War & military book series in reading order

by Douglas Reeman / Alexander Kent

by W.E.B. Griffin

by David Poyer

by D.J. Molles

by Taylor Anderson

by Jason Anspach

by R.W. Peake

by Tim Ellis

W.E.B. Griffin was the best-known pen name of William Edmund Butterworth III (November 10, 1929 to February 12, 2019), an American author of military and detective fiction. Under the Griffin name Butterworth published 59 novels across seven series, 21 of them written with Butterworth's son, William E. Butterworth IV. The catalogue files 194 titles here, including 1960s books issued as W.E. Butterworth, Webb Beech and Walker E. Blake. Series include Brotherhood of War, Presidential Agent and M*A*S*H, and World War II and the U.S. Marine Corps recur in the subjects.

Jeff Shaara writes historical war fiction, and the 21 catalogued books cover the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War II and the Korean War. Gods and Generals (1996) opens the list, followed by The Last Full Measure (1998) and Gone for Soldiers (2000). Series lines group the novels by conflict, among them World War II: 1939-1945 and Civil War: 1861-1865, Western Theater. The Unfinished Work of Abraham Lincoln (2026) is the newest title. Born Jeffrey M. Shaara on February 21, 1952, Shaara is the son of the Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara.

Military aviation drives Dale Brown's technological thrillers. Patrick McLanahan and Brad McLanahan are the recurring characters across a catalogue of 52 books that opens with Flight of the Old Dog (1987) and reaches Devil's Fortress (2024). Dreamland, Puppet Master, Nick Flynn and the Jason Richter books are the named series. The United States Air Force, weapons systems, espionage and terrorism fill the subject tags.

Sven Hassel was the pen name of Borge Willy Redsted Pedersen, a Danish writer who lived from 1917 to 2012 and published in Denmark as Sven Hazel. The novels follow German soldiers through the Second World War, across the Soviet Union, Italy, Poland and Germany. Legion of the Damned (1953) opens a run of 16 catalogued books, among them Wheels of Terror (1958), Assignment Gestapo (1963), Monte Cassino (1963), Liquidate Paris (1967), SS General (1969) and Reign of Hell (1973), with a comic book adaptation following in 2019. Hassel presented himself as a Wehrmacht veteran who fought at the Battle of Berlin in 1945, but post-war investigations established those claims as fabrications. Hassel ranks among the bestselling Danish authors.

Harry Turtledove

141 books• 28 series

Harry Turtledove, born June 14, 1949, is an American historian and novelist of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction and mystery, based in Southern California. The catalogue counts 142 books, starting with Wereblood and Werenight (1979), published as Eric G. Iverson, and listing The Succulent Succubus for 2027. Other pen names are H. N. Turteltaub, Dan Chernenko and Mark Gordian. The Videssos Cycle, Southern Victory / Timeline-191, Worldwar, Colonization, Crosstime Traffic, The War That Came Early and Gerin the Fox are among the series. World War II and the American Civil War are frequent subjects.

Matthew Hervey, an officer of the fictional British 6th Light Dragoons, carries Allan Mallinson's fiction from the late Napoleonic Wars into colonial campaigns in India, North America and South Africa. A Close Run Thing (1999) opens the sequence, followed by The Nizam's Daughters (2000), A Regimental Affair (2001), A Call to Arms (2002), The Sabre's Edge (2003) and Company of Spears (2006). Mallinson, born in 1949, is an English author and a retired British Army brigadier, and also writes military history, reaching the First World War. The catalogue holds 19 books through 2020, at a median 448 pages.

Bernard Cornwell

67 books• 10 series

Bernard Cornwell is an English historical novelist, born on 23 February 1944, who has also written a history of the Waterloo campaign. The Richard Sharpe novels, about a rifleman in the Napoleonic Wars, are Cornwell's best-known work. The Saxon Stories run to thirteen novels about how England was unified. Cornwell's historical fiction draws mainly on English history across five series, alongside one series of contemporary thrillers, and the historical novels carry an end note comparing the story to the historical record. The catalogue lists 67 books from 1981, when Sharpe's Gold appeared, to Sharpe's Storm (2025).

