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War Literature Quizzes, Trivia and Puzzles
War Literature Quizzes, Trivia

War Literature Trivia

War Literature Trivia Quizzes

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Here you will find books (mostly, but not exclusively, non-fiction) inspired by and concerning the events of a time of war.
9 War Literature quizzes and 105 War Literature trivia questions.
1.
  A Quick March Through the Modern Military Canon    
Match Quiz
 10 Qns
Can you match these "philosophers of war" with key concepts that appear in their writings? This quiz covers strategic thought from the Napoleonic Era to the late twentieth century, with a slight bias in favor of French and American theorists.
Tough, 10 Qns, Guiguzi, Apr 25 22
Tough
Guiguzi
Apr 25 22
71 plays
2.
  Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
More about the books and authors of wartime, this one about the Vietnam era. I provide the facts, and you provide the author. There's a lot of history in the interesting information!
Tough, 10 Qns, drushalli, Mar 06 09
Tough
drushalli
312 plays
3.
  Neil Sheehan: "The Arnheiter Affair"   popular trivia quiz  
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This quiz will test your knowledge about the events that took place aboard the USS Vance during the Vietnam war. My father served aboard the Vance, but left the Navy (and the Vance) just a month or two short of Arhheiter taking command.
Average, 10 Qns, iceman2541, Oct 22 09
Average
iceman2541
186 plays
4.
  War Lit and the Authors    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
For those hooked on books about war and its times. Some are fiction, some are not. I'll provide some facts, and you name the author.
Tough, 15 Qns, drushalli, Nov 16 19
Tough
drushalli
Nov 16 19
398 plays
5.
  Zlata's Diary    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
Though not nearly as famous, "Zlata's Diary", the diary of young Zlata Filipovic, has often been compared to the diary of Anne Frank and takes place during the Bosnian civil war (1992-1995).
Average, 15 Qns, avis, Jul 06 12
Average
avis
268 plays
6.
  WWII War Lit and its Authors    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
This is another of my quizzes about literature set in wartime and its authors. This one concerns works and authors about World War II.
Tough, 10 Qns, drushalli, Feb 04 17
Tough
drushalli
475 plays
7.
  Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction    
Multiple Choice
 15 Qns
Some questions about books dealing with World War II- some famous, some not, some fiction, some non-fiction.
Difficult, 15 Qns, jeffa, Feb 16 11
Difficult
jeffa
1103 plays
8.
  Spy Tales From the Cold War    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
There were spy novels long before the Cold War - yet this type of novel flourished most after World War II. There can be no doubt that with authors such as Graham Greene and John Le Carre it has earned itself a place in fiction.
Tough, 10 Qns, flem-ish, Dec 18 12
Tough
flem-ish
474 plays
9.
  Civil War Authors: The Shaaras    
Multiple Choice
 10 Qns
The Shaaras authored three of the most brilliant works of Civil War Fiction.
Average, 10 Qns, charlemagne, May 09 20
Average
charlemagne
May 09 20
755 plays
trivia question Quick Question
What is the name of Herman Wouk's classic account of a mutiny on board a US Navy ship in the Pacific?

From Quiz "Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction"




Related Topics
  Sun Tsu [Literature] (3 quizzes)


War Literature Trivia Questions
1. The book centers on the command of Lieutenant Commander Marcus Arnheiter. What unusual middle name did he have?

From Quiz Neil Sheehan: "The Arnheiter Affair"

Answer: Aurelius

Much like his middle name-sake, Lt. Commander Arnheiter was very arrogant and full of himself.

2. What author published a fictional work in 1975 with a plot concerning a plan to kidnap Winston Churchill during WWII?

From Quiz WWII War Lit and its Authors

Answer: Jack Higgins

"The Eagle Has Landed," was made into a movie starring Robert Duvall, Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland. Jack Higgins was an early pseudonym for British author Harry Patterson. He has written under his true name, as well as pen names Martin Fallon, James Graham and Hugh Marlowe. He spent much of his youth in Ireland, in which he has set a series of novels based upon protagonist Sean Dillon.

3. Which author returned from Vietnam in 1970, wrote a book about three men returning from Vietnam after being dishonorably discharged, and became a literature professor at New York State University?

