Just finished reading Shirer’s The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. A very satisfying and educational read. And, yes, I’m familiar with the criticisms of his “from Luther to Naziism” theory. But his recounting of the Reich using actual contemporaneous documentation was tremendously effective.
I have the bug at the moment. Any recommendations for good WWII non-fiction? Europe or the Pacific, either is fine, as are sweeping epics like Shirer’s or a more-narrow focus on a specific battle.
Books by Antony Beever:
Timothy Snyder: Bloodlands: Europe between Hitler & Stalin
Operation Mincemeat by Ben Macintyre is a good one about the British mission of sending the nazis misinformation about D-Day in the form of materials accompanying the body of a dead naval officer.
When I was in grad school I read the official Navy history of the battle of Midway by Samuel Eliot Morison, which was marvelously written and totally engrossing. I’ve also read the official Army history of the Battle of the Bulge which I got from my father, but which was nowhere nearly as good.
There is also the five volume memoir/history by Churchill which is detailed and well written, though is not exactly unbiased.
I read this one several years back:
Unsung Eagles: True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II
The nearly half-million American aircrewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories.
Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who—in the aggregate—actually won it. They are the recollections of your Uncle Frank who shared them only after having enjoyed a beer or nine, and of your old girlfriend’s grandfather who passed away about the same time she dumped you. And of the craggy guy who ran the town’s salvage yard; a dusty, fly-specked B-24 model hung over the counter. These are “everyman” accounts that are important but fast disappearing.
Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific by a heavy cruiser’s main battery during the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker—a displaced dive-bomber pilot—tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German antiaircraft fire: “I could see the inside of the airplane—and I could see Nordstrom’s eyes. He looked confused…and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down.”
The combat careers of 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this crisply written book which captivates the reader not only as an engaging oral history, but also puts personal context into the great air battles of World War II.
Paul Fussell is essential:
Wartime
The Boys Crusade
Days of Steel Rain tells the story of the a ship in the Pacific. It was written by a fraternity brother of mine.
So far, fantastic. Many thanks!
Brothers in Arms: One Legendary Tank Regiment’s Bloody War from D-Day to V-E Day
Normandy '44: D-Day and the Epic 77-Day Battle for France
Dam Busters: The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943
All written by James Holland. Based on these three, I would recommend any other book by him as well.
Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy is excellent:
Also recommend The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors by James Hornfischer, detailing the Battle off Samar.
Read Army At Dawn . Great detail about the freshly-minted US Army in it’s very first battles in Europe, in the North African campaign
Amy Shira Teitel’s books both include WWII, and extend after it: Amazon.com
Also: Code Girls by Liza Mundy Amazon.com
I should have mentioned this in the OP. One of the things I most enjoyed in Shirer’s book was how much he made you feel right there—direct quotations, describing Hitler’s rage in a given meeting, miserable depictions of the German soldiers in winter on the eastern front, etc. IOW, not just a scholarly recitation of historical facts, pulled together into a cohesive but dry narrative. Damn, it was a page-turner.
So, excellent suggestions so far, but if this helps to narrow recommendations…
Definitely! And Neptune’s Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal, also by Hornfischer…
All five of the books I’ve specifically recommended fit that description.
Operation Sea Lion: The Failed Nazi Invasion That Turned the Tide of War, by Leo McKinstry
12 Seconds Of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon, by Jamie Holmes
Try Green Beach by James Leasor. It’s about a suicide mission as part of the Dieppe Raid, where a British radar expert was guarded by a group of soldiers from the South Saskatchewan Regiment. Because he knew so much about radar, his bodyguard was to bring him back. Or kill him.
True? Exagérâted? Worth reading.
The WW2 books that I have to re-read every few years are Richard Frank’s Guadalcanal and Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully.
I totally forgot to mention “Shattered Sword.” It’s Midway from the Japanese view. What makes it cool is how it debunks the self-serving myth the Japanese created about being only minutes from launching their own attack when the American attack arrived.
ETA: And a very appropriate cry of “ninjaed!”
May I ask for a specific recommendation within the OP’s request? I’m interested in reading about what it was like to serve in the Merchant Marine aboard a Liberty ship (or similar ship). That’s where my father spent his war, and he was never interested in talking about it. First hand accounts would be great.
Ian W. Toll’s trilogy on the Pacific War was an enthralling 2000 page read.