04-02-2014, 04:39 PM | #1 |
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World War II Books
I've just read the book A Serial Killer in Nazi Berlin: The Chilling True Story of the S-Bahn Murderer (by by Scott Andrew Selby). Naturally, as a result, I've become interested in World War II stuff again. All readers know that's often the way our minds work...
So I'm interested in your nonfiction WWII recommendations -- from Will Shirer type books or Studs Terkel, and Stephen Ambrose books, to more specific books on a smaller scale. I've even dipped my toes into soldier memoirs; last night I started The Road to Arnhem: A Screaming Eagle in Holland (World War II Library) by Donald R. Burgett. (His books are not available for Kindle. ) For now, I'm concentrating on Europe, but I might get dragged off to the Pacific, and even North Africa. Fiction recommendations would be cool, too. However, for some reason, my preferences for WWII fiction lean toward espionage, such as Eye of the Needle. Particularly WWII-related books taking place after the war -- The Boys from Brazil, etc. I can't explain it, either. And I've never looked at Dobermans in the same way... |
04-02-2014, 04:50 PM | #2 |
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Non-fiction:
(All by Ben MacIntyre) Operation Mincemeat: The True Spy Story that Changed the Course of World War II. Double Cross: The True Story of the D-Day Spies Agent Zigzag: The True Wartime Story of Eddie Chapman: Lover, Betrayer, Hero, Spy. |
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04-02-2014, 05:06 PM | #3 |
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Try Len Deighton. He wrote both fiction (e.g. Bomber) & non-fiction (e.g. Fighter) about WWII.
He's probably most famous for his Harry Palmer books which were made into films starring Michael Caine. |
04-02-2014, 05:34 PM | #4 |
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For WW2 espionage fiction, you might like Alan Furst's "Night Soldier" series
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04-02-2014, 06:00 PM | #5 |
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Nonfiction: Paul Brickhill's The Great Escape, and Tim Carroll's The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III.
Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day and Stephen Ambrose's D-Day. |
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04-02-2014, 07:35 PM | #6 |
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The Nazi Doctors, by Robert Jay Lifton
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04-02-2014, 11:42 PM | #7 |
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Agent 146 by Erich Gimpel (Non-Fiction World War II)
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04-03-2014, 12:16 AM | #8 |
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A very broad subject. Here are a few off the top of my head...
The Liberation Trilogy by Rick Atkinson... An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944 The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 Cornelius Ryan's trilogy... The Longest Day A Bridge Too Far The Last Battle Sir Winston Churchill's WWII books... The Gathering Storm Their Finest Hour The Grand Alliance The Hinge of Fate Closing the Ring Triumph and Tragedy The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William Shirer It Never Snows in September by Robert Kershaw Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose The Star of Africa by Colin D. Heaton & Anne-Marie Lewis The Sword of St. Michael by Guy LoFaro Arnhem 1944 by Martin Middlebrook Shattered Sword by Jonathan B. Parshall & Anthony P. Tully Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius George Koskimaki's 101st Airborne history trilogy Phil Nordyke's various 82nd Airborne books Day of Infamy and other's by Walter Lord You're Stepping on my Cloak & Dagger by Roger Hall Those Devil's in Baggy Pants by Ross Carter Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo by Ted Lawson |
04-03-2014, 01:25 AM | #9 |
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Another from Berlin:
David Fisher, Anthony Read: The Fall of Berlin |
04-03-2014, 07:54 AM | #10 |
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I highly recommend Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand.
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04-03-2014, 03:49 PM | #11 |
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04-03-2014, 04:09 PM | #12 |
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There are a whole bunch of them in the MR Library, mostly from the standpoint of military history. I just put one on there of oral histories of people who worked decoding Japanese messages. I hope to soon up up one on the Nisei Linguists, real patriots who worked decoding messages and interviewing prisoners when their relatives were in relocation camps.
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04-03-2014, 04:24 PM | #13 |
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The Lord of the Rings
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04-03-2014, 06:14 PM | #14 |
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Susan Elia MacNeal's new-ish Maggie Hope mystery series is set during WWII. I've read only the first one so far--Mr. Churchill's Secretary--and enjoyed it.
By the way, has anyone read the Billy Boyle WWII series by James R. Benn? |
04-03-2014, 08:06 PM | #15 |
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I read the first two books in the series last year. More murder-mystery in the context of the Anglo-American campaigns (the character is a Boston detective who is Eisenhower's in-law). They were ok.
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history (wwii), military, world war ii |
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