From Quiz Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors

Answer: A.R. Flowers

In "De MoJo Blues," Flowers relied upon his belief in hoodoo, love of blues music, and early years growing up in Memphis to tell the fictional story of three black soldiers returning from Vietnam. He also wrote "Another Good Loving Blues." Webb was a UPI reporter captured and held for three weeks by the North Vietnamese in 1971 in Cambodia. Del Vecchio and Johnson wrote fictional books, respectively, "The 13th Valley" and "Tree of Smoke."

4. What author wrote a novel set in a psych ward serving soldiers of WWII suffering from emotional trauma, as well as enemy POWs?

From Quiz War Lit and the Authors

Answer: Leo Rosten

Leo Rosten wrote "Captain Newman, MD", which was made into a memorable movie starring Gregory Peck as the kind psychiatrist, Angie Dickinson as his nurse, Tony Curtis as an affable orderly, and Bobby Darin and Robert Duvall as patients. Wouk wrote "Winds of War" and the sequel "War and Rememberance", and also was awarded the Pulitzer for "The Caine Mutiny". Shaara's Civil War novel "Gods and Generals" was made into a film starring Robert Duvall as General Lee. James Jones, of course, is known for many great WWII novels, the most famous of which is perhaps "From Here to Eternity", "The Thin Red Line", and "Guadalcanal Diary".

5. Zlata begins her diary on September 2, 1991. How old was she at the time?

From Quiz Zlata's Diary

Answer: She was ten years old

Zlata's birthday was December 3rd, and she turned eleven years old in 1991.

6. What is the name of Joseph Heller's famous satire of World War II?

From Quiz Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction

Answer: Catch-22

'Reach for the Sky' is a biography of British fighter pilot Douglas Bader; 'The Only War We've Got' is a very funny (and sadly unavailable) novel about Vietnam; 'How I Won the War' is the satirical memoir of a British officer who served in World War II.

7. What Berlin Bridge was the route of escape for Karla in 'Smiley's People'?

From Quiz Spy Tales From the Cold War

Answer: Glienicke Bridge

Jannowitz Bridge is a bridge across the Spree. Marx-Engels Bridge is where Unter den Linden begins. Weidendammer Bridge is near the Friedrichstrasse Tubestation and also close to Bertold Brecht's Berliner Ensemble.

8. The Shaaras were responsible for these fictional accounts of the American Civil War. What was the relationship between these two men?

From Quiz Civil War Authors: The Shaaras

Answer: Father and Son

9. The ship that Arnheiter commanded was the USS Vance. The Vance was designated as a DER class ship. Was does DER stand for?

From Quiz Neil Sheehan: "The Arnheiter Affair"

Answer: Destroyer, Escort, Radar

The Vance was first launched July 16, 1943, commissioned November 1, 1943, and decommissioned October 10, 1969. She was originally classified as a DE (destroyer, escort) before being reclassified a DER on October 21, 1955. The Vance was ultimately sunk as a training target in 1985.

10. What Vietnam-era author began a journalism career writing for UPI and served as Chief of UPI's Tokyo Bureau before becoming a war correspondent?

From Quiz Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors

Answer: Neil Sheehan

Sheehan, Schanberg and Halberstam were all war correspondents for the New York Times, have won Pulitzers for the non-fiction work and/or reporting, and carved for themselves illustrious careers and the homage of several decades of journalism students. Jurate Kazickas was a female correspondent in Vietnam and based her book, "These Hills Called Khe Sanh," on her experiences patrolling with soldiers through the battlegrounds and mountains on the Cambodian border. She became a reporter working in both Washington and New York, and contributed to "War Torn," a collection of essays by nine women who had worked as correspondents in Vietnam.

11. What British-Australian writer, trained as an aeronautical engineer, wrote a fictional book about nuclear war?

From Quiz War Lit and the Authors

Answer: Nevil Shute

Shute's novel "On the Beach" is set in a coastal Australian town in the wake of nuclear war, and was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner and directed by Stanley Kramer. It was remade into a TV movie in 2000, starring Rachel Ward. Shute wrote 25 books, including "A Town Like Alice" and "The Far Country", before dying in 1960 in Melbourne, Australia.

12. What is the name of Herman Wouk's classic account of a mutiny on board a US Navy ship in the Pacific?

From Quiz Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction

Answer: The Caine Mutiny

Later made into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart as Captain Queeg.

