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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

William L. Shirer · 1,264 pages

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

The Origins of the Second World War

A.J.P. Taylor

Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of an Epic Friendship

Jon Meacham · 518 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.

War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton and the Generals

David Halberstam · 544 pages

"More than twenty-five years ago Halberstam told the riveting story of the men who conceived and executed the Vietnam War. Today the author has written another chronicle of Washington politics, this time exploring the complex dynamics of foreign policy in post-Cold War America.". "Halberstam evokes the internecine conflicts, the untrammeled egos, and the struggles for dominance among the key figu

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

Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy

Eri Hotta · 344 pages

Examines the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective.

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 Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington

Jennet Conant · 403 pages

When Roald Dahl, a dashing young ex-RAF pilot, took up his post at the British Embassy in Washington, his assignment was to use his good looks, wit, and considerable charm to gain access to the most powerful figures in American political life. Dahl would soon be caught up in a web of deception masterminded by Intrepid, Churchill's legendary spy chief. In an account better suited to a work of s

The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II

Winston Groom · 512 pages

Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall. These three remarkable men-of-arms who rose from the gruesome hell of the First World War to become the finest generals of their generation during World War II redefined America's ideas of military leadership and brought forth a new generation of American soldier. Against the backdrop

War's Unwomanly Face

Svetlana Alexievich · 247 pages

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

Molly Guptill Manning · 288 pages

"When America entered World War II in 1941, [it] faced an enemy that had banned and burned over 100 million books and caused fearful citizens to hide or destroy many more. Outraged librarians launched a campaign to send free books to American troops and gathered 20 million hardcover donations. In 1943, the War Department and the publishing industry stepped in with an extraordinary program: 120 mil

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.

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 Envoy

Alex Kershaw · 310 pages

The epic and heroic story of how Raoul Wallenberg out-dueled Adolph Eichmann and saved more than 100,000 Jews in Budapest from the Nazi death camps.

Churchill

Paul Johnson