Specifically, a book that details the atrocities and traumas of war from the point of view of a soldier. Bonus points if that soldier was enlisted against their will and did not willingly join, as that makes them more sympathetic.
by acloudcuckoolander
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a farewell to arms
Catch 22
War and Peace (Pevear & Volokonsky translation is the best)
The Red Badge of Courage
Tim O”Briens’s “The Things we Carried” is a book about the Vietnam War based around what the author’s platoon-mates carried with them on patrol.
*The Things They Carried*
*A Rumor of War*
All Quiet on the Western Front.
Not exactly the same, but a pretty unvarnished account from a war correspondent: My War Gone By, I Miss It So by Anthony Lloyd
Suddenly We Didn’t Want to Die by Elton Mackin
The Yellow Birds. I forget the author, sorry.
Do you want fiction or reality? Cause With the Old Breed is a real soldier’s account and absolutely awesome.
The Matterhorn is a great one for Fiction. It was a fictional story a solider wrote to process his real life traumas.
Ambrose Bierce What I Saw at Shiloh is an absolutely brutal account of the battle by a great writer who experienced it firsthand (unlike Stephen Crane and Red Badge of Courage). In general, Bierce’s recollections of the Civil War in stories and essays are as authentic as they get. For instance, his short story Chickamauga (which he also participated in) is basically a sick horror movie.
Homage to Catalonia by Orwell
“Goodbye to All That” by Robert Graves. British WWI
Slaughter house five, one bullet away