13. Under what name is David Cornwell, born 1931, better known as a spy story author?

From Quiz Spy Tales From the Cold War

Answer: John Le Carre

Elleston Trevor and Adam Hall are the same person. Trevor wrote 'The Berlin Memorandum' (1965), which became 'The Quiller Memorandum' when adapted for the movie theatre by Harold Pinter.

14. Which work does not belong to the Shaara trilogy?

From Quiz Civil War Authors: The Shaaras

Answer: The Stonewall Brigade

15. Who published a book in France in 1945, translated and published into English in 1948, which concerned underground French Resistance fighters of WWII, specifically the characters of Jean Blomart and his dying lover, Helene Bertrand?

From Quiz WWII War Lit and its Authors

Answer: Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir is considered one of the foremost philosophers of the existentialist school, as is her close friend and colleague Jean-Paul Sartre. Her fictional "The Blood of Others" is at once a story of the struggle of the French during the German occupation, and a philosophical study of a man's desperation, guilt, emptiness and wish to die. It contains as an epigram the Dostoevsky quote "Each of us are responsible for everything and to every human being."

16. What female Vietnam war correspondent was honored in 2007 by a commemorative postal stamp and published a non-fiction book about the Vietnam War in 1966?

From Quiz Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors

Answer: Martha Gellhorn

Gellhorn, who wrote "Vietnam: A Different Kind of War," was dismissive of the younger generation of war correspondents who "reported from their typewriters in Siagon" while not going into the villages and battle zones. The third wife of Ernest Hemingway, Gellhorn has been recognized as one of the five greatest war correspondents of the 20th century. Ailing and blind at the age of 89, she took her own life in 1998. Palmer was 22 when she went to Vietnam to cover the War. She became a TV producer and researched and compiled the remembrances of those who had left notes and gifts for loved ones at the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, "Shrapnel In the Heart." Mariano adopted two Vietnamese orphans, became a reporter for "The Washington Post", and, like Palmer, participated in writing the 2002 recollections of women correspondents who had covered the Vietnam War, "War Torn." Hull was the first woman to be accredited as a war correspondent by the War Department and reported on both WWI and WWII.

17. What Russian novelist wrote a novel depicting the early days and defeats when Russia entered World War I, which was to become the first in a series depicting Russian life in the 20th century?

From Quiz War Lit and the Authors

Answer: Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn wrote "August 1914" which is considered Vol. I of his "Red Wheel Series." After being awarded the Nobel Prize in 1970, Solz was arrested and deported out of Russia. He lived for a time in Europe with Boll and Rostropovich before accepting a position at Stanford University in 1978. He was able to return to Russia in 1994, where he died in 1998. Voinovich, another dissident Russian writer, published "A Portrait Against the Background of a Myth," which credited Solz for revealing the evils of Soviet Russia, but also denounced him for being a poor writer, anti-Semitic, and greatly harmed and hindered by his own egoism.

18. Zlata plays a musical instrument and sings. Which musical instrument does Zlata play?

From Quiz Zlata's Diary

Answer: Piano

Zlata had been taking piano lessons ever since she was very little. But, after the war began, she couldn't practice as often as the family piano was located in a "dangerous" room (it was open to shooting).

19. Which book was the work of Michael Shaara?

From Quiz Civil War Authors: The Shaaras

Answer: The Killer Angels

"Gods and Generals", a prequel to "The Killer Angels", was written by his son, Jeffrey Shaara,who also wrote "Last Full Measure" to complete the trilogy. "The Stonewall Brigade is by James I. Robertson.

20. When did Arnheiter assume command of the Vance?

From Quiz Neil Sheehan: "The Arnheiter Affair"

Answer: Just before Christmas, 1965

He came aboard at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, shortly before Christmas, 1965.

21. What war correspondent wrote a fictional novel based on his observations during the Vietnam War which centered on the character of Captain Beaupre, an American adviser to a Vietnamese infantry?

