Fauji Days Editors’ Picks: Top Military Books of 2025

A standout among the best military books of 2025, and endorsed by the Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal AP Singh, PVSM, AVSM, Wings of Valour by national bestselling author Swapnil Pandey brings the Indian Air Force into sharp focus—where speed, precision, and nerve decide outcomes in seconds. The book dives into some of the IAF’s most daring operations, including an exclusive account of Operation Sindoor, blending operational insight with gripping, human-centred storytelling. It avoids technical overload while still offering enough detail to help readers understand how air power shapes modern warfare.

From combat missions to life-saving humanitarian sorties, these true stories reveal the courage, discipline, and decision-making required to operate in the world’s most unforgiving arena: the skies. If you’ve ever wondered what it truly means to fight from above, this book answers that with clarity and conviction.

Why we picked it:
For shining a spotlight on air operations that shaped modern warfare, told with clarity and conviction.

Buy Here: Wings of Valour

A powerful contender among the best military books of 2025, Operation Sindoor delivers a rare, first-hand account of one of India’s most consequential military actions. Written by Lt Gen KJS ‘Tiny’ Dhillon, PVSM, UYSM, YSM, VSM, the book takes readers inside the planning rooms, pressure points, and decision-making that shaped India’s deep strikes inside Pakistan. The narrative is clear, controlled, and authoritative—grounded in operational reality rather than headline drama.

What makes the book compelling is its ability to explain not just the execution of the strikes, but their larger significance. Gen Dhillon unpacks how strategy, technology, political will, and joint-force coordination converged to redefine India’s counter-terror posture. Crisp, unsentimental, and deeply instructive, Operation Sindoor is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how modern military power is exercised—and why some operations change doctrines forever. The best part? It is available in both Hindi and English.

Why we picked it:

A rare insider’s account that explains how India redrew its military red lines with clarity, context, and command-level insight.

Buy Here: Operation Sindoor

A meticulous and much-needed entry among the top military books of 2025, Unfolded: India’s Air Defence from WWII to Operation Sindoor does what few defence books attempt: it explains air defence as a living, evolving system rather than a static list of weapons. Written by Pankaj P Singh, the book traces India’s air defence journey from the rudimentary measures of World War II to the layered, technology-driven shield that protects Indian skies today.

What sets Unfolded apart is its clarity. Complex systems, doctrines, and technologies are broken down without oversimplification, allowing readers to understand not just what India deploys, but how and why it works. The book gains contemporary relevance as it connects historical evolution to modern conflicts, culminating in insights around Operation Sindoor and India’s integrated air defence architecture. For those interested in strategy, systems, and the unseen battles fought above cities and borders, this book is both timely and indispensable.

Why we picked it:

Because it turns one of warfare’s most complex domains into a clear, compelling story of how India learned to defend its skies.

Buy Here: Unfolded: India’s Air Defence

A compelling entry among the best military books of 2025, Who Dares Wins is a deeply personal memoir by Lt Gen YK Joshi, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, VrC, SM, one of the Indian Army’s most respected field commanders. Rather than focusing on a single operation or unit, the book traces a lifetime in uniform, shaped by leadership in high-altitude areas, counter-insurgency environments, and moments of immense responsibility where decisions carried lasting consequences.

What makes this memoir stand out is its quiet honesty. Lt Gen Joshi reflects not just on command and combat, but on failure, self-doubt, moral courage, and the weight of leading men in life-and-death situations. For readers interested in the human side of command—beyond medals and milestones—this book delivers perspective with humility and depth.

Why we picked it:

Because it shows how leadership in the Indian Army is built over a lifetime—through responsibility, restraint, and hard-earned wisdom.

Buy Here: Who Dares Wins

A deeply moving inclusion among the best military books of 2025, I Am A Soldier’s Wife shifts the lens from the battlefield to the home front—where service is lived just as intensely, albeit quietly. Written by Geetika Lidder, the book is an intimate memoir of love, resilience, and life alongside the uniform, centred around her husband, the late Bipin Rawat’s close aide, Brigadier LS Lidder.

