World War II Books - Page 2

pwalker8 · 04-03-2014, 09:55 PM

WW II books is such a broad topic. I would say that the Atkinson books is the best of the more recent books, while the Ryan books were the best of the older books. Some of Max Hastings books are pretty good as well.

I tend to favor the tactical/strategy analysis books over the straight history books. There is a lot of Pacific War books that have been coming out recently, at least as ebooks. I really liked Lydell-Hart's WW II book, but that's not available as an ebook. Since this fall will be the 75th anniversary of the start of WW II, I hope that some of the old classics, such as Lydell-Hart's book may be re-released and converted to ebook.

Critteranne · 04-03-2014, 10:16 PM

Thanks, everyone! I really should snag a D-Day book -- although I didn't know it when he was alive, my uncle was in the second wave.

And my mother's other brother-in-law was in the French army and a POW. (And later an escaped POW, yikes!) Dad had a brother and a brother-in-law who served in the Pacific, and a brother in the Merchant Marine.

All I've ever served was coffee.

AnemicOak · 04-04-2014, 12:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Critteranne

I really should snag a D-Day book --

For D-Day specifically here are a few to consider...

The Longest Day - Cornelius Ryan
D-Day - Antony Beevor
D-Day - Stephen Ambrose
Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy - Max Hastings (no eBook AFAIK)
Omaha Beach - Joseph Balkoski
Utah Beach - Joseph Balkoski
Juno Beach Trilogy - Mark Zuehlke

Rick Atkinson has a new D-Day book coming out in May (ahead of the 70th anniversary) that might be of interest.

There's also the US Army's "Green Books" histories of WW2 . One of the titles, Cross-Channel Attack covers D-Day. They can be downloaded free as PDF's, not sure if there are ePub's out there somewhere as well or not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Since this fall will be the 75th anniversary of the start of WW II, I hope that some of the old classics, such as Lydell-Hart's book may be re-released and converted to ebook.

It would be great if some more of the oldies made it to digital. Some good older stuff has been slowly making it's way to market so I'm hopeful. I'm hoping some WWI titles will be making a digital appearance soon too since August is the 100th anniversary of the start of that conflict.

BTW I'm unfamiliar with Lydell-Hart, you don't mean B.H. Liddell Hart by chance do you? If not can you point me in the right direction?

drofgnal · 04-04-2014, 06:14 AM

I liked Leon Uris' Armagedon.

Pulpmeister · 04-04-2014, 10:30 AM

27, by William Diehl

pwalker8 · 04-04-2014, 12:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

For D-Day specifically here are a few to consider...

The Longest Day - Cornelius Ryan
D-Day - Antony Beevor
D-Day - Stephen Ambrose
Overlord: D-Day and the Battle for Normandy - Max Hastings (no eBook AFAIK)
Omaha Beach - Joseph Balkoski
Utah Beach - Joseph Balkoski
Juno Beach Trilogy - Mark Zuehlke

Rick Atkinson has a new D-Day book coming out in May (ahead of the 70th anniversary) that might be of interest.

There's also the US Army's "Green Books" histories of WW2 . One of the titles, Cross-Channel Attack covers D-Day. They can be downloaded free as PDF's, not sure if there are ePub's out there somewhere as well or not.

It would be great if some more of the oldies made it to digital. Some good older stuff has been slowly making it's way to market so I'm hopeful. I'm hoping some WWI titles will be making a digital appearance soon too since August is the 100th anniversary of the start of that conflict.

BTW I'm unfamiliar with Lydell-Hart, you don't mean B.H. Liddell Hart by chance do you? If not can you point me in the right direction?

He's the one. Don't know why I keep wanting to spell it with a y rather than a i. Sometimes you see it hyphenated, sometimes you don't. It probably should be hyphenated since his father's name was Hart and his mother's name was Liddel. (from the old custom of using a hyphenated name when the mother was of a higher birth than the father).

I enjoyed his History of World War II, unfortunately my copy is rather battered now. It's just too thick for the cheap binding.

