The best military books we read this year

Let’s be real: 2021 wasn’t really the year we all wished it had been. As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic stretched on, many of us spent more time than we would have liked behind closed doors, left to our own devices for fun and entertainment. Luckily, the Task & Purpose team put some of our downtime to good use: reading some of the best military books of the last few years (and a few older than that) to make the time go by just a little bit faster. You may be stuck at home, or you may just need a new distraction — either way, we’ve got you covered with some stellar reading material for you to kick off the close of the year the right way. 

Here’s a brief list of some of the best books we read here at Task & Purpose in the last year. Have a recommendation of your own? Leave it in the comments along with an Amazon link.

'Missionaries' by Phil Klay

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'The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived' by Adm. William McRaven (ret.)

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'The Hooligans of Kandahar: Not All War Stories are Heroic' by Joseph Kassabian

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'Alpha: Eddie Gallagher and the War for the Soul of the Navy SEALs' by David Philipps

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'Invading Hitler’s Europe: From Salerno to the Capture of Göring – The Memoir of a US Intelligence Officer' by Roswell K. Doughty

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'2034: A Novel of the Next World War' by Elliot Ackerman and Adm, James Stavridis (ret.)

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'The Pentagon Wars: Reformers Challenge the Old Guard' by James G. Burton

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'Drone: Remote Control Warfare' by Hugh Gusterson

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'@War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex' by Shane Harris

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'The Committed' by Viet Thanh Nguyen

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'Starship Troopers' by Robert A. Heinlein

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'Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage' by Alfred Lansing

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