Historical Fiction: Stories of American Wars
                                    An annotated list of American War selections available at the North Smithfield Library.
                                                                   Click on title if you would like to request a copy.

The Revolutionary War
 The Fort: a novel of the Revolutionary War by Bernard Cornwell                                                       From the reigning king of historical fiction comes a triumphant novel of the American Revolution. Drawing from diaries and the transcripts of the inquiries and court proceedings, Cornwell recreates the events of the Penebscot Expedition in stunning detail.  
The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara                                                                                                                                                        The story of how thirteen colonies became a nation, taking the conflict from kingdom and courtroom to the bold and bloody battlefields of war.  It is a tribute to an amazing people who turned ideas into action and fought to declare themselves free.  
The Hornet’s Nest: a novel of the Revolutionary War by Jimmy Carter                                                                                           On their homesteads in Georgia, Ethan and his wife form a friendship with neighbors who teach them about the frontier and the Native American tribes who are being continually pressed farther inland by settlers. As the eight-year war develops, they find themselves in life-and-death combat with opposing forces.  
Independence Lost: lives on the edge of the American Revolution by Kathleen DuVal Independence Lost reveals that individual motives counted as much as the ideals of liberty and freedom the Founders espoused: Independence had a personal as well as national meaning, and the choices made by people living outside the colonies were of critical importance to the war's outcome.   

War of 1812
 The Captain from Connecticut by C.S. Forester                                                                                                                                This biography traces the life and naval career of War of 1812 hero Hull. Along with the naval action, the author pays attention to details of Hull's administrative and diplomatic skills, the latter exemplified by his role in connection with the Peruvian War of Independence.  
The Fortune of War by Patrick O’Brien Captain Jack Aubrey, R. N. and his friend Stephen Maturin take passage for England in a dispatch vessel. However, the War of 1812 breaks out while they are en route. Bloody actions precipitate them both into new and unexpected scenes where Stephen's past activities as a secret agent return on him with a vengeance.  
The Lively Lady by Kenneth Lewis Roberts The Lively Lady is a novel about the War of 1812 and tells the story of U.S. sea captain Richard Nason as he is captured by the British and sent to Dartmoor Prison. Captain Caution is another seafaring tale of the War of 1812.   

Civil War 
Banished Children of Eve by Peter Quinn                                                                                                                                               In a sprawling debut, Quinn, chief speechwriter for Time Warner, pays long, lusty tribute to his Irish American heritage and his hometown, New York City, while exploring one of the darker moments in the city's history-the bloody Draft Riots of 1863.  
God and Generals by Jeff Shaara                                                                                                                                                           The story follows four men to the eve of the Battle of Gettysburg, where each man must face his family, his personal duty and his own sense of responsibility to his country.  
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara                                                                                                                                                          A novel following four men as they march into the field for what will become the bloodiest three days in American history.  
The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara                                                                                                                                                   The conclusion to the trilogy each of the three characters is visited late in their lives, Lee in 1870, Grant in 1885 and Chamberlain in 1913. Each man has his place in history, but each man reaches his own conclusion about his role. It is Chamberlain who optimistically believes that Mankind has surely learned the great lesson, and would never go down that awful road again. He does not survive to see the dawning of World War I.  
  
Series by Jeff Shaara  This four volume series is a group of powerful novels depicting the bloody history of the Civil War. Each book in the series focuses on different battles with their leaders portrayed as stoic, driven, anxious and engaged.  
1. A Blaze of Glory: a novel of the Battle of Shiloh           
2. A Chain of Thunder: a novel of the Siege of Vicksburg
3. The Smoke at Dawn: a novel of the Civil War  
4. The Fateful Lightning: a novel of the Civil War   
  
