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

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

The Gathering Storm

Winston S. Churchill · 737 pages

One of the most fascinating works of history ever written, Winston's Churchill's monumental *The Second World War* is a six-volume account of the struggle of the Allied powers in Europe against Germany and the Axis. Told through the eyes of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, The Second World War is also the story of one nation's singular, heroic role in the fight against tyranny. Pride an

Truman

David McCullough · 1,120 pages

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

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

The Origins of the Second World War

A.J.P. Taylor

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 Untold History of The United States

Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick · 750 pages

A companion to the ten-part documentary series outlines provocative arguments against official American historical records to reveal the origins of conservatism and the obstacles to progressive change.

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

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

Nigel Hamilton

Embers Of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam

Fredrik Logevall · 839 pages

A history of the four decades leading up to the Vietnam War offers insights into how the U.S. became involved, identifying commonalities between the campaigns of French and American forces while discussing relevant political factors.

America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975

George C. Herring · 354 pages

The author portrays American participation in the Vietnam War as the logical culmination of the containment policy that began under Harry Truman in the late 1940's. Also his portrayal of the complex challenge that Vietnam posed for the United States and the varied responses it evoked from American people & leaders.

The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made

Walter Isaacson, Evan Thomas · 853 pages

A captivating blend of personal biography and public drama, The Wise Men introduces six close friends who shaped the role their country would play in the dangerous years following World War II. They were the original best and brightest, whose towering intellects, outsize personalities, and dramatic actions would bring order to the postwar chaos and leave a legacy that dominates American policy to

Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East

Michael B. Oren · 464 pages

Though it lasted for only six tense days in June, the 1967 Arab-Israeli war never really ended. Every crisis that has ripped through this region in the ensuing decades, from the Yom Kippur War of 1973 to the ongoing intifada, is a direct consequence of those six days of fighting. Michael B. Oren’s magnificent *Six Days of War*, an internationally acclaimed bestseller, is the first comprehensive ac

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power

Robert Dallek · 752 pages

With the publication of his magisterial biography of John F. Kennedy, An Unfinished Life, Robert Dallek cemented his reputation as one of the greatest historians of our time. Now, in this epic joint biography, he offers a provocative, groundbreaking portrait of a pair of outsize leaders whose unlikely partnership dominated the world stage and changed the course of history.More than thirty years af

Berlin 1961

Frederick Kempe · 640 pages

Based on a new documents and interviews, this work is a look at the Berlin Crisis of 1961, with powerful applications for the present. In June 1961, Nikita Khrushchev called it "the most dangerous place on earth." He knew what he was talking about. Much has been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis a year later, but the Berlin Crisis of 1961 was more decisive in shaping the Cold War, and more pe

Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship

Jon Meacham · 518 pages

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany

William L. Shirer · 1,264 pages

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin

Erik Larson · 478 pages

The bestselling author of "Devil in the White City" turns his hand to a remarkable story set during Hitler's rise to power. The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America's first ambassador to Hitler's Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history.

Bridge of Spies: A True Story of the Cold War

Giles Whittell · 274 pages

Who were the three men the American and Soviet superpowers exchanged at Berlin's Glienicke Bridge and Checkpoint Charlie in the first prisoner exchange between East and West? Bridge of Spies traces the paths to that exchange on February 10, 1962. It is the story of three men -- William Fisher, alias Rudolf Abel, a British born KGB agent arrested by the FBI in New York City and jailed as a Soviet s

A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II

Gerhard L. Weinberg · 1,178 pages

From the Publisher: In a new edition featuring a new preface, A World of Arms remains a classic of global history. Widely hailed as a masterpiece, this volume remains the first history of World War II to provide a truly global account of the war that encompassed six continents. Starting with the changes that restructured Europe and its colonies following the First World War, Gerhard Weinberg sheds

George F. Kennan: An American Life

John Lewis Gaddis · 814 pages

A remarkably revealing view of how this greatest of Cold War strategists came to doubt his strategy and always doubted himself.

Diplomacy

Henry Kissinger · 912 pages

In this controversial and monumental book - arguably his most important - Henry Kissinger illuminates just what diplomacy is. Moving from a sweeping overview of his own interpretation of history to personal accounts of his negotiations with world leaders, Kissinger describes the ways in which the art of diplomacy and the balance of power have created the world we live in, and shows how Americans,

Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam

Mark Bowden · 704 pages