I’ll add another which some may find surprising because of its author.
Hitler’s War by David Irving
Yes, I know he’s totally beyond the pale but some of his books were incredibly well-researched and this one is pretty non-controversial.
Clay Blair’s book (“Silent Victory: The US Submarine War against Japan”).
Audey Murphie’s “To hell and back”, Leckie’s “Helmet for my pillow”, Sledge’s “With the old breed” present a grim picture of the war from a US infantryman’s perspective.
Lundstrum’s “The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from PH to Midway”
I concur with the recommendation regarding Rick Atkinson’s trilogy. It is wonderful.
The best first person account of battle I have ever read is Eugene Sledge’s With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa. It is gripping.
I would also recommend Rawicz’s The Long Walk: The True Story of a Trek to Freedom. Though the veracity of the memoir has been discredited, it is still a good read.
Max Hastings’ Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 (also mentioned by Little Nemo is a good single volume history. What I liked most about this is that much of the focus was on the front-line soldier and sailor, and also on the impact of the conflict on the civilian population. The strategic movement of forces on land, sea and air, and the resultant battles were of course covered in the narrative, but served mostly to provide a context for the suffering that occurred by individuals and populations. I also found it interesting that the book covered some battlefronts like Burma and Hungary that rarely get mentioned in a book like this that attempts to document the entire war.
I was going to say this. I watched the movie several times before I read the book. The book has a much darker and grittier tone than the movie.
For I different perspective I would recommend Soldat, Reflections of a German Soldier, 1936-1949. The author was just the right age to join the Wehrmacht as the war started. He fought on all fronts and was in the bunker near the end. He also spent several years in the Soviet Union as a prisoner after the war.
I just finished “Masters of the Air” by Donald Miller. Great book about the US strategic bombing campaign. It covers the perspective of the aircrews, the target planners, and the strategists, as well as where theory and reality collided in the air over Germany.
I’ll second the recommendations for:
Pacific: “Helmet for my Pillow”, “With the Old Breed”, “Goodbye Darkness”
Europe: “Forgotten Soldier”, “Band of Brothers”, “Enemy at the Gates”, “The Willing Flesh”/“Cross of Iron”, “The Longest Day”.
Berlin at War, Roger Moorhouse. A detailed and fascinating look at life in the German capital during the war.
Rather than seconding many of the excellent suggestions, I’ll recommend
A Time For Trumpets: The Untold Story of the Battle of The Bulge, by Charles MacDonald (who was also commanded a rifle company in the battle). It’s a very detailed account from the German side, including detailed accounts of troop movements and the planning involved.
The Forgotten Few, by Adam Zamoyski, about the Polish Air Force
Flags of Our Fathers, James Bradley
Okay, I must also recommend the Atkinson trilogy, which is a great read.
John Keegan’s The Second World War is an excellent general overview that also touches on specific themes (e.g., logistics).
More from a “civilians had it rough” point of view
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder: You begin to wonder if they’ll run out of Poles and Russians to kill.
Rape of Nanking by Iris Chang. Same thing, only with the Chinese. Her analysis chapters at the end garnered some controversy.
The Battle for Manila by Richard Connaughton. Same thing, with the Filipinos. A little-known battle stuck between Iwo Jima and Okinawa, but with more deaths than Hiroshima or Nagasaki.
Ian Kershaw’s biography of Adolf Hitler.
Edward Jablonski’s Flying Fortress.
James McGovern’s Crossbow and Overcast, about the Allied campaign against Germany’s V-weapons.
I have lots of other books packed away that I’ll be able to get to next week.
I’m going to down-vote the Churchill book if you’re looking for a relatively unbiased history of the war. I love Churchill but most of his writing is heavily self-serving.
One book I haven’t seen mentioned is The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Brilliant.
