The Society for Military History

Distinguished Book Awards

The Distinguished Book Awards recognize the best book-length publications in English on military history, whether monograph, bibliography, guide, or other project copyrighted in the previous three calendar years. Awards are given out at the Society's annual meeting the spring following the competition.

The submission process for the 2024 Book Awards is explained here.

• American Military History: Beth Bailey, An Army Afire: How the US Army Confronted Its Racial Crisis in the Vietnam Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2023)
• Non-American Military History: Rory Cox, Origins of the Just War: Military Ethics and Culture in the Ancient Near East (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2023)
• First Book: Rebecca Schwartz Greene, Breaking Point: The Ironic Evolution of Psychiatry in World War II (New York: Fordham University Press, 2023)
• Biography & Memoir: Lyle Jeremy Rubin, Pain is Weakness: A Marine’s Unbecoming (New York: Bold Type Books, 2022)
• Trade Press: Rachel Chrastil, Bismarck’s War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe (New York: Basic Books, 2023)

• U.S.: Carter Malkasian, The American War in Afghanistan: A History (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021)
• Non-U.S.: Douglas Porch, Defeat and Division: France at War, 1939-1942 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022)
• First Book: Luke Reynolds, Who Owned Waterloo?: Battle, Memory, & Myth in British History, 1815-1852 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022)
• Trade Press: Richard Overy, Blood and Ruins: The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945 (New York, NY: Viking, 2022)
• Biography/Memoir: Alexander Mikaberidze, Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2022)
• Reference: Jonathan Abel [Translated and Annotated], Guibert’s General Essay on Tactics (Leiden: Brill, 2022)

• U.S.: Thomas A. Guglielmo, Divisions: A New History of Racism and Resistance in America's World War II Military, Oxford University Press
• Non-U.S.: Wendy Goldman & Donald Filtzer, Fortress Dark and Stern: The Soviet Home Front during World War II, Oxford University Press
• First Book: Ian Ona Johnson, Faustian Bargain: The Soviet-German Partnership and the Origins of the Second World War, Oxford University Press
• Trade Press: Michael Nieberg, When France Fell: The Vichy Crisis and the Fate of the Anglo-American Alliance, Harvard University Press
• Biography/Memoir: Ruth Scurr, Napoleon, A Life Told in Gardens and Shadows, Penguin Random House
• Reference: Karen Hagemann, Stefan Dudink, Sonya O. Rose, eds., Oxford Handbook of Gender, War and the Western World Since 1600, Oxford University Press.

• U.S.: Donald F. Johnson, Occupied America: British Military Rule and the Experience of Revolution (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2021)
• Non-U.S.: Alexander Mikaberidze, The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History (Oxford University Press, 2020)
• Biography/Memoir: Daniel Whittingham, Charles E. Callwell and the British Way in Warfare (Cambridge University Press, 2021)
• Reference: Aaron Sheehan-Dean, ed., The Cambridge History of the American Civil War (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
• First Book: Meighen McCrae, Coalition Strategy and the End of the First World War (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
• Trade Press: Alexander Watson, The Fortress: The Siege of Przemysl and the Making of Europe’s Bloodlands (Basic Books, 2020)

• Monica Kim, NYU, The Interrogation Rooms of the Korean War: The Untold History, Princeton University Press, 2019.
• Geoffrey Robinson, UCLA, The Killing Season: A History of the Indonesian Massacres, 1965-66, Princeton University Press, 2018.
• Stephen Brumwell, Turncoat: Benedict Arnold and the Crisis of American Liberty, Yale University Press, 2018.
• Kelly DeVries, Loyola University, and Michael Livingston, The Citadel, eds., Medieval Warfare: A Reader, University of Toronto Press, 2019.
• Thomas Dodman, Columbia University, What Nostalgia Was: War, Empire, and the Time of a Deadly Emotion, University of Chicago Press, 2019.

