Books old and new we're reading, reviewing, researching, or just remembering, and recommending to our friends and visitors.
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Balkoski, Joseph
From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest, August - September 1944. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.
The latest volume about the saga of the US 29th Infantry Division in World War II continues to demonstrate Balkoski's mastery of the genre. This series—with at least one more title to come—has turned into the best unit history ever written about an American division, full of factual detail and rich in on-the-ground flavor. |
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Hastings, Max
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.
Hastings matches the excellence of his earlier Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-1945 with this well-crafted account of the tumultuous ending to the war in the Pacific. Published in the UK as Nemesis. |
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Potter, E. B.
Nimitz. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
One of several classic WWII tomes recently reissued by Naval Institute Press in a softcover edition. A must have. |
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Ugaki, Matome edited by D. Goldstein and K. Dillon
Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008.
Another classic WWII tome recently reissued by Naval Institute Press in a softcover edition. A must have. |
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Zeng, Henry L. de and Douglas G. Stankey with Eddie J. Creek
Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945: A Reference Source, volume 1. Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing Limited, 2007.
One of a series of books offering detailed, chronological "mini-histories" for each individual Geschwader and gruppe. The first serious, comprehensive English-language work of this nature covering the Luftwaffe. |
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Mead, Richard
Churchill's Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II. Staplehurst, UK: Spellmount Ltd, 2007.
A strong collection of biographical sketches focusing less on the personalities of the generals and more on their campaigns. A very handy reference, also including a nicely annotated bibliography of memoirs and biographies. |
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Anonymous translated by Steven Bullard
Japanese Army Operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua Campaigns, 1942-43. Canberra, ACT: Australian War Memorial, 2007.
This English translation of extracts from two volumes of the Japanese official history series proves to be an excellent account of the war from the other side of the hill, packed with details not found elsewhere. |
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Silverstone, Paul H.
The Navy of World War II, 1922-1947. New York: Routledge, 2007.
The best resource on USN warships during World War II: Dates launched and commissioned, key specifications, and brief historical sketches for hundreds of vessels. |
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Jones, Michael K.
Stalingrad: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught. Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2007.
Unlike others who have written about Stalingrad, Jones pays less attention to combat units and more attention to combat soldiers, measuring the impact of the battle on their morale and the impact of their morale on the battle. |
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Zuehlke, Mark
Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign: September 13 - November 6, 1944. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2007.
Zuehlke's sixth book on Canadian forces in Europe maintains the top levels of quality achieved in his previous, highly acclaimed volumes. |
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Atkinson, Rick
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007.
Able to write circles around most purveyors of military history, Atkinson avoids a nitty-gritty chronicle of battalions maneuvering and battling in favor of a deftly composed, kaleidoscopic version of the war in Italy sprinkled with catchy flourishes and telling details.
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Some "Recommended Reading" selections from over the years
Anonymous
Wojna Obronna Polski 1939
Warsaw: Wojskowy Instytut Historyczny, 1995
Anonymous translated by Steven Bullard
Japanese Army Operations in the South Pacific Area: New Britain and Papua Campaigns, 1942-43
Canberra, ACT: Australian War Memorial, 2007
Atkinson, Rick
Liberation Trilogy, volume 2
The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944
New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2007
Balkoski, Joseph
Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004
Balkoski, Joseph
Utah Beach: The Amphibious Landing and Airborne Operations on D-Day, June 6, 1944
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005
Balkoski, Joseph
From Beachhead to Brittany: The 29th Infantry Division at Brest, August - September 1944
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008
Bartholomew-Feis, Dixee R.
The OSS and Ho Chi Minh: Unexpected Allies in the War against Japan
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006
Bartsch, William H.
December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor
College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2003
Bayly, Christopher and Tim Harper
Forgotten Armies: The Fall of British Asia, 1941-1945
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005
Behrens, C. B. A
History of the Second World War
Merchant Shipping and the Demands of War
London: HMSO and Longmans, Green, 1955
Bellamy, Chris
Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War
London: Macmillan, 2007
Bergstrom, Christer, Andrey Dikov and Vlad Antipov
Black Cross, Red Star: Air War over the Eastern Front, vol 3: Everything for Stalingrad
Hamilton, MT: Eagle Editions, Ltd, 2006
Blair jr, Clay
Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942
New York: Random House, 1996
Blair jr, Clay
Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted, 1942-1945
New York: Random House, 1998
Bonn, Keith E. (editor) et al
Slaughterhouse: The Encyclopedia of the Eastern Front
Camp Hill, PA: Military Book Club, 2003
Boog, Horst et al
Germany and the Second World War, vol 4
The Attack on the Soviet Union
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999
Boog, Horst, Gerhard Krebs, and Detlef Vogel
Germany and the Second World War, vol 7
The Strategic Air War in Europe and the War in the West and East Asia, 1943-1944/5
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2006
Brongers, E.H.
