Love Jawbreaker? Readers share 75 books like Jawbreaker...

Books that tell the story of Special Operations soldiers fighting in the Global War on Terror typically focus all of their efforts on adrenaline, explosions, the men, and the teams. While those are all critical elements and essential to the stories, most of them leave out one of the most crucial factors to keeping Special Operations troops in the fight.

In Special Forces, we had many sayings, but one of the most important was, “if momma ain’t happy, Joe ain’t happy.” 

All active duty soldiers engaged in war, even we Special Operators, depend on our families to keep us going. These may be the details required to keep the household running, keeping the family happy, healthy & fed (as nearly all Special Operators are extremely family-oriented), but also to be the rocks that we can fall back on when needed, the support to keep us pushing forward, and… show more.

Bill Donovan, recognized as a hero for rescuing his fellow soldiers at the front in World War I, was a rising star in the Republican Party, becoming assistant attorney general under Republican President Calvin Coolidge.

But in mid-1941, when many Republicans were condemning President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a warmonger, Donovan broke with them and supported FDR, urging him to create an intelligence agency to prepare the United States for a war against fascism.

In his insightful Wild Bill Donovan, Douglas Waller recounts Donovan’s bold decision to ally himself with FDR, rejecting partisan politics and instead prioritizing the defense of American democracy. FDR eventually named Donovan director of the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime spy agency that was a forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency.

Many Americans who follow geopolitics, the military, or our nation’s involvement in the Global War on Terror know that Private Military Contractors (PMCs) have become a way in which much of these covert and clandestine wars are fought. Even those who know that PMCs exist don’t know much about the types of missions they do, the types of people who staff these outfits, and the places that they’ve been in modern military history.

Zero Footprint chronicles the exploits of one British citizen on his path from a member of the heralded British Tier 1 unit The Special Air Service (SAS). The book follows his life from what he thought was a career-ending injury that led to his being on the frontlines of every major engagement in the clandestine Global War on Terror. This guy was even in Benghazi the night of the famed “13 hours” attack, and this book gives… show more.

Although they once hoped to remain as eternally clandestine and unknown units, the famed Delta Force and Seal Team 6 had their covers blown and have now been memorialized in various books, movies, and television shows. There are still units within the Special Operations and Clandestine Services worlds that remain shrouded in mystery, though, which is exactly how they like it.

This book walks you through the history, jobs, and some of the high-profile missions of one of these such units, once known simply as “The Activity.” A unit so secret that they changed their official unit name every 30 days, their soldiers do not wear uniforms, and who performs the types of missions that everyone hopes are being conducted but nobody knows who has the capabilities to do so. 

This book is the perfect representation of the pinnacle of intelligence, strength, and bravery that exists within the US Special… show more.

This book provided me with the keys to understanding how the authorities' actions could bring racism to life. Arun Kundnani's book shows how the horrific attacks of September 11 gave rise to the construction of ideologies, opinions, theories, and public policies that regarded the domestic Muslim presence, whether immigrants or citizens, as a threat to the highest order, justifying programs of surveillance and repression that were discriminatory and infringed fundamental freedoms. 

It's one thing for the country to protect itself from violent attacks; it's quite another to consider a mass of Muslims, especially the most visible ones, as a threat and a suspect population by associating religious practice with Islamism or radicalization. These two vague notions have helped to spread an Islamophobic culture of suspicion. Arun Kundnani's book sheds much-needed light on this turning point in contemporary history in various Western democracies.

David Keen, as his name would imply, has a tremendously keen eye for mendacity and chicanery in political systems. I sought out Keen when I needed a scholarly voice speaking truth to power and representing the interests of the people against the overwhelming dominance of the interests of states and governments, namely, the United States.

Keen helped me to understand the true, dystopic dimensions of the ongoing U.S. War on Terror and the methods by which it continues to be prosecuted around the world. This nightmare of never-ending U.S. war is much larger and much more intractable than even I anticipated before picking up Keen’s book.

Through reading Endless War? I came to understand the true nature of this state-sanctioned violence committed around the world. It is not a lesson nor a book that I will soon forget. 

It may be difficult to believe, but Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s memoir of detention and torture is one of the most life-affirming books I’ve encountered. I’ve read and reread Guantánamo Diary several times—and even taught the book to undergraduates in my seminar on torture.

Writing in a language he learned while detained by Americans at Guantánamo Bay, Slahi gives an honest account of human violence, including its causes and consequences. But he also sees through that violence to the possibility that our shared humanness persists despite our fears, hatred, and brutality.

This powerful graphic novel illustrates—literally and figuratively—the many casualties of religious conflict. Set in Baghdad in 2003 and told from the perspective of a pride of lions, this book captures the struggle for survival, the loss of innocence, and the collateral damage inflicted by war. A clear allegory, this book has proven an excellent teaching tool. The Pride of Baghdad raises important questions about clashing viewpoints, loyalty, sectarian violence, the true price of war, and who, ultimately, pays it. Although narrated by four lions, the story offers a heartbreakingly realistic glimpse into Iraq during the US-led invasion, the consequences of which reverberate still. As I watch the terrible events playing out daily in Ukraine, my mind drifts back to this book, and I am reminded that past is prologue. We are witnesses right now. And may we all be on the right side of history.

I’ve read thousands of books on US history (for real). Many have made me rethink the narratives I learned in high school and college, but this is the only one that made me rethink what we mean when we say “US History.”

I can’t count the number of times this book made me say, “Wow!” out loud. As just a taste, Immerwahr writes that by 1940, 1 in 8 Americans lived outside of the states themselves, Asians constituted the largest American minority, the center of population was in New Mexico, and Manila was one of the country’s largest cities.

All of what I thought I knew changed once I included the reality of the American empire.

Since international criminal courts and tribunals do not have their own police powers, they’re always dependent on the cooperation of others for the execution of their arrest warrants. Important here is that most of these courts do not allow for trials without the suspect in custody, making arrests a key condition for their effectiveness. I have always found the stories behind why some fugitives get arrested and others do not one of the most fascinating parts of international criminal justice.

This book tells the stories of several high-profile fugitives and how they were ultimately (not) arrested. It not only often reads like a detective thriller but also emphasizes the strong dependence on “the ebb and flow of political will” of states.