2026 Summer Reading Challenge
The Virginia War Memorial is excited to launch the 2026 Summer Reading Challenge.
Explore America’s military history this summer through a curated collection of books recommended by Virginia War Memorial staff. From the Revolutionary War to the Global War on Terrorism, this reading list offers titles for readers of all interests and ages.
How to Participate
Participants who read 10 books from the list below will be entered to win one of three Virginia War Memorial Prize Packs.
To enter:
- Read any 10 books from the challenge list
- Submit your completed reading list to Lizzie Oglesby at elizabeth.oglesby@dvs.virginia.gov.
Challenge Details
The challenge concludes on Monday, September 7, 2026. All participants who submit a completed reading list are eligible to receive one free book and a special Virginia War Memorial bookmark. The drawing for three Virginia War Memorial Prize Packs will take place at the close of the challenge.
Books and bookmarks must be picked up in person at the Virginia War Memorial. Shipping is not available.
Reading Categories
Colonial America and Revolution
- The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson
- April Morning by Howard Fast
- Washington’s Secret War: The Hidden History of Valley Forge by Thomas Fleming
- To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture, 1775-1783 by E. Wayne Carpe
- Enemy Views: The American Revolutionary War as Recorded by the Hessian Participants by Bruce E. Gurgoyne
19th Century and Civil War
- The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
- Joshua Chamberlain: The Solider and The Man by Edward G. Longacre
- Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides
- Beneath a Northern Sky: A Short History of the Gettysburg Campaign by Stephen E. Woolridge
- They Fought Like Demons: Women Soldiers in the American Civil War by DeAnne Blanton
- The Battle of New Market Heights: Freedom Will Be Theirs by the Sword by James S. Price
World War I
- German Sailors in Hampton Roads: A WWI Story at the Norfolk Navy Yard by Gregory J. Hansard
- Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
- The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
- To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne, 1918 The Epic Battle That Ended the First World War by Edward G. Lengel
- Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne by Douglas V. Mastriano
- The Great War in America: World War I and Its Aftermath by
World War II
- Izzy’s Fire: Finding Humanity in the Holocaust by Nancy Wright Beasley
- The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II by Gregory A. Freeman
- The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour by James D. Hornfischer
- The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw
- The Longest Day by Cornelius Ryan
- With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
- If You Survive: From Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to the End of World War II, One American Officer’s Riveting True Story by Stephen Wilson
- Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II by Liza Mundy
- The Candy Bomber: The Story of the Berlin Airlift’s “Chocolate Pilot” by Michael O. Tunnell
- Patton’s Prayer by Alex Kershaw
Korean War
- Breakout: The Chosin Reservoir Campaign by Russ Martin
- The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War by David Halberstam
- The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
- The Korean War by Matthew Ridgeway
- The Frozen Hours by Jeff Shaara
Vietnam War
- A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo
- Dispatches by Michael Herr
- Black Cat 2-1: The True Story of a Vietnam Helicopter Pilot and His Crew by Bob Ford
- Last Stand at Khe Sanh: The U.S. Marines’ Finest Hour in Vietnam by Gregg Jones
Cold War
- Above and Beyond: John F. Kennedy and America’s Most Dangerous Cold War Spy Mission by
Modern War and Global War on Terrorism
- Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
- Not a Good Day to Die: The Untold Story of Operation Anaconda by Mark Neely
- The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education by Craig M. Mullany
Titles for Elementary and Middle School Students
- I Survived Series: Nazi Invasion, Battle of D-Day, Bombing of Pearl Harbor by various authors
- Magic Tree House: World at War, 1944 by Mary Pope Osborne
- War Stories by Gordon Korman
- Twenty and Ten by Clare Hutchet Bishop
- Benno and the Night of Broken Glass by Meg Wiviott (World War II)
- Who Was/What Was? Series: D-Day, Pearl Harbor, Holocaust, Anne Frank, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Tuskegee Airmen by various authors
- You Wouldn’t Want To Be series: An American Colonist, A Civil War Soldier, A World War II Pilot by various authors
- Private Yankee Doodle: Dangers and Sufferings of a Revolutionary Soldier by Joseph Plumb Martin
- When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park (World War II)
- Enemy Territory: The Story of the American CIA U-2 Pilot Francis Gary Powers by Francis Gary Powers Jr. and Walter Pfenninger (A Cold War graphic novel)
Virginia War Memorial Staff Favorites
CLAY MOUNTCASTLE: Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden (Modern War)
BEN KING – The Battle of New Market Heights: Freedom Will Be Theirs by the Sword by James S. Price (Civil War)
SYLVIA MARSHALL: Valiant Women: The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II by Lena S. Andrews. (World War II)
JIM TRIESLER: 1776 by David McCullough (Revolution)
LIZZIE OGLESBY – Cold War Virginia by Francis Gary Powers, Jr. (Cold War)
SUZANNE FEIGLEY: The Women by Kristin Hannah (Vietnam)
CAT RAHA: The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara (Revolution)
Support your local library this summer. Many of these books are available at Richmond Public Library and Henrico County Public Library in hardcopy and/or digitally on the Libby App. Some books are free to read on Internet Archive.