The Battle for The Hague, 1940
Soesterberg: Aspekt, 2004
Brune, Peter
A Bastard of a Place: The Australians in Papua
Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 2003
Burdick, Charles
Germany's Military Strategy and Spain in World War II
Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1968
Burgwyn, H. James
Empire on the Adriatic: Mussolini's Conquest of Yugoslavia 1941-1943
New York: Enigma Books, 2005
Burrell, Robert S.
The Ghosts of Iwo Jima
College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 2006
Burton, John
Fortnight of Infamy: The Collapse of Allied Airpower West of Pearl Harbor
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2006
Callahan, Raymond
Churchill and His Generals
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2007
Davies, Norman
Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw
New York: Viking, 2004
De Franceschi, Costantino et al
Italian Official History
Le Operazioni delle Unita Italiane al Fronte Russo, 1941-1943
Roma: Officio Storico, 1977
De Lattre de Tassigny, Jean
The History of the French First Army
London: Allen and Unwin, 1952
deZeng, Henry L. and Douglas G. Stankey with Eddie J. Creek
Bomber Units of the Luftwaffe 1933-1945: A Reference Source, volume 1
Hinckley, UK: Midland Publishing Limited, 2007
Doorman, P. L. G.
Military Operations of the Dutch Army, 10th-17th May 1940
Solihull, UK: Helion & Company, 2005
Douglas, W.A.B., Roger Sarty, and Michael Whitby et al
Official Operational History of the RCN, volume II, part 1
No Higher Purpose
St Catharines, ONT: Vanwell Publishing Ltd, 2003
Douglas, W.A.B., Roger Sarty, and Michael Whitby et al
Official Operational History of the RCN, volume II, part 2
A Blue Water Navy
St Catharines, ONT: Vanwell Publishing Ltd, 2007
Ellis, John
World War II: A Statistical Survey: The Essential Facts and Figures for All the Combatants
New York: Facts on File, 1993
Foreman, John
Fighter Command War Diaries, volume five: July 1944 to May 1945
Walton on Thames, UK: Air Research Publications, 2004
Frieser, Karl-Heinz
The Blitzkrieg Legend: The 1940 Campaign in the West
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2005
Gabriele, Mariano
Italian Official History
Operazione C3: Malta
Rome: Ufficio Storico, 1990
Gamble, Bruce
Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington
Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 2001
Gamble, Bruce
Darkest Hour: The True Story of Lark Force at Rabaul: Australia's Worst Military Disaster of World War II
St Paul, MN: Zenith Press, 2006
Gardiner, Robert (editor)
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860-1905
London: Conway Maritime Press Ltd, 1979
Gardiner, Robert (editor)
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1906-1921
London: Conway Maritime Press, 1985
Gardiner, Robert (editor)
Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1922-1946
London: Conway Maritime Press, 1980
Getz, Marshall J.
Subhas Chandra Bose: A Biography
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2002
Glantz, David
Colossus Reborn: The Red Army at War, 1941-1943
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005
Glantz, David
August Storm, volume 1
The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945
London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2003
Glantz, David
August Storm, volume 2
Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945
London: Frank Cass Publishers, 2003
Glantz, David M.
Barbarossa: Hitler's Invasion of Russia, 1941
Stroud, England: Tempus, 2001
Glantz, David M.
The Battle for Leningrad, 1941-1944
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2002
Glantz, David M.
Red Storm over the Balkans: The Failed Soviet Invasion of Romania, Spring 1944
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006
Grunden, Walter E.
Secret Weapons and World War II: Japan in the Shadow of Big Science
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2005
Hamdi, Walid M.S.
Rashid Ali al-Gailani: The Nationalist Movement in Iraq 1939-1941: A Political and Military Study of the British Campaign in Iraq and the National Revolution of May 1941
London: Darf Publishers, 1987
Hara, Tameichi et al
Japanese Destroyer Captain
New York: Ballantine, 1961
Hastings, Max
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany, 1944-45
London: Macmillan, 2004
Hastings, Max
Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008
Hauner, Milan
India in Axis Strategy: Germany, Japan, and Indian Nationalists in the Second World War
Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981
Hayashi, Saburo with Alvin D. Coox
Kogun: The Japanese Army in the Pacific War
Quantico, VA: Marine Corps Association, 1959
Hesse d'Alzon, Claude
Guerre 1939-1945 [French Official History]
La Presence Militaire Francaise en Indochine (1940-1945)
Chateau de Vincennes: Service Historique de l'Armee, 1985
Hirszowicz, Lukasz
The Third Reich and the Arab East
London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1968
Jaffee, Walter
The Victory Ships from A to Z
Benicia, CA: The Glencannon Press, 2006
Jones, Michael K.
