[Commander8]

War As I Knew It by George Patton, any library and used bookstore should have one.
Baa Baa Blacksheep by Gregory Boyington is a pretty good book.
Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur is a must read.

[LouD]

I recently read, and thoroughly enjoyed, a book called Battleship Sailor by Theodore Mason. It is his account of serving on a battleship on the eve of WWII, including his account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[elhombrelibre]

Try Winston Churchill's history. There's even an abridged addition if you don't want to read all the volumes. Also, Kagan's book is very good.

[onedoug]

John Costello, The Pacific War 1941-1945.

[hometoroost]

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer, about life on the Eastern Front. Very detailed description of combat tactics, I know some US military officers use some of these descriptions in training to describe defense tactics.

[onedoug]

Also, Richard Rhodes, The Making Of The Atomic Bomb.

[BADJOE]

"Reminiscences" General Douglas MacArthur's auto biography tells it like it was,

Also "America's Retreat From Victory". by Joe McCarthy

These are a great start.

[Mr. Bird]

I just read Ambrose's "D-Day", and the anecdotes are fantastic. Most of the history itself is relatively standard, but he had excellent access to some great stories. Whole new appreciation of Higgins boats.

[Black Agnes]

The Game of the Foxes

This is a great book, talks about how entrenched the German spies were here and in the UK during the 20's and 30's when the NAZI's were coming to power in Germany...google search points at other sources (used book stores/etc)

[strider44]

You can't go wrong with Ambrose, D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, and even though it's off topic, Undaunted Courage (about Lewis and Clark) is superb

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Since Keegan has been in the news recently, you might try his The Face Of Battle

[ao98]

"Code-Name Down-Fall", The secret plan to invade Japan - And why Truman dropped the bomb. Written by Thomas Allen and Norman Polman.
This is a good analysis of why we dropped the bombs and the planning for the invasion.

[Hugin]

My favorite is The Second World War by Winston Churchill. Great first hand history and analysis from one of the primary players and a great writer. I have the Time/Life set from the 50s with great illistrations from Life magazine and various archives.

[RightWhale]

"Famous Tank Battles", Robert J. Icks, Doubleday, 1972

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Highly recommend Command Decisions first printed in 1959 by authors Blumenson and Greenfield. It provides insight on why high level command decisions were made, to include:

Why the Japs attacked the US
Internment of the Japs in the US
Major Battles

I had to get mine through the Library as it was out of print.

[thinktwice]

Best historical novels about the Revolutionary war are by Kenneth Roberts. His most famous book is "Northwest Passage," but his books in the trilogy -- Arundel, Rabble in Arms, and Oliver Wiswell -- present the Revolutionary war incredibly well. The first two see it from the American view with Benedict Arnold as the hero, and the third from the British view without being so much about Arnold who'd switched sides by then.

[dd5339]

"Descent into Darkness", an account of the salvage operation at Pearl. It was a horribly fascinating read.

Also check out Leon Uris' Battle Cry for fiction, Chesty, (about Lewis Burwell Puller), anything Ambrose or Keegan.

Vic, can you add some others?

Semper Fi

[Ford Fairlane]

Go to your local flea market, antique stores, old book stores. You can usually find quite a few, sometimes obscure books published in the 40's-60's that are fairly accurate, and some provide insight that newer books don't cover. Most of my library has been filled this way.

[spqrzilla9]

Richard Rhodes book, "Making of the Atomic Bomb"
Gordon Prange's books on Pearl Harbor and Midway.

[Hugin]

A few other books worth mentioning...

Lost Victories: War Memoirs of Hitlers Most Brilliant General--Erich von Manstein
Interesting first hand account from the other side.

A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945 by Paul S. Dull
The most comprehensive history of every action fought by the Imperial Navy in WWII. A bit dry, but intersting.

Citizen Soldiers--Stephen Ambrose
Very readable and detailed history of D-Day to VE day from the soldier's point of view.