# World War II Non-fiction **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220 "2023-07-18T16:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/21 "2023-07-18T20:19:30Z")
These might be out of print and not easy to access where you are, but for the civilian experience in the UK try Norman Longmate’s _The Way We Lived Then_ and Angus Calder’s _The People’s War_ > **[Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1631055)** > > Discover and share books you love on Goodreads. > **[Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/1721221)** > > Discover and share books you love on Goodreads. For German experiences, Victor Klemperer’s diaries > **[Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255161.I_Will_Bear_Witness_1933_41)** > > Discover and share books you love on Goodreads. For France, try > **[Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3017519-resistance)** > > Discover and share books you love on Goodreads. > **[Fighters in the Shadows: A New History of the French Re…](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25539159-fighters-in-the-shadows)** > > The French Resistance has an iconic status in the strug… ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/22 "2023-07-18T20:21:17Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > All five of the books I’ve specifically recommended fit that description. Ordering _Normandy ‘44_, the first, I’m sure, of many from this excellent thread. My thanks again. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/23 "2023-07-18T20:25:03Z")
> [@Jack\_Burden](#): > > Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy is excellent: > > - _An Army at Dawn_ (North Africa) > - _The Day of Battle_ (Sicily & Italy) > - _The Guns at Last Light_ (Western Europe) Was going to post that, too. > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Ian W. Toll’s trilogy on the Pacific War was an enthralling 2000 page read. Also _Shattered Sword_ and the Ian Toll Trilogy of the Pacific War. Highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/24 "2023-07-18T20:32:41Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > There is also the five volume memoir/history by Churchill which is detailed and well written, though is not exactly unbiased. As Churchill observed, “For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.” Often rendered more pithily but inaccurately as “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/25 "2023-07-18T20:44:57Z")
Berlin at War - Roger Morehouse. A detailed and well-written look at life in the German capital during the war. The Greatest Battle - Andrew Nagorski. The invasion of the Soviet Union and the battle for Moscow. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/26 "2023-07-18T20:58:33Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Dam Busters: The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943 Also Paul Brickhill’s **The Dam Busters** , upon which the movie was based. Brickhill also wrote **The Great Escape** – he was an inmate at Stalag Luft III ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/27 "2023-07-18T20:59:00Z")
> [@Jack\_Burden](#): > > Rick Atkinson’s Liberation Trilogy is excellent: > > - _An Army at Dawn_ (North Africa) > - _The Day of Battle_ (Sicily & Italy) > - _The Guns at Last Light_ (Western Europe) > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Ian W. Toll’s trilogy on the Pacific War was an enthralling 2000 page read. I read those, interleaved, one book from each series back and forth and found it to be just an excellent way to get a view of the US participation in the war. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/28 "2023-07-18T21:13:15Z")
_[In Harm’s Way](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00823ZRPA/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title): The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis_ ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/29 "2023-07-19T00:19:38Z")
[Lucky Lady](https://www.amazon.com/Lucky-Lady-Steve-Jackson/dp/0786713100) interleaves the stories of USS [_Franklin_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Franklin_(CV-13)) and [_Santa Fe_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Santa_Fe_(CL-60)) (the author’s father was a warrant officer on the latter) as told by members of their crews. IMHO the author gets a tad heavy-handed with the rah-rah-USA at times — the book was written shortly after 9/11 — but some of the stories are compelling. Such as trying to relight the _Franklin_’s boilers when the ship is still on fire above you. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/30 "2023-07-19T00:27:55Z")
I’m going to recommend an older classic: _The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945_ by John Toland. It was written fifty years ago but I think it does an excellent job of showing the political situation inside Japan that many other WWII histories seem to pass lightly over. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/31 "2023-07-19T00:32:22Z")
Definitely check out Erik Larson’s recent bestsellers, _In the Garden of Beasts_ and _The Splendid and the Vile._ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/32 "2023-07-19T00:37:30Z")