Dunnigan, James F. The World War II Bookshelf-50 Must-Read Books
Gaskin, Margaret Blitz-The Story of December 29, 1940
Gilbert, Martin Auschwitz and the Allies-A Devastating Account of How the Allies Responded to the News of Hitler’s Mass Murder
Greene, Joshua M. Justice at Dachau-The Trials of an American Prosecutor
Hirsh, Michael The Liberators-America’s Witnesses to the Holocaust
Kershaw, Ian To Hell and Back-Europe-1914-1949
Kershaw, Alex The Liberator-One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey From the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau
Millett, Allen R., Dr. WWII In 100 Objects-The Story of the World’s Greatest Conflict Told Through the Objects That Shaped It
Rooney, Andrew A. Fortunes of War-Four Great Battles of World War II-Tarawa, Stalingrad, D-Day, The Bulge
Sacco, Jack Where the Birds Never Sing-The True Story of the 92nd Signal Battalion and the Liberation of Dachau
Terkel, Studs The Good War-An Oral History of World War II
I would of liked to read what R Hess position was on it all, it comes across as moronic that he could not put his opinions across after all them years in jail.
I have never come across a book on WW2 that I thought was worth jack as to the lead up to the start and reason of that all, that’s detailed day by day like account leading up to it and then the start, they liked to runaway in fear on all the Polish question going into all the depth on this subject and then one can start on about the real WW2 war.
I find them all pathetic and all over the place, for someone who was not born in them days, not to mention German words for things that how the hell does the reader know what it means if you don’t know German.
Thing is that gets me is that one does not truly get educated on the subject that matters most.
The lead up and the start is the most important the rest is just detail of no real interest written by some twit that loves war it’s self and I can’t stand that crap unless it’s a point to do with something to do with the bigger picture.
When I was at school I was like I don’t care about the position of what you are talking about much because it’s just shallow rubbish mainly not to mention worthless information on the whole to me, as names dates places is not the point I want to truly know as they are only of lesser importance not the most important that they tried to make out.:rolleyes:
Point’s like why did they not do this or that and why did they do this or that is what interest me as this keeps the subject alive for me, not boring crap that makes you go to sleep or sick.
[quote=“Deeg, post:31, topic:755045”]
I’m going to down-vote the Churchill book if you’re looking for a relatively unbiased history of the war. I love Churchill but most of his writing is heavily self-serving.
Churchill said, “History will be kind to me, as I intend to write it.”
Albert Speer’s Inside the Third Reich.
It’s not “a” book, but a 15-book set. **History of United States Naval Operations in World War II **by Samuel Eliot Morrison. Everything you could ever want to know about the US Navy from 1940-1946 or so.
My set was passed down from my grandfather, who indicated in the margins all of the incidents he was involved with (destroyers and cruisers for his whole 25-year career). A bit of extra sentimental value, but still a darn good book set.
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy’s Finest Hour
Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
The Fleet at Flood Tide: America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-1945
all by James D. Hornfischer
Tin Can covers the Navy destroyers role in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
I really like Hornfischer’s approach to researching and writing about these events.
Flags of our Fathers (Bradley) has already been mentioned. Flyboys is good too – while it deals primarily with the ordeal faced by pilots who were shot down over Chichi Jima (and the effects on their families), it also gives good background on the leadup to WWII from a Japanese and American perspective, and provides information on the firebombing campaign against Japan.
Robert Leckie wrote several excellent books about the Pacific campaign. I just finished Strong Men Armed (an overview of the island battles in the Pacific) and recently read Challenge for the Pacific (about the battle for Guadalcanal). Both are worth reading.
A slightly different look at one of the biggest turning points in the Pacific in WWII is offered by Mitsuo Fuchida and Masatake Okumiya, who co-wrote Midway, The Battle that Doomed Japan: The Japanese Navy’s Story. As the title indicates, this book looks at Midway from a Japanese perspective, and is meticulously researched. Very interesting (to me, anyway).
Another vote for Gerhard Weinberg’s A World at Arms. It is lengthy, insightful, and exhaustive. It is my go-to book for any reference question. I have never read it cover-to-cover, but I use it more like an encyclopedia.
Let me second The Good War by Studs Terkel. A remarkable riveting book that covers the home front more than any others I’ve read.
A pair of excellent books from Japanese participants:
Samurai! by Saburo Sakai, a memoir about the Japanese air war
Japanese Destroyer Captain by Tameichi Hara, a memoir
**The First and the Last **by General Adolf Galland, about the German fighter plane forces.
The Ragged, Rugged Warriors by Martin Caidin, about the first six moths of the Pacific War in the air and the Army Air Forces.