Any books?

NONE | 8/29/2002 | Me

[erikm88]

Hey Freepers,

I figured this would be the best place to post this inquiry. I've always been interested in WWII history, and military history in general, and I've been scouring the web for good books to read, however, I don't want to run into "revisionist" books, and basically search-engine inquiries have led me to those kinds of books. So.....

The criteria for book recommendations are:

• Unbiased
• True, historical accounts
• Interesting, and not dry!!!
• easily accessible, online, or offline..

The subjects I'm interested in are...

• Attack on Pearl Harbor
• Dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, and Nagasaki
• Most if not anything pertaining to WWII
• Any Military History you would recommend for a self-proclaimed military history nut, whether you think i'd be interested or not :)

thanks in advance, and keep up the good work freepers!

--erik

[thinktwice]

Best historical novels about the Revolutionary war are by Kenneth Roberts. His most famous book is "Northwest Passage," but his books in the trilogy -- Arundel, Rabble in Arms, and Oliver Wiswell -- present the Revolutionary war incredibly well. The first two see it from the American view with Benedict Arnold as the hero, and the third from the British view without being so much about Arnold who'd switched sides by then.

[CatoRenasci]

My short list of excellent WWII books would include:

Panzer Leader Gen. Heinz Guderian
The Two Ocean War Adm. Samuel Eliot Morison
Reminiscences Gen. Douglas MacArthur
Brazen Chariots Maj. Robert Crisp. this is hard to come by and lesser known in the US than it should be (the Brits and Israelis still read it, I'm told), but an excellent book on the North African campaign by a British tank officer; there is a companion volume, the title of which I don't recall off hand, on his experiences in Crete and Greece.
War as I Knew It Gen. George Patton
The Second World War Sir Winston Churchill
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William Shirer

[dd5339]

"Descent into Darkness", an account of the salvage operation at Pearl. It was a horribly fascinating read.

Also check out Leon Uris' Battle Cry for fiction, Chesty, (about Lewis Burwell Puller), anything Ambrose or Keegan.

Vic, can you add some others?

Semper Fi

[Ford Fairlane]

Go to your local flea market, antique stores, old book stores. You can usually find quite a few, sometimes obscure books published in the 40's-60's that are fairly accurate, and some provide insight that newer books don't cover. Most of my library has been filled this way.

[CatoRenasci]

The Face of Battle is outstanding, a must read, but his book specifically about WWII is Six Armies in Normandy. That's good, but did not impress me as much as his The Mask of Command, which is the only other of his books to equal The Face of Battle, IMHO.

[spqrzilla9]

Richard Rhodes book, "Making of the Atomic Bomb"
Gordon Prange's books on Pearl Harbor and Midway.

[dd5339]

Arrgghhh! I forgot Con Ryan. Read anything by Cornelius Ryan. Fantastic reading about the European theater.

Semper Fi

[Hugin]

A few other books worth mentioning...

Lost Victories: War Memoirs of Hitlers Most Brilliant General--Erich von Manstein
Interesting first hand account from the other side.

A Battle History of the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1941-1945 by Paul S. Dull
The most comprehensive history of every action fought by the Imperial Navy in WWII. A bit dry, but intersting.

Citizen Soldiers--Stephen Ambrose
Very readable and detailed history of D-Day to VE day from the soldier's point of view.

[Walkingfeather]

"They fought alone" Story about one guy left in the philipines to rally the natives and fight the japanese. Good book.

Another if it could be found is " Master of the girl pat" Which sounds dirty but is a story about a guy that does under cover work for the british navy. The girl pat is a boat that he is captain of.

[Skooz]

"With the Old Breed"

You beat me to it. Excellent book. The author is E.B. Sledge, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago.

I would add the brilliant (and new) two-volume biography of Hitler by Ian Kershaw. The first volume is "Hubris," the second, "Nemisis."

[OldFriend]

There is a book banned in Japan.......The Rape of Nanking.....not easy to find but well worth the read.

[Black Agnes]

Agree re: Guderian. Great book!

[CholeraJoe]

You can't go wrong with Ambrose

Ditto. Steve's writing a book about the war in the Pacific relying on first person stories. Hope he finishes it before his lung cancer finishes him.

[Dead Dog]

Flight of the Enola Gay, Paul W. Tibbets

[dd5339]

"War Diary of Major Rocky Gauss" Details his escape from the Phillipines, yet another good read.

Semper Fi

[CatoRenasci]

I would also add Alan Bullock's Hitler: A Study in Tyranny (3rd edition or later -- it was fairly extensively revised in the early 60's as new material was available) and his more recent Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives.

[Hugin]

It is an amazing story.

Yes it is.