World War I
 As the Crow Flies by Jeffrey Archer                                                                                                                                                        At the beginning of the twentieth century, Charlie Trumpeter inherits his grandfather's fruit and vegetable barrow which he eventually parlays into riches and a world-famous department store. Along the way Charlie battles enemies in the trenches of World War I as well as in the streets of London.  
The First of July by Elizabeth Speller                                                                                                                                            Following the lives of four very different men, Frank, Benedict, Jean-Batiste, and Harry, their fates converge on the most terrible and destructive day of World War I, the first day of the Battle of the Somme. 
World War I Series by Anne Perry                                                                                                                                                        This five volume series features an honorable English family, brothers Joseph and Matthew Rearly, and their sisters Judith and Hannah while readers are swept into the golden summer of 1914, a time of brief enchantment when English men and women basked in the security of wealth and power, even as the last weeks of their privileged world were swiftly passing. Theirs was a peace that led to war.   
1. No Graves as Yet: a novel of World War I
2. Shoulder the Sky
3. Angels in the Gloom
4. At Some Disputed Barricade
5. We Shall Not Sleep  

To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara                                                                                                                                                       Focusing first on key characters from the British, French and German points of view, the story moves past the years of stalemate and extraordinary horror to the final two years of the war.  

World War II
Billy Boyle: a World War I Mystery by James R. Benn                                                                                                                            A 22-year-old Irish American cop thinks he's avoiding military service by becoming a general's staff member, but the general turns out to be Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dispatched as an investigator, Billy searches for a German spy amongst the exiled Norwegian government.  
Flight of Eagles by Jack Higgins                                                                                                                                                            Two brother, one American and the other German, fight World War II on opposite sides as pilots. They are twins who were separated when their American father died and the German mother returned home with only one son. The German is ordered to impersonate the American in a plot to assassinate an American general.   
The World War II Series by James Jones An army base at Pearl Harbor. The jungles of Guadalcanal. A veterans hospital on the home front. Inspired by his own experiences in the US Army, author James Jones’s World War II Trilogy stands as one of the most significant achievements in war literature. This compilation includes:  
From Here to Eternity by James Jones
The Thin Red Line by James Jones
Whistle by James Jones  

Korean War
Home by Toni Morrison                                                                                                                                                                       Frank is an angry, broken veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. He is shocked out of his apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he's hated all his life.  
The Hot War Series by Harry Turtledove  In this astounding new series, the unthinkable has come to pass. The Cold War turns hot—and the United States and the Soviet Union unleash their nuclear arsenals upon each other. Millions die. Millions more are displaced. Germans battle side by side with Americans, Polish freedom fighters next to Russian fascists. The genie is out of the bottle. And there’s no telling what will come next.  
Bombs Away by Harry Turtledove
Fallout by Harry Turtledove
Armistice by Harry Turtledove (to be released July 2017)
The Coldest Night by Robert Olmstead                       
To escape the wrath of the young girl's father, Henry joins the Marines, arriving in Korea on the eve of the brutal battle of the Chosin Reservoir-the defining moment of the Korean War. From the steamy streets of New Orleans to the bone-chilling Korean landscape, the author takes us into one of the most physically challenging battles in history and, with just as much intensity, into an electrifying, all consuming love affair.  
Vietnam War
Flight of the Intruder by Steven Coonts This novel is set in the Vietnam War in 1972, at a time when the war was still raging but negotiations were under way and it was clear that the USA was going to pull out sooner or later. The 'hero' of the story is Jake Grafton, a U.S. Navy pilot flying missions over Vietnam in an A6 Intruder, a carrier-based attach bomber.   
Up Country by Nelson Demille                                                                                                                                                              Paul Brenner is asked to return to work for the Army's Criminal Investigative Division and finds himself  investigating a murder that takes place back in Vietnam thirty years before. Now, returning to a time and place that still haunts him, Paul is swept up in the battle of his life as he struggles to find justice.  
The Quiet American by Graham Greene  Fowler, a seasoned foreign correspondent, intervenes as the young Pyle begins to channel economic aid to a 'Third Force, ' "but Fowler's motives for intervening are suspect, both to the police and to himself: for Pyle has robbed him of his Vietnamese mistress.  
Without Remorse by Tom Clancy John Kelly, an ex-Navy SEAL agrees to return to Vietnam, where he has already earned three Purple Hearts. He leads a raid into the north where U.S. officers are being held for interrogation by the Soviets.   




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