World War 2

[jplatzer]

Hello again everyone,

It's been quite awhile since I've been on the boards but work and life have intervened over the last year. I recently completed an MBA in Finance so my time has mostly been focused on that of late. At any rate, I'm back.

Does anyone have any good titles to recommend on WW2. I've dreamed of writing a one-volume history (though many volumes could be filled) of this subject for nearly ten years now. Now that I have the time, I may start to do some research in this regard. I'd appreciate any sources, titles, or suggestions any of you may have. Thank you.

[Adelle]

I don't know if you're looking for WWII the war aspects, or simply that time period.   I've been reading quite a few books covering that time period over the past year or two.    What exactly ... or even kind of ... are you searching for?

Freedom from Fear gave what I thought was a good overview.   But even though it's 800+ pages, it's only something to build the rest of your knowledge on. 

The two that I would recommend would be The Forsaken: American Tragedy in Stalin's Russia by Tim Tzouliadis.     I hadn't known this story. 

Also, I would highly recommend Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War 1874-1945 by Carlos D'Este.

 I'm only a little way into "The Generalissimo" (China) but it feels promising.  

Oh.  Wait.   I would also strongly recommend Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions that Changed the World, 1940-1941 by Ian Kershaw

I would give you links but I'm not quite sure how to do that here on B&N.

Adelle

 

[jplatzer]

Thanks for the response. I've read quite a bit of WW2 stuff over the years, but I've never read the books you've recommend. So thanks for that. I've always dreamed of obtaining a degree in history but since my business degrees prevent me from pursuing that dream, I thought I'd write instead. My goal is to write a comprehensive history of WW2. I was thinking to start with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, go through the interwar years with the Nazi rise to power, cover the war itself (primarily the European theater) and finish with the signing of the Armistice on V-E day and the division of Germany into East/West. I realize this is a huge undertaking and I may trim it to something more manageable (say Operation Market Garden) or the occupation of France, etc. I'm still fleshing out ideas.

[L_Monty]

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jplatzer wrote:
Does anyone have any good titles to recommend on WW2. I've dreamed of writing a one-volume history (though many volumes could be filled) of this subject for nearly ten years now. Now that I have the time, I may start to do some research in this regard. I'd appreciate any sources, titles, or suggestions any of you may have. Thank you.

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Oh, God, yeah... I don't even know where to start, really; there are so many titles you'd need to look at. My best recommendation for you would be to look at the established "canon" texts on each subject and then just open their bibliographies to figure out how many other books you're going to need to read. Off the top of my head, here are some general suggestions of what are for the most part agreed upon to be authoritative books on their topics (the Freedom from Fear recommendation is a good one):

Prange, Gordon. At Dawn We Slept. (Pearl Harbor)
Spector, Ronald. Eagle Against the Sun. (Combat, Pacific Theater)
Craig, Gordon. Germany: 1866-1945. (Germany)
Keegan, John. The Second World War. (Combat, Overall)
Weinberg, Gerhard. A World At Arms. (Survey, Overall—good companion to Keegan, since Keegan's specialty is military and Weinberg's is political)

I could just go on and on with this, but you get the idea. As you're reading these books, check the footnotes and see which authors these people rely on. For instance, almost no book written about the Battle of Stalingrad anymore will NOT rely heavily on Antony Beevor's Stalingrad, so obviously that's the book to read on the subject. Similarly, everyone writing about the changes in tactics and strategy pre-war are going to rely on Heinz Guderian's Achtung—Panzer! The wealth of debate about the origins of WWII will revolve around the Hossbach Memorandum and either adopting or repudiating AJP Taylor's thesis in The Origins of the Second World War, either in part or in whole. I think from there you'll wind up with more books on the reading list than you'd like.

[jplatzer]

This is great! Thank you for being so thorough. I'm currently reading An Army at Dawn by Rick Atkinson. Fabulous book. One of the best I've read. I plan on completing his trilogy. I'd also highly recommend Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by Shirer. I only read the first 1/3 of the book when I was younger so I need to pick this back up. Beevor is clearly the choice on Stalingrad. Churchill's Second World War is great but it portrays him as the hero; partly true partly false.

In my opinion, the seeds were planted for both WWI and WWII hundreds of years ago. There is alot of historical animosity between France and Germany, going all the way back to when the Frankish Kingdom was first split in 3. I think that, combined with the fact that Germany was a newly formed nation looking for some respect on the continent (and not getting it) gave Germans a chip on their shoulder. Another great book I'm currently reading is The Guns of August by Margaret Tuchman. This is WWI but necessary to understanding WW2.