Reddit mentions: The best military historical fiction books

I'm a big fan of historical fiction. In my mind it serves the same focus as movies based on history--it's an introduction to a time period and may spur someone to learn more about that time period. Even historical fiction that's mostly wrong can do this.

As a kid Johnny Tremain helped to get me started on the American Revolution.

A little later Red Badge of Courage got me intensely interested in the Civil War.

To Kill A Mockingbird is both a novel of the Depression and of the historical Deep South. Not normally regarded as historical fiction, but in a way it is. Steinbeck is probably best known for The Grapes of Wrath (another bit of historical fiction about the Depression), but I think that his book In Dubious Battle tells a more interesting story of how Communism was an important part of labor movements during this time period.

Harry Mazer's The Last Bomber does a pretty good job of telling what it was like for bomber crews and is told from the perspective of a 15 year old boy who runs away to join the Air Force.

Likewise Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls is regarded as a "classic" but most people seem to forget that it's historical fiction about the Spanish Civil War.

I'm sure that Aubrey Martin will get brought up. Love the series, but I actually got into those long after my interest in the Age of Sail. I read Bernard Cornwall's Azincourt recently and found it a fantastic bit of historical fiction that does a pretty good job laying out the basics of Henry V's campaign. I can't speak to the accuracy of his other historical fiction because I haven't read it, but I know that his [Richard Sharpe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpe_(novel_series) series (featuring a British soldier during the Napoleonic Wars) is incredibly popular and was turned into a tv series featuring Sean Bean as Sharpe.

Eric Flint's 1632 is a bit of counter-factual fun (what if a mining town from West Virginia was dropped into the middle of the Thirty Years' War), but it helped me get interested in that time period. Of course the later books in the series don't work so well for history since it diverges so much from real events, but I find that a good counter-factual history requires a thorough understanding of the time period you're diverging from. Plus there's a great section in there on Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, a fascinating character in his own right.

There's more, but yeah I absolutely think historical fiction is an important part of teaching about history. History is more than facts and figures, it's the story of our past. What better way to tell that story than actually writing a story?

For fantasy, I'd recommend His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman.

I'm not really sure where Dark Tower by Stephen King falls, but that's a great read, too. It's not a horror novel, so no fear. It's a long series if you like that kind of thing. I never quite got into it, but I enjoyed the first book a lot when I was your age.

I saw someone else mentioned Garth Nix. I've noticed that most book stores don't have any of his stuff anymore. Sabriel was easily one of my favorite books in high school, and I still enjoy rereading it from time to time.

For Sci-Fi, I recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, Dune by Frank Herbert, and Asimov. For Asimov, The Last Question and The Last Answer are great short stories. Otherwise, his Foundation series is a lot of fun.

Aaand, here's some Call of Cthulhu by HP Lovecraft. I love how it just leaves you with this sense of unease that there's something malign about the world as you know it.

Also, you might really enjoy The Things They Carried by Time O'Brien.

Sorry, but there isn't much.

Chapter 3 of the Ultimate Campaign source book. It mentions lineages and including families in game.

The Inner Sea Primer mentions a single feat, Noble.

Pathfinder's default Setting, the world of Golarion, has the nation of Brevoy for inspiration. It's like Medieval Russia with warring noble houses; very Game of Thrones feel.

If you want some serious inspiration for a back-stabbing, intrigue heavy, historically inspired noble house plotting generator, try Crusader Kings II. The Accursed Kings Series is historical fiction that inspired GRR Martin to write A Song of Ice and Fire.

As you mentioned, Cityscape has a whole section within Chapter 3 dedicated to Noble Houses.

Good Luck.

Anyways, having looked over my bookshelf, here are some recommendations purely for the sake of recommending. Maybe not spot on what you're looking for, but why not...

Neverwhere. A book I've read about nine times. Because it's awesome.

Time Traveler's Wife. Kind of established/re-ignited my hope and sense of romance. My father isn't much of a reader and usually takes months to go through a single book, but after losing his wife, my stepmother, he went through this in a week and thanked me profusely afterwards.

Island. I'll tell you right off, it's one of those 'intelligent reads'. The end is proclaimed early, it comes as predicted and it's depressing, but the book overall is nice. You read it first, to check :)

Gates of Fire.

Born To Run. Just read this recently. Fun, interesting, quick.

Taking the movie on its on merits it'll be a mindless effects laden summer movie blockbuster type so you shouldn't expect much in terms of mind blowing writing and the such. Now what I take offense too, and this is something Hollywood continues to do, is take incredibly interesting historical events, which on their own merits are remarkable stories in it of them selves and completely change the stories to make them more "bad ass" and appeal to a general blockbuster style fan base. Take 300 for example, now nothing wrong with Frank Miller's amazing graphic novel, or Zack Snyder's direction of the adaptation BUT now we'll never see a real true telling of the battle of Thermopylae or at best have to wait like 20 years since the rights to Stephen Pressfield's Gates of Fire are locked away in the phantom zone of Hollywood. The story of the 47 Ronin is amazing and should be told as it happened, not with dragon ladies, giant armored Samurai monsters and Keanu wielding a lightsaber katana. Also, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a pretty damn fun read...which Hollywood dumbed down beyond possible levels and changed pretty much everything in the book, in fact they pretty much just share Abraham Lincoln and little else. - Ends rant, Steps off soap box. (Also fist post here so if it was way too long sorry lol)

I'm pretty sure the details of their training have been lost to time, but there is a way to at least get the "feel" for their training.