Stalingrad: How the Red Army Survived the German Onslaught
Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2007
Kempton, Chris
Loyalty & Honour: The Indian Army, September 1939 - August 1947, part I: Divisions
Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2004
Kempton, Chris
Loyalty & Honour: The Indian Army, September 1939 - August 1947, part II: Brigades
Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2004
Kempton, Chris
Loyalty & Honour: The Indian Army, September 1939 - August 1947, part III
Milton Keynes, UK: Military Press, 2004
Knox, MacGregor
Hitler's Italian Allies: Royal Armed Forces, Fascist Regime, and the War of 1940-1943
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000
Latimer, Jon
Burma: The Forgotten War
London: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2004
League of Nations
The Armaments Year-Book 1939/40
Geneva: League of Nations, 1940
Lewis, Adrian R.
Omaha Beach: A Flawed Victory
Chapel Hill, NC: University of N Carolina Press, 2001
Lorant, Jean-Yves and Richard Goyat
Jagdgeschwader 300: A Chronicle of a Fighter Geschwader in the Battle for Germany, volume 1: June 1943 - September 1944
Hamilton, MT: Eagle Editions, Ltd, 2005
Lorant, Jean-Yves and Richard Goyat
JG 300: A Chronicle of a Fighter Geschwader in the Battle for Germany, volume 2: September 1944 - May 1945
Hamilton, MT: Eagle Editions, Ltd, 2007
Lumans, Valdis O.
Latvia in World War II
New York: Fordham University Press, 2006
Lyman, Robert
First Victory: Britain's Forgotten Struggle in the Middle East, 1941
London: Constable & Robinson, 2006
Mark, Jason D.
Island of Fire: The Battle for the Barrikady Gun Factory in Stalingrad, November 1942 - February 1943
Sydney: Leaping Horseman Books, 2006
Mead, Richard
Churchill's Lions: A Biographical Guide to the Key British Generals of World War II
Staplehurst, UK: Spellmount Ltd, 2007
Middlebrook, Martin and C. Everitt
The Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 1939-1945
London: Penguin, 1990
Miller, Edward S.
Bankrupting the Enemy: The U.S. Financial Siege of Japan before Pearl Harbor
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007
Miller, Kent D.
Fighter Units & Pilots of the 8th Air Force, September 1942 - May 1945, volume one: Day-to-Day Operations and Fighter Group Histories
Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001
Miller, Kent D.
Fighter Units & Pilots of the 8th Air Force, September 1942 - May 1945, volume two: Aerial Victories and Ace Data
Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History, 2001
Miller, Marshall Lee
Bulgaria during the Second World War
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1975
Ministere des Armees
Les Armees Francaises dans la 2eme Guerre Mondiale
Atlas des Situations Quotidiennes des Armees Alliees, Campagne 1939-1940
Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1964
O'Hara, Vincent
The German Fleet at War, 1939-1945
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2004
O'Hara, Vincent P.
The U.S. Navy against the Axis: Surface Combat, 1941-1945
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2007
Orpen, Neil
South African Forces World War II
East African and Abyssinian Campaigns
Cape Town: Purnell, 1968
Osborne, Richard E.
World War II in Colonial Africa: The Death Knell of Colonialism
Indianapolis: Riebel-Roque Publishing, 2001
Parshall, Jonathan and Anthony Tully
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
Washington, DC: Potomac Books, 2005
Paterson, Lawrence
Hitler's Grey Wolves: U-Boats in the Indian Ocean
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2004
Perkins, Roger
Regiments: Regiments and Corps of the British Empire and Commonwealth, 1758-1993: A Critical Bibliography of Their Published Histories
Newton Abbot: Perkins, 1994
Perry, F. W.
The Commonwealth Armies: Manpower and Organisation in Two World Wars
Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988
Reid, Brian A.
No Holding Back: Operation Totalize, Normandy, August 1944
Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 2005
Rohwer, Jurgen and G. Hummelchen
Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945: The Naval History of World War Two
Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1992
Rolf, David
Bloody Road to Tunis: Destruction of the Axis Forces in North Africa, November 1942 - May 1943
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2001
Rottman, Gordon L.
