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

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

William L. Shirer · 1,264 pages

The End: The Defiance and Destruction of Hitler's Germany 1944-45

Ian Kershaw · 578 pages

The last months of the Second World War were a nightmarish time to be alive. Unimaginable levels of violence destroyed entire cities. Millions died or were dispossessed. By all kinds of criteria it was the end: the end of the Third Reich and its terrible empire but also, increasingly, it seemed to be the end of European civilization itself. In his gripping, revelatory new book Ian Kershaw describe

Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945

Max Hastings · 799 pages

From one of our finest military historians, a monumental work that shows us at once the truly global reach of World War II and its deeply personal consequences. World War II involved tens of millions of soldiers and cost sixty million lives -- an average of twenty-seven thousand a day. For thirty-five years, Max Hastings has researched and written about different aspects of the war. Now, for the f

The Third Reich at War

Richard J. Evans · 926 pages

The final volume in Richard J. Evans's masterly trilogy on the history of Nazi Germany traces the rise and fall of German military might, the mobilization of a "people's community to serve a war of conquest, and Hitler's campaign of racial subjugation and genocideAlready hailed as "a masterpiece" (William Grimes in The New York Times) and "the most comprehensive history...of the Third Reich" (Ian

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

Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw

Norman Davies · 776 pages

The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945

Rick Atkinson · 896 pages

This book is the magnificent conclusion to Rick Atkinson's acclaimed Liberation Trilogy about the Allied triumph in Europe during World War II. It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coali

The Second World War

John Keegan · 608 pages

A chronological history of each theater of the war, analyzing five battles for their distinctive kind of warfare of the period.

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942–1943

Antony Beevor · 520 pages

This gripping history is the definitive account of the battle that shifted the tide of World War II, conveying the experience of soldiers on both sides as they fought in inhuman conditions, and of civilians trapped on an urban battlefield.

History of the Second World War

B.H. Liddell Hart · 768 pages

When Titans Clashed: How the Red Army Stopped Hitler

David M. Glantz, Jonathan M. House · 407 pages

By the time Pearl Harbor had ripped apart America's peacetime pretensions, the German blitzkrieg had already blasted the Red Army back to the gates of Moscow. Yet, less than four years later, the Soviet hammer and sickle flew above the ruins of Berlin, stark symbol of a miraculous comeback that destroyed the German army and shattered Hitler's imperial designs. Told in swift stirring prose, When T

A Bridge Too Far

Cornelius Ryan · 639 pages

Reviews the individuals, tactics, and events involved in