It would be safe to assume that their program was probably not unique for the time. Meaning, the Spartan way of combat was not different from Athens or Korinth. Like the vast differences between Kung Fu and Karate and Tae Kwon Do. That's not to say there was no difference between them, but that difference was the men who comprised the armies.

You see, the Spartans trained all the time because they were rich enough to do so. The Helots did all the farming and Perioikoi did the artisan work. An Athenian or Boeotian farmer came off the farm and joined the Phalanx with little training. Indeed, hoplite warfare----until, to some degree, the Thebans and really the Macedonians come along----is deceptively simple. You lock shields, march straight ahead, then jab your spear in the other guys face until one side breaks. While there were all kinds of nuances and politics as to who lined up where and which city did what, it was really a bunch of guys running in one long line. (See Victor Davis Hansen's The Western Way of War for a spectacular explanation of the psychology behind the hoplite).

I'd argue that what made Sparta different from the other Greek armies was their upbringing and experience in battle. They were taught from a young age to fight to the death, and would have been kicked out of Laconia (which did occur frequently, even a King was exiled for what was perceived as cowardice or weakness) went to war just about every summer. They were always fighting someone. And so until their later period, when Greece was always at war with itself, the Spartans had more experience than their foes. Another aspect of Spartan culture often overlooked, is they had to keep their slaves in line. So much of their "off" time might be spent engaging in psychological warfare on the enslaved helots and/or killing the bravest of them to make an example of them.

You can't really recreate their childhood education (which had a lot more singing and dancing than you'd expect) because stalking around stealing from people is frowned upon in our society. You can't really create their famous diet. Spartans spent much of their free time trapping and hunting game, so you could that. Also chariot racing, which is harder to get in to these days. So what's left?

This is conjecture, but, I'd argue, sound conjecture. Their exercise regimen was probably comparable to Olympic athletes of the day. The Olympians of that time were mostly from very wealthy families, who had "leisure time" to train in sports. Spartan men (and even a woman) often won Olympic victories. So where does this leave you and your regimen?

Sprinting would be good, and this would transfer well into the charge of the Phalanx. So too would push ups, pull ups, and throwing large rocks. Spartans were extremely competitive and I could see many competitions about who was strongest. Running in armor was a great Olympic event back then, so maybe buy a weighted vest and run around the track? There was the javelin, the discus and jumping too. Also, the Spartans loved to sing and dance and being unable to do was seen as a deficiency. So strut your stuff bro and belt a tune while you do it! Also, find eight or so buddies to train with. Then you all should move out of your house, into a barracks and live together and train together every hour of every day. You can see your wife/girlfriend at night but you can't sleep over, and if you don't give her a baby fast enough she'll cheat on you. But I digress.

Learning a little about Pankration might be a good place to start. It's basically a mix of western boxing and Olympic wrestling (with fewer rules actually). I know of no Pankration gyms. A boxing gym would be easy to find but wrestling instruction outside of high school and collegiate levels is hard to find. I'd argue modern MMA is pretty similar to Pankration, especially the spirit of the sport. Jiu Jitsu bay be Japanese with a Brazilian flair, but those joint locks and the concept of tapping out echoes of ancient Greek wrestling matches. Minus the Thai round kick or San Da side kick, MMA is how I'd imagine the Spartans sparring one another.


Some books to check out: The Spartans
is great. A great mix of history and culture, highlighting their rise and fall.


Gates of Fire is fiction, but it's the best show of hoplite warfare and the Spartan spirit that I have read.

And just to keep you well rounded, Lords of the Sea tells of Athens, whose navy and the men who manned it were nothing short of spectacular. They are to the sea warfare what Sparta was to land.


Hope that helps.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to check it out.

I was also thinking of books to go along with the game and came up with these.

• The Assassin's Creed Odyssey official novel (obviously).
  
• The gates of fire by Stephen Pressfield:An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae: You can consider it as the prequel to the world of Odyssey since it covers the battle of Thermopylae. Can't say enough good things about this book. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
  
• Tides of War by Stephen Pressfield: I haven't read this but it's one of my next books since it covers the story of Alcibiades’ bodyguard and assassin and what was happening during his era.
  
• The song of Achilles:A novel: Covers the story of Achilles right before and during the Iliad (war on Troy). Again a prequel title for the world of Odyssey but an excellent read with an interesting story which covers the Gods/human interactions pretty well.
  
• The Peloponnesian War: If you search amazon, there are many books that cover the Peloponnesian War in great depth. Might not be the best read in terms of story but they're probably the best source for understanding what was really happening during the era (and how closely the game follows the actual events).

If you liked Dan Brown, you could give Umberto Eco a try with Foucault's Pendulum or In the Name of the Rose - His books are more intelligent and were written before Brown was around.

I read a lot of historical fiction, if that is of interest you could start with The Gates of Fire by Pressfield or The Last Kingdom by Cornwell

Mystery, action, and fantasy all rolled into one - Dresden Files might be of interest to you - it is kind of a detective noir mixed with fantasy. Also, the series vastly improves as it progresses.

