by Herman Wouk (1951)

Wouk’s novel of honor, cynicism and moral judgment during a time of war is better remembered for the film treatment, which starred Humphrey Bogart as Philip Francis Queeg, the beleaguered and oft-bewildered captain of a World War II minesweeper. But even in print, the mutiny and subsequent court-martial is a masterpiece of human drama set inside a legal proceeding.

Note: The Caine Mutiny not only displaced From Here to Eternity on the New York Times best-seller list but also won the 1952 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.