Ed Ruggero Books in Order
Explore Ed Ruggero books in order, with quick summaries, series background, and helpful starting points for military fiction, history, and leadership books.
Last updated: July 15, 2026
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Ed Ruggero books in publication order
12 books
38 North Yankee
by Ed Ruggero
1990
When North Korea invades South Korea, inexperienced Captain Mark Isen and Charlie Company find themselves ahead of the main American forces. In brutal early fighting, Isen must keep his soldiers together and contain the enemy until reinforcements arrive.
The Common Defense
by Ed Ruggero
1992
Captain Mark Isen is sent to Mexico to advise a poorly supplied army unit in a joint campaign against drug traffickers. While he works to build trust and discipline, a German terrorist network uses the region to prepare attacks on the United States.
Firefall
by Ed Ruggero
1994
Major Mark Isen leads Army Rangers into Germany for a training jump that turns into a real battle. With blank ammunition, broken communications, and hostile forces in the countryside, the scattered troops must improvise simply to survive.
Breaking Ranks
by Ed Ruggero
1995
Pentagon-bound Major Mark Isen is asked to investigate the apparent suicide of a promising young officer. His questions meet resistance from the 82nd Airborne community, leading him toward a case involving power, loyalty, and a carefully guarded reputation.
The Academy
by Ed Ruggero
1997
At West Point, a disciplinary incident involving Major Tom Gates threatens to become a damaging public scandal. As personal ambition and political pressure build, cadets, faculty, and administrators are pulled into a tense struggle over truth and the Academy's future.
Duty First
by Ed Ruggero
2001
Ruggero returns to West Point to follow cadets and staff through a school year. The book examines how the Academy develops officers through demanding training, academic work, the honor code, and the everyday tests of leadership.
Combat Jump
by Ed Ruggero
2003
Drawing on veterans' accounts, this history recounts the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment's combat jump into Sicily in July 1943. Scattered far from their targets, the paratroopers must regroup and stop enemy counterattacks against the Allied beachheads.
The Leader's Compass
by Ed Ruggero
2003
This leadership guide centers on building a personal leadership philosophy, a clear set of values and expectations that guides daily choices. It uses a story-driven approach to show how self-awareness, consistency, and communication can shape effective leadership.
The Corporate Compass,
by Ed Ruggero
2005
A leadership fable about Amy Berlin, a former paratrooper turned consultant, hired to help rescue her father's struggling kitchenware business. Through her work, the book explores how organizations can focus on shared goals and align people behind them.
The First Men In
by Ed Ruggero
2006
This history follows the 82nd Airborne Division's paratroopers in the first critical days of the Normandy invasion. Scattered after their D-Day drops, they must secure roads and bridges near Utah Beach while German forces press to reach the landing areas.
Blame the Dead
by Ed Ruggero
2020
In wartime Sicily, former Philadelphia cop and Military Police lieutenant Eddie Harkins investigates the shooting of an Army surgeon. The victim had many enemies, and Harkins' search for justice exposes the grim conditions surrounding an overwhelmed field hospital.
Comes the War
by Ed Ruggero
2021
In April 1944 London, Lieutenant Eddie Harkins investigates the murder of OSS analyst Helen Batcheller. Helped by British driver Pamela Lowell, he keeps digging after a suspect is arrested and uncovers a dangerous web of Soviet secrets.
Where to start with Ed Ruggero
For military thrillers: 38 North Yankee → The Common Defense → Firefall → Breaking Ranks
For World War II mysteries: Blame the Dead → Comes the War
For airborne history: Combat Jump → The First Men In
For West Point and leadership: Duty First → The Academy
Ed Ruggero sub-series and character series
Mark Isen books in order
Explore this series
38 North Yankee
by Ed Ruggero
1990Mark Isen, Book 1
The Common Defense
by Ed Ruggero
1992Mark Isen, Book 2
Firefall
by Ed Ruggero
1994Mark Isen, Book 3
Breaking Ranks
by Ed Ruggero
1995Mark Isen, Book 4
Mark Isen books in chronological order
38 North Yankee
by Ed Ruggero
1990Mark Isen, Book 1The Common Defense
by Ed Ruggero
1992Mark Isen, Book 2Firefall
by Ed Ruggero
1994Mark Isen, Book 3Breaking Ranks
by Ed Ruggero
1995Mark Isen, Book 4
Ed Ruggero collections, short stories, and related book types
Non-Fiction Books
Duty First
by Ed Ruggero
2001
The Academy
by Ed Ruggero
1997
Combat Jump
by Ed Ruggero
2003
The Corporate Compass,
by Ed Ruggero
2005
The First Men In
by Ed Ruggero
2006
Standalone Ed Ruggero books
The Leader's Compass
by Ed Ruggero
2003
Blame the Dead
by Ed Ruggero
2020
Comes the War
by Ed Ruggero
2021
Author bio
Ed Ruggero wanted two things from an early age: to be a soldier and to be a writer. His career has made room for both. He writes military thrillers, World War II history, and practical books about leadership, often drawing on the places and institutions he knows firsthand.
Ruggero graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1980 and served for eleven years as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army. He later returned to West Point as a member of the faculty, teaching literature and writing. That combination of field experience and classroom work has shaped much of what followed.
A visit from Tom Clancy helped push him toward fiction. Ruggero invited Clancy to speak to cadets, and Clancy's message, that it was never too late to start writing, stuck with him. Ruggero began getting up at 4:30 in the morning to work before his day job, and that routine led to his first novel, 38 North Yankee.
The early hours paid off.
That book introduced Army officer Mark Isen and began a run of military thrillers that includes The Common Defense, Firefall, and Breaking Ranks. These novels put soldiers into difficult, fast-moving situations, from a Korean conflict to terrorism, training exercises gone wrong, and the pressures inside the Army itself. Readers who enjoy the books often come for the ground-level detail, but stay for the questions of judgment, responsibility, and trust.
West Point is another thread in Ruggero's work. His novel The Academy uses the school as the setting for a suspense story about discipline, ambition, and institutional pressure. In the nonfiction book Duty First, he takes a different approach, following cadets and staff to show how the Academy tries to build officers through demanding routines, shared standards, and everyday decisions.
He also spent years listening to veterans.
For Combat Jump and The First Men In, Ruggero used interviews, memoirs, and military records to tell the stories of American paratroopers in World War II. The first follows the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment during the invasion of Sicily in 1943. The second follows the 82nd Airborne in Normandy during the critical early days of D-Day. Both books focus on the confusion of combat and the people asked to act before they have a complete picture.
Ruggero later returned to fiction with the Eddie Harkins mysteries, beginning with Blame the Dead and continuing in Comes the War. Harkins is a former Philadelphia patrolman serving as a Military Police lieutenant during World War II, which gives Ruggero room to mix crime investigation with the strain and disorder of wartime Europe. Alongside his writing, Ruggero has worked as a leadership teacher and consultant, coauthoring books such as The Leader's Compass and The Corporate Compass.
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