If you would like a coming of age story, The Power of One follows a boy in turn-of-the-century South Africa and examines class and race relations in a very accessible way.

If you want to try reading some of what are considered "The Classics" I would recommend All Quiet on the Western Front and To Kill a Mockingbird

Tried to think of some of my favorites across several very different genres...If any of these appeal, I can expand on them with more similar suggestions.

Military academy and wall street a-hole here...here's my take. Your mileage may vary.

First and foremost, there is no substitute for initiative. Well done. It may make you seem like a keener to people who are less committed to succeeding but, in my opinion, it is the first step to leading.

The second step is a desire (passion) for outworking everybody. Cultivate it in yourself. Commit to doing it everyday. Embrace the grind.

Now for the hard part...where it becomes more of an "art" than a science...

The best leaders I've been around in life and sports practiced servant leadership. It seems counter-intuitive and your work will never be done but servant leadership is the tide that lifts all boats and if can make it part of who you are it will serve you well in sports and life. Even if you're on a team with a bunch of losers who don't get on board it is a tremendous character builder and you'll be a better person for it.

How to begin:

Always be the first one at practice and the last to leave.

If there's "shitty" or "not fun" job to do, always be the first to jump on it and recruit help when you need it...don't try to do it all yourself...that's a "hero", not a "leader" and will eventually burn you out. Do that shitty job everyday with a positive attitude. When a shittier job shows up, jump on that and delegate others to do the less shitty work you were working on. (shagging balls after practice, lining fields, setting goals up, keeping the locker room clean, gathering the team for talks from the coach, etc). If you can't find anything that needs doing, ask your coach if he's got anything. Do this every day.

When someone is struggling be the first to jump in and help/coach them up, always positive and always working harder than anyone else. Do this everyday.

Personally, I fucked it up when i was a player. I busted my ass, I was first and last at practice every day, I jumped on the shitty jobs and did all of that stuff but I failed because I was not positive with teammates who were struggling. I rode their asses like dogs because I thought that's what leadership was and I regret it a lot. If a guy is struggling the last thing he needs is some hard charging teammate berating him. Doesn't mean you have to coddle a struggling player, stay on him just keep it positive. Help him figure out a way to get it done, whatever "it" is. Always be looking out for the little guy. If you can help a bench player contribute, you've improved your team and helped yourself.

Good luck!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership



EDIT:
If this resonates with you in any way I recommend you spend a couple bucks on amazon and grab one or both of these books:

https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Dong-Ha-Bluejacket-Books/dp/155750587X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473342236&sr=8-1&keywords=bridge+at+dong+ha

https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/055338368X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473342915&sr=8-1&keywords=gates+of+fire

One is nonfiction the other is fiction based on real history. Both are great reads.

Excellent work man, great progress.

Also, everything in this book is planned for a particular reason, trust me.

As for books, Gates of Fire is my favorite, the concept of brotherhood, duty, and masculine power are all covered within.

I would first recommend Shogun by James Clavell. It's an epic story with a great plot. I don't believe it's too accurate, but it's a good read.


If you want to continue on with historical Japanese literature you can't go wrong with Musashi or Taiko both by Eiji Yoshikawa.


Moving on to more western stuff, I recommend the many James Michener books, but they can be boring at times. My favorite of his is Hawaii.


I'd also recommend Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield about the Battle of Thermopylae.

The Ramage series by Dudley Pope is pretty good. On the one hand, it's a lot lighter and less complex than O'Brian, and not particularly well-written, and often quite unrealistic (he's a typical Hornblower-esque hero); but it is fairly entertaining stuff. The first few books are the best ones, starting with Ramage.

This is extremely obscure, but I thought James Thackara's The Book of Kings was pretty fascinating. It tracks a bunch of college friends of different nationalities in 1930s Paris through WW2. The Amazon reviewers seemed either to love it or hate it -- and I understand why -- but I would say it's well worth reading, particularly as it covers a lot of events/perspectives that don't make it into most WW2 novels (the Eastern Front, the fall of France & the French Resistance, the attitudes of Algerians fighting for France and of anti-Nazi Germans fighting for Germany) . . . all in all, an unusual and intriguing book.

Also: City of Thieves by David Benioff, one of the showrunners of HBO's Game of Thrones.

There's a good book in this. A great book I think. Have you ever read Tim O'Brien's Things They Carried? It's a great example of how you can build an amazing, powerful, historically important portrait of an entire group of people out of little snippets of stories (Vietnam soldiers; modern American cops).

I really enjoy historical fiction. Here are a few that I really like:

War and Peace - the ultimate historical fiction novel.

Horatio Hornblower books

Aubrey/Maturin books

Sharpe's books

Gates of Fire, of course, and some of his other books.

Massino Manfredi's Alexander trilogy

And Pride of Carthage

Some of these are more fiction than history, but I think all are pretty enjoyable.

Anthony Doerr's "All the Light We Cannot See." Absolutely beautiful.

