The January 2013 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

May 2017

March 2016

September 2009

November 2008

This revision

Intermediate Level: GySgt, MSgt, 1stSgt

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

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 Fields of Fire

Book cover for Flags of Our Fathers

Book cover for Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific

Book cover for The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It

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

Book cover for This Kind of War

Book cover for The Constitution of the United States of America

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

Entry Level: Candidate / Midshipman

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 Making the Corps

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

Book cover for The Killer Angels: A Novel

Primary Level: Pvt-Cpl

Book cover for Ender's Game

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

Book cover for Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller

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

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

Primary Level: WO, 2nd LT, 1st LT

Book cover for All Quiet On The Western Front

Book cover for Battle Leadership

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

Book cover for Marine! The Life of Chesty Puller

Book cover for Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War

Book cover for The Art Of War

Book cover for The Defense Of Duffer's Drift

Book cover for The Forgotten Soldier

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 The Constitution of the United States of America

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

Career Level: Sgt, SSgt

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

Book cover for Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific

Book cover for Outliers: The Story of Success

Book cover for Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II

Book cover for Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors in Afghanistan and Pakistan

Book cover for Storm of Steel

Book cover for The Defense Of Duffer's Drift

Book cover for The Forgotten Soldier

Book cover for The Killer Angels: A Novel

Book cover for The Constitution of the United States of America

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

Career Level: CWO2, CWO3, Capt

Book cover for Attacks

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

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

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 Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific

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

Book cover for Outliers: The Story of Success

Book cover for Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II

Book cover for Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions

Book cover for The Virtues of War: A Novel of Alexander the Great

Book cover for The Constitution of the United States of America

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

Intermediate Level: CWO4, CWO5, Maj, LtCol

Book cover for Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine

Book cover for Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power

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

Book cover for Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

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 Ripples of Battle: How Wars of the Past Still Determine How We Fight, How We Live, and How We Think

Book cover for The Age of the Unthinkable: Why the New World Disorder Constantly Surprises Us And What We Can Do About It

Book cover for The Warriors: Reflections on Men in Battle

Book cover for This Kind of War

Book cover for Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era

Book cover for Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking

Book cover for Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War

Senior Level: MGySgt, SgtMaj

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

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

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 Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America

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 The Mask of Command

Senior Level: Col-Gen

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 How Wars End: Why We Always Fight the Last Battle

Book cover for The Landscape of History: How Historians Map the Past

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

Book cover for Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle

Book cover for Modern Strategy

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 Guns of August

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

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

Aviation

Book cover for 1912-2012, 100 Years of Marine Corps Aviation: An Illustrated History

Book cover for Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq

Book cover for Marine Air

Book cover for On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War over Vietnam

Book cover for The Art of Air Power: Sun Tzu Revisited

Book cover for The Naval Air War in Korea

Book cover for U.S. Marine Corps Aviation Since 1912

Logistics

Book cover for Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army

Book cover for Clockspeed: Winning Industry Control in the Age of Temporary Advantage

Book cover for Feeding Mars: Logistics In Western Warfare From The Middle Ages To The Present

Book cover for Keep from All Thoughtful Men: How U.S. Economists Won World War II

Book cover for Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II

Book cover for Recurring Logistics Problems As I Have Observed Them

Book cover for Supplying War: Logistics from Wallenstein to Patton

Counterinsurgency

Book cover for Counterinsurgency Warfare: Theory and Practice

Book cover for Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam

Book cover for Street Without Joy: The French Debacle In Indochina

Book cover for The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One

Book cover for The Village

Book cover for War Comes to Long An: Revolutionary Conflict  in a Vietnamese Province

Roots of Maneuver Warfare

Book cover for Air Power and Maneuver Warfare

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

Book cover for Maneuver Warfare Handbook

Book cover for Maneuver Warfare: An Anthology

Book cover for The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War Its Theory and Its Practice in the Pacific

Wounded Warrior

Book cover for ASCENT: how one quadriplegic fought for a full life and soared

Book cover for Courage After Fire: Coping Strategies for Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and Their Families

Book cover for Down Range: To Iraq and Back

Book cover for Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming

Book cover for Once a Warrior--Always a Warrior: Navigating the Transition from Combat to Home--Including Combat Stress, PTSD, and mTBI

Book cover for Once a Warrior: Wired For Life

Book cover for Overcoming Post-Deployment Syndrome

Book cover for Shadow of the Sword: A Marine's Journey of War, Heroism, and Redemption

Book cover for Soft Spots: A Marine's Memoir of Combat and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Book cover for Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Book cover for War and the Soul: Healing Our Nation's Veterans from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Book cover for Warrior Mindset

Book cover for What It Is Like To Go To War

Strategic Thinking

Book cover for Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life

Book cover for General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications

Book cover for Harnessing Complexity

Book cover for Rethinking the Principles of War

Book cover for The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Book cover for The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought

Book cover for Thinking, Fast and Slow

Book cover for Thinking in Time: The Uses of History for Decision-Makers

Regional and Cultural Studies

Book cover for Angry Wind: Through Muslim Black Africa by Truck, Bus, Boat, and Camel

Book cover for Eastward to Tartary: Travels in the Balkans, the Middle East, and the Caucasus

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

Book cover for Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea

Book cover for The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In

Book cover for Understanding Arabs: A Contemporary Guide to Arab Society

Book cover for What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East

Leadership

Book cover for Developing the Leaders Around You: How to Help Others Reach Their Full Potential

Book cover for Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World

Book cover for Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World

Book cover for Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times

Book cover for Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander's Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery

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

Book cover for Power of Communication,The: Skills to Build Trust, Inspire Loyalty, and Lead Effectively

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

Commandant's Choice

Book cover for A Message to Garcia

Book cover for Leading Marines

Book cover for The Warrior Ethos

Book cover for Warfighting

Entry Level: Recruit / Poolee

Book cover for Battle Cry

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

Book cover for Making the Corps

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