When Books Went to War: The Stories that Helped Us Win World War II

The Greatest Generation

Tom Brokaw · 412 pages

"In the spring of 1984, I went to the northwest of France, to Normandy, to prepare an NBC documentary on the fortieth anniversary of D-Day, the massive and daring Allied invasion of Europe that marked the beginning of the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. There, I underwent a life-changing experience. As I walked the beaches with the American veterans who had returned for this anniversary, men in

The Perfect Horse: the Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis

Elizabeth Letts · 320 pages

"Traces the lesser-known efforts of Hitler to build a master race of the finest purebred horses and the heroic achievements of American soldiers to rescue imperiled stolen equines from a hidden Czechoslovakian farm during a 1945 battle between Third Reich and Allied forces,"--NoveList. In the chaotic last days of World War II, a small troop of American soldiers captures a German spy and learns th

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

Laura Hillenbrand · 514 pages

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Se

Library: An Unquiet History

Matthew Battles · 258 pages

On the survival and destruction of knowledge, from Alexandria to the Internet. Through the ages, libraries have not only accumulated and preserved but also shaped, inspired, and obliterated knowledge.Matthew Battles, a rare books librarian and a gifted narrator, takes us on a spirited foray from Boston to Baghdad, from classical scriptoria to medieval monasteries, from the Vatican to the british L

Spitfires

Becky Aikman · 369 pages

The heart-pounding true story of the daring American women who piloted the most dangerous aircraft of World War II through the treacherous skies of Britain.

War's Unwomanly Face

Svetlana Alexievich · 247 pages

The Good War: An Oral History of World War II

Studs Terkel · 591 pages

Studs Terkel, a master of the interview, talks with a wide variety of people and learns about their opinions and experiences regarding World War Two - how it affected the lives of those who lived or were born during that period of human history.

Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941

Ian Kershaw · 640 pages

In a mere nineteen months, from May 1940 to December 1941, the leaders of the world's six major powers made a series of related decisions that decided the course and outcome of World War II, cost the lives of millions, and profoundly shaped the course of human destiny from that point forward. How were these decisions made? What were the options facing these leaders as they saw them? What intellige

Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War

Paul Fussell · 335 pages

Shuns the heroics portrayed by Hollywood, Fussell concentrates on the human factor in World War II. Examines the everyday life British and American people experienced on the home and battle fronts.

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

Erik Larson · 608 pages

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

Shockwave: the countdown to Hiroshima

Stephen Walker · 368 pages

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

Last Hope Island: Britain, Occupied Europe, and the Brotherhood That Helped Turn the Tide of War

Lynne Olson · 576 pages

"When the Nazi Blitzkrieg subjugated Europe in World War II, London became the safe haven for the leaders of seven occupied countries--France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Norway, Czechoslovakia and Poland--who fled there to avoid imprisonment and set up governments in exile to commandeer their resistance efforts. The lone hold-out against Hitler's offensive, Britain became a beacon of hope to th

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

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.

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

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

Lisa Rogak · 240 pages

Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espionage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue

Kathryn J. Atwood · 266 pages

Five Days That Shocked the World

Nicholas Best · 369 pages

"In the momentous days from April 28 to May 2, 1945, the world witnessed the death of two Fascist dictators and the fall of Berlin. Mussolini's capture and execution by Italian partisans, the suicide of Adolf Hitler, and the fall of the German capital signaled the end of the four-year war in the European Theater. In Five Days That Shocked the World, Nicholas Best thrills readers with the first-per

Pure Grit: How WWII Nurses in the Pacific Survived Combat and Prison Camp

Mary Cronk Farrell · 160 pages

"The story of American nurses serving in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked the islands on December 8, 1941."--Dust jacket.

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