# Recommendation for a non-fiction book-WWII **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725 "2015-12-30T13:51:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/1 "2015-12-30T13:51:39Z")
A gift. Can’t do a gift card-taking the gift to him and thence vacation. He’s read the Atkinson trilogy. Special interests in aircraft, D-day and paratroopers. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/2 "2015-12-30T14:13:06Z")
There’s Donald Burgett’s **Currahee** about the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/3 "2015-12-30T14:50:55Z")
Well, if he hasn’t read _Band of Brothers_ that seems like an easy pick. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/4 "2015-12-30T15:07:06Z")
Here’s a pair of books by Ben Macintyre dealing with the run-up to D-Day: \*Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies \*by Ben Macintyre 2012 _Operation Mincemeat_ by Ben Macintyre 2010 These are pretty good and really help show just how involved the intelligence game can be. Macintyre also wrote _Agent Zigzag_ which is related to the above but I have not read it. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/5 "2015-12-30T15:09:30Z")
I’d assume he’s read “Band of Brothers” by Stephen Ambrose? It’s an entertaining read, if a bit embellished in parts. “[Masters of the Air](http://www.amazon.com/Masters-Air-Americas-Against-Germany/dp/0743235452)” might be a good one- it’s being developed into an HBO miniseries along the lines of “Band of Brothers” and “The Pacific” by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/6 "2015-12-30T15:28:35Z")
I would recommend these books by famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle: _Here Is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe_ _Brave Men_ _Last Chapter_ And also this collection of Ernie’s wartime dispatches from the field, edited by David Nichols and Studs Terkel-_Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle’s World War II Dispatches_ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/7 "2015-12-30T15:36:37Z")
_A Bridge Too Far_ - Cornelius Ryan’s rather epic account of General Montgomery’s plan and attack through the northern countries that ultimately failed. IIRC, a bigger parachute assault than D-day. Overlord – Max Hastings’s account of the D-Day planning and assault. IMO a much needed breath of fresh air (for me) after reading way too much of Steven Ambrose’s relentless cheerleading for all things American in the war. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/8 "2015-12-30T15:45:23Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I would recommend these books by famed war correspondent Ernie Pyle: > _Here Is Your War: Story of G.I. Joe_ > _Brave Men_ > _Last Chapter_ > And also this collection of Ernie’s wartime dispatches from the field, edited by David Nichols and Studs Terkel-_Ernie’s War: The Best of Ernie Pyle’s World War II Dispatches_ Thanks for the reminder about Studs Terkel, who also wrote maybe my all time favorite book on the war – _The Good War_. It’s not about combat, battles or strategies, it’s about the life experiences of the people who lived through the war, many who were on the so called home front. I can’t recommend it highly enough. ---
**Author:** ![DummyGladHands](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/49beb7/32.png) [@DummyGladHands](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DummyGladHands)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/9 "2015-12-30T15:53:01Z")
Thanks, I know he’s not an Ambrose fan at all, and has read _Band of Brothers_. _Currahee_ looks like it might fit the bill. I’ll check out _Masters of the Air_. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/10 "2015-12-30T15:58:20Z")
I am not hugely into WWII books, have only read a handful but one that grabbed me was Max Hastings’ _Armageddon: The Battle For Germany '44-'45_. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/11 "2015-12-30T21:23:58Z")
How about Churchill’s [Second World War series](http://www.amazon.com/Winston-Churchill-GATHERING-ALLIANCE-CLOSING/dp/B005NS30ZG)? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/12 "2015-12-31T16:58:59Z")
John Keegan’s _Six Armies in Normandy_. If he’d like a book about Rangers in the Pacific theater, _[Ghost Soldiers](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/p/ghost-soldiers-hampton-sides/1112252194/2680959880694?st=PLA&sid=BNB_DRS_Marketplace+Shopping+greatbookprices_00000000&2sid=Google_&sourceId=PLGoP23938&k_clickid=3x23938)_ was pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommendation-for-a-non-fiction-book-wwii/741725/13 "2015-12-31T17:10:39Z")
Too late to add: the slightly later Los Banos raid was actually carried out by airborne forces. There are several books on the topic showing on Amazon, but I have not read any of them.