinson Mohnish Pabrai

SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL

T4 SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy SEAL Sniper

Howard E. Wasdin, Stephen Templin · 2011

The Warrior Ethos

T4 The Warrior Ethos

Steven Pressfield · 2011

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Freedom's Forge

T4 Freedom's Forge

Arthur Herman · 2012 · American industrial mobilisation in the 1940s; the precedent everyone reaches for.

Christopher Bloomstran Patrick Collison

No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mi

T4 No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden

Mark Owen, Kevin Maurer · 2012

Mohnish Pabrai Paul Graham

The Gallic Wars

T4 The Gallic Wars

Julius Caesar · 2012

Civilian Warriors

T4 Civilian Warriors

Erik Prince · 2013

Marc Andreessen

Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Wh

T4 Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War

Paul Kennedy · 2013

The Guns at Last Light

T4 The Guns at Last Light

Rick Atkinson · 2013

Jay Winik · 2015

Roger Crowley · 2015

Memoirs or Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade a

T4 Memoirs or Chronicle of the Fourth Crusade and the Conquest of Constantinople

Geoffrey de Villehardouin · 2015

The Hundred-Year Marathon

T4 The Hundred-Year Marathon

Michael Pillsbury · 2015

Erik Larson · 2015

Spain In Our Hearts

T4 Spain In Our Hearts

Adam Hochschild · 2016

Marc Andreessen

Destined for War

T4 Destined for War

Graham Allison · 2017

Bill Gates David Sacks Ray Dalio

Kim Phuc Phan Thi · 2017

Karlene Markham

T4 Army of None

Paul Scharre · 2018

Presidents of War

T4 Presidents of War

Michael Beschloss · 2018

The Jungle Grows Back

T4 The Jungle Grows Back

Robert Kagan · 2018

The Perfect Weapon

T4 The Perfect Weapon

David E. Sanger · 2018

Call Sign Chaos

T4 Call Sign Chaos

General Mattis · 2019

Tom Cotton · 2019

The Splendid and the Vile

T4 The Splendid and the Vile

Erik Larson · 2020

Andrew Wilkinson Bill Gates Joel Greenblatt Daniel Petre Keith Rabois

The Wires of War

T4 The Wires of War

Jacob Helberg · 2021

Anthony Pompliano Keith Rabois

Road to Surrender

T4 Road to Surrender

Evan Thomas · 2023

Andrew Wilkinson

The Nazi Conspiracy

T4 The Nazi Conspiracy

Brad Meltzer, Josh Mensch · 2023

Andrew Wilkinson

Annie Jacobsen · 2024

Andrew Wilkinson

The Demon of Unrest

T4 The Demon of Unrest

Erik Larson · 2024

Andrew Wilkinson

The Book of Five Rings

T4 The Book of Five Rings

Miyamoto Musashi · 2025

Nat Eliason Ryan Holiday Naval Ravikant Tim Ferriss

"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age o

T4 "A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide

unverified

Patrick Collison

David McCullough

unverified

Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

T4 Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

unverified

Patrick Collison

Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the La

T4 Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World--Told from Inside by the Man Who Ran It

unverified

Patrick Collison

Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism a

T4 Brave New War: The Next Stage of Terrorism and the End of Globalization

John Robb

unverified

Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marin

T4 Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine

Robert Coram

unverified

Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collap

T4 Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa Kindle Edition

unverified

Patrick Collison

Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's

T4 Deceiving the Sky: Inside Communist China's Drive for Global Supremacy

unverified

Douglas MacArthur

T4 Douglas MacArthur

William Manchester

unverified

Eisenhower in War and Peace

T4 Eisenhower in War and Peace

Jean Edward Smith

unverified

Brian Armstrong

Fall of Constantinople

T4 Fall of Constantinople

Steven Runciman

unverified

Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His

T4 Genghis Khan: His Conquests, His Empire, His Legacy

unverified

Patrick Collison

George Marshall

T4 George Marshall

David Roll

unverified

Ghosts by Daylight: Love, War, and Redemptio

T4 Ghosts by Daylight: Love, War, and Redemption

unverified

Patrick Collison

Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story

T4 Good Hunting: An American Spymaster's Story

unverified

Patrick Collison

Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese St

T4 Kamikaze Diaries: Reflections of Japanese Student Soldiers

Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney

unverified

Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the M

T4 Manhattan Project: The Untold Story of the Making of the Atomic Bomb

unverified

Patrick Collison

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

T4 Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

unverified

Patrick Collison

Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure

T4 Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War

Eliot A. Cohen, John Gooch

unverified

Out of the Blue Too: More scary and often fu

T4 Out of the Blue Too: More scary and often funny tales from the Royal Air Force and Friends

unverified

Patrick Collison

Rebuilding Sergeant Peck

T4 Rebuilding Sergeant Peck

John Peck

unverified

Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Comp

T4 Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph: The Complete 1922 Text

unverified

Patrick Collison

B.H. Liddell Hart

unverified

Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American

T4 Sherman: Soldier, Realist, American

B.H. Liddell Hart

unverified

Small Wars, Faraway Places: Global Insurrect

T4 Small Wars, Faraway Places: Global Insurrection and the Making of the Modern World, 1945-1965

unverified

Patrick Collison

T4 Stalin's War

unverified

Balaji S. Srinivasan

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege

T4 Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege

Antony Beevor

unverified

Richard Branson

Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a

T4 Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

unverified

Patrick Collison

The Anabasis: Or, Expedition of Cyrus, and t

T4 The Anabasis: Or, Expedition of Cyrus, and the Memorabilis of Socrates

unverified

Patrick Collison

The Battle of Alcazar

T4 The Battle of Alcazar

E.W. Bovill

unverified

Graham Duncan Paul Graham

The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Gui

T4 The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

Robert B. Strassler (ed.)

unverified

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

T4 The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War

unverified

Patrick Collison

The thirty years war

T4 The thirty years war

unverified

Patrick Collison

T4 WAR

Sebastian Junger

unverified

Patrick O'Shaughnessy