100 books like Legionnaire no. 31022

By Thomas Cushny,

Here are 100 books that Legionnaire no. 31022 fans have personally recommended if you like Legionnaire no. 31022. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of In the Foreign Legion

Jaime Salazar Author Of Legion of the Lost: The true experience of an American in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1999, I followed my childhood dreams and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. In 2005, I published my first work, Legion of the Lost, which chronicles my swashbuckling experience serving in the French Foreign Legion. This is my story. 

Jaime's book list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined

Jaime Salazar Why did Jaime love this book?

This is the ultimate in precise, deliberate, and informed military nonfiction writing. I related to the protagonist as he is a young german who is curious to see the world in 1905. He makes the fateful decision to join the legion and lives through the horrors of service therein, all the while describing the glory, valor, and traditions of this mysterious corpos. The author manages to describe very real events, organize them in a compelling manner, and elucidates a special moment in history.

By Erwin Rosen,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked In the Foreign Legion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In the form of a wide square we went round the drill-ground, five minutes, ten minutes—un, deux, un, deux—always in sharp time. The corporal, a splendid runner, ran at the head, teaching us the trick on which everything depended here, to overcome the critical moment of lung exhaustion, to get the "second wind." Even if the breath came and went in short pumping gasps, if the eyes pained, and one commenced to stumble from exhaustion, one ran on until the lungs had got used to the extra exertion, until one had the feeling of being a machine, and could go…


Book cover of Mouthful of Rocks: Modern Adventures in the French Foreign Legion

Jaime Salazar Author Of Legion of the Lost: The true experience of an American in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1999, I followed my childhood dreams and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. In 2005, I published my first work, Legion of the Lost, which chronicles my swashbuckling experience serving in the French Foreign Legion. This is my story. 

Jaime's book list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined

Jaime Salazar Why did Jaime love this book?

This book was a very compelling read and resonated with me, as the author was a professional and idealist who was drawn into a war that he was not in control of. His casual and all matter of fact style of writing made it a pleasure to read, while still hitting home with his underlying theme. Jennings is an Englishman with few prospects for a prosperous future so he throws his lot in with a motley bunch of foreigners in the service of france. He writes with hilarity and frankness that I was immediately drawn to.

By Christian Jennings,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Vintage paperback


Book cover of The Making of a Legionnaire: My Life in the French Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment

Jaime Salazar Author Of Legion of the Lost: The true experience of an American in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined.

Why am I passionate about this?

In 1999, I followed my childhood dreams and enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. In 2005, I published my first work, Legion of the Lost, which chronicles my swashbuckling experience serving in the French Foreign Legion. This is my story. 

Jaime's book list on the French Foreign Legion from someone who joined

Jaime Salazar Why did Jaime love this book?

This tome was the size of a phone book but it has relevance even today. It's one of the slightly obscure classics but it speaks to the profound spiritual questions that transcend time. Parris was an idealist Englishman who served in the legion in the early 90s. but this was not a story of glory and medals. Parris saw action in Chad and had to spill blood. This chilling act never left him and he was haunted by his actions for years to come. The author passed from illness but dedicated the book to his son.

By Bill Parris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Making of a Legionnaire as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Penniless, divorced and AWOL from the British forces, Bill Parris volunteered for the French Foreign Legion in the early 1980s. Unlike many British volunteers to the Legion, Bill did not desert. He endured a horrendous training regime and, despite a fear of heights (!) joined the elite Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment. He discovered how women from all over the world flock to Corsica where the Legion is based - so his R&R was almost as exhausting as the jungle warfare school he was later sent to. This is more than a war story - it is a personal journey too,…


Book cover of Legionnaire: Five Years in the French Foreign Legion

Joel Struthers Author Of Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on life in the French Foreign Legion.

Why am I passionate about this?

One has to learn about France's Military history to understand the Legion. I served in her ranks, and my efforts are to help educate those interested in facts. That is why I wrote the book Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion and continue to laisse with the Legion to try and help increase recruitment.

Joel's book list on life in the French Foreign Legion

Joel Struthers Why did Joel love this book?

This was ‘the book’ that ultimately led to my joining the Legion to attain the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment (2e régiment étranger de parachutistes). 

I had the distinct honour to interview Mr. Simon Murray, and discuss his meaningful book. Mr. Murray's compelling first-hand account of his time with the REP during the Franco-Algerian war (1960s) is the example of what a Legionnaire represents. Mr. Simon Murray, CBE is a British Hong Kong-based businessman, adventurer, and author.

