SWO Resources
Contemporary Navy Books
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Surface Warfare Officer’s Department Head Guide
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Fleet Tactics and Naval Operations
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Fleet Tactics and Coastal Combat
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The Wardroom: An Officer's Tour at Sea and the Crisis of the U.S. Navy
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The Free Sea: The American Fight for Freedom of Navigation
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To Rule the Eurasian Waves: The New Great Power Competition at Sea
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Crashback: The Power Clash Between the US and China in the Pacific
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Maritime
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Farwell's Rules of the Nautical Road
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Heavy Metal: The Hard Days and Nights of the Shipyard Workers Who Build America's Supercarriers
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438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea
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The Sailor’s Bookshelf: Fifty Books to Know the Sea
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Future of War
AI at War: How Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Machine Learning Are Changing Naval Warfare
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AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
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T-Minus AI: Humanity's Countdown to Artificial Intelligence and the New Pursuit of Global Power
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The Kill Chain: Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
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​War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict
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Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century
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Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War
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2034: A Novel of the Next World War
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The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate
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The End of the World is Just Beginning: Mapping the Collapse of Globalization
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The New Rules of War: How America Can Win--Against Russia, China, and Other Threats
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Naval History
Seapower: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans
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Pirate Alley: Commanding Task Force 151 off Somalia
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Four Weeks in May: A Captain's Story of War at Sea (Falklands)
One Hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander
Blind Man’s Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage
Ocean’s Ventured: Winning the Cold War at Sea
Incidents at Sea: American Confrontation and Cooperation with Russia and China, 1945-2016
The Admiral’s Advantage: U.S. Navy Operational Intelligence in World War II and the Cold War
Who Can Hold the Sea: The U.S. Navy in the Cold War 1945-1960
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Days of Steel Rain: The Epic Story of WWII Vengeance Ship in the Year of the Kamikaze
In Harm’s Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis and the Extraordinary Story of Its Survivors
Ian Toll’s Pacific War Trilogy
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary WWII Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific
Warship Builders: An Industrial History of U.S. Naval Shipbuilding 1922-1945
The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King--The Five-Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea
Unsinkable: Five Men and the Indomitable Run of the USS Plunkett
The Two-Ocean War: A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War
The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command
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Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage
The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare from Trafalgar to Midway
Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy
1812: The Navy's War
Seize the Fire: Heroism, Duty, and the Battle of Trafalgar
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Military History
Cobra II: The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq by Michael Gordon and Bernard Trainor
The Accidental Guerrilla by David Kilcullen
No Higher Honor: Saving the USS Samuel B. Roberts in the Persian Gulf
Freedom’s Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II
Utmost Savagery: The Three Days of Tarawa
Always Faithful: A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
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Maritime Strategy
Understanding Naval Warfare
Developing the Naval Mind
Mahan, Corbet, and the Foundations of Strategic Thought
To Rule the Waves by Bruce Jones
To Risk it All by ADM James Stavridis, USN (Ret.)
Good Habits of Maritime Strategists by Jim Holmes
A Brief Guide to Maritime Strategy by Jim Holmes
On Grand Strategy by John Lewis Gattis
The Influence of Seapower Upon History by Mahan
Principles of Maritime Strategy by Corbett
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Military Classics
The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
The Art of War by Sun Tzu
On War by Clausewitz
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Diplomacy and World History
Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger
Honor in the Dust: Theodore Roosevelt, War in the Philippines, and the Rise and Fall of America’s Imperial Dream by Gregg Jones
Blunder by Zachary Shore
A Sense of the Enemy by Zachary Shore
Battlegrounds by General H. R. McMaster (Ret.)
World Order by Henry Kissinger
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World
The Power of Geography: Ten Maps That Reveal the Future of Our World
The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations
Worm: The First Digital World War
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The fates of Human Societies
Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler and Stalin
Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America
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China and East Asia
Chinese Maritime Power in the 21st Century: Strategic Planning, Policy and Predictions, Hu Bo, 2020.
Red Star Over the Pacific 2nd Edition by Holmes and Yoshihara
On China by Henry Kissinger
Asia’s Cauldron by Robert Kaplan
China’s Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know
When China Rules the World
Destined For War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides Trap? Graham Allison, 2017.
Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, Michael Beckley and Hal Brands, 2022.
Great Powers, Grand Strategies: The New Game in the South China Sea, Anders Corr et al., 2018.
China’s Maritime Gray Zone Operations Edited by Andrew S. Erickson and Ryan D. Martinson
A Strategy of Denial: American Defense in an Age of Great Power Conflict
The Hundred-Year Marathon: China's Secret Strategy to Replace America as the Global Superpower
The Chinese Invasion Threat: Taiwan's Defense and American Strategy in Asia
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Russia
The Russian Understanding of War by Oscar Jonsson
A Short History of Russia: How the World's Largest Country Invented Itself from the Pagans to Putin
Putin's World: Russia Against the West and with the Rest
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Bibliographies
Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations
Destroyer Captain: Lessons of a First Command
Call Sign Chaos by General Mattis (Ret.)
About Face by Colonel David H. Hackworth (Ret.)
Nimitz
Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC
The Accidental Admiral: A Sailor Takes Command of NATO
Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War
Steve Jobs
It Doesn't Take a Hero: The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir
Top Gun: An American Story
The Second Most Powerful Man in the World: The Life of Admiral William D. Leahy
Admiral Gorshkov: The Man Who Challenged the U.S. Navy
The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance
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Leadership and Mindset
Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
Mindset by Carol S. Dweck
The Checklist Manifesto by Gwande
The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
What You Do is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz
Thinking in Time by Neustadt and May
Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Roberts
Thinking Fast and Slow by Kahneman (or Michael Lewis’ The Undoing Project)
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink
The Dichotomy of Leadership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin
Legacy by James Kerr
Can’t Hurt Me by Goggins
Think Again by Adam Grant
Atomic Habits by James Clear
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Turn the Ship Around: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders
Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society
On Combat: The Psychology and Physiology of Deadly Conflict in War and in Peace
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment
It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy
Leadership Strategy and Tactics: Field Manual
What It Is Like to Go to War
Why Good People Make Bad Choices: How You Can Develop Peace of Mind Through Integrity
Military Virtues
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't
Team of Teams: New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential
Leading Change: An Action Plan from the World's Foremost Expert on Business Leadership
Joker One: A Marine Platoon's Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood
Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps' Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life
Sailing True North: Ten Admirals and the Voyage of Character
Touching the Dragon: and Other Techniques for Surviving Life's Wars
Moonwalking with Einstein: the Art and Science of Remembering Everything
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Fiction for SWOs
Ghost Fleet
2034
Master and Commander Series
Ender's Game
The Expanse Series
Old Man's War
Red Army
Red Phoenix
Punk's War
Team Yankee
Wargame
Red Storm Rising
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*Book summaries are mostly copied from USNI or Amazon.
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