Research Guides: 2025 CMC Reading List: Heritage

HERITAGE

Always Faithful by Owen Conner (Editor)
In 2025, the Marine Corps celebrates 250 years of achievement and history. In commemoration of this event, the curators of the National Museum of the Marine Corps have dedicated a special exhibit to highlight rare and previously unseen artifacts from the museum’s permanent collection. The artifacts and stories presented here are among the best documented pieces. Some feature the personal tales of individual Marines, while others are more representative of significant events or relate to broader Marine Corps traditions. The exhibit is not intended to rank or rate the “top” artifacts of Marine Corps history. Rather, the purpose is to honor and celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Corps through a single lens of the museum’s collection.
The American War in Afghanistan: A History by Carter Malkasian
The first authoritative history of the Afghanistan Conflict.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir by One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII by Chester Nez and Judith Schiess Avila
The first and only memoir by one of the original Navajo code talkers of WWII. During World War II, the Japanese managed to crack every code the U.S. used. The Marines turned to its Navajo recruits to develop and implement a secret military language and they created the only unbroken code in modern warfare--and helped assure victory in the South Pacific.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Echo in Ramadi: The Firsthand Story of U.S. Marines in Iraq's Deadliest City by Scott A. Huesing
A gripping portrayal of modern urban combat: from the winter of 2006 through the spring of 2007, two-hundred-fifty Marines from Echo Company, Second Battalion, Fourth Marine Regiment fought daily in the dangerous, dense city streets of Ramadi, Iraq during the Multi-National Forces Surge ordered by President George W. Bush. The Marines' mission: to kill or capture anti-Iraqi forces. Their experience: like being in Hell.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
First to Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps by Victor H. Krulak
This book examines the foundation on which the Marine Corps is built. The author examines the Marine experience during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam and tries to answer the question of what it means to be a Marine, and how the Corps has maintained such an outstanding reputation.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
How the Few Became the Proud: Crafting the Marine Corps Mystique by Heather P. Venable
The author argues that, in the late 19th century, since the Marine Corps could not readily rally around a sole "defining mission," it turned instead to an image to ensure its institutional survival. This history explores the origin of the myths behind the mystique.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
The Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of U.S. Marines in Combat by Bob Drury; Thomas Clavin
During the Korean War, 234 heroic Marines from Fox Company, 1st Marine Division, held off a force of 10,000 Chinese soldiers in subzero weather to secure the Toktong Pass. This is their story.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Lejeune: A Marine's Life 1867-1942 by Merrill L. Bartlett
Hard-hitting biography of the thirteenth commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
The Marines of Montford Point: America's First Black Marines by Melton Alonza McLaurin
This book recognizes and honors the pioneering Marines who loyally served their country in three major wars.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Semper Fidelis: The History of the United States Marine Corps by Allan R. Millett
Traces the history of the Marine Corps from the American Revolution to the present and reveals how the force has adapted to changing times.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Sgt. Reckless: America's War Horse by Robin Hutton; James F. Amos (Foreword by)
Sgt. Reckless was awarded two Purple Hearts for her valor and was officially promoted to staff sergeant twice, a distinction never bestowed upon an animal before or since.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
Targeted: Beirut: The 1983 Marine Barracks Bombing and the Untold Origin Story of the War on Terror by Jack Carr; James M. Scott
Examines the devastating terrorist attacks that changed the course of history, beginning with the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries
With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by E. B. Sledge
First-person account of fighting at Peleliu and Okinawa by a member of WWII’s famous 1st Marine Division, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines. Based on notes kept by the author, it portrays with searing honesty the experience of a soldier in the fierce Pacific Theater.
DoD-MWR Base Libraries | Marines DoD-MWR Online Library | MCB Quantico Libraries