His writing style is incredible, and I felt like I was reading poetry the entire time. The chapters are only 1-4 pages each, so the plot moves rather quickly. The story is told through several characters' perspectives, and his words just jump off the page. You can tell he carefully chose each and every word that he wrote. Also has a strong and intelligent woman protagonist, which is always a plus!

I typically read fantasy, so I may not be able to give too many recommendations. Are you a Roald Dahl fan? Or a punk fan? Those are the biographies I know ;)

As an Englishman I'm actually rather interested in American history, mainly in the greater context of the conflicts with France happening at the time. If you enjoy GRRM's series I would recommend you read either some narrative histories or some historical fiction.

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones is extremely good as a cursory introduction to the beginnings of the English monarchy. It starts with the anarchy and makes it's way up to the fall of Richard II to the Lords Appellant and Henry IV that was so fantastically dramatised in Shakespeares play of the same name.
Dan Jones also wrote some terrific narrative history on the Wars of the Roses. He's a young historian, more focused on the narrative than the analysis but his bibliography is impressive enough.

For historical fiction, look no further than The Accursed Kings

It's a terrific look at the end of the Capetian dynasty and the set up for the Hundred Years War, where Edward III claimed to be the successor to the Capetians by English inhetitance laws and the French claimed he was not due to their new found love of Salic inheritance law. This was truly the war that forged the nation states of France and England and set them apart from each other.
Give it a read, although I'm not sure whether the last couple have been translated yet.

Relevant book: The Last King: Rome's Greatest Enemy. I read it back in high school and absolutely love d it. If you like historical novels, and this Mithridates guy sounds kind of like a BA (spoiler: he is) then check it out. Still one of my top books I have ever read!

Best memoir I've read to date:
http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Shores-Viktor-Leonov/dp/0804107327/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301539345&sr=8-1

A few other good ones:
http://www.amazon.com/Red-Sniper-Eastern-Front-Pilyushin/dp/1848841205/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

http://www.amazon.com/GUNS-AGAINST-REICH-Memoirs-Artillery/dp/1844159310/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

A very well written account of Poltava and warfare in the eighteenth century:
http://www.amazon.com/Battle-That-Shook-Europe-Poltava/dp/1860648479/ref=cm_cr-mr-title

Best WWII fiction:
http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Glory-Steven-Edward-Rustad/dp/157566397X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301539373&sr=8-1

Steven Pressfield has a lot of great stuff, although I hated his book on Rommel. But try 'Gates of Fire':
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/055338368X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301539446&sr=8-1

Anything by Bernard Cornwell.

For anyone interested in a great historical fiction (fiction but based on historical facts) Bernard Cornwell wrote an amazing book called Agincourt, you guessed it, about the battle of Agincourt, as seen from the perspective of an English archer. Amazon.com link here

He also has a 3 book series (historical fiction again) focusing on an English archer. The series is called "The Grail Quest" and the first book is called The Archers Tale. Amazon.com link here.

No, I am not him or his publicist, but he is my favorite author :)

Hmmm... fiction? Non-fiction? First-person meaning told through a first-person narrative style, or just generally following a single person fighting for survival?

Fiction-wise, I'm a fan of To The White Sea by James Dickey. I've also always heard universally good things about the young adult novel Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, but have yet to read it myself.

In the realm of non-fiction, Touching The Void is a pretty incredible story, and was made into a stellar documentary film. Also, anything about the Shackleton expedition to Antarctica is worth checking out, so there you've got Endurance by Alfred Lansing, as well as Shackleton's own account, South: The Endurance Expedition.

It's beside my bed-side table.

Which is a pretty major step, considering I have literally hundreds of unread books to get through. Consider it on the (physical) short-list. :) It's a toss up between that, a biography of Muhammad, The Luminaries (which just won the Booker Prize), Bring up the Bodies (which won last year) and HHhH.

Also, after years of resisting I bought a Kindle and now buy most of my book in ebook format; something I thought would never happen. My impulse buying of books has increased, and I find myself reading on the Kindle more than picking up real books these days. This saddens me in a strange way.

The Berlin Noir Trilogy is great. Raymond Chandler type private eye in Berlin before, during and after WW2

The Flashman Papers is a really funny satirical series about a cowardly, racist, drunken (etc, etc) Victorian English soldier

and Pillars of The Earth is a big epic novel about building a cathedral and the town around it. Super good, everybody loves that one. Ignore the lackluster TV miniseries.

RomanticDramaThrillerHorror? I'm not sure of something that would cover all of that, but your request for a new hot book tells me you may be interested in All the Light We Cannot See, which appears to have gone up in price since I last bought it. Any who, it's about a boy and a girl on separate sides of WWII. Check out the description, because I don't think I would explain it very well haha.

Its nonfiction ish but I just read HHHH
reddit!

Story is amazing anyway, his telling makes it fun

I just finished Confessions of a Long Distance Sailor, and it was interesting. When I told my father I wanted to sail around the world, he recommended Once Is Enough. I'm half way through We The Drowned and Two Years Before the Mast at the moment and enjoying both. Master and Commander is next on my list. Chapman Piloting and Seamanship is always good for leafing through and studying up on technical skills.

