West Point’s Reading List

The United States Military Academy, commonly known as West Point, was established in 1802. It is the oldest of the Nations Five Service Academies, located in New York. Notable graduates include Ulysses Grant, George Patton and Douglas MacArthur. If you are a Cadet at West Point, friends or family of a Cadet or simply want to learn more about this historic military institution you will enjoy this collection of literature.

	Military Leadership & the Crucible of Ground Combat
1	Washington’s Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History	David Hackett Fischer
2	This Kind of War: The Classic Korean War History	T.R. Fehrenbach
3	What It Is Like To Go To War	Karl Marlantes
4	Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win	Jocko Willink
5	Red Platoon: A True Story of American Valor	Clinton Romesha
6	Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae	Steven Pressfield
7	Once an Eagle: A Novel	Anton Myrer
8	Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead	Jim Mattis
9	Men Against Fire: The Problem of Battle Command	S. L. A. Marshall
10	House to House: An Epic Memoir of War	Sgt. David Bellavia and John Bruning
11	The Face of Battle: A Study of Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme	John Keegan
12	The Red Badge of Courage	Stephen Crane
13	The Fighters: Americans In Combat	C. J. Chivers
14	Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging	Sebastian Junger
15	WAR Hardcover	Sebastian Junger
	Included in USMA Cadet Curriculum
1	Black Hearts: One Platoon’s Descent into Madness in Iraq’s Triangle of Death	Jim Frederick
2	Platoon Leader: A Memoir of Command in Combat	James R. McDonough
	The Art of Leadership & Influencing People
1	The Leader’s Bookshelf	James Stavridis and R. Manning Ancell
2	Multipliers, Revised and Updated: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter	Liz Wiseman
3	The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success	Ori Brafman & Judah Pollack
4	The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds	Michael Lewis
5	Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking	Malcolm Gladwell
6	The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations	Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom
7	Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders	L. David Marquet and Stephen R. Covey
8	Radical Inclusion: What the Post-9/11 World Should Have Taught Us About Leadership	Martin Dempsey
9	The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change	Stephen R. Covey
10	The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups	Daniel Coyle
11	How to Win Friends & Influence People	Dale Carnegie
12	It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership	Colin Powell
13	Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead	Brené Brown
14	Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts	Brené Brown
15	The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business	Charles Duhigg
16	Our Iceberg Is Melting: Changing and Succeeding Under Any Conditions	John Kotter and Holger Rathgeber
	Understanding the 21st Century Operating Environment
1	The New Rules of War: Victory in the Age of Durable Disorder	Sean McFate
2	Fighting Talk: Forty Maxims on War, Peace, and Strategy	Colin S. Gray
3	The Perfect Weapon: How the Cyber Arms Race Set the World Afire	David E. Sanger
4	Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War	P.W. Singer
5	LikeWar: The Weaponization of Social Media	P.W. Singer
6	Army of None: Autonomous Weapons and the Future	Paul Scharre
7	Scales on War: The Future of America’s Military at Risk	Robert H. Scales
8	The Rise and Fall of Nations: Forces of Change in the Post-Crisis World	Ruchir Sharma
9	Waging Insurgent Warfare: Lessons from the Vietcong to the Islamic State	Seth G. Jones
10	Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla	David Kilcullen
11	The Dawn of Eurasia: On the Trail of the New World Order	Bruno Maçães

Additional West Point Reading

West Point History

The Long Grey Line- The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966 by Rick Atkinson

This book spans 25 years and follows three graduates during their cadet years, their time in Vietnam and the post war years. This historical accurate book reads like a novel and captures the audience speaking for generations of Americans who lived during this challenging era.

Duty Honor Country A History of West Point by Stephen Ambrose

This book chronicles the impressive history of the school, beginning with its inception and ending in 2000.

Famous Graduates

West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley and the class the stars fell on by Michael E Haskew

This book looks at the graduates of one remarkable class, 1915. Of these graduates 36% went on to become Generals. These graduates were a significant part of the Allied success in World War I, World War II as well as post war policies like the creation of NATO.

The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox: Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers by John Waugh

This book features another significant class of West Point Grads, 1846. These men fought in 3 wars and left the nation a lasting legacy of bravery, brilliance, and bloodshed. The book follows men such as George Pickett, Stonewall Jackson and George McClellan.

Admissions- Parents Guide and the West Point Experience

The West Point Candidate Book: How to prepare, How to get in, How to Survive by Sue Roth and Randy Lee

The title says it all- this is a must read for aspiring cadets and their families.

West Point Leadership: Profiles of Courage by Daniel Rice and John Vigna

This inspirational and award winning book features 200 authorized biographies and interviews of notable graduates along side over 1600 beautiful photographs. 

Leadership

Duty First- West Point and the Making of Military Leaders Ed Ruggero

This book, written by a West Point graduate looks at the inner working of the academy and the tumultuous lives of cadets. The book details their grueling training, the strict student hierarchy and intense classroom work, and the interaction between the lowly first-year plebes and the upper-class cadets who train them all in the name of building “leaders of character” who will command the nation’s military. While the focus is on West Point the lessons reverberate far beyond West Point, because while the specific goals and methods of developing leaders differ, the fundamental values courage, commitment, selfless sacrifice – are the same for all leaders.

The Unforgiving Minute- A Soldiers Education by Craig Mullaney

This coming of age novel features a student who becomes a soldier and and puts to practice the education he received at West Point. After his time serving in Afghanistan he comes back to the military Academy and teaches his experience and lessons to the next generation.