# World War II books **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956 "2007-10-16T21:40:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/1 "2007-10-16T21:40:16Z")
There was a thread during the last couple weeks asking for recommendations, but I’ve searched and can’t find it. Well, I searched 8 pages, and searched using “world war II” and “WWII” and nada. Anyways, the new issue of Bookmarks magazine asks three experts and historians for their recommendations – fiction and non-fiction. I was going to type out their selections, but I figured doing that comes close to violating copyright. So I’ll just say that the experts have chosen some of the usual (Band of Brothers, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich) but also some old and new titles that are less well known but sound intriguing. WWII readers, it’d be worth buying the issue of Bookmarks, just for this. It’s an excellent magazine for readers. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/2 "2007-10-16T21:45:09Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] There was a thread during the last couple weeks asking for recommendations, but I’ve searched and can’t find it. [/QUOTE] Maybe [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=438136)? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/3 "2007-10-16T21:52:04Z")
Yeah! How’d you find it so fast? The Bookmarks article listed a couple of the books mentioned in the thread. I’m gonna e-mail a mod and see if it’d be okay to post the Bookmarks choices, with some of the comments. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/4 "2007-10-16T21:55:06Z")
It depends on what you want to focus on, as well. Do you want to focus on one battle? _Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway_ is a current hot item (about the Battle of Midway). (edit: :smack: Master of the Obvious, arent I?) A campaign? _Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War Against Japan_ Or personalities? \*The Quiet Warrior: A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance \* Plenty to choose from. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/5 "2007-10-16T21:56:00Z")
The search engine doesn’t acknowledge words of three letters or less, thus it ignores “war” and “two” or “II”. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/6 "2007-10-16T22:10:13Z")
A few recommendations: • _The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945_, by John Toland • _The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich_, by William L. Shirer • _The Longest Day_, by Cornelius Ryan • _The Last Battle_, by Cornelius Ryan • _Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference_, by Herbert Feis • _Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom_, by James MacGregor Burns • _An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942-1943_, by Rick Atkinson • _The Making of the Atomic Bomb_ by Richard Rhodes • _“The Good War”: An Oral History of World War Two_ by Studs Terkel • _Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945_ by Barbara W. Tuchman ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/7 "2007-10-16T23:39:24Z")
Second “An Army at Dawn” and also the second book, “Day of Battle” by Rick Atkinson. “The Jungle War” by Gerald Astor. ---
**Author:** ![Intelligently\_Designed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intelligently_designed/32/20957_2.png) [@Intelligently\_Designed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intelligently_Designed)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2007, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-books/422956/8 "2007-10-17T00:54:15Z")
You might not be the same person after reading Jonathan Littell’s [Les Bienveillantes](http://www.amazon.com/Bienveillantes-Jonathan-Littell/dp/207078097X/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-5591471-6430533?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192581978&sr=8-3). I don’t know if it has been translated to English yet, but as soon as it is, jump on it. (Warning: close to 1,000 pages.)