You might like the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. The main character is a lawful good ranger/assassin with animal companions. Quite good IMO.

http://www.amazon.com/Assassins-Apprentice-Farseer-Trilogy-Book/dp/055357339X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_c

In the not quite fantasy department, I recommend the Grail Quest trilogy by Bernard Cornwell. Totally kick-ass archer main character in the gritty world of the hundred years war. Best archery porn evar.

http://www.amazon.com/Archers-Tale-Grail-Quest-Book/dp/0060935766/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1318509234&sr=1-2

I got hooked on City of Thieves from the first few pages, and pretty much didn't move until I finished it. Beat the Reaper also starts off very quickly, and moves along at a pretty breathtaking pace. John Dies at the End is a comedy/science fiction/horror, and is a lot of fun. I'd also second Christopher Moore- I'd start with either Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal , or The Stupidest Angel.

Last time this shit got posted I bought and read his book and it's really great. I think it was like $3. Then if you like that go read any of the other million books written by vietnam vets. Such a good genre.

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason

Dustoff: The Memoir of an Army Aviator by Michael J Novosel

Fields of Fire by James Webb

David Benioff was such a fantastic author. He doesn't write novels anymore. I know I'm bringing on the down votes but this whole GoT thing has sidetracked him from what he does best and I'm really disappointed. City of Thieves was a fantastic book set in Russia during WWII. I've heard he's trying to get it made into a movie.

City of Thieves is an exciting thriller/coming of age book set in Leningrad during the siege of World War 2. Might not be exactly what you're looking for, but its a fun and clever page-turner.

The Aubrey Maturin series is great. But it isn't the only good series.

Please also check out:

1. The Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester.
   
   
2. The Bolitho series by Alexander Kent.
   
   
3. The Ramage series by Dudley Pope.
   
   
4. Or the very short, Charles Edgemont series by Jay Worral (newer series...only 3 books so far).
   
   
   I've read all of these. You should start with Horatio Hornblower because it was the series that inspired all these other authors to write their series. Some of these other authors even write in Hornblower to make brief cameo appearances in their own series.
   
   

There's a great fictional account called Daughters of the Night Sky. They were amazing women.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XTQ4YD1/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_4mVYDb23YSDWA

This is it boys, this is war.

I got a tablet for a gift and would love to read this, it's located on my just for tiny list!

Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell with Michael Mann directing. Could possibly be an amazing film, I know I loved the book.

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/michael-mann-heading-into-battle-with-agincourt

http://www.amazon.com/Agincourt-A-Novel-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0061578916

The Accursed Kings series from Maurice Druont are the main inspiration for ASOIAF. And it's a great series.

By far the best book on getting a feel for what it was 'like' is actually a novel: Gates of Fire: A novel of Thermopylae. Highly recommended.

If you're interested in learning all about the English longbow, read Azincourt, by Bernard Cornwell http://www.amazon.com/Agincourt-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0061578908 It's a good read, and really really informative about the unique weapon. One thing he makes clear (there's an afterword, I think, that goes into the history in some detail) is that these archers trained from local competitions from childhood on, and were strong as hell. As well, they didn't shoot the way you see movies and contemporary archers shoot, drawing back to their chins. Instead, they drew all the way back past their shoulders, and had to learn to aim that way. But the gain in power was a requirement with bows such as they found on the Mary Rose.

Check out Bernard Cornwell's stuff - he's known as one of the top historical fiction writers (if I recall correctly) and he definitely does his homework. There's a bit of fluff, obviously, like his inclusion of the chopping off of longbowmens' fingers (which we're not 100% sure happened - it's possible though!), but his books about the Hundred Years War are fantastic. I've personally read 1356: A Novel and Agincourt: A Novel.

Hope this helps! :)

Gates of Fire.

Its fiction, but pretty well researched historically.

Not exactly what you call fantasy but a great book with an archer main character:

Archer's Tale

I see there are a lot of fantasy recommendations here, but I think you may want to try out historical fiction.

GRRM gets a lot of his inspiration from history. Try out Bernard Cornwell, Steven Pressfield, and Colleen McCullough.

Ooo sorry to hear it wasn't to your liking! But glad to hear you found something more suitable!

So I used to read a lot more than I do now. Not sure why it's tapered off, really. I think I just don't have the time I used to to be able to head to the library or even the bookstore I've been looking to get into eBooks for a long time now, in hopes that I can start reading disgustingly high amounts of books again. And a Kindle Fire is just the ticket to be able to do so!

As for an eBook, I read City of Thieves a bit ago, and would love to check it out again!

Thanks for the contest!

The first book is a bit difficult to get into, but is essential in the development of the relationship between Maturin and Aubrey. My brother bought me this for my birthday before college. The range of things discussed and themes portrayed are immense. I don't think anyone can come anywhere near O'Brian's brilliance when it comes to naval warfare in the time period of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. A Sea of Words is also helpful in understanding some of the finer points that the book goes into.

I think boys can still read more adult literature. Maybe 8 or 9 is a bit young, but early on in high school was when I read Gates of Fire. It was very adult - it had rape, gore, swearing, and it also turned me onto history in such a big way that I now study the subject professionally. Yeah, it definitely would not fly as part of a school's curriculum, but thankfully I had teachers who either didn't give a fuck what we read or were just happy that we were reading on our own. It was my own book, not like they could really take it away anyway.

