Collected here for the first time are key works by this century's leading military historians, all recipients of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. The Pritzker Literature Award honors writers whose work adds to the public's understanding of military history and the role played by the military in civil society. In the tradition of historians dating back to ancient times, these authors and scholars demonstrate the numerous ways to write about military history. The surreal fiction of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam is just pages from an in-depth look at General George S. Patton by today's leading biographer, Carlo D'Este. Max Hastings and Rick Atkinson use their backgrounds to add a journalistic touch to modern studies of World War I and World War II, respectively. Gerhard Weinberg examines global leaders during World War II as Allan Millett discusses the developing technology that allowed them to further their causes. And James McPherson, the preeminent living Civil War scholar examines crisis in America with accessible and articulate literary skill.

All contributing authors are recipients of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. Includes index. "The trade edition of On War: The Best Military Histories was preceded by a limited leather-bound edition of 26 lettered copies signed by each of the authors, as well as 100 numbered copies, each housed in a clamshell case, accompanied by a sterling silver commemorative coin and signed by each of the authors." -- verso. Copy signed by Rick Atkinson, Max Hastings, Allan R. Millett, Tim O'Brien, and Gerhard L. Weinberg.

"We Are All Americans," from Battle Cry of Freedom /James M. McPherson -- "Assault from the Sea," from Military Innovation in the Interwar Period / Allan R. Millett -- "Adolf Hitler" and "Franklin D. Roosevelt," from Visions of Victory / Gerhard L. Weinberg -- Prologue, from An Army at Dawn / Rick Atkinson -- "Patton's Finest Hour," adapted from Patton: A Genius for War / Carlo D'Este -- "The British Fight," from Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War / Max Hastings -- "How to Tell a True War Story," from The Things They Carried / Tim O'Brien.