By Simon Murray,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

'One of the greatest adventure stories in years.' - Chris Patten

'The drama, excitement and colour of a good guts-and-glory thriller.' - Dr. Henry Kissinger

The French Foreign Legion - mysterious, romantic, deadly - is filled with men of dubious character, and hardly the place for a proper Englishman just nineteen years of age. Yet in 1960, Simon Murray traveled alone to Paris, Marseilles, and on to Algeria to fulfill the toughest contract of his life: a five-year stint in the Legion. Along the way, he kept a diary.

Legionnaire is a compelling, firsthand account of Murray's experience with this…


Book cover of A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954-1962

Joel Struthers Author Of Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on life in the French Foreign Legion.

Why am I passionate about this?

One has to learn about France's Military history to understand the Legion. I served in her ranks, and my efforts are to help educate those interested in facts. That is why I wrote the book Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion and continue to laisse with the Legion to try and help increase recruitment.

Joel's book list on life in the French Foreign Legion

Joel Struthers Why did Joel love this book?

Not a book that covers the legion directly but the war in Algeria is a big part of the Legions history, and notably the Legion’s 2e régiment étranger de parachutistes. The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. For those interested in the Putsch, then get into this book. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by the unholy marriage of revolutionary terror, and repressive torture. 

By Alistair Horne,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The Algerian War lasted from 1954 to 1962. It brought down six French governments, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic, returned de Gaulle to power, and came close to provoking a civil war on French soil. More than a million Muslim Algerians died in the conflict and as many European settlers were driven into exile. Above all, the war was marked by an unholy marriage of revolutionary terror and repressive torture.

Nearly a half century has passed since this savagely fought war ended in Algeria’s independence, and yet—as Alistair Horne argues in his new preface to his now-classic…


Book cover of Under Two Flags

Stephen Carver Author Of The Author Who Outsold Dickens: The Life and Works of W.H. Ainsworth

From my list on the 19th century they don’t teach you in school.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a great one for alternative histories. I’m particularly fascinated by authors who were bestsellers in their own day but have been edited out of the official version of ‘English literature’. We constantly have Dickens, the Brontës, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, and so forth fed back to us through reprinted novels, costume dramas, and lavish film adaptations, but there were other authors active at the time who commanded huge sales but whose work has now been largely forgotten or disregarded. These authors deserve attention, while their rediscovered work would freshen up the ongoing discourse of cultural retrieval. Seek them out, as I have, and I promise it’ll be worth it.

Stephen's book list on the 19th century they don’t teach you in school

Stephen Carver Why did Stephen love this book?

Discovered and first published by W.H. Ainsworth, ‘Ouida’ – named from a childhood mispronunciation of ‘Louise’ – went on to become a prolific and bestselling novelist. Her style was melodramatic, intense, and bodice-ripping, her novels usually set against a society or military background. She wrote forty-five novels, Under Two Flags being the most successful. She remained popular until the early 1890s and, like Ainsworth, was granted a Civil List pension for her services to literature. Also like Ainsworth, she is not much read nowadays. In the novel, the profligate hero fakes his own death to avoid gambling debts and exiles himself to Algeria, joining the Chasseurs d’Afrique, the forerunner of the French Foreign Legion. A long way from the moralising tone of much Victorian fiction, ‘Ouida’ always keeps it racy and swashbuckling. 

By Ouida,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Under Two Flags as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Handsome young Bertie Cecil, star horseman, pride of the Queen's guards, and heir to the Royallieu fortune, is forced to flee England when he accepts the blame for a scandal that threatens the honour of his mistress and the reputation of his younger brother. Faking his death, Cecil heads to Algeria, where he enlists anonymously in the Foreign Legion and serves under the French flag.

Determined to live and die in obscurity and sworn never to return to England, Cecil finds his resolution shaken by his relationships with two women who love him, the haughty Princess Venetia Corona and the…


Book cover of Tomorrow to Be Brave: A Memoir of the Only Woman Ever to Serve in the French Foreign Legion

Duncan Falconer Author Of First into Action

From my list on providing a unique insight into military history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I must be something of a specialist on the impact of conventional and guerrilla warfare on the civilian population. Truth is, leaving school, I never intended to have anything to do with war beyond the books I enjoyed reading. On leaving the military in my 30s I employed the only skills I had and managed organisations and mostly news teams operating in conflict zones all over the world. I matured into a crisis manager, responding and consulting to crisis situations such as kidnap & ransoms, and evacuations from conflict zones. Most of the characters in my books are real, good and bad, taken from the vast theatre of my own experiences. 

Duncan's book list on providing a unique insight into military history

Duncan Falconer Why did Duncan love this book?