Gates of Fire is an account of the battle of Thermopylae, as told by the sole greek survivor, himself a Spartan slave. A fascinating look into spartan culture and tactics, this book is required reading at Annapolis, West Point, and Quantico. It will make you wish you'd been born a Spartan.

The Iron King by Maurice Druon is quite good so far; I'm about half way through. The ebook is currently on sale for $1.99. George RR Martin, the author of A Song of Ice and Fire (more popularly know as Game of Thrones) recommended it for historical fantasy fans. Here's the amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1371230196&sr=1-2&keywords=the+iron+king

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cross-Iron-Willi-Heinrich/dp/0553147870

http://www.amazon.com/Legion-Damned-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304366315/ref=pd_sim_b_3

Can't vouch for Cassel, but have read two of Willi Heinrich's books, one of which was an excellent Peckinpah film.

I recently read a very good historical novel about this assassination called HHhH.

https://www.amazon.com/HHhH-Novel-Laurent-Binet/dp/1250033349

I read a historical fiction book about this last year and it was great! Here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XTQ4YD1/ref=oh_aui_d_asin_title_o05_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/055338368X/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?qid=1457226526&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=the+gates+of+hell&dpPl=1&dpID=51lyDQ8xPdL&ref=plSrch

I'm on mobile, sorry for the long link. It's a good book, I've read it a couple times and have since passed it around to family & friends.

Here it is at Amazon

Not cheap at $150, but I like the series so much it was worth it for me.

Gates of fire is a really good read. I mean, it is a poetic retelling of the battle of Thermopylae, so not strictly speaking fantasy, but you may enjoy it anyway.

Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry

All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

One Summer: America, 1927, by Bill Bryson

​

My taste in books and authors is constantly undergoing change. I could name a hundred and not cover the subject, but these are the three I've returned to most in the years since I've read them. All three well worth discovering if you've not done so yet.

I highly recommend "Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield if anyone is interested in reading about Spartan culture and the battle of Thermopylae specifically. It is fiction, but very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

If anyone if interested I'd highly recommend this very interesting book about Heydrich and the men who were sent to try and assassinate him.

http://www.amazon.com/HHhH-A-Novel-Laurent-Binet/dp/1250033349/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410924117&sr=8-1&keywords=Hhhh

You should also pick up Fred Korematsu Speaks Up some of my fellow grad students literally did not know about Japanese internment camps in the US. :'(

For the holocaust unit we did when I was in grade school, we read the Diary of Anne Frank.

I also read Number the Stars as a kid and here's a Teacher's Companion for it.

All the Light We Cannot See is also a really good book and gives the view points of two very different people. The Book Thief is also really really good.

Playing Civ made me want to read a work of historical fiction, so I picked up Bernard Cornwell's Agincourt. So far it's very good.

This historical novel is as accurate as it can be while remaining a novel. The author provides the list of inacuracies at the end. This book tackles the same topic and I remember really enjoying it. I definetly recommend it and it is accurate as well, I just feel like the first one affected me more. Other than that, there are obviously historical documents that give you the information in academic way, rather than storywise, but I'm not fan of those, I prefer historical novels.

I also just found this document issued by the Czech government that compiles the informations with pictures, maps and everything. I haven't read it, but I'd assume it's accurate based on the publisher.

Great read - reminded me a lot of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien.

City of Theives. Great book.

James Webb was a platoon commander in Delta Co./1st Battalion/5th Marines in Vietnam.

Wrote a great combat novel from his experience: "Fields of Fire"


edit: Also former Secretary of the Navy.

Most of my crew team read this in high school. I like to think it was at least partly responsible for who I am now along with rowing in general, of course. It taught me how to be tough, how to keep going despite being in physical pain, to always put the well-being of my friends first, and that if I have to down I should go down fighting. Fantastic read. Link

Just look up historical fiction, fantasy by definition has to have some kind of magic in it. But this is set in medieval europe, and I loved it. It's a fast read http://www.amazon.com/Archers-Tale-Grail-Quest-Book/dp/0060935766

In that case I strongly advise the beauty killer series.

Loved this one, City of Thieves. From the critically acclaimed author of The 25th Hour and When the Nines Roll Over and co-creator of the HBO series Game of Thrones, a captivating novel about war, courage, survival — and a remarkable friendship that ripples across a lifetime.

The collected short stories of Sherlock Holmes and all the Agatha Christie books are also something I think every one must read.

GRRM hismelf said on his blog: "Look, if you love A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, and want "something like it" to read while you are waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for me to finish THE WINDS OF WINTER, you really need to check out Maurice Druon and THE ACCURSED KINGS".

https://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

amazing. reminds me of this book I listened to as a kid https://www.amazon.com/White-Sea-Delta-World-Library/dp/0385313098

The Accursed Kings series is amazing imo.

The Accursed Kings is a set of french novels about the French Royals, which Martin accredits as the inspiration for Thrones.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

You might be interested in a book call The Cross of Iron by Willi Heinrich then. Here's an amazon link:Link

The Accursed King series by Maurice Dixon.

George RR Martin says this was one of his largest inspirations for A Song of Ice and Fire.

That being said, this series is not fantasy. It's historical fiction. But ASOIAF does often read like historical fiction with some dragons and zombies thrown in.

