Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital, 1939-45

Defiance: The Bielski Partisans

Nechama Tec

1939: Countdown to War

Richard Overy · 158 pages

A brilliantly concise narrative of the days leading to the outbreak of history’s greatest conflagration, 1939 takes readers hour by hour through the nail-biting decisions that determined the fate of millions. Richard Overy, a leading historian of the period, masterfully recreates the jockeying for advantage that set Europe’s greatest powers on a collision course. Would Stalin join Hitler in a bid

Shockwave: the countdown to Hiroshima

Stephen Walker · 368 pages

The Greatest Generation Speaks

Tom Brokaw · 254 pages

"I first began to appreciate fully all we owed the World War II generation while I was covering the fortieth and fiftieth anniversaries of D-Day for NBC News. When I wrote in The Greatest Generation about the men and women who came out of the Depression, who won great victories and made lasting sacrifices in World War II and then returned home to begin building the world we have today--the people

Blitzed: Drugs in Nazi Germany

Norman Ohler · 332 pages

"The Nazis presented themselves as warriors against moral degeneracy. Yet, as Norman Ohler's gripping bestseller reveals, the entire Third Reich was permeated with drugs: cocaine, heroin, morphine and, most of all, methamphetamines, or crystal meth, used by everyone from factory workers to housewives, and crucial to troops' resilience - even partly explaining German victory in 1940. The promiscuou

Citizens of London: The Americans who Stood with Britain in its Darkest, Finest Hour

Lynne Olson · 496 pages

In Citizens of London, Lynne Olson has written a work of World War II history even more relevant and revealing than her acclaimed Troublesome Young Men. Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. Drawing from a v

World War II: Behind Closed Doors; Stalin, the Nazis, and the West

Laurence Rees · 442 pages

In this revelatory chronicle of World War II, Laurence Rees, winner of the 2006 British Book Award for History, documents the dramatic and secret deals that helped make the war possible and prompted some of the most crucial decisions made during the conflict.Drawing on material available only since opening of archives in Eastern Europe and Russia, Rees reexamines the key choices made by Stalin, Ch

The Last Days of Hitler

H. R. Trevor-Roper · 284 pages

Winston's War: Churchill, 1940-1945

Max Hastings · 555 pages

A vivid and incisive portrait of Winston Churchill during wartime from acclaimed historian Max Hastings, Winston's War captures the full range of Churchill's endlessly fascinating character. At once brilliant and infuriating, self-important and courageous, Hastings's Churchill comes brashly to life as never before. Beginning in 1940, when popular demand elevated Churchill to the role of prime mini

The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews

Peter Duffy · 328 pages

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Herbert P. Bix · 800 pages

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from bir

The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman & the Destruction of Hitler's Germany 1941-45

Michael R. Beschloss · 377 pages

As Allied soldiers fought the Nazis, Franklin Roosevelt and, later, Harry Truman fought in private with Churchill and Stalin over how to ensure that Germany could never threaten the world again. Eleven years in the writing, drawing on newly opened American, Soviet and British documents as well as private diaries, letters and secret audio recordings, Michael Beschloss's gripping narrative lets us e

Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two

Allan Berube · 377 pages

During World War II, as the United States called on its citizens to serve in unprecedented numbers, the presence of gay Americans in the armed forces increasingly conflicted with the expanding antihomosexual policies and procedures of the military. In Coming Out Under Fire, Allan Bérubé examines in depth and detail these social and political confrontation--not as a story of how the military victim

Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II

Vicki Constantine Croke · 343 pages

"At the onset of World War II, [Billy] Williams formed Elephant Company and was instrumental in defeating the Japanese in Burma and saving refugees, including on his own 'Hannibal Trek,' [becoming] a media sensation during the war, telling reporters that the elephants did more for him than he was ever able to do for them"--

Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War

Mark Harris · 511 pages

Traces the World War II experiences of five legendary directors including John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra and George Stevens to assess the transformative impact of the war and period beliefs on Hollywood. By the author of Pictures at a Revolution.

Six Months in 1945: FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman--from World War to Cold War

Michael Dobbs · 418 pages

An account of the pivotal six-month period spanning the end of World War II, the dawn of the nuclear age, and the beginning of the Cold War.

December 1941: The Month That Changed America And Saved The World

Craig Shirley · 650 pages

Chronicles the decisive month in American history, where the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor facilitated the entrance of the United States into World War II, and details the economic, social, and political climate of the country during that time.

The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz

Erik Larson · 608 pages

Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS

Lisa Rogak · 240 pages

Forgotten Ally: China's World War II, 1937-1945

Rana Mitter · 480 pages

The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942

Nigel Hamilton

Hiroshima Nagasaki

Paul Ham · 640 pages

In this harrowing history of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Paul Ham argues against the use of nuclear weapons, drawing on extensive research and hundreds of interviews to prove that the bombings had little impact on the eventual outcome of the Pacific War.

The Origins of the Second World War

A.J.P. Taylor

War's Unwomanly Face

Svetlana Alexievich · 247 pages