Bodie & Brock Thoene write Christian historical fiction, with catalogue subjects covering the Bible, Jesus Christ, Jewish history, the Holocaust, the Second World War and the Israel-Arab War of 1948-1949. The joint catalogue holds 80 books listed between 1979 and 2026, and includes the Zion Chronicles, Zion Covenant, Zion Legacy, A.D. Chronicles, Elijah Chronicles, Galway Chronicles, Shiloh Legacy and Legends of the West sequences, plus non-fiction. Chuck Roberson shares the credit on the 1979 title The Fall Guy: 30 Years as the Duke's Double.

G.A. Henty wrote historical adventure stories for young readers. The catalogue holds 109 Henty titles, opening with A Search for a Secret (1867) and closing at The Plague Ship (2002). War, military history and the conduct of life are the recurring subjects, and much of the work sits in England and the wider British past. Early titles include The March to Magdala (1868), Out on the Pampas (1870) and The Young Franc Tireurs (1872).

James Rosone writes military thrillers and speculative war fiction. Modern and near-future conflict supplies the material: World War III, Red Storm, Soviet Endgame, Battlefield Korea, Battlefield Ukraine and Battlefield China sit alongside the Monroe Doctrine, Rise of the Republic and Falling Empires series. Fifty-eight books span 2010 to 2026, from Dinner with a Terrorist to Baltic Breach.

Donald Eugene Pendleton (December 12, 1927 to October 23, 1995) was an American author of fiction and non-fiction who created Mack Bolan, a character with hundreds of millions of copies sold since a 1969 debut. From 1980, other authors wrote the Bolan books under the Pendleton name, at first with Pendleton's editorial guidance. Pendleton also wrote six Joe Copp, Private Eye novels and six Ashton Ford, Psychic Detective novels. Early titles include The Insatiables (1967), War Against the Mafia (1969) and Miami Massacre (1970).

David Lee Corley has 97 catalogued books published between 2017 and 2026. War, military action and world history are the subjects the catalogue records. Monsoon Rising (2017) opens the run and Sandy Down (2026) is the newest title. Corley's series include the Airmen, Black Mountain, Frank Kane, Iron Angels, Billy Gamble, River Hawks Thriller, Glades, Deep Recon, Frozen Edge, Black Water Salvage, Daniel Hyde and Samurai Wars sequences. Nearly all of the run falls inside the 2020s.

Jerry Pournelle

60 books• 12 series

Jerry Eugene Pournelle (1933-2017) was an American scientist in operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, a journalist and one of the first bloggers. Pournelle worked in the aerospace industry through the 1960s and early 1970s before turning to writing, took multiple awards for hard science fiction, and served a term as President of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The catalogue holds 60 titles from King David's Spaceship (1973) to a 2020 edition of Step Further Out. Listings include CoDominium Universe, Falkenberg's Legion, Janissaries, Laurie Jo Hansen, Paul Crane, There Will Be War, Far Frontiers, Imperial Stars and Endless Frontier. John F. Carr, Don Hawthorne, Roland J. Green, Larry Niven and Charles Sheffield are among the writers credited beside Pournelle.

Military and technological thrillers make up Larry Bond's work - submarines, intelligence officers and terrorism. Battles of the Third World War (1987) opens the catalogue, and Red Phoenix (1989), Vortex (1991) and Cauldron (1993) follow. Jerry Mitchell heads one series; Larry Bond's First Team and Red Dragon Rising head others. Twenty-five titles are catalogued, the last of them Arctic Gambit in 2018.

Gilbert Morris produced Christian historical fiction at length: 248 catalogued books between 1977 and 2014. The House of Winslow follows one family across American history; the Appomattox Saga and Bonnets & Bugles take up the Civil War; Cheney Duvall, M.D. follows a woman physician; the Seven Sleepers, Dixie Morris and Too Smart Jones series sit alongside, with children's fiction among the subjects. The catalogue opens with Race Against Time (1977), reaches Raina's Choice, and is listed as likely complete.

