Matloff, Maurice, ed. American Military History (1996) full text onlineArchived 2020-01-20 at the Wayback Machine; standard textbook used in ROTC; Now replaced by Richard Stewart 2010
Millett, Allan R., and Peter Maslowski, and William B. Feis. For the common defense: a military history of the United States of America (3rd ed. 2013)
Millett, Allan R. Semper Fidelis. A History of the United States Marine Corps (1991)
Muehlbauer, Matthew S., and David J. Ulbrich. Ways of War: American Military History from the Colonial Era to the Twenty-First Century (Routledge, 2013), 536 pp; university textbook; online review
Stewart, Richard W. American military history (2 vol 2010)
Grimsley, Mark. "The American military history master narrative: Three textbooks on the American military experience," Journal of Military History (2015) 79#3 pp 782–802; review of Allison, Millett, and Muehlbauer textbooks
Hogan, Michael (2000). Paths to Power: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations to 1941.
Kimball, Jeffrey (May 1984). "The Influence of Ideology on Interpretive Disagreement: A Report on a Survey of Diplomatic, Military and Peace Historians on the Causes of 20th Century U. S. Wars". The History Teacher. 17 (3): 355–384.
Starkey, A. European and Native American Warfare, 1675–1815 (University of Oklahoma Press, 1998)
Steele, Ian. Warpaths: Invasions of North America (Oxford University Press, 1994).
Tucker, Spencer C., James Arnold, and Roberta Wiener eds. The Encyclopedia of North American Colonial Conflicts to 1775: A Political, Social, and Military History (2008) excerpt and text search
1775–1800
Alden, John R. A History of the American Revolution (1989), general survey; strong on military (
Black, Jeremy. America as a Military Power: From the American Revolution to the Civil War (2002)
Carp, E. Wayne. "Early American Military History: A Review of Recent Work", Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 94 (1986), pp. 259–284.
Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, and Richard A. Ryerson, eds. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO, 2006) 5 volume paper and online editions; 1000 entries by 150 experts, covering all topics
Frazier, Donald S. ed. The U.S. and Mexico at War, (1998), 584; an encyclopedia with 600 articles by 200 scholars
Heidler, Donald & Jeanne T. Heidler (eds) Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 (2nd ed 2004) 636 pp; most comprehensive guide to this war; 500 entries by 70 scholars from several countries
Heidler, David S. and Heidler, Jeanne T. The War of 1812. (2002). 217 pp. short survey
Heidler, David S. and Heidler, Jeanne T. The Mexican War. (2005). 225 pp. basic survey, with some key primary sources
Herrera, Ricardo A. For Liberty and the Republic: The American Citizen as Soldier, 1775–1861 (New York University Press, 2015) online review
Fellman, Michael et al.This Terrible War: The Civil War and its Aftermath (2nd ed. 2007), 544 pages
Heidler, David Stephen, ed. Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2002), 1600 entries in 2700 pages in 5 vol or 1-vol editions
McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (1988), 900 pages; excerpt and text search
Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union, an 8-volume set (1947–1971). the most detailed political, economic and military narrative; by Pulitzer Prize winner
vol 1. Fruits of Manifest Destiny, 1847–1852; 2. A House Dividing, 1852–1857; 3. Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos, 1857–1859; 4. Prologue to Civil War, 1859–1861; 5. The Improvised War, 1861–1862; 6. War Becomes Revolution, 1862–1863; 7. The Organized War, 1863–1864; 8. The Organized War to Victory, 1864–1865
Venzon, Anne ed. The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia (1995)
Weigley, Russell Frank. History of the United States army (1967)
Woodward, David R. The American Army and the First World War (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 484 pp. online review
Interwar
Coffman, Edward M. The Regulars: The American Army, 1898–1941 (2007) excerpt and text search
Koistinen, Paul A. C. Planning War, Pursuing Peace: The Political Economy of American Warfare, 1920–1939 (1998) excerpt and text search
World War II
Ambrose, Stephen. The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1999) excerpt and text search
James, D. Clayton. The Years of Macarthur 1941–1945 (1975), vol 2. of standard scholarly biography
Koistinen, Paul A. C. Arsenal of World War II: the political economy of American warfare, 1940–1945? (2004)
Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (2004), chapters on all the key American war leaders excerpt and text search
Morison, Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War (2007)
Perret, Geoffrey. There's a War to Be Won: The United States Army in World War II (1997)
Perret, Geoffrey. Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II (1997)
Pogue, Forrest. George C. Marshall: Ordeal and Hope, 1939–1942 (1999); George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory, 1943–1945 (1999); standard scholarly biography
Potter, E. B. Nimitz. (1976).
Sherrod, Robert Lee. History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (1987)
Spector, Ronald. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War With Japan (1985)
Weigley, Russell. Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaigns of France and Germany, 1944–45 (1990)
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (1994). Global history of the war; strong on diplomacy of FDR and other main leaders
Cold War
Main article:
List of primary and secondary sources on the Cold War
Atkins, Stephen E. Historical Encyclopedia of Atomic Energy. (2000). 491 pp.
Bacevich, Andrew J., ed. The Long War: A New History of U.S. National Security Policy Since World War II (2007) excerpt and text search
Bundy, McGeorge. Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years (1988).
Friedman, Norman. The Fifty Year War: Conflict and Strategy in the Cold War. (2000) excerpt and text search
Gaddis, John Lewis. Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy (1982) excerpt and text search
Goldfischer, David. The Best Defense: Policy Alternatives for U.S. Nuclear Security from the 1950s to the 1990s. (1993). 283 pp.
Isenberg, Michael T. Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace 1945–1962 (1993)
Lewis, Adrian R. The American Culture of War: The History of U.S. Military Force from World War II to Operation Iraqi Freedom (2006) excerpt and text search
Williamson, Samuel R., Jr. and Reardon, Steven L. The Origins of U.S. Nuclear Strategy, 1945–1953. (1993). 224 pp.
Korea and Vietnam
Anderson, David L. Columbia Guide to the Vietnam War (2004).
Brune, Lester H. ed. The Korean War: Handbook of the Literature and Research (1996)
Herring, George C. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 (4th ed 2001), most widely used short history.
Kutler, Stanley ed. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1996). essays by experts
Hogan, Michael. "Paths to Power: The Historiography of American Foreign Relations to 1941". In McPherson, Alan (ed.). The SHAFR Guide Online.
Schulzinger, Robert D. Time for War: The United States and Vietnam, 1941–1975. (1997)
Tucker, Spencer. ed. Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War (1998) 3 vol. reference set; also one-volume abridgement (2001).
Tucker, Spencer. Vietnam. (1999) 226 pp.
Tucker, Spencer, ed. Encyclopedia of the Korean War (2002)
The Pentagon Papers (Gravel ed. 5 vol 1971); combination of narrative and secret documents compiled by Pentagon. excerptsArchived 2018-08-18 at the Wayback Machine