We are starting to see some WW I books coming out. Max Hastings just came out with Catastrophe 1914: Europe goes to War.

pwalker8 · 04-04-2014, 01:31 PM

Hum, I heard some rumblings that both Liddel-Hart's History of the Second World War and Fuller's The Second World War, 1939-1945: A Strategical and Tactical History will be re-released this summer. Don't know if it's true, or if it will come out in ebook, but one can hope. Both are excellent books, though Fuller's 3 volume set, A Military History of the Western World, was his master work.

rollei · 04-05-2014, 11:47 PM

The Gerald Astor's series of oral history on WWII are a good read:

June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day
A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It
Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II
Crisis in the Pacific: The Battles for the Philippine Islands by the Men Who Fought Them
The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It

jscarbo · 04-06-2014, 11:12 AM

I'm currently reading this book about the almost forgotten role played by the Polish armed forces in WWII. It's excellent and I highly recommend it.

No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067AZFBG/ref=cm_sw_su_dp

Moe The Cat · 04-09-2014, 09:02 AM

For fiction, you could try Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series (currently nine books). Bernie Gunther is a policeman in 1930's Berlin. The series covers his career before, during and after WWII. One volume even includes the S-Bahn killer story as part of the plot.

Rizla · 04-09-2014, 01:36 PM

Willi Heinrich's The Willing Flesh renamed The Cross of Iron after the film based on it. Also The Crack of Doom by the same author. Heinrich was in the German retreat from Russia.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer.

The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary. I believe this is available on Gutenberg.

One of our Bombers is Missing (originally published as Never so Young). Brennan was an American who volunteered for the RAF prior to American entry into the war, and was ruined by it.

All of it written by people who took part in WWII on both sides. Nothing by a Russian, though. Stalin probably killed them all or burned their books.

rkomar · 04-09-2014, 04:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rizla

All of it written by people who took part in WWII on both sides. Nothing by a Russian, though. Stalin probably killed them all or burned their books.

Marshal Zhukov wrote some books, and had others written about him. But you're right that there aren't many books in English dealing with the Russian side of the war.

rraod · 04-09-2014, 05:08 PM

I loved these books 35 years ago while I was in college. I still fondly remember these books.

Alistair Maclean's
Where Eagles Dare
Guns of Navarone
Force Ten from Navarone

Larry Collin's and Dominique Lapierre's
Is Paris Burning?

Cornelius Ryan's
The Longest Day
The Last Battle
A Bridge Too Far

Nicholas Monsarrat's A Cruel Sea.

Leon Uris's Exodus,.... and the list goes on and on...

I really enjoyed these books very much. These books have started an interest in me to read and know about WW2.

pwalker8 · 04-09-2014, 07:41 PM

Agreed, Alistair Maclean's books were very good. All three were made into movies, though the books are very different (and much better) than the movies.

pwalker8 · 04-09-2014, 11:25 PM

Just as a note, I'm currently reading "The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III" by Tim Carroll. So far it's been pretty good. Not the classic that Brickhill's book is, but at least it's available as an ebook and contains much of the same information. Since it was written fairly recently, it has some new material and notes some of the differences in reality and the movie.

04-05-2014, 11:47 PM	#23
rollei Addict Posts: 219 Karma: 1000210 Join Date: Mar 2014 Device: Kobo	The Gerald Astor's series of oral history on WWII are a good read: June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day A Blood-Dimmed Tide: The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II Crisis in the Pacific: The Battles for the Philippine Islands by the Men Who Fought Them The Mighty Eighth: The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It

04-06-2014, 11:12 AM	#24
jscarbo Addict Posts: 220 Karma: 1075434 Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Costa Rica Device: Kindle Voyage, Kindle PW2, Nook HD+, Nexus 7	I'm currently reading this book about the almost forgotten role played by the Polish armed forces in WWII. It's excellent and I highly recommend it. No Greater Ally: The Untold Story of Poland's Forces in World War II http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0067AZFBG/ref=cm_sw_su_dp Last edited by jscarbo; 04-06-2014 at 11:14 AM.

