With the Old Breed

Why it’s on the list: E. B. Sledge’s memoir of Peleliu and Okinawa as an enlisted Marine — the flat, unheroic account that became the standard for what infantry combat was actually like.

Where I heard about it

• @typesfast’s thread — named in the replies to his question “What’s the best history book you’ve read?”, June 2025. Full set of replies: What’s the best history book… (tweet).
• Dissident Teacher — on A Library to Build Great Americans, a 468-title curriculum published on Substack in December 2025, in the Ages 13-99+ band under Nonfiction.

Connections

• World War II — The war.
• War — What the book refuses to romanticise.
• Biography — The form: first-person memoir.
• What’s the best history book… (tweet) — the thread this recommendation came from.
• A Library to Build Great Americans — the December 2025 curriculum that recommends it a second time.
• E. B. Sledge — the author’s page.
• Helmet for My Pillow — Robert Leckie’s memoir of the same division, paired with this one on that list.