• A. Wilson Greene, A Campaign of Giants--The Battle for Petersburg: Volume 1: From the Crossing of the James to the Crater (Civil War America), UNC Press, 2018
• Peter Guardino, The Dead March: A History of the Mexican-American War, Harvard University Press, 2018.
• Gonzalo M. Quintero Saravia, Bernardo de Gálvez: Spanish Hero of the American Revolution, UNC Press, 2018.
• Richard P. Tucker, Tait Keller, J.R. McNeill, and Martin Schmid, eds, Environmental Histories of the First World War, Cambridge University Press, 2018.

• Christopher Phillips, The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016.
• Ilya Berkovich, Motivation in War: The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.
• Steven L. Ossad, Omar Nelson Bradley: America’s GI General. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2017.
• Paul R. Bartrop and Michael Dickerman, The Holocaust (4 vols.): An Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2017.

• Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone.  Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign, and the Politics of Battle. Campaign and Commanders Series, No. 54.  Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2016.
• Tonio Andrade, The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
• Laila Parsons, The Commander: Fawzi al-Qawuqji and the Fight for Arab Independence, 1914-1948. New York: Hill and Wang, 2016.
• Michael Livingston and Kelly DeVries, eds. The Battle of Crécy: A Casebook. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2015.

• David Preston, Braddock's Defeat: The Battle of Monongahela and the Road to Revolution
• Pierre Razoux, The Iran-Iraq War
• Paul Robinson, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich: Supreme Commander of the Russian Army
• David T. Zabecki, editor. Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History

• Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy, The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire
• Alexander Watson, Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I
• Michael V. Leggiere, Blucher: Scourge of Napoleon

• Samuel J. Watson, Jackson’s Sword: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1810-1821 and Peacekeepers and Conquerors: The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1821-1846
• Geoffrey Parker, Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century
• George W. Gawrych, The Young Ataturk: From Ottoman Soldier to Statesman of Turkey
• Spencer Tucker, editor. American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection

• Richard S. Faulkner, School of Hard Knocks: Combat Leadership in the American Expeditionary Forces
• Robert M. Citino, The Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943
• Geoffrey Roberts, Stalin’s General: The Life of Georgy Zhukov
• Clayton R. Newell and Charles R. Shrader, Of Duty Well and Faithfully Done: A History of the Regular Army in the Civil War

• John Sloan Brown, Kevlar Legions: The Transformation of the U.S. Army, 1989-2005
• Mark Peattie, Edward Drea, and Hans van de Ven (eds.), The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945
• Mungo Melvin, Manstein: Hitler's Greatest General
• Steven E. Clay, US Army Order of Battle 1919-1941 (4 vols.)

• Chad L. Williams, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era
• Peter H. Wilson, The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy
• John MacFarlane, Triquet’s Cross: A Study of Military Heroism
• Clifford J. Rogers, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology

• Daniel E. Sutherland, A Savage Conflict: The Decisive Role of Guerrillas in the American Civil War
• Edward J. Drea, Japan’s Imperial Army: Its Rise and Fall, 1853-1945
• J.P. Harris, Douglas Haig and the First World War
• Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars

• Ingo Trauschweizer, The Cold War U.S. Army: Building Deterrence for Limited War.
• Jamel Ostwald, Vauban Under Siege: Engineering Efficiency and Martial Vigor in the War of the Spanish Succession.
• Andy Wiest, Vietnam's Forgotten Army: Heroism and Betrayal in the ARVN.
• Philip Sabin, Hans van Wees, and Michael Whitby, ed. The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare.

• Jon Latimer, 1812: War with America.
• John Lawrence Tone, War and Genocide in Cuba, 1895-1898.
• Martha Hannah, Your Death Would Be Mine: Paul and Marie Pireaud in the Great War.
• Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Cold War: A Political, Social and Military History.

