A 3-Year Self-Directed Reading Program in Military Strategy and War

48 books across military theory, grand strategy, operational art, and the literature of war.

Paolo Uccello, The Battle of San Romano (c. 1435–1440)

I created this reading program with the help of Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini working together. It’s a 3-year, 48-book reading program covering military theory, grand strategy, operational art, and the human dimensions of warfare. Books are sequenced so that foundational ideas appear before their descendants, and each is mapped to the DIME framework (Diplomatic, Informational, Military, Economic instruments of national power).

Year 1: Foundations & Classical Roots (12 books)

#	Track	Title	Author	DIME
1	Methodology	The Evolution of Strategy	Beatrice Heuser	I
2	Classical	History of the Peloponnesian War	Thucydides	M/D
3	Classical	The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War	Donald Kagan	D/M
4	Classical	The Art of War	Sun Tzu	M/I
5	Theory	Strategy: The Logic of War and Peace	Edward Luttwak	M/D
6	Theory	The Prince	Niccolo Machiavelli	D
7	Theory	On War (Book 1)	Carl von Clausewitz	M/D
8	Diplomacy	Diplomacy	Henry Kissinger	D
9	Diplomacy	American Diplomacy / Long Telegram	George Kennan	D/I
10	Case Study	The Defeat of the Spanish Armada	Garrett Mattingly	D/M/I
11	Literature	The Iliad	Homer	Human
12	Literature	Storm of Steel	Ernst Junger	Human

Year 2: Grand Strategy, Operational Art & Frameworks (19 books)

#	Track	Title	Author	DIME
13	Core Theory	On War (Books 2–8)	Carl von Clausewitz	M/D
14	Framework	The Strategy Bridge	Colin Gray	M/D
15	Core Theory	Arms and Influence	Thomas Schelling	M/I
16	Implementation	Essence of Decision	Graham Allison & Philip Zelikow	D/M/I
17	Grand Strategy	The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers	Paul Kennedy	E/M
18	Grand Strategy	Why Nations Fail	Daron Acemoglu & James Robinson	E/D
19	Grand Strategy	The Twenty Years’ Crisis	E.H. Carr	D
20	Grand Strategy	The Struggle for Mastery in Europe	A.J.P. Taylor	D/M
21	Grand Strategy	On Grand Strategy	John Lewis Gaddis	D/M
22	Anthology	Makers of Modern Strategy	Peter Paret (ed.)	M/D/I
23	Nuclear	The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy	Lawrence Freedman	M/I
24	Operational	Soviet Military Operational Art	David Glantz	M
25	Operational	The Influence of Sea Power Upon History	Alfred Thayer Mahan	M/E
26	Operational	Some Principles of Maritime Strategy	Julian Corbett	M/D
27	Operational	Foundations of the Science of War	J.F.C. Fuller	M
28	Operational	The Air Campaign	John Warden	M
29	Innovation	Military Innovation in the Interwar Period	Murray & Millett	M
30	Literature	War and Peace	Leo Tolstoy	Human
31	Literature	Dispatches	Michael Herr	Human
32	Literature	Matterhorn	Karl Marlantes	Human

Year 3: Contemporary Challenges, Critique & Synthesis (17 books)

#	Track	Title	Author	DIME
33	Irregular	Counterinsurgency	David Kilcullen	M/I
34	Irregular	The Dragons and the Snakes	David Kilcullen	M/I
35	Irregular	Wrong Turn	Gian Gentile	M/D
36	Irregular	A Savage War of Peace	Alistair Horne	M/D/I
37	Irregular	Inside Al Qaeda	Rohan Gunaratna	I/M
38	Non-Western	Unrestricted Warfare	Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui	M/I/E
39	Non-Western	Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire	Edward Luttwak	D/I
40	Information	Active Measures	Thomas Rid	I
41	Economic	War by Other Means	Blackwill & Harris	E/D
42	Failure	The March of Folly	Barbara Tuchman	D/M
43	Intelligence	Strategic Surprise	Richard Betts	I/M
44	Ethics	Just and Unjust Wars	Michael Walzer	D/M
45	Civil-Military	The Soldier and the State	Samuel Huntington	D/M
46	Literature	The Things They Carried	Tim O’Brien	Human
47	Literature	Blood Meridian	Cormac McCarthy	Human
48	Literature	Generation Kill	Evan Wright	Human