What makes this book exceptional is its emotional honesty. It doesn’t romanticise military life, nor does it dwell only on loss. Instead, it captures the everyday courage of military families—the separations, the uncertainties, the unspoken strength required to hold the fort while the nation’s soldiers stand guard. Tender yet unflinching, the narrative reminds readers that behind every officer is a family that serves in its own way. This is not just a memoir—it is a tribute to the unseen backbone of the armed forces.

Why we picked it:

Because it tells the story of service from the other side of the uniform—with grace, truth, and quiet strength.

Buy Here: I Am A Soldier’s Wife

A powerful and necessary addition to the best military books of 2025, Breaking the Glass Ceiling is the memoir of Lt Gen Shakti Gurung, the Indian Army’s first ethnic Gorkha to rise to the rank of Lieutenant General. More than a personal success story, the book charts a journey marked by perseverance, professional excellence, and the quiet dismantling of long-standing barriers within one of the world’s most tradition-bound institutions.

What makes this memoir compelling is its balance of personal reflection and institutional insight. Lt Gen Gurung writes candidly about leadership, identity, and representation—without grievance or grandstanding. His career unfolds across diverse command and staff appointments, offering readers a grounded look at how merit, resilience, and integrity shape military leadership. For those interested in the evolving face of the Indian Army and the stories that redefine its leadership landscape, this book is both inspiring and instructive.

Why we picked it:

Because it documents a landmark journey in Indian military history, showing how leadership breaks barriers through service, not slogans.

Buy Here: Breaking the Glass Ceiling

A standout historical inclusion among the best military books of 2025, The Battle of Narnaul revisits the 1857 uprising through a sharply global and strategic lens. Written by Kulpreet Yadav and Madhur Rao, the book brings long-overdue attention to Rao Tula Ram—a leader whose role in the resistance to British rule has remained underrepresented in mainstream histories.

What makes this book particularly compelling is its scope. Moving beyond the battlefield at Narnaul, it traces Rao Tula Ram’s far-reaching efforts to build international alliances and secure support against the British Empire, reframing the rebellion as a coordinated, global endeavour rather than a series of isolated uprisings. Meticulously researched and richly narrated, the book bridges military history, geopolitics, and forgotten heroism. For readers interested in India’s early strategic thinking and the untold dimensions of resistance, this is a revelatory read.

Why we picked it:

Because it restores strategic depth and global context to a freedom struggle we thought we already understood.

Buy Here: The Battle of Narnaul

A sobering and intellectually rigorous entry among the best military books of 2025, The World After Gaza steps beyond the battlefield to examine the moral, political, and geopolitical aftershocks of the Gaza conflict. Written by Pankaj Mishra, the book interrogates how modern warfare reshapes global conscience, power structures, and the language through which conflict is justified and remembered.

What makes this book stand out is its refusal to offer easy answers. Mishra situates Gaza within a broader historical and ideological framework—colonial legacies, global hypocrisy, media narratives, and the erosion of moral clarity in contemporary conflicts. Sharp, unsettling, and deeply reflective, the book challenges readers to confront not just what wars destroy on the ground, but what they corrode in global thought and diplomacy. For readers seeking context beyond tactics and territory, this is essential reading.

Why we picked it:

Because it forces us to confront how modern wars reshape the world—not just militarily, but morally and intellectually.

These weren’t quick recommendations or algorithm-driven picks. The best military books of 2025 on this list came together after long discussions, differing viewpoints, revisited chapters, and plenty of debate at Fauji Days. Each title earned its place for how it helped us understand the year that was—its conflicts, its consequences, and the many lives shaped by the uniform, both on and off the battlefield.

As we step into 2026, these books also serve another purpose: they offer context. They remind us where we’ve been, what has changed, and what endures in matters of war, service, leadership, and sacrifice. Whether you read them for insight, remembrance, or simply to deepen your understanding of the world we live in, these are stories worth carrying forward. For us, this list is not just a year-end roundup—it’s a reading compass for what lies ahead.