Best Martin Dugard Books
Martin Dugard has built a career turning history's most dramatic moments into propulsive, you-are-there narratives. Best known for co-authoring the Killing series with Bill O'Reilly — Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus — Dugard brings a thriller writer's pacing to nonfiction, stripping away academic distance and dropping readers directly into the chaos of assassination plots, wartime command decisions, and political turning points. His prose is lean and cinematic, heavy on scene-setting and light on hedging, which makes the history feel urgent rather than settled. The Training Ground traces the Mexican War careers of Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis with a sharp eye for the habits and rivalries that would later define the Civil War. Readers who want history that moves — who find traditional biographies too slow — will find Dugard compulsively readable.
Where to Start with Martin Dugard
- Best entry point → The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848
- Best standalone → The Murder of King Tut
- Start the Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series series → Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan
- What readers keep coming back to → Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
- Highest rated by readers → Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General
Best Martin Dugard Books
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Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japan
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series
by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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The Pacific War's brutal final phase unfolds as American forces face an enemy following the samurai code of never surrendering. O'Reilly and Dugard trace the path from kamikaze attacks to atomic bombs.
★ 4.35 Goodreads (21.9K ratings) - 2
Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series
by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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Rather than just chronicling Lincoln's death, O'Reilly and Dugard build suspense around Booth's conspiracy and the president's final weeks, reading like historical fiction despite being meticulously researched.
★ 4.06 Goodreads (109.0K ratings) - 3
Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series
by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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Follow the converging paths of President Kennedy and his assassin Lee Harvey Oswald through the events leading to that devastating Dallas afternoon that changed America forever.
★ 4.11 Goodreads (62.5K ratings) - 4
Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series
by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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O'Reilly and Dugard investigate the suspicious circumstances surrounding General Patton's death, exploring whether his outspoken opposition to Soviet policies made him enemies.
★ 4.13 Goodreads (28.0K ratings) - 5
Killing Jesus: A History
Bill O'Reilly's Killing Series
by Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
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O'Reilly and Dugard approach Jesus's death as investigative journalists, focusing on the Roman political machine and Jewish religious establishment. Historical biography that treats the crucifixion as a news event.
★ 3.99 Goodreads (40.5K ratings) - 6
The Training Ground: Grant, Lee, Sherman, and Davis in the Mexican War, 1846-1848
★ 4.16 Goodreads (657 ratings) - 7
The Murder of King Tut
by James Patterson, Martin Dugard
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Thrust onto Egypt's throne at nine, King Tut ruled for only nine years before his sudden death and the purging of his name from all records—Patterson investigates what really happened.
★ 3.40 Goodreads (11.1K ratings)