City of Thieves by David Benioff. Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time, it's also cited as a major inspiration for the video game The Last of Us.

Lots of good stuff out there. You might look at

• Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground"
  
• Steven Pressfield's "Gates of Fire"
  

More accuracy. Much better story
(not a movie, unfortunately)

You might be intrested in the The Accursed Kings Series. Its about the french royal familly in the high middle ages. It starts out around the time when the king goes after the templars. Its a lot of politcs and familly matters. It his really close to what actually happens, I always like that.

This one is the first: http://www.amazon.com/Iron-King-Accursed-Kings-Book/dp/0007491263

To add to this, the Immortals served the Persian Kings, including Darius' son, Xerxes, whose invasion of Greece included the Battle of Thermopylae and ended with the Battle of Salamis. I recommend the excellent book "Gates of Fire", which goes into great detail about the Battle of Thermopylae and the Spartans and their adversaries, the Persians.

Here's amazon links for everyone... cleaner.

https://smile.amazon.com/Get-Trouble-Stories-Kelly-Link/dp/0812986490

https://smile.amazon.com/All-Our-Wrong-Todays-Novel/dp/1101985135

https://smile.amazon.com/Mischling-Affinity-Konar/dp/0316308099

https://smile.amazon.com/Doubters-Almanac-Novel-Ethan-Canin/dp/0812980263

https://smile.amazon.com/Most-Dangerous-Book-Battle-Ulysses/dp/0143127543

https://smile.amazon.com/Mexico-Stories-Josh-Barkan/dp/1101906294

https://smile.amazon.com/Nothing-Portrait-Insomnia-Blake-Butler/dp/0061997382

https://smile.amazon.com/Weather-Stations-Ryan-Call-ebook/dp/B005YFEHM8

https://smile.amazon.com/All-Light-We-Cannot-See/dp/1501173219

https://smile.amazon.com/Perfidia-James-Ellroy/dp/0307946673

https://smile.amazon.com/Lonely-Hearts-Hotel-Novel/dp/0735213739

https://smile.amazon.com/Happy-Talk-Novel-Richard-Melo/dp/1935869175

https://smile.amazon.com/TransAtlantic-Novel-Colum-McCann/dp/0812981928

https://smile.amazon.com/Deep-Whatsis-Peter-Mattei/dp/1590516389

https://smile.amazon.com/Watch-Me-Go-Mark-Wisniewski/dp/0399172122

https://smile.amazon.com/Second-Life-Nick-Mason-Novel/dp/0399574344

Not exactly what you're describing, but The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien is about the Vietnam War, and all throughout the book, it's questioned whether any of the stories are fact or fiction. A really really great read!!!

Whoops. WWII. Never the less, I think you would enjoy The Cross of Iron, by Willi Heinrich. It's fiction, but highly realistic.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Cross-Iron-Willi-Heinrich/dp/0553147870

I'm reading Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield right now. I'm really enjoying it but can anyone tell me how accurate it is?

He recently put out (another) book that should mollify your concerns if ~250 amazon reviewers are to be believed: http://www.amazon.com/City-Thieves-Novel-David-Benioff/dp/0452295297/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1267611982&sr=8-3

Something like City of Thieves by David Benioff? I'm not sure what I liked about it, the setting and storytelling maybe.

Gates of Fire is a much better and more historically accurate fictionalized account of the battle of Thermopylae (told from the viewpoint of a Spartan slave, though not a Helot).

I don't think anyone mentioned Fire at the Gates yet
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

I read this book for the first time back in 04 while I was in Iraq. I've read it 5 times since. It's beat the hell up but I'm too attached to this copy to give it up. But if you haven't read it, I highly recommend it.

City of Thieves - David Benioff

Envy - Sandra Brown

'To The White Sea' by James Dickey (author of 'Deliverance') is the first that comes to mind. I read it solely based that the Coen brothers optioned it. Parts of the 'The Nick Adams Stories' by Ernest Hemmingway. Same for a lot of Jack London short story works.

If you haven't already, I would suggest reading Gates of Fire

Gates of Fire

>Ps. It's spelt Azincourt by Cornwell not Agincourt.

It's printed with both spellings on the cover, depending on the localization.

http://www.amazon.com/Agincourt-Bernard-Cornwell/dp/0061578908

There's another thread on here somewhere that talks about all the research Cornwell does.

A book that was required reading at westpoint actually says as much https://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

Gates of Fire

They literally are novelists.

Is this the book you're talking about?

Senator James Webb, former Secretary of the Navy under Reagan, decorated infantry officer in Vietnam, *author of best-selling 'Nam novel "Fields of Fire"

Scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvx7oXqiaMM

Wiki on the dude:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dienekes

Everyone should read this book

Edit: Bonus scene

Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell

The paper back I have says "together"

this one: http://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Carried-Tim-OBrien/dp/0767902890

Gates of Fire by Steve Pressfield. It's 300 for grown-ups: http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

This was memorably (if sensationally) novelized by Bernard Cornwell back in '09.

This book is also very gripping about the Heydrich assassination.

"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield. An epic novel spanning the life of a Spartan helot into the maturing man fighting in the Battle of Thermopalyae. Highly reccommended as the retired marines insight provides an underlying sense of valor and admiration to the Spartans tough military lifetsyle.

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

Gates of Fire by Pressfield

Gates of Fire - Steven Pressfield

http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

I'm really enjoying the Cornwell Series that begins with The Archer's Tale at the moment but I'm almost three quarters through and starting to worry about what I'll read next.

For ancient Sparta, check out Gates of Fire. It's a fictional wrap to the Battle of Thermopylae and a real page turner.

The Accursed Kings series by Maurice Druon. One of the inspirations for ASOIAF. Martin even wrote the forward to an English edition of the series.

>Over the years, more than one reviewer has described my fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, as historical fiction about history that never happened, flavoured with a dash of sorcery and spiced with dragons. I take that as a compliment. I have always regarded historical fiction and fantasy as sisters under the skin, two genres separated at birth. My own series draws on both traditions … and while I undoubtedly drew much of my inspiration from Tolkien, Vance, Howard, and the other fantasists who came before me, A Game of Thrones and its sequels were also influenced by the works of great historical novelists like Thomas B. Costain, Mika Waltari, Howard Pyle … and Maurice Druon, the amazing French writer who gave us the The Accursed Kings, seven splendid novels that chronicle the downfall of the Capetian kings and the beginnings of the Hundred Years War.

>Druon’s novels have not been easy to find, especially in English translation (and the seventh and final volume was never translated into English at all). The series has twice been made into a television series in France, and both versions are available on DVD … but only in French, undubbed, and without English subtitles. Very frustrating for English-speaking Druon fans like me.

>The Accursed Kings has it all. Iron kings and strangled queens, battles and betrayals, lies and lust, deception, family rivalries, the curse of the Templars, babies switched at birth, she-wolves, sin, and swords, the doom of a great dynasty … and all of it (well, most of it) straight from the pages of history. And believe me, the Starks and the Lannisters have nothing on the Capets and Plantagenets.

>Whether you’re a history buff or a fantasy fan, Druon’s epic will keep you turning pages. This was the original game of thrones. If you like A Song of Ice and Fire, you will love The Accursed Kings.

>George R.R. Martin

300 was fuckin stupid. Read this

Everyone in this comment thread should read City of Thieves!

http://www.amazon.com/City-Thieves-Novel-David-Benioff/dp/0452295297

The Gates of Fire
http://www.amazon.com/Gates-Fire-Novel-Battle-Thermopylae/dp/0553580531

Guns, Germs and Steel has a lot of talk about technology and warfare
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413679485&sr=1-1&keywords=guns%2C+germs+and+steel

Two (OK, three) come to mind:

Railway Man, by Eric Lomax

Railway Man, on Amazon

An American captured by the Japanese in (I think) Indonesia during WWII, and forced with other prisoners to build a railroad, and survive a Death March. He's also tortured for information. The story of his sheer survival is fascinating, but what's really amazing was the surprising forgiveness that emerges.

The Long Walk, by Slavomir Rawicz

The Long Walk, on GoodReads for a change

"The harrowing true tale of seven escaped Soviet prisoners who desperately marched out of Siberia through China, the Gobi Desert, Tibet, and over the Himalayas to British India." It's also quite moving.

Finally, a more recently written WWII tale (no, I don't have a thing for war stories - these are the ones that occur to me) during the Siege of Stalingrad:

The City of Thieves, by David Benioff (the screenwriter).

City of Thieves
It's really really good!

Ernest Shackleton's South - the early 20th century polar explorer's account of the ill-fated Endurance voyage that was trapped in Antarctic ice.

Yamamoto Tsunetomo's Hagakure: The Way of the Warrior - the 18th century Japanese book on the samurai code that gets quoted a lot in the 1999 Jim Jarmusch movie "Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai".

Erik Larson's Devil in the White City and Isaac's Storm - two excellent non-fiction accounts of the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago and the gruesome murders that surrounded it and the 1900 storm that destroyed Galveston, Texas.

Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire - it may be fiction, but it doesn't get any manlier than 300 Spartans facing off against thousands of invading Persians at Thermopylae.

If you want to know more of what happened, read The Gates of Fire. The battle field was fought between the west gate and the Phokian wall in what is called the Narrows or Thermopylae and sits off the Malian Gulf. The closest city was Antheia, not Sparta. Sparta is no where near Thermopylae. In fact, it was several days journey for the Spartans to get to their destination.

I remembered and solved it myself! The Iron King by Maurice Druon. Also wrong war, it was the Hundred Years War. It was actually the responses that helped me realize it was the wrong war. Thank you!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0007491263/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_o1jIDbFMSC95Y

This times infinity. I came here to post this and found this comment.

He also did an archer series about the hundred years war. The Archer's tale. He was very detailed and explained how the English used new tactics to demolish mounted knights.

The series is really good and explains why full plate knights became inefficient and died out. Most people assume plate armor started to decline with firearms, but some say it started with English tactics, bodkin arrows and poleaxes/halberds. The heavy plate armored knights relied on horses to carry them into battle and the english archers would kill the horses so men-at-arms could easily dispatch the cumbersome knights.

During the hundred years war, the English consistently destroyed the french heavy plate armored knights over and over again.