World War II Pacific Island Guide: A Geo-Military Study
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press and Praeger Publishers, 2002
Russ, William
Case White: The German Army in the Polish Campaign, September 1939
West Chester, OH: The Nafziger Collection, 2006
Schenk, Peter
Invasion of England, 1940: The Planning of Operation Sealion
London: Conway, 1990
Schull, Joseph
Canadian Official History
Far Distant Ships: An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operations in World War II
Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1987
Sebag-Montefiore, Hugh
Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006
Sharp, Lee
The French Army, 1939-1940: Organisation, Order of Battle, Operational History, volume I
Milton Keynes, UK: The Military Press, 2002
Shores, Christopher
Air War for Burma: The Allied Air Forces Fight Back in South-East Asia, 1942-1945
London: Grub Street, 2005
Shores, Christopher and Hans Ring
Fighters over the Desert: The Air Battles in the Western Desert, June 1940 to December 1942
New York: Arco Publishing, 1969
Shores, Christopher, Hans Ring, and William N. Hess
Fighters over Tunisia
London: Spearman, 1975
Silverstone, Paul H.
The Navy of World War II, 1922-1947
New York: Routledge, 2007
Stanton, Shelby
World War II Order of Battle: An Encyclopedic Reference to U.S. Army Ground Forces from Battalion through Division, 1939-1945
Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2006
Stein, Marcel
Field Marshal von Manstein, a Portrait: The Janus Head
Solihull, UK: Helion & Company, 2007
Stephan, Robert W.
Stalin's Secret War: Soviet Counterintelligence against the Nazis, 1941-1945
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2004
Stewart, Richard A.
Sunrise at Abadan: The British and Soviet Invasion of Iran, 1941
New York: Praeger, 1988
Thomas, Martin
The French Empire at War, 1940-1945
Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 2007
Tomasevich, Jozo
War and Revolution in Yugoslavia, 1941-1945: Occupation and Collaboration
Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001
Tooze, Adam
The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy
New York: Viking Penguin, 2007
Turner, L. C. F. et al
War in the Southern Oceans, 1939-45
Cape Town: Oxford University Press, 1961
Ungvary, Krisztian
The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2005
Urwin, Gregory J. W.
Facing Fearful Odds: The Siege of Wake Island
Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1997
US Army
Japanese Monograph no. 71
Army Operations in China, December 1941 - December 1943
Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1956
US Army
Japanese Monograph no. 72
Army Operations in China, January 1944 - August 1945
Washington, DC: Department of the Army, 1956
Walker, Ian W.
Iron Hulls, Iron Hearts: Mussolini's Elite Armoured Divisions in North Africa
Marlborough, UK: Crowood Press, 2003
Weale, Elke C., John A. Weale, and Richard F. Barker
Combat Aircraft of World War Two
London: Bracken Books, 1985
Weigley, Russell
Eisenhower's Lieutenants: The Campaign of France and Germany, 1944-1945
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981
Westermann, Edward B.
Flak: German Anti-Aircraft Defenses, 1914-1945
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2001
Wilbeck, Christopher
Sledgehammers: Strengths and Flaws of Tiger Tank Battalions in World War II
Bedford, PA: Aberjona Press, 2004
Willmott, H.P.
The Battle of Leyte Gulf: The Last Fleet Action
Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2005
Womack, Tom
The Dutch Naval Air Force against Japan: The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942
Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2006
Woodhouse, C. M.
The Struggle for Greece, 1941-1949
Brooklyn Heights, NY: Beekman/Esanu Publishers, 1976
Woodman, Richard
The Real Cruel Sea: The Merchant Navy in the Battle of the Atlantic, 1939-1943
London: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2004
Zuehlke, Mark
The Gothic Line: Canada's Climactic World War II Triumph in Italy
Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2003
Zuehlke, Mark
Juno Beach: Canada's D-Day Victory: June 6, 1944
Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2004
Zuehlke, Mark
Holding Juno: Canada's Heroic Defence of the D-Day Beaches: June 7-12, 1944
Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2005
Zuehlke, Mark
Terrible Victory: First Canadian Army and the Scheldt Estuary Campaign: September 13 - November 6, 1944
Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, 2007
Zumbro, Derek S.
Battle for the Ruhr: The German Army's Final Defeat in the West
Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2006
Books are selected for placement on our Recommended Reading page based strictly on our editorial tastes. Publishers cannot pay for preferential placement here (or anywhere else at our website) although most of our choices come from books sent to us for review purposes.