04-09-2014, 01:36 PM	#26
Rizla Member Retired Posts: 3,183 Karma: 11721895 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook STR (rooted) & Sony T2	Willi Heinrich's The Willing Flesh renamed The Cross of Iron after the film based on it. Also The Crack of Doom by the same author. Heinrich was in the German retreat from Russia. The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary. I believe this is available on Gutenberg. One of our Bombers is Missing (originally published as Never so Young). Brennan was an American who volunteered for the RAF prior to American entry into the war, and was ruined by it. All of it written by people who took part in WWII on both sides. Nothing by a Russian, though. Stalin probably killed them all or burned their books. Last edited by Rizla; 04-09-2014 at 01:56 PM.

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04-03-2014, 09:55 PM	#16
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	WW II books is such a broad topic. I would say that the Atkinson books is the best of the more recent books, while the Ryan books were the best of the older books. Some of Max Hastings books are pretty good as well. I tend to favor the tactical/strategy analysis books over the straight history books. There is a lot of Pacific War books that have been coming out recently, at least as ebooks. I really liked Lydell-Hart's WW II book, but that's not available as an ebook. Since this fall will be the 75th anniversary of the start of WW II, I hope that some of the old classics, such as Lydell-Hart's book may be re-released and converted to ebook.

04-03-2014, 10:16 PM	#17
Critteranne Guru Posts: 795 Karma: 21143414 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: MD Device: Kindle, iPad	Thanks, everyone! I really should snag a D-Day book -- although I didn't know it when he was alive, my uncle was in the second wave. And my mother's other brother-in-law was in the French army and a POW. (And later an escaped POW, yikes!) Dad had a brother and a brother-in-law who served in the Pacific, and a brother in the Merchant Marine. All I've ever served was coffee.

04-04-2014, 06:14 AM	#19
drofgnal Wizard Posts: 1,296 Karma: 8166080 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: Ipad Pro/Kindle Oasis 3/iPhone 13 Pro Max	I liked Leon Uris' Armagedon.

04-04-2014, 10:30 AM	#20
Pulpmeister Wizard Posts: 2,630 Karma: 29138616 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Perth Western Australia Device: kindle	27, by William Diehl

04-04-2014, 01:31 PM	#22
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Hum, I heard some rumblings that both Liddel-Hart's History of the Second World War and Fuller's The Second World War, 1939-1945: A Strategical and Tactical History will be re-released this summer. Don't know if it's true, or if it will come out in ebook, but one can hope. Both are excellent books, though Fuller's 3 volume set, A Military History of the Western World, was his master work.

04-09-2014, 09:02 AM	#25
Moe The Cat Bear Melt Posts: 919 Karma: 5433051 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Toronto Device: Google Pixel 6, Moto G9 Power (both with Fbreader) & Kindle PW2	For fiction, you could try Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther series (currently nine books). Bernie Gunther is a policeman in 1930's Berlin. The series covers his career before, during and after WWII. One volume even includes the S-Bahn killer story as part of the plot.

04-09-2014, 05:08 PM	#28
rraod Bibliophile Posts: 59 Karma: 2017058 Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Somewhere in the middle of the desert. Device: Kobo Aura H2O	I loved these books 35 years ago while I was in college. I still fondly remember these books. Alistair Maclean's Where Eagles Dare Guns of Navarone Force Ten from Navarone Larry Collin's and Dominique Lapierre's Is Paris Burning? Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day The Last Battle A Bridge Too Far Nicholas Monsarrat's A Cruel Sea. Leon Uris's Exodus,.... and the list goes on and on... I really enjoyed these books very much. These books have started an interest in me to read and know about WW2.

04-09-2014, 07:41 PM	#29
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Agreed, Alistair Maclean's books were very good. All three were made into movies, though the books are very different (and much better) than the movies.

04-09-2014, 11:25 PM	#30
pwalker8 Grand Sorcerer Posts: 7,196 Karma: 70314280 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Atlanta, GA Device: iPad Pro, iPad mini, Kobo Aura, Amazon paperwhite, Sony PRS-T2	Just as a note, I'm currently reading "The Great Escape from Stalag Luft III" by Tim Carroll. So far it's been pretty good. Not the classic that Brickhill's book is, but at least it's available as an ebook and contains much of the same information. Since it was written fairly recently, it has some new material and notes some of the differences in reality and the movie.

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