Naval History and Heritage Command

Presented here is an annotated bibliography of published works dealing with the role of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard in the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War.

There has been a spate of literature on the war since its end in February 1991. In September 1992, for example, the Library of Congress computer catalog listed 223 government documents and books, including children's books and volumes of poetry, under the heading "Persian Gulf War, 1991." Because new books and articles appear every month, this bibliography should be considered a first cut, not the last word.

The bibliography is divided into four sections: finding aids, source materials, books, and articles. Source materials include documents and reports produced by or for the U.S. government. The books either contain sections on naval operations and issues, or provide an understanding of the war in its broader political and social context. Periodical articles on the war now number in the hundreds. For the sake of brevity, we have limited citations to scholarly and defense journals and have largely excluded newspapers and popular magazines. Most of the articles deal directly with some aspect of naval operations and activities in Desert Shield and Desert Storm. We have annotated those articles whose titles do not clearly indicate their subject.

The more than 500 entries listed below touch on a broad range of topics, including economic sanctions and embargoes, strategic planning, force structure, command organization, military and political leadership, coalition warfare, joint and combined operations, special forces, military intelligence, logistics, tactics, mine warfare, Reserves, technology, weapons systems, the role of women in the military, weapons of mass destruction, and media coverage of the war.