> [@Kropotkin](#): > > > [@Voyager](#): > > > > There is also the five volume memoir/history by Churchill which is detailed and well written, though is not exactly unbiased. > > As Churchill observed, “For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that history myself.” Often rendered more pithily but inaccurately as “History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.” If you want a counterview, read Nigel Hamilton’s _FDR at War_ trilogy (_The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942_, _Commander In Chief: FDR’s Battle with Churchill, 1943_, and _War And Peace: FDR’s Final Odyssey: D-Day to Yalta, 1943–1945_) It’s basically the memoir of the war that Roosevelt might have written if he had lived past 1945. It can be summed up as every decision Roosevelt made during the war was the right one and most of the decisions Churchill made were the wrong ones. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/33 "2023-07-19T00:46:08Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > [Operation Mincemeat](https://www.amazon.com/Operation-Mincemeat-Bizarre-Fooled-Assured/dp/0307453286) 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. You might also want to check out _[The Man Who Never Was](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Never_Was_(book))_, written by Lt Commander Owen Montagu, RNVR, serving in the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. He was the one ran Operation Mincemeat (it was for the invasion of Sicily, not D-Day). ---
**Author:** ![mundylion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundylion/32/3604_2.png) [@mundylion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mundylion)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/34 "2023-07-19T00:53:52Z")
Lots of good suggestions above. I especially like some of the a little off-beat ones, like The Dam Busters. Very interesting. I am in the middle of The Second World Wars by Victor Davis Hansen. An interesting take on the conflicts. ---
**Author:** ![Tarataratara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Tarataratara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarataratara)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/35 "2023-07-19T00:58:53Z")
Double Cross, by Ben Macintyre, was absolutely captivating, and this is coming from someone who does not enjoy military history. "On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy and suffered an astonishingly low rate of casualties. A stunning military achievement, it was also a masterpiece of trickery. Operation Fortitude, which protected and enabled the invasion, and the Double Cross system, which specialized in turning German spies into double agents, tricked the Nazis into believing that the Allied attacks would come in Calais and Norway rather than Normandy. It was the most sophisticated and successful deception operation ever carried out, ensuring Allied victory at the most pivotal moment in the war. " > **[Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies: Macintyre, Ben: 9780307888778:...](https://www.amazon.com/Double-Cross-Story-D-Day-Spies/dp/0307888770)** > > Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies \[Macintyre, Ben\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/36 "2023-07-19T01:12:05Z")
I read a book nearly 40 years ago that I think had the word “Infamy” in the title which was an hour by hour chronicle of everything happening in the world on 12/7/1941. (48 hours, thanks to time zones). Particularly interesting were details about the exploits of a volunteer Spanish division fighting for the Nazis in Russia…in winter! There was also the story of a downed Japanese pilot who terrorized a small island west of Pearl Harbor. Lots of interesting stories that would have been overshadowed by the big event of that day. My google-fu has failed me on discovering the title or author. ---
**Author:** ![gnarator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gnarator/32/8266_2.png) [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/37 "2023-07-19T01:33:29Z")
Another older classic is _At Dawn We Slept_ by Gordon Prange. An exhaustive study of Pearl Harbor. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/38 "2023-07-19T01:34:22Z")
Outstanding suggestions. Very grateful. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/39 "2023-07-19T01:42:00Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I read a book nearly 40 years ago that I think had the word “Infamy” in the title which was an hour by hour chronicle of everything happening in the world on 12/7/1941. Probably _Day of Infamy_ by Walter Lord, published in 1957. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220/40 "2023-07-19T01:48:54Z")
Some books on flying in WWII: **Baa Baa Blacksheep** - The autobiography of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington. He was in the war before the war as one of Chennault’s ‘volunteer’ groups, the “Flying Tigers” in China. He then re-joined the Marines and fought in the Pacific. It’s a very entertaining book. **Twelve O’clock High** - The story of the Eighth Air Force, which got hammered in WWII. **Samurai** , by Saburo Saki - a gripping account of life for a Japanese fighter pilot. **Thirty Seconds over Tokyo** - the story of the Doolittle Raid. **Thunderbolt!** - The air war in Europe as told by P-47 Thunderbolt pilot Robert S. Johnson, one of the top allied aces of the war. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/world-war-ii-non-fiction/987220.md?page=3)