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

[Commander8]

War As I Knew It by George Patton, any library and used bookstore should have one.
Baa Baa Blacksheep by Gregory Boyington is a pretty good book.
Reminiscences by Douglas MacArthur is a must read.

[LouD]

I recently read, and thoroughly enjoyed, a book called Battleship Sailor by Theodore Mason. It is his account of serving on a battleship on the eve of WWII, including his account of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

[elhombrelibre]

Try Winston Churchill's history. There's even an abridged addition if you don't want to read all the volumes. Also, Kagan's book is very good.

[onedoug]

John Costello, The Pacific War 1941-1945.

[hometoroost]

The Forgotten Soldier - Guy Sajer, about life on the Eastern Front. Very detailed description of combat tactics, I know some US military officers use some of these descriptions in training to describe defense tactics.

[onedoug]

Also, Richard Rhodes, The Making Of The Atomic Bomb.

[Puppage]

Absolutely. Fantastic reading from a direct source.

[BADJOE]

"Reminiscences" General Douglas MacArthur's auto biography tells it like it was,

Also "America's Retreat From Victory". by Joe McCarthy

These are a great start.

[Mr. Bird]

I just read Ambrose's "D-Day", and the anecdotes are fantastic. Most of the history itself is relatively standard, but he had excellent access to some great stories. Whole new appreciation of Higgins boats.

[ErnBatavia]

"Ghost Soldiers" and "Flags of Our Fathers" - both Pacific Theater non fiction, and both best sellers as I recall.

[Black Agnes]

The Game of the Foxes

This is a great book, talks about how entrenched the German spies were here and in the UK during the 20's and 30's when the NAZI's were coming to power in Germany...google search points at other sources (used book stores/etc)

[strider44]

You can't go wrong with Ambrose, D-Day, Citizen Soldiers, Band of Brothers, and even though it's off topic, Undaunted Courage (about Lewis and Clark) is superb

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Since Keegan has been in the news recently, you might try his The Face Of Battle

[ao98]

"Code-Name Down-Fall", The secret plan to invade Japan - And why Truman dropped the bomb. Written by Thomas Allen and Norman Polman.
This is a good analysis of why we dropped the bombs and the planning for the invasion.

[Taylor42]

Try "With The Old Breed".

It's a marine's story of his time on Peleliu and Okinawa.

[GailA]

You might want to look at the library for this one: Corregidor The Rock Force by Lt Gen E.M. Flanagan, Jr.

My step-dad is mentioned in it on page 210. He was T/5 Frank Arrigo, he and Pfc Clyde Bates members of the 503d Parachute Regimental Combat Team raised the US flag on Corregidor when they re-took it in Feb 1945.

JUMPSTATION Lots on interesting pics and info at this site

[Hugin]

My favorite is The Second World War by Winston Churchill. Great first hand history and analysis from one of the primary players and a great writer. I have the Time/Life set from the 50s with great illistrations from Life magazine and various archives.

[RightWhale]

"Famous Tank Battles", Robert J. Icks, Doubleday, 1972

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Highly recommend Command Decisions first printed in 1959 by authors Blumenson and Greenfield. It provides insight on why high level command decisions were made, to include:

Why the Japs attacked the US
Internment of the Japs in the US
Major Battles

I had to get mine through the Library as it was out of print.