{"id":34522,"date":"2017-12-12T19:45:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T19:45:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2017\/12\/12\/best-books-of-2017-a-dozen-cant-miss-military-reads\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:36:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:36:57","slug":"best-books-of-2017-a-dozen-cant-miss-military-reads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/off-duty\/2017\/12\/12\/best-books-of-2017-a-dozen-cant-miss-military-reads\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Books of 2017: A dozen can’t-miss military reads"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The was the year of reading voraciously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Because literary fiction by veterans continues to achieve mainstream recognition, and nonfiction becomes more inclusive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unsung women decipher enemy plans in \u201cCode Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II<\/a>.\u201d The welcome and necessary anthology \u201cIt\u2019s My Country Too: Women\u2019s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan<\/a>\u201d gives a voice to females who fight for the right to fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Military Times presented reviews of 60 books and considered reviewing dozens of others. \u201cConsidered\u201d means we read portions of other books in order to determine whether a review would serve readers. Those books often are \u201cnoted but not reviewed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In two categories, here are the most memorable. Prices are suggested by the publishers; you may find lower figures online or in your nearest bookstore:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FICTION<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dark at the Crossing <\/b>by Elliot Ackerman, Knopf, 256 pages, $26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second novel<\/a> by the Marine veteran \u2014 his first, \u201cGreen on Blue<\/a>,\u201d made Military Times\u2019 2015 \u201ctop\u201d list \u2014 affirms his stature. This story, a well-deserved finalist for the National Book Award, blends suspense with substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Turkey-Syria border, an Iraqi-born American interpreter from \u201ca war against Iraqis\u201d decides to support insurgents in Syria; it\u2019s his way of finding atonement. His strained bedfellow, Daphne, also understands that \u201cfighting doesn\u2019t go on because of ideas. It goes on because of loss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Together they have nothing left to lose, and readers have everything to gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Spoils <\/b>by Brian Van Reet, Boudreaux, 304 pages, $26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the veteran\u2019s first book<\/a>, Cassandra is a 19-year-old soldier without \u201cthe wariness that comes through the accumulated calamity of years.\u201d And she is tough \u2014 \u201cthe most dangerous thing around,\u201d even when she and two other soldiers become unintended spoils of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the Ackerman novel (above), \u201cSpoils\u201d has an ending that resonates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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War Porn<\/b> by Roy Scranton, SoHo, 352 pages, $26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former soldier who wrote about our volatile globe in the nonfiction \u201cLearning to Die in the Anthropocene<\/a>\u201d (it made Military Times\u2019 2015 list) turns to fiction, and his debut novel<\/a> is about soldiers and civilians trying to survive their own and the rest of the world\u2019s volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Particularly impressive is the short story that bookends the novel, about a backyard barbecue where tempers and passion fire up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Brave Deeds <\/b>by David Abrams, Black Cat, 256 pages, $16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Five years after his superb first novel, \u201cFobbit<\/a>,\u201d Army veteran Abrams leaves the base, and satire, and goes AWOL<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His brave dudes, six characters in search of the memorial service for a beloved staff sergeant, unofficially procure a Humvee that breaks down in desolate, dangerous urban space. With nearly every step, the young soldiers stumble into trouble as they try to find their way out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Road Ahead: Fiction from the Forever War <\/b>edited by Adrian Bonenberger and Brian Castner, Pegasus, $25, 368 pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overlook the clich\u00e9 title and illustrations. Instead, savor each of the 24 distinctive tales by 24 veterans \u2014 most are white, five are women \u2014in a collection<\/a> that makes you want to read more writing by each contributor, including Ackerman (see above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NONFICTION<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam <\/b>by Mark Bowden, Atlantic Monthly, 608 pages, $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cBlack Hawk Down\u201d author tells what happens<\/a> after Communist forces open the Tet Offensive and surprise everyone, everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. soldiers and Marines fight back despite an oblivious brass that offers little moral or military support. Nearly 50 years later, their independent plight is regrettably similar to the headlines of today\u2019s wars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crossings: A Doctor-Soldier\u2019s Story<\/b> by Jon Kerstetter, Crown, 352 pages, $27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An emergency-room doctor joins the Army National Guard<\/a> at 42. Why? War engages him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a third Iraq tour, the flight surgeon breaks. He finds himself on an operating table, and tests find a brain aneurysm. A stroke and post-traumatic stress follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the debilitating diagnoses, the physician heals himself, eloquently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Prisoner in His Palace: Saddam Hussein, His American Guards, and What History Leaves Unsaid <\/b>by Will Bardenwerper, Scribner, 272 pages, $26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author was an infantry officer in Iraq and has no \u201cfirsthand knowledge of the events,\u201d but he makes you think otherwise as you go inside the minds<\/a> of the prisoner and his protectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The despicable VIP detainee has a dose of dignity in this narrative of the last days of a dictator, and the MPs grow to appreciate \u201ca former head of state showing them a respect they sometimes didn\u2019t get from their own superior officers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Shooting Ghosts: A U.S. Marine, a Combat Photographer, and Their Journey Back from War <\/b>by Thomas J. Brennan, USMC (ret.) and Finbarr O\u2019Reilly, Viking, 352 pages, $27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Marine sergeant and a photojournalist walk into a war, and their shared memoir<\/a> \u201cabout how our stories became entangled\u201d is exceptional in candor \u2014 while describing the creative process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both struggle to regain the \u201ccadence and hum of life\u201d: O\u2019Reilly goes from the trying \u2019Stan to the fire in Gaza, where he finally sees enough; Brennan, after earning a journalism degree, publishes The War Horse digital report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family\u2019s Quest to Bring Him Home <\/b>by Sally Mott Freeman, Simon & Schuster, 576 pages, $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This page-turner<\/a> about three New Jersey sailors in World War II is, the publisher touts, \u201cUnbroken\u201d meets \u201cSaving Private Ryan.\u201d At first the claim seems preposterous, but it soon becomes fair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bill works in the White House\u2019s map room, and Benny, also an Annapolis graduate, is on the aircraft carrier Enterprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barton, the youngest, is in the Philippines when he is wounded in a Japanese attack. What follows are atrocities by the Japanese, arrogance from rival Army and Navy leaders, and anguish as a family begs for news.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Odyssey of Echo Company: The 1968 Tet Offensive and the Epic Battle to Survive the Vietnam War <\/b>by Doug Stanton, Scribner, 336 pages, $30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The author of 2009\u2019s popular \u201cHorse Soldiers\u201d (about Special Forces in Afghanistan and soon to be a movie<\/a>) wisely centers on Army Spc. John S. \u201cStan\u201d Parker, who enlists after high school and can hardly wait \u201cto become a paratrooper and go to war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He gets his wish<\/a>, and Stanton gets a soldier who exemplifies service in Vietnam and then returns 46 years later to find \u201ca kind of transformation, a transubstantiation, even.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Grant <\/b>by Ron Chernow, Penguin Press, 1,104 pages, $40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pulitzer-winning author of what he accurately calls \u201clengthy sagas\u201d produces another one<\/a> \u2014 about the nation\u2019s 18th commander-in-chief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear with it, overlook the repetition, and you\u2019ll find the book is a study of Grant\u2019s loyalty and conscience. As president, the \u201cmaster of the psychology of war\u201d must \u201csettle unfinished business from the war by preserving the Union and safeguarding the freed slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He perseveres despite a cigar, financial losses, and a notorious but over-touted reputation for binge drinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MORE MILITARY TIMES BOOK REVIEWS<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n