• John Grenier, The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607-1814.
• Robert A. Doughty, Pyrrhic Victory: French Strategy and Operations in the Great War.
• Adrian Goldsworthy, Caesar: Life of a Colossus.
• Peter Karsten, editor. Encyclopedia of War and American Society. 3 vols.

• H. P. Willmott, The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action
• George Satterfield, Princes, Posts and Partisans: The Army of Louis XIV and Partisan Warfare in the Netherlands (1673-1678)
• Steven E. Woodworth and Kenneth J. Winkle, Atlas of the Civil War
• Colin White, ed., Horatio Nelson, The New Letters

• Edward M. Coffman, The Regulars: The American Army, 1898-1941
• Robert M. Citino, Blitzkrieg to Desert Storm: The Evolution of Operational Warfare
• James T. Controvich, United States Army Unit and Organizational Histories: A Bibliography

• George C. Rable, Fredericksburg! Fredericksburg!
• Terry Copp, Fields of Fire: The Canadians in Normandy
• Joshua Brown, ed., A Good Idea of Hell: Letters from a Chasseur a Pied
• Michael J. Crawford, ed., The Naval War of 1812: A Documentary History: Volume III 1814-1815

• Rick Atkinson, An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943
• Hew Strachan, The First World War. Volume I: To Arms
• Stuart Hills, By Tank Into Normandy: A Memoir of the Campaign in North-West Europe From D-Day to VE Day
• David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, eds., Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political and Military History

• Mark Stoler, Allies and Adversaries: The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Grand Alliances, and U.S. Strategy in World War II
• Ronald H. Spector, At War At Sea: Sailors and Naval Combat in the Twentieth Century
• Robert H. Ferrell, editor, for William S. Triplet, A Youth in the Meuse-Argonne, A Colonel in the Armored Divisions, and In the Philippines and Okinawa

• Geoffrey P. Megargee, Inside Hitler's High Command
• Brian McAllister Linn, The Philippine War, 1899-1902
• John Whiteclay Chambers II (Editor in Chief), The Oxford Companion to American Military History

• Peter R. Mansoor, The GI Offensive in Europe: The Triumph of American Infantry Divisions, 1941-1945
• Nicholas A. Lambert, Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution

• David C. Evans and Mark R. Peattie, Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941
• John Sugden, Tecumseh: A Life

• Brian McAllister Linn, Guardians of Empire: The U.S. Army and the Pacific, 1902-1940
• James B. Wood, The King's Army: Warfare, Soldiers, and Society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562-1576

• Mark K. Wells, Courage and Air Warfare: The Allied Aircrew Experience in the Second World War
• Craig M. Cameron, American Samurai: Myth, Imagination, and the Conduct of Battle in the First Marine Division, 1941-1951

• George W. Baer, One Hundred Years of Sea Power: The U.S. Navy, 1890-1990
• David Reynolds, Rich Relations: The American Occupation of Britain, 1942-1945

• David Hackett Fischer, Paul Revere's Ride
• Gerhard L. Weinberg, A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II

• John Keegan, A History of Warfare
• William B. Skelton, An American Profession of Arms: The Army Officer Corps, 1784-1861

• Douglas Porch, The French Foreign Legion
• Edward S. Miller, War Plan Orange: The U.S. Strategy to Defeat Japan, 1897-1945

• Russell F. Weigley, The Age of Battles: The Quest for Decisive Warfare from Breitenfeld to Waterloo
• Joseph T. Glatthaar, Forged in Battle: The Civil War Alliance of Black Soldiers and White Officers

• Bettie J. Morden, The Women's Army Corps, 1945-1978
• Benjamin Isaac, Limits of Empire: The Roman Army in the East

• Martin Van Creveld, Technology and War from 2000 B.C. to the Present
• Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict

• James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Era of the Civil War
• Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West

• John W. Chambers, II, To Raise an Army: The Draft Comes to Modern America

• Donald Smythe, Pershing: General of the Armies