Ernest Hemingway - A Farewell to Arms (WWI) and For Whom the Bell tolls (Spanish Civil War).
After reading them, read an essay on the historical background and autobiographic elements - then read them again
In general I dont really like that genre. Most stories are pretty bad imho and when it comes to a historical period I am interested in I normally prefer a history book.
edit:
as a learning tool: well it is more entertaining so you can use it as an introduction to the topic but the key problem is that it might be difficult to seperate facts from fiction.
Last edited by bambam_jr; 07-24-2011 at 06:58 PM.