The May 2017 revision of the Marines reading list

(source) The Marine Corps Professional Reading Program Began as the Commandant's Reading List in 1988, although recommended reading lists have been generated for Marines since the 19th century. Each Commandant since 1988 has placed his personal stamp on the program, but many of the books have remained constant.

Other revisions

March 2016

January 2013

September 2009

November 2008

This revision

Commandant's Choice

Book cover for Leading Marines

Book cover for Sustaining the Transformation MCRP 6-11D

Book cover for Warfighting

Book cover for First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps

Book cover for A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order

Book cover for Legacy

Book cover for Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game

Entry Level - Enlisted

Book cover for Battle Cry

Book cover for Corps Values: Everything You Need to Know I Learned In the Marines

Book cover for Red Badge Of Courage: An Episode Of The American Civil War

Book cover for Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

Book cover for Starship Troopers

Entry Level - Officer

Book cover for Battle Cry

Book cover for Corps Values: Everything You Need to Know I Learned In the Marines

Book cover for I'm Staying with My Boys: The Heroic Life of Sgt. John Basilone, USMC

Book cover for My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story

Book cover for The Killer Angels: A Novel

Book cover for Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae

Book cover for Starship Troopers

Primary Level - Enlisted

Book cover for Ender's Game

Book cover for Rifleman Dodd

Book cover for The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

Book cover for The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines

Book cover for Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC

Book cover for The Warrior Ethos

Book cover for On Call in Hell: A Doctor's Iraq War Story

Book cover for Ready Player One: A Novel

Primary Level - Officer

Book cover for All Quiet On The Western Front

Book cover for The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat

Book cover for The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines

Book cover for With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Book cover for Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC

Book cover for What It Is Like To Go To War

Book cover for Maneuver Warfare: An Anthology

Book cover for Fields of Fire

Book cover for At the Water's Edge: Defending Against the Modern Amphibious Assault

Book cover for The Defense of Hill 781

Book cover for Ready Player One: A Novel

Career Level - Enlisted

Book cover for Outliers: The Story of Success

Book cover for The Defense Of Duffer's Drift

Book cover for The Killer Angels: A Novel

Book cover for With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa

Book cover for Battle Leadership

Book cover for Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War

Book cover for We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam

Book cover for On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

Book cover for Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life

Book cover for The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

Career Level - Officer

Book cover for Attacks

Book cover for Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's Triangle of Death

Book cover for Into the Tiger's Jaw : America's First Black Marine Aviator - The Autobiography of Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen

Book cover for On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society

Book cover for War Made New: Weapons, Warriors, and the Making of the Modern World

Book cover for Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends On It

Book cover for Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War

Book cover for Maneuver Warfare Handbook

Book cover for Assault From the Sea. Essays On The History Of Amphibious Warfare.

Book cover for The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations

Book cover for Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

Book cover for The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate

Book cover for Out of the Mountains: The Coming Age of the Urban Guerrilla

Intermediate Level - Enlisted

Book cover for All Quiet On The Western Front

Book cover for American Spartans: The U.S. Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq

Book cover for The Changing Face of War: Combat from the Marne to Iraq

Book cover for This Kind of War

Book cover for Fields of Fire

Book cover for Leading Change

Book cover for My Men Are My Heroes: The Brad Kasal Story

Book cover for Thinking, Fast and Slow

Book cover for Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win

Book cover for Once An Eagle

Book cover for The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

Intermediate Level - Officer

Book cover for Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for World War II

Book cover for Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945

Book cover for Just And Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations

Book cover for Military Innovation in the Interwar Period

Book cover for The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle

Book cover for The Utility of Force: The Art of War in the Modern World

Book cover for This Kind of War

Book cover for Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

Book cover for Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the World's First Digital Weapon

Book cover for After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam

Book cover for Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power

Book cover for Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq

Book cover for The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West

Book cover for Storming the City: U.S. Military Performance in Urban Warfare from World War II to Vietnam

Book cover for The Mind of War: John Boyd and American Security

Book cover for The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

Book cover for The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Senior Level - Enlisted

Book cover for Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character

Book cover for Command Culture: Officer Education in the U.S. Army and the German Armed Forces, 1901-1940, and the Consequences for World War II

Book cover for Forgotten Warriors: The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, the Corps Ethos, and the Korean War

Book cover for Just And Unjust Wars: A Moral Argument With Historical Illustrations

Book cover for No Bended Knee: The Battle for Guadalcanal The Memoir of Gen. Merrill B. Twining, USMC

Book cover for Face of Battle

Book cover for Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World

Book cover for Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action

Book cover for On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace

Book cover for The Guns of August

Book cover for The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

Book cover for The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business

Book cover for The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

Senior Level - Officer

Book cover for Another Bloody Century: Future Warfare

Book cover for Assignment Pentagon: How to Excel in a Bureaucracy

Book cover for Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam

Book cover for Diplomacy

Book cover for The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World

Book cover for Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime

Book cover for Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Book cover for The Federalist Papers

Book cover for The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War

Book cover for Every War Must End

Book cover for The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations

Book cover for Strategy: A History

Book cover for Treasury's War: The Unleashing of a New Era of Financial Warfare

Book cover for The Guns of August

Book cover for Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-1945

Book cover for The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future

Book cover for The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business