Blitzed by Norman Ohler is absolutely fascinating. Or it was to me lol
Michigoose99 on
Shining Through by Susan Isaacs
Clam_Cake on
Ordinary Men by Christopher R Browning
venerosvandenis on
Forest of the Gods by Balys Sruoga
Ahjumawi on
Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder
Hitler: Ascent (1889-1939) by Volker Ullrich
Hitler: Downfall (1939-1945) by Volker Ullrich
Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte
Japan’s Longest Day by the Pacific War Research Society
Raff57 on
“The Guns of Navarone” by Alistair MacClean
“Battle Cry” by Leon Uris
“King Rat” by James Clavell
“Catch 22” by Joseph Conrad
“The World War 2 Trilogy” by James Jones
“The Winds of War” & “War and Remembrance” duology by Herman Wouk
Aerphenn on
Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer,The Last Survivor by Frank Kake is one of the best WW2 books I have read in a long time.
Blecher_onthe_Hudson on
The two memoirs that the series The Pacific was based on are Helmet for My Pillow, and With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.
My personal longtime favorite from when I was a teen is Submarine! by Captain Edward Beach. It’s alternating chapters of his own experiences rising from Lieutenant jg to Captain, with chapters about other famous submarines and their exploits in the Pacific theater. It ranges from humorous to harrowing.
Martin Caiden was better known for SF books, but he wrote a number of nonfiction war books, my favorite being The Ragged, Rugged Warriors, about the first months of the air war in the Pacific when we had only obsolete planes, and too few of them, to take on the Japanese zeros wreaking havoc across Southeast Asia.
A lot of people knew the 70s TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep, but the memoir it is based on by Colonel Gregory Boyington is far far more interesting than the show. It covers from his flying in China with General Chenault and the Flying Tigers to his time in a Japanese POW camp.
lady-earendil on
This is incredibly niche, but there’s a short story called The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico that’s about Operation Dynamo and it’s one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever read
randomberlinchick on
Anthony Beevor’s *Stalingrad* or *Berlin, the Downfall*
desecouffes on
James Jones WWII trilogy
*From Here to Eternity*
*The Thin Red Line*
*Whistle*
Art Spiegelman
*Maus*
BernardFerguson1944 on
*Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway* by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
*Burma: The Longest War 1941-45* by Louis Allen.
moogiecreamy on
D-Day by Ambrose is a classic
JustOK_Boomer on
In the non-fiction category, Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose is a great read. For solid historical fiction, Eye of the Needle by Ken Follet is a good one.
MirabelleSWalker on
The Postcard by Anne Berest. Fiction. Based in France and on a true story.
unlovelyladybartleby on
King Rat by James Clavell. My great uncle was a POW and he said that, aside from the rats, it holds up.
20 Comments
Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
Hitler’s Thirty Days to Power
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
To Hell and Back by Audie Murphy
Slaughterhouse 5
Hiroshima was probably the biggest.
Studs Terkel, The Good War.
Blitzed by Norman Ohler is absolutely fascinating. Or it was to me lol
Shining Through by Susan Isaacs
Ordinary Men by Christopher R Browning
Forest of the Gods by Balys Sruoga
Bloodlands by Timothy Snyder
Hitler: Ascent (1889-1939) by Volker Ullrich
Hitler: Downfall (1939-1945) by Volker Ullrich
Kaputt by Curzio Malaparte
Japan’s Longest Day by the Pacific War Research Society
“The Guns of Navarone” by Alistair MacClean
“Battle Cry” by Leon Uris
“King Rat” by James Clavell
“Catch 22” by Joseph Conrad
“The World War 2 Trilogy” by James Jones
“The Winds of War” & “War and Remembrance” duology by Herman Wouk
Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer,The Last Survivor by Frank Kake is one of the best WW2 books I have read in a long time.
The two memoirs that the series The Pacific was based on are Helmet for My Pillow, and With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa.
My personal longtime favorite from when I was a teen is Submarine! by Captain Edward Beach. It’s alternating chapters of his own experiences rising from Lieutenant jg to Captain, with chapters about other famous submarines and their exploits in the Pacific theater. It ranges from humorous to harrowing.
Martin Caiden was better known for SF books, but he wrote a number of nonfiction war books, my favorite being The Ragged, Rugged Warriors, about the first months of the air war in the Pacific when we had only obsolete planes, and too few of them, to take on the Japanese zeros wreaking havoc across Southeast Asia.
A lot of people knew the 70s TV series Baa Baa Black Sheep, but the memoir it is based on by Colonel Gregory Boyington is far far more interesting than the show. It covers from his flying in China with General Chenault and the Flying Tigers to his time in a Japanese POW camp.
This is incredibly niche, but there’s a short story called The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico that’s about Operation Dynamo and it’s one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever read
Anthony Beevor’s *Stalingrad* or *Berlin, the Downfall*
James Jones WWII trilogy
*From Here to Eternity*
*The Thin Red Line*
*Whistle*
Art Spiegelman
*Maus*
*Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway* by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
*Burma: The Longest War 1941-45* by Louis Allen.
D-Day by Ambrose is a classic
In the non-fiction category, Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose is a great read. For solid historical fiction, Eye of the Needle by Ken Follet is a good one.
The Postcard by Anne Berest. Fiction. Based in France and on a true story.
King Rat by James Clavell. My great uncle was a POW and he said that, aside from the rats, it holds up.