(History) WW I & WW II

[StuMcBill]

Hi,

Due to me wising I had stuck in at history in school, I now really want to learn about World War One and World War Two.

Any factual books you could reccomend that I read to "clue myself up"!

I have a Kindle 3 if that makes any difference.

Thanks

Stew

[issybird]

My favorite WWI book is The Great War and Modern Memory, by Paul Fussell. Some of it has been eclipsed by more recent research, but as an introduction to the romance and tragedy of WWI, there's nothing better.

[obs20]

Welcome to MR

I Highly recommend The Guns Of August by Barbara Tuchman.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Guns-of-Au...8557779&sr=1-1

[avantman42]

World War Two In An Hour is a useful short history of WW2, costs $2.99 at Smashwords. It obviously doesn't go into a great deal of detail, but it's a good overview.

Inside the Third Reich was written by Albert Speer, Hitler's armaments minister, while he was in prison after the war. Free from the Internet Archive.

Those two are the only factual e-books that I've read on either war. It's worth having a browse around Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive. WW1 is long enough ago that there are quite a few books about it that are now out of copyright, and the Internet Archive has some books about WW2

[StuMcBill]

Thanks for the recommendations, its maybe worth noting that I am in the UK!

Stew

[Mike L]

For an easy-to-read overview of World War II, I can strongly recommend The World At War, by Mark Arnold-Foster (published 1973).

It is a very comprehensive account of the entire war, not just the European or Pacific theatres. It covers everything from the origins of the war (from the Treaty of Versailles and the pre-war Stalin era) to the end of the fighting and the legacy of the war. It's aimed at the ordinary reader - not at academics.

I have read it several times. I don't know whether it's available as an ebook, but it should be possible to find it as a paperback.

Hope this helps.

[dworth]

There's absolutely tonnes of books about both wars available. Reading them all would take longer than actually fighting both conflicts, I suspect.

I was going to recommend Winston Churchill's The Second World War, but there doesn't seem to be a Kindle version as far as I can see. In any case, it's a fascinating account from a key figure, as long as you take it with a pinch of salt.

Anthony Beevor has done several books based around key battles, Stalingrad, Downfall (about the fall of Berlin) and D Day. He has a knack for marrying grand strategy and the big sweeps of campaigns with small details and intimate accounts from people involved at all levels. All three are available on Kindle.

Slightly off-topic, but the BBC did two excellent and exhaustive TV series about both wars, The First World War and The World at War. They were made quite a while ago, long enough ago for plenty of the people involved to be interviewed, including senior politicians and military figures and make for fascinating viewing. Both are available on DVD, I believe. There was also a further series, The Cold War.

[outlander78]

Churchill's The Second World War is a fantastic read on three levels:
1. It's his view of how WWII was fought, instead of a historian's opinion of his point of view.
2. It's a great piece of literature.
3. He wrote it after WWII, while building to a third run for Prime Minister, and as such, it is a political document as well.

The only downside is that Churhill could not reveal in his book that the allies had broken the German's encryption system, so there is no more than hint of how that impacted England's strategy.

Inside the Third Reich was written by Albert Speer, but there is plenty of evidence that he lied at his trial, and lied in his book. He was trying to save his life and his image, but in reality knew full well that slave labour in concentration camps was being used as part of the weapons production work that he oversaw and was responsible for. As with Churchill's book, this one also has a self-promotion element, but go in understanding that it was written by one of the monsters of WWII, not one of the heroes.

I would like to add a third book for your consideration - "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William Shirer. He did a huge amount of reading and research back when the Soviet archives were accessible, and while no person could get through all of the documents, he does a fine job of documenting what lead to WWII and how it played out in Germany. Along with the quality of writing and research, I like that the author did not pretend to be an uninvolved observer, and called the acts of gangsterism and brutality what they were.

[anabolina]

These are all good recommendations and there are other books that can be helpful for more specific interests, like any of the books about the WASP, or Women Air Service Pilots, which do not appear to be available as ebooks at this time.

I just picked up 1001 Things Everyone Should Know About WWII from the library via Overdrive, but it's available for kindle as well to buy. http://www.amazon.com/1001-Things-Ev.../dp/0767906853

I'm not sure how good a resource it will be, but will update you after I get into it tonight.

[captkjaneway]

Originally Posted by outlander78

I would like to add a third book for your consideration - "Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William Shirer. He did a huge amount of reading and research back when the Soviet archives were accessible, and while no person could get through all of the documents, he does a fine job of documenting what lead to WWII and how it played out in Germany. Along with the quality of writing and research, I like that the author did not pretend to be an uninvolved observer, and called the acts of gangsterism and brutality what they were.

Great book - I'm trying to find an ebook copy as it's not available on Amazon that I can see

[Keryl Raist]

Eye Deep in Hell (John Ellis) is a history/photo history of WWI. Even though it's not in ebook format, I'd suggest it. Pictures make WWI so much more real, especially because many of the things they talk about are pretty far off of our usual list of experiences.

A Short History of World War I by Stokesbury is a good overview of the whole war.

The danger of studying WWI is that next thing you know you're reading about that whole time. It's the major turning point of the 20th century, but if you grew up in the US it barely got mentioned because we didn't star in it.

[nursedude]

You might want to try Nial Ferguson's "The Pity of War". It takes an interesting look at World War One.

[wyndslash]

I would suggest reading Unit 731 (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1616555.Unit_731). It's about human experimentation during WWII. It's quite a shocking read, but a very important document to me personally, as an Asian (may I never forget). You'll also get to know a little more about the US and other countries, and why the criminals were never prosecuted or even brought out into the public light.

it's sad how human progress is marked by tragedies. to think that medicine was helped alot by the work of criminals and supposedly democratic countries is a very sad truth, and I get angry every time I think of this book. It was a hard read for me.

[SlowRain]

I know you want non-fiction, but I'm going to give you a place to research via a fiction author. His name is Alan Furst, and he writes some amazing novels about spies in World War 2. His novel Kingdom of Shadows is a good look at the events and denial which led up to World War 2. His novels aren't fast-paced, over-the-top thrillers. They are very, very atmospheric, which will help you greatly with mood when reading the non-fiction.

Here's the part that may be more applicable to your request: There's a reason why he's such a brilliant writer about World War 2. It's because he reads almost exclusively about and from that time period. So I'd suggest doing a search on his name and see what he's currently reading and what he recommends reading. I don't think you could get a better recommended-reading list than one from him.

[digital_steve]

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer is an awesome book... sadly i have yet to see it become available in digital format.
If anyone has found it, please PM me!