Big Books of 2026

Listopia > World War Book Lists

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. AmbroseBlack Hawk Down by Mark BowdenUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandWe Were Soldiers Once... and Young by Harold G. MooreLone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell
Best Non-fiction War Books
2,122 books — 2,354 voters
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThe Guns of August by Barbara W. TuchmanBirdsong by Sebastian FaulksA Farewell to Arms by Ernest HemingwayGoodbye to All That by Robert Graves
The Great War
776 books — 599 voters

The Nightingale by Kristin HannahAll the Light We Cannot See by Anthony DoerrBeneath a Scarlet Sky by Mark T. SullivanThe Alice Network by Kate QuinnCode Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
WW2: The Resistance - Fiction & Non-Fiction
304 books — 191 voters
The Book Thief by Markus ZusakCode Name Verity by Elizabeth WeinBetween Shades of Gray by Ruta SepetysSalt to the Sea by Ruta SepetysRose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
YA Fiction set in the 1940s
209 books — 158 voters

The Land Beneath Us by Sarah SundinThe Socialite by J'nell CiesielskiCode Name Hélène by Ariel LawhonAll the Ways We Said Goodbye by Beatriz WilliamsThe Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel
WW2 Era Fiction published in 2020
139 books — 129 voters
Hidden Figures by Margot Lee ShetterlyKillers of the Flower Moon by David GrannBorn a Crime by Trevor NoahMarch by John LewisEinstein by Walter Isaacson
Non-Fiction read in 2017
476 books — 83 voters

Blackout by Connie WillisThe Raiders and the Cross by Patrick LarsimontLetters to the Lost by Iona GreyAll Clear by Connie WillisThe English Agent by Clare Harvey
The Blitz: Fiction & Non-Fiction
189 books — 82 voters
The Rose Code by Kate QuinnLast One Home by Shari J. RyanRadar Girls by Sara AckermanA Peculiar Combination by Ashley WeaverThe Elephant of Belfast by S. Kirk Walsh
WW2 Era Fiction published in 2021
61 books — 82 voters

Number the Stars by Lois LowryThe War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyThe Hundred Dresses by Eleanor EstesSomeone Named Eva by Joan M. WolfLily's Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff
Middle Grade Fiction set in the 1940s
385 books — 80 voters
A Countess Below Stairs by Eva IbbotsonHattie Big Sky by Kirby LarsonRilla of Ingleside by L.M. MontgomeryIn the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat WintersUprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix
YA Fiction set in the 1910s
135 books — 79 voters

The Trigger by Tim ButcherAll Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThe Ride by Kostya KennedyUnbroken by Laura HillenbrandJackboot Britain by Daniel S. William Fletcher
Best War Books
113 books — 65 voters
As Bright as Heaven by Susan MeissnerIn the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat WintersThe Pull of the Stars by Emma DonoghueThe Birth House by Ami McKayA Death-Struck Year by Makiia Lucier
1918 Flu Pandemic
95 books — 60 voters

The Book Thief by Markus ZusakSalt to the Sea by Ruta SepetysThe Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John BoyneCome Back for Me by Sharon Hart-GreenBetween Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Holocaust Fiction for Older Teens
61 books — 57 voters
Cold Victory by Helena P. SchraderThe Book Thief by Markus ZusakThe Soldier's Wife by Margaret LeroyThe Lost Wife by Alyson RichmanSkeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian
The best WWII Fiction
58 books — 49 voters

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney TaylorListening for Lions by Gloria WhelanHattie Big Sky by Kirby LarsonVoyage on the Great Titanic by Ellen Emerson WhiteAnastasia by Carolyn Meyer
Middle Grade Fiction set in the 1910s
176 books — 42 voters
Five Children on the Western Front by Kate SaundersCharlotte Sometimes by Penelope FarmerA Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie FrenchWar Horse by Michael MorpurgoPrivate Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo
World War I in Children's Fiction
82 books — 27 voters

They Called Us Enemy by George TakeiWeedflower by Cynthia KadohataThe Fences Between Us by Kirby LarsonDisplacement by Kiku HughesUnder the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury
Japanese American Internment in YA & Middle Grade Fiction
56 books — 26 voters
Atomic Secrets by Janet AsbridgeGone with the Wind by Margaret MitchellThe Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann ShafferThe English Patient by Michael OndaatjeThe Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons
Wartime Romances
59 books — 25 voters

Cold Victory by Helena P. SchraderMuddy Boots and Silk Stockings by Julia StonehamThe Land Girl by Allie BurnsThe Land Girls at Christmas by Jenny HolmesOnce a Land Girl by Angela Huth
WW1 & 2: Land Girls/Women's Land Army FICTION & NON-FICTION
31 books — 14 voters
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine ArdenThe Nightingale by Kristin HannahAcross the Nightingale Floor by Lian HearnNightingale by Melissa MickelsenNightingale Songs by Simon Strantzas
Nightingale
65 books — 13 voters

Redemption by Regina M. JosephI Am Legend by Richard MathesonThe War of the Worlds by H.G. WellsThe Host by Stephenie MeyerThe Stand by Stephen King
Best Speculative Fiction About the End of the World
24 books — 12 voters
Loose Lips Sink Ships by Hilary LawrenceThe Long Flight Home by Alan HladOlive Bright, Pigeoneer by Stephanie GravesSecret Pigeon Service by Gordon CoreraCher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney
Fiction & Non-Fiction: Homing/Messenger/War Pigeons
18 books — 12 voters

The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison WeirThe Autobiography of Henry VIII by Margaret GeorgeYoung and Damned and Fair by Gareth RussellJane Seymour by David LoadesSesam nieuwe/geïllustreerde wereldgeschiedenis. Deel 16 by Carl Grimberg
Roman Numerals
105 books — 9 voters
One Eye Laughing, the Other Weeping by Barry DenenbergEarly Sunday Morning by Barry DenenbergMy Secret War by Mary Pope OsbornePieces of the Past by Carol MatasThe Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson
Scholastic Diaries: WWII
25 books — 7 voters

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria RemarqueThe Wall of Death by Victor Rousseau EmanuelWingmen by Ensan CaseDouble Agent Celery by Carolinda WittWe Don't Want YOU, Uncle Sam by Matthew Weiss
War Stories Fact And Fiction All Theatres Of War List 2
59 books — 6 voters
Pachinko by Min Jin LeeKoreans in Japan by Sonia RyangExodus to North Korea by Tessa Morris-SuzukiLives of Young Koreans in Japan by Yasunori FukuokaHidden Treasures by Jackie J. Kim
Zainichi Literature
22 books — 4 voters

Orphan Train by Christina Baker KlineThe African Queen by C.S. ForesterThe Last Lifeboat by Hazel GaynorResistance Women by Jennifer ChiaveriniThe Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher
So Many World War Books
13 books — 4 voters
Prairie Lotus by Linda Sue ParkA Single Shard by Linda Sue ParkThe Beatryce Prophecy by Kate DiCamilloThe Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael LealiFinding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
#MGCarousel - Books About History
38 books — 2 voters

The Coming Fury by Bruce CattonUp Front by Bill MauldinHiroshima by John HerseyThe Guns of August by Barbara W. TuchmanBlack Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
Classic Books About War
55 books — 2 voters
The First World War Adventures Of Nariman Karkaria by Nariman KarkariaFarthest Field by Raghu Karnad
Indian Memoirs of World Wars
2 books — 1 voter

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