This is the remarkable, true story about an upper-class English woman, Susan Travers, who was chauffeur to French General Pierre Koenig during his North Africa campaign leading the Free French Foreign Legion while attached to the British 8th Army. Koenig became famous for holding out against German General Erwin Rommel at the battle of Bir Hakiem. Susan chose to remain at Bir Hakiem when all other women had been evacuated. At the height of the battle, running out of ammunition, Koenig ordered the evacuation and she drove him through machine-gun fire and a minefield, spearheading the hair-raising escape for the 3,000 soldiers. Susan was my friend and I was the first person to whom she revealed her secret love affair with Koenig, the basis of this book.

By Susan Travers, Wendy Holden,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Tomorrow to Be Brave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

It was early spring 1942, and under the pitiless sky of the Libyan desert the climax of the great siege of Bir Hakeim was about to begin. General Koenig, the commander of the Free French and the Foreign Legion in North Africa, and his two thousand troops had been surrounded for fifteen days and nights by Rommel's Afrika Corps. Outnumbered ten to one, pounded by wave after wave of Stuka and Heikel bombers, the general and his men seemed doomed. Though their situation was hopeless, they chose to reject the Desert Fox's demand for surrender. Instead, one moonless night, the…


Book cover of Phule's Paradise

Aaron Dennis Author Of Beyond the End of the World: Lokians 1

From my list on sci-fi books with a good dose of science.

Why am I passionate about this?

Who am I to be an expert? I'm not. I know what I like and why, and I also know what I dislike. I have no idea what you like or dislike, and I don't presume to know more than anyone else. I do not have a passion for sci-fi; I have a predilection for it. I've been writing creatively all my life. Sci fi is not all I read or write either. At the end of the day, I only need to know that I've given life my best shot.

Aaron's book list on sci-fi books with a good dose of science

Aaron Dennis Why did Aaron love this book?

This book is at the top of my list because it is the first sci-fi book I recall reading. I found it at a flea market for 99 cents. I liked the title and cover, and when I read it when I was 12 or something, it just really resonated with me. The characters were real. The story was captivating. I still have it somewhere.

The best part of the book was the simplicity of its storytelling. I really mean that in a good way. It was certainly written for teens, and while everyone else was off reading Goosebumps, I was reading sci-fi.

By Robert Asprin,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

A sequel to "Phule's Company", by the author of the "Myth" series. The Omega Mob was once the most dubious "phorce" in the whole Space Legion, but Captain Willard Phule, the galaxy's youngest trillionaire, has turned a gang of oddballs, nerds and "touphnuts" into a lean, mean "phighting" machine.


Book cover of The French Foreign Legion: A Complete History of the Legendary Fighting Force

Joel Struthers Author Of Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on life in the French Foreign Legion.

Why am I passionate about this?

One has to learn about France's Military history to understand the Legion. I served in her ranks, and my efforts are to help educate those interested in facts. That is why I wrote the book Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion and continue to laisse with the Legion to try and help increase recruitment.

Joel's book list on life in the French Foreign Legion

Joel Struthers Why did Joel love this book?

If interested in the Legion's history this is the book to read. As its title suggests it’s a complete history of the legendary fighting force. The author Dr. Douglas Porch is an American military historian, and academic. Dr. Porch has written more than eight books and numerous other publications, mostly about French Military History and French Colonialism. 

By Douglas Porch,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The French Foreign Legion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Known for its austerity and discipline, deprivation and sacrifice, the French Foreign Legion is perhaps the most intriguing and famous fighting force in the world. For 170 years, jobless, homeless and loveless men have found in the Legion a sense of purpose worth all the rigors and risks of serving in the world's longest-standing mercenary army. One of the rewards for which men sign on with the Legion is French citizenship, and every legionnaire may claim it after serving three years with good conduct. The Legion has never had any problem attracting recruits: seven out of ten applicants are still…


Book cover of Devil's Guard

Joel Struthers Author Of Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion

From my list on life in the French Foreign Legion.

Why am I passionate about this?

One has to learn about France's Military history to understand the Legion. I served in her ranks, and my efforts are to help educate those interested in facts. That is why I wrote the book Appel: A Canadian in the French Foreign Legion and continue to laisse with the Legion to try and help increase recruitment.

Joel's book list on life in the French Foreign Legion

Joel Struthers Why did Joel love this book?

I had read this years ago but listened to the audiobook recently. Story of a former German Waffen-SS officer fighting with the Legion in the First Indochina War. The book is presented by the author as nonfiction but considered to be untrue by military historians and usually sold as fiction. Regardless it’s a great read and or listen. This is my Legion entertainment choice! If interested a book set is available with its best-selling series (six books) that has sold over a million copies.

By George Robert Elford,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

The personal account of a guerrilla fighter in the French Foreign Legion, reveals the Nazi Battalion's inhumanities to Indochinese villagers.


Book cover of In the Foreign Legion
Book cover of Mouthful of Rocks: Modern Adventures in the French Foreign Legion
Book cover of The Making of a Legionnaire: My Life in the French Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment

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