Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | What It is Like to Go to War | 2011 | Karl Marlantes | Buy |
Karl Marlantes’s What It is Like to Go to War (2011) draws on his experience as a decorated Vietnam veteran to examine the psychological and spiritual dimensions of combat.
Marlantes served as a Marine officer in Vietnam, earning the Navy Cross, two Purple Hearts, and other decorations. This book grew from decades of reflection on what he saw and did during the war. Rather than a memoir in the traditional sense, it looks at how society sends young people into combat without preparing them for what that experience will do to them afterward.
The book also considers how veterans can process their experiences when they return home. Marlantes wrote this after his acclaimed novel Matterhorn (2009), and the two books complement each other well. Readers of one often find the other valuable.