Roberta Kagan has 60 books in the catalogue, published between 2012 and 2026, and the site files the name under Historical Fiction. Series titles include A Jewish Family Saga, A Holocaust Story, Auschwitz Twins, All My Love, Detrick, Michal's Destiny, Eidel's Story, Margot's Secret and Blood Sisters. A Flicker of Light and All My Love, Detrick are among the 2012 titles, and After the Betrayal (2026) is the newest on file.

James R. Benn, born in 1949, is an American author of historical crime fiction. The Billy Boyle World War II Mysteries form Benn's main sequence, putting the investigator Billy Boyle on murder cases inside the 1939-1945 war. Benn's catalogue holds 26 books dated 2000 to 2026, from the debut Desperate Ground to The Ninth Circle, with standalone novels alongside the series.

James Reasoner writes westerns and frontier fiction, and the 193 catalogued books run from Texas Wind (1980) to Blood on the Border (2026). Civil War history, Texas and military fiction also appear among the subjects. Reasoner's series include Stagecoach Station, Abilene, Cody's Law, Wind River, Outlaw Ranger, Tales From Deadwood and the Walker, Texas Ranger tie-ins. Lee Goldberg, William Rabkin and Livia Reasoner are each co-credited on 1 book.

Alaric Bond writes naval historical fiction. Two series divide the catalogue: Fighting Sail, opening with The Jackass Frigate (2008) and running through His Majesty's Ship (2009), True Colours (2010), The Patriot's Fate (2012) and HMS Prometheus (2015), and Coastal Forces, which turns to smugglers, revenue cutters and the prevention of smuggling around England and Ireland. Twenty books date from 2008 to 2024, at a median 344 pages.

Pike Logan carries the thrillers of Brad Taylor, a run of 31 books that starts with One Rough Man (2011) and reaches Shadow Strike. Special forces work, terrorism and espionage supply the material, and a set of Taskforce novellas sits alongside the novels. Taylor publishes into 2027, when Omega Authority follows.

Kristin Harmel

20 books• 4 series

Kristin Harmel is an American novelist, born May 4, 1979, in Newton, Massachusetts. The Book of Lost Names, The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Sweetness of Forgetting and The Paris Daughter are among Harmel's most notable novels. At 16 Harmel was already a sports reporter for the St. Petersburg Times and Tampa Bay AllSports magazine, and after graduating from the University of Florida worked as a PEOPLE magazine reporter from 2000 to 2012. The catalogue lists 20 books from How to Sleep with a Movie Star (2006) to Meet Me in Paris (2026), with subjects such as France, family secrets and the Second World War.

Alistair MacLean

42 books• 5 series

Alistair MacLean (21 April 1922 to 2 February 1987) was a Scottish novelist of thrillers and adventure stories. MacLean's books have sold an estimated 150 million copies, placing MacLean among the best-selling fiction authors of all time. Service in the Royal Navy aboard HMS Royalist during the Second World War supplied the basis for the debut novel, H.M.S. Ulysses (1955). Many of the novels were filmed, above all The Guns of Navarone and Ice Station Zebra. Catalogued titles include South by Java Head (1958), Night Without End (1960) and Fear is the Key (1961). The author page also lists the Alistair MacLean's UNACO series and Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

Military fiction is Harold Coyle's territory: soldiers, terrorism, and imaginary wars and battles. The American novelist, born in 1952, has 27 catalogued books published between 1987 and 2025, beginning with Team Yankee (1987) and reaching No Small Thing (2025). Series include Scott Dixon, Nathan Dixon, Cyber Knights, a U.S. Civil War sequence and Harold Coyle's Strategic Solutions, Inc. Coyle graduated from the Virginia Military Institute, spent 14 years in the US Army, and served in the Persian Gulf War. He has also published as H.W. Coyle and written with Barrett Tillman and Jennifer Ellis.

Newt Gingrich

49 books• 6 series

Newt Gingrich, born June 17, 1943, is an American Republican politician who served as the 50th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. Gingrich represented Georgia's 6th congressional district from 1979 until resigning in 1999, sought the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, and taught history and geography at the University of West Georgia in the 1970s. The catalogue lists 49 books from Window of Opportunity (1987) to Trump's Triumph (2025), mixing politics with historical fiction series on the Civil War, the Revolutionary War and Pearl Harbor. Gettysburg (2003) and Grant Comes East (2004) are among them.