In 1999, the U.S. Senate designated May National Military Appreciation Month to honor and appreciate the patriotism and dedication shown by members of the armed services and their families.
Here are some ebooks and audiobooks on military history, war, and modern warfare, some classic, some new, all of which should remind us of the immense valor, sacrifice, commitment and dedication displayed by our men and women in uniform.
Art of War by Sun Tzu & Lionel Giles
The world’s most influential treatise on strategy; Mao Zedong used it to defeat Chiang Kai-shek. Sun Tzu’s shrewd advice is indispensable to anyone seeking to gain an advantage over an opponent.
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest by Stephen E. Ambrose
Historian Stephen Ambrose’s account of the Easy Company, is quite simply, an account of ordinary men doing extraordinary things. The book takes readers from the unit’s tough training in 1942 all the way to its liberation of Hitler’s “Eagles Nest” in 1945.
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War by Mark Bowden
Drawing on interviews from both sides, army records, audiotapes, and videos (some of the material is still classified), Bowden’s minute-by-minute narrative is one of the most exciting accounts of modern combat ever written—a riveting story that captures the heroism, courage, and brutality of battle.
Devil at My Heels: A Heroic Olympian’s Astonishing Story of Survival as a Japanese 
POW in World War IIby Louis Zamperini & David Rensin
This is the riveting and deeply personal memoir by U.S. Olympian, World War II bombardier, and POW survivor Louis Zamperini. A living document about the brutality of war, the tenacity of the human spirit, and the power of faith.
Eat the Apple by Matt Young
Young’s story drops us unarmed into Marine Corps culture and lays bare the absurdism of 21st-century war, the manned-up vulnerability of those on the front lines, and the true, if often misguided, motivations that drove a young man to a life at war. modern war classic in the making and a powerful coming-of-age story that maps the insane geography of our times.
The Fighters by C. J. Chivers & Scott Brick | AUDIOBOOK
The harrowing account of US soldiers caught in America’s forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. conveys the physical and emotional experience of war as lived by six combatants: a fighter pilot, a corpsman, a scout helicopter pilot, a grunt, an infantry officer, and a Special Forces sergeant.
Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley & Ron Powers
This unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, captures the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. This is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.
The Forever War by Dexter Filkins & Robertson Dean | AUDIOBOOK
Here we witness the remarkable chain of events that began with the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, continued with the attacks of 9/11, and moved on to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What we get is a visceral understanding of today’s battlefields and of the experiences of the people on the ground, warriors and innocents alike.
The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family’s Quest to Bring Him Home by Sally Mott Freeman
Based on a decade of research drawn from archives around the world, interviews with fellow shipmates and POWs, and half-forgotten letters stashed away in attics, this is “a captivating tour-de-force” (San Antonio Express-News) that whisks readers from America’s front porches to Roosevelt’s White House to the battlefronts of the Pacific. But at its heart it is a family story, written by one of its own in intimate, novelistic detail.
Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes 
of SEAL Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell & Patrick Robinson
A Navy SEAL’s firsthand account of American heroism during a secret military operation in Afghanistan.
Thank You for Your Service by David Finkel & Arthur Bishop | AUDIOBOOK
Finkel has embedded with some of the men of the 2-16 Infantry Batalion after their deployments have ended. He is with them in their most intimate, painful, and hopeful moments as they try to recover, and in doing so, he creates an indelible, essential portrait of what life after war is like not just for these soldiers, but for their wives, widows, children, and friends, and for the professionals who are truly trying, and to a great degree failing, to undo the damage that has been done.
Hoopla has a great selection of war themed movies!
-Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian