100 books like Hellfire Boys

By Theo Emery,

Here are 100 books that Hellfire Boys fans have personally recommended if you like Hellfire Boys. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Tear Gas: From the Battlefields of World War I to the Streets of Today

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

Anna Feigenbaum’s book describes the origins of tear gas as a weapon of war and its transition to a crowd control tool. Tear Gas tells a story about the relationships between militaries, arms manufacturers, and police forces that has critical public policy and societal implications today. The continued use of tear gas to counter-protest movements and mass demonstrations around the globe remains a challenge for advocates of arms control, social justice, and human rights.

By Anna Feigenbaum,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Tear Gas as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

One hundred years ago, French troops fired tear gas grenades into German trenches. Designed to force people out from behind barricades and trenches, tear gas causes burning of the eyes and skin, tearing, and gagging. Chemical weapons are now banned from war zones. But today, tear gas has become the most commonly used form of "less-lethal" police force. In 2011, the year that protests exploded from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street, tear gas sales tripled. Most tear gas is produced in the United States, and many images of protestors in Tahrir Square showed tear gas canisters with "Made…


Book cover of Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs: Unconventional Warfare in the Ancient World

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

This book is a history of chemical and biological warfare in antiquity that is full of fascinating revelations. Adrienne Mayor investigates ancient texts and legends to explore early methods of warfare that continue to have relevance today. This book illustrates that ethical debates over the use of chemical weapons are as old as humanity itself.

By Adrienne Mayor,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, and Scorpion Bombs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A gripping and groundbreaking history of how ancient cultures developed and used biological, chemical, and other unconventional weapons of war

Flamethrowers, poison gases, incendiary bombs, the large-scale spreading of disease: are these terrifying agents of warfare modern inventions? Not by a long shot. In this riveting history of the origins of unconventional war, Adrienne Mayor shows that cultures around the world have used biological and chemical weapons for thousands of years-and debated the morality of doing so. Drawing extraordinary connections between the mythical worlds of Hercules and the Trojan War, the accounts of Herodotus and Thucydides, and modern methods of…


Book cover of War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

War and Nature is an innovative and thought-provoking look at the relationship between chemical warfare and insecticides that intersects military history, environmental history, and cultural history. Edmund Russell weaves together many disparate threads of inquiry into a cohesive and compelling story about how military tools can transition into commercial uses. War and Nature convinced me to study chemical warfare in my academic career more than any other book.

By Edmund Russell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked War and Nature as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

War and Nature combines discussion of technology, nature, and warfare to explain the impact of war on nature and vice versa. While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to think of war and control of nature as separate, this 2001 book uses the history of chemical warfare and pest control as a case study to show that war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. These intersections help us understand the development of total war and the rise of the modern environmental movement.


Book cover of Holding Their Breath: How the Allies Confronted the Threat of Chemical Warfare in World War II

Thomas I. Faith Author Of Behind the Gas Mask: The U.S. Chemical Warfare Service in War and Peace

From my list on chemical weapons.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I first enrolled in college, I expected to be a science major who was also interested in history, but I ended up becoming a history major who was also interested in science. I earned my Ph.D. in history from George Washington University in Washington, DC, after earning my B.A. from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. My Ph.D. dissertation on the U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Service during WWI and the 1920s became the basis for my book Behind the Gas Mask.

Thomas' book list on chemical weapons

Thomas I. Faith Why did Thomas love this book?

This book provides an answer to a question that historians of arms control have asked since WWII ended: Why had the use of chemical weapons on the battlefield not become widespread in WWII, in the same manner it had in WWI? Focusing on Britain, Canada, and the United States, Holding Their Breath explores Allied reluctance to use chemical weapons and their formulation of a joint policy on chemical warfare. M. Girard Dorsey shows that the potential for chemical warfare in WWII profoundly influenced the course of the war’s events.

By M. Girard Dorsey,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Holding Their Breath as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Holding Their Breath uncovers just how close Britain, the United States, and Canada came to crossing the red line that restrained chemical weapon use during World War II. Unlike World War I, belligerents did not release poison gas regularly during the Second World War. Yet, the looming threat of chemical warfare significantly affected the actions and attitudes of these three nations as they prepared their populations for war, mediated their diplomatic and military alliances, and attempted to defend their national identities and sovereignty.

The story of chemical weapons and World War II begins in the interwar period as governments and…


Book cover of The Peach Pit Parade: A World War I Story

Marlene Targ Brill Author Of Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad

From my list on showing children making a difference.

Why am I passionate about this?

I chose this focus because it fulfills one of my main goals of writing—to empower young readers by showing how what they do matters. Even the simplest actions can have huge consequences, no matter what someone’s age is. Whether someone saves another person’s life, like Allen Jay did, or stand up to a bully, doing what’s right makes a difference. Also, I like to right children into history so they understand that they’ve always played a key role in bettering this world.

Marlene's book list on showing children making a difference

Marlene Targ Brill Why did Marlene love this book?

During times of war, children often wonder what they can do to help. When Polly’s father joined fighting in World War I, she planted food, stopped eating meat on Mondays, and wrote to her father overseas. But she wanted to make more of a difference. After her teacher asked kids to save their peach pits for soldiers to use as filters in their masks, Polly suggested her town hold a peach pit parade to gather more peach pits. She made signs, wrote to newspapers to announce the parade, and sent notices to other classrooms, schools, and Girl Scout troops. In the end the parade gleaned enough peach pits to filter hundreds of gas masks—all from one girl’s idea. I try to emphasize that each child can make a huge difference with seemingly small and everyday actions.

By Shana Keller, Margeaux Lucas (illustrator),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Peach Pit Parade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 5, 6, 7, and 8.

What is this book about?

When Polly's father goes overseas to fight in World War I, her whole world changes. Though the war is in Europe, its effects are felt on American soil. There are food, fuel, and other supply shortages everywhere. Even something as simple and enjoyable as a family Sunday car ride isn't possible anymore. Everyone must do their part to help the war effort. Victory gardens are planted and scrap metal is collected. "It's the biggest event in our history. And it involves every single adult, every single boy, and every single girl," says Polly's teacher. As Polly struggles to make sense…


Book cover of Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer

Siobhan Fallon Author Of The Confusion of Languages

From my list on war (that are not actually about war).

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an American writer, Army wife, and occasional expat who has spent nearly a decade of my life living abroad (including Japan, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates), not to mention seven Army moves stateside. I love to read (and write!) books that explore discordance and dislocation, what it is like to be an American living overseas in a time of war, and how these things impact relationships with friends, families, and strangers, and our concept of “home.” My writing is often an exploration of the mundane mixed with the catastrophic. Oh, and I have a weakness for stray cats. Lots of stray cats.

Siobhan's book list on war (that are not actually about war)

Siobhan Fallon Why did Siobhan love this book?

I know I’m going old school here with this memoir by the widow of General George Armstrong Custer. The Little Bighorn tragedy looms large throughout, but it happens completely off the page. Elizabeth “Libbie” Custer makes a conscious effort to show her husband in life rather than death, and in this way she illuminates the equally dramatic life experiences of so many military families on the American frontier.

I couldn’t believe how many similarities there are between being a military spouse in the 1870s and being one today. There is the unique drama of living in a sort of satellite USA, either on a military base or in the American Embassy community abroad. Army spouses form fast friendships and are forced to rely on each other when there are so few cultural touchstones or friends and family nearby. These relationships become even more vital when their spouses are unreachable for…

By Elizabeth B. Custer,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Boots and Saddles, or Life in Dakota with General Custer as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and…


Book cover of Ernie's War: The Best of Ernie Pyle's World War II Dispatches

Donald L. Willerton Author Of Teddy's War

From my list on what our fathers never told us about WWII.

Why am I passionate about this?

My father never talked about his experiences during the war. After he died at 67, we found his handwritten itinerary of three years and ten days in the Army Signal Corps. Plotting it on a map sparked a passion that continued for years, taking me twice to sites in Europe and through hundreds of records and books. I am amazed at all he never told us—the Queen Mary troopship, his radar unit’s landing on Omaha Beach (D+26), the Normandy Breakout, Paris after liberation, fleeing Bastogne, and so on. I grew up on WWII films but never grasped till now what my dad may have seen. 

Donald's book list on what our fathers never told us about WWII

Donald L. Willerton Why did Donald love this book?

I haven’t found anyone better at describing the personal situations and experiences of soldiers in war than Ernie Pyle. In this compilation, he interviews soldiers at every level, in a wide variety of duties, with honesty, directness, humor, and literary style. It is no wonder that his syndicated columns appeared in over 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers, making him the voice of war-time America.

By David Nichols (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Ernie's War as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The best of Ernie Pyles World War II dispatches. For those of us to whom World War II has been only images in newsreels or monolithic history in a book. Ernie's words breathe like an intimate conversation. He is our eloquent bridge across time.


Book cover of Too Young to Die: Boy Soldiers of the Union Army 1861-1865

J. Arthur Moore Author Of The Real Boys of the Civil War

From my list on youth who served in the American Civil War.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a retired teacher, author, and researcher/presenter focusing on the real boys of the American Civil War. A Ray Bradbury short story in The Saturday Evening Post back in 1963 first sparked my interest. It focused on a drummer and his general at the Battle of Shiloh–a two-page conversation between them. There was no action. A teenager then, I decided I could do better and began what decades later would become my 4-book series, Journey Into Darkness, a story in four parts. In the years that followed, I became a middle-grade teacher, and my students learned about the Civil War by way of their peers.  

J.'s book list on youth who served in the American Civil War

J. Arthur Moore Why did J. love this book?

I like this book because it is an outstanding collection of images and biographical information about real boys who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. 

I wanted to learn their stories so I could share them with others, in particular, my students–to teach them history through the lives of their peers. I found Keesee’s research extraordinary, a fascinating dive into the lives of real boys who were a part of America’s history yet are generally forgotten today. 

As a retired teacher, I continue to share what I’ve learned through my writings and presentations to library patrons and civic and historical organizations.

By Dennis M. Keesee,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Too Young to Die as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Book by Keesee, Dennis M.


Book cover of Standing at the Scratch Line

Deborah Fletcher Mello Author Of Playing with Danger

From my list on the dark and stormy side of the human spirit.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an award-winning, national best-selling author who loves reading as much as I love writing. Combine that with a good, smooth bourbon and it’s a win-win. Like my literary journey, my love for bourbon has been filled with surprises and challenges. Romance writing found me. I didn’t go looking for it. The journey introduced me to great writers and amazing stories and taught me to write better. Distilleries could extol the health benefits of bourbon, but I discovered it can be subtle, soul-searing, and pairs beautifully with a good meal and an even better book. Like my writing, bourbon leaves you feeling like you’ve had a great meal and threw in dessert!

Deborah's book list on the dark and stormy side of the human spirit

Deborah Fletcher Mello Why did Deborah love this book?

This book is the embodiment of great storytelling. Guy Johnson takes us on a journey that is profound and addicting.

The characters are beautifully constructed against a backdrop of historical fiction, adventure, and romance. They are flawed, and you find yourself rooting for them at every turn. This is the first book I read that taught me how to better push the constraints of my own writing and to simply write what might feel personal but is also necessary.

Johnson was also the first author I ever reached out to, to say how much the book meant to me and he responded with the most engaging words of encouragement and advice for my own stories.

I’d highly recommend this book for anyone looking to escape in the pages of an epic tale that reads as if it is on the big screen. It’s masterfully written and makes for a soul-searing…

By Guy Johnson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Standing at the Scratch Line as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Raised in the steamy bayous of New Orleans in the early 1900s, LeRoi "King" Tremain, caught up in his family's ongoing feud with the rival DuMont family, learns to fight. But when the teenage King mistakenly kills two white deputies during a botched raid on the DuMonts, the Tremains' fear of reprisal forces King to flee Louisiana.

King thus embarks on an adventure that first takes him to France, where he fights in World War I as a member of the segregated 369th Battalion—in the bigoted army he finds himself locked in combat with American soldiers as well as with…


Book cover of Battle of the Baltic Islands 1917: Triumph of the Imperial German Navy

Mark Harris Author Of Harwich Submarines in the Great War: The First Submarine Campaign of the Royal Navy in 1914

From my list on WWI naval history without the same old story.

Why am I passionate about this?

Military history has always fascinated me. I grew up in Britain with my parents’ tales of service in the Second World War on land, sea, and in the air. The First World War saw the zenith of British sea power and was an obvious draw. The scale and scope of the fighting were huge, and I’ve been researching the naval war in depth for over thirty years. The high levels of literacy of the combatants mean that it is also possible to gain deep insights into their experiences. This makes for stories I'm passionate about discovering as a reader and telling as an author. I hope this list helps you discover them too.

Mark's book list on WWI naval history without the same old story

Mark Harris Why did Mark love this book?

Successful amphibious operations are hard to pull off. The Allies failure at Gallipoli is well known.

This book tells the story of Operation Albion, the successful German seizure of the Russian islands in the Baltic. A large part of the German Fleet was involved and had to overcome stubborn resistance by the battleships, cruisers, and destroyers of the Russian Fleet to break into the Gulf of Riga.

The Baltic is a little-known theatre of naval operations. The book draws on both Russian and German sources to show how the German Fleet and Army worked hand in hand to achieve a decisive victory in this theatre of the naval war.

By Gary Staff,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Battle of the Baltic Islands 1917 as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In late 1917, the Russians, despite the revolution, were still willing to continue the war against Germany. This is an account of Operation Albion, the highly-successful seaborne operation launched by the Germans to change their minds. The Baltic Islands were pivotal for the defence of the Finnish Gulf and St. Petersburg, so their capture wasessential for any campaign towards the Russian capital. Only after the fall of the islands did Russia begin peace negotiations (freeing nearly half a million German soldiers for the Kaiser's last gamble on the Western Front). This then was a campaign of great significance for the…


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