From Quiz Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors

Answer: David Halberstam

Halberstam began writing "One Very Hot Day" in 1966, although he is largely known for his non-fiction. Vann was the US Army officer who was the subject of Neil Sheehan's non-fictional "A Bright Shining Lie." Caputo's "A Rumor of War" was based upon his experiences as a Marine Lieutenant. After becoming a war correspondent for "The Chicago Tribune", he returned to Vietnam in 1975 to report on the end of the war and Vietnam's fall to Communism.

22. David Westheimer, who wrote 'Von Ryan's Express', later wrote another fictional account of prisoners of war. What was its name?

From Quiz Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction

Answer: The Song of the Young Sentry

It's far less exciting than VRE - more of a psychological study, really.

23. The path for the Cold War spy novels had been smoothed by such authors as Maugham and John Buchan who in the 1920s had already written great espionage stories. Who was Maugham's spy hero?

From Quiz Spy Tales From the Cold War

Answer: Ashenden

Mansfield Smith-Cumming, a naval officer, had been the head of S.I.S. since its creation in 1909. Clubfoot was Charles Williams' hero. The playwright Edward Knoblock (not Knoblauch...) had been recruited as a spy.

24. Killer Angels was the first novel of the trilogy to be published, in 1974. However, its historical chronology would not rank it first. Which novel would rank first chronologically from beginning to end?

From Quiz Civil War Authors: The Shaaras

Answer: Gods and Generals

25. Despite Arnheiter's 'findings' that the Vance was in disarray, what award had the Vance recently been given?

From Quiz Neil Sheehan: "The Arnheiter Affair"

Answer: An E for engineering excellence

Nevertheless, Arnheiter claimed the Vance was "crawling with cockroaches" and that the crew were "living in extreme messiness".

26. Which author wrote a fictional WWII novel based on those who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and whose real mission was to save Partisan resistance forces from the Germans rather than -- as first thought -- destroy a strategic bridge?

From Quiz WWII War Lit and its Authors

Answer: Alistair MacLean

"Force 10 from Navarone" was Scottish novelist MacLean's, 1968 sequel to "The Guns of Navarone" (1957). He is an author known for developing many subplots, and creating a mystery around the mission. The central characters in both novels are Captain Keith Mallory and Corporal Dusty Miller. Among MacLean's many works are "Ice Station Zebra," "HMS Ulysses," "Where Eagles Dare," "Partisans," and "Lawrence of Arabia."

27. What author was a Marine who served two tours in Vietnam, was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, became an anti-war activist, and spoke to the 1976 Democratic National Convention?

From Quiz Vietnam War Lit and Its Authors

Answer: Ron Kovic

Kovic wrote "Born on the Fourth of July" in a cathartic, two-month period in 1974. It was turned into an Oliver Stone movie starring Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe and a young Kyra Segwick as Kovic's highschool sweetheart. John Williams provided the musical score to the film and Tom Paxton wrote the song of the same title. Moore's pro-war novel, "The Green Berets," was made into a movie starring John Wayne and David Janssen, and Moore co-wrote "The Ballad of the Green Berets." His friend, Robert Kennedy, had assisted in arranging for him to train with the Special Forces in preparation for writing the book. Brown was a disabled Vietnam vet, and served as U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs from 1993 to 1997.

28. What novelist wrote a World War II book from the viewpoint of German soldiers which was made into a movie starring Marlon Brando and Maximilian Schell?

From Quiz War Lit and the Authors

Answer: Irwin Shaw

Shaw wrote "The Young Lions". Heller is known for the classic "Catch 22". While Dickey is best known for his poetry and "Deliverance", he also wrote "To the White Sea" about a pilot downed over Japan in WWII. O'Brien wrote "Going after Cacciato" and "The Things They Carried".

29. Derek Robinson's excellent black comedy about a young American airman washed up on the Channel Islands just before D-Day caused quite a stir when it came out. What is the name of the book?

From Quiz Books About World War II - Fiction and Non-Fiction

Answer: Kramer's War

A lot of people were unhappy (to put it mildly) that Robinson dared to suggest the Channel Islanders did not spend every minute of every day actively resisting the Germans.

30. Ian Fleming had a background as a British naval intelligence officer during World War II. What was his first (very successful) spy tale?

From Quiz Spy Tales From the Cold War

Answer: Casino Royale

'Casino Royale' (1953) was followed by 'From Russia, With Love' (1957), 'Dr No' (1958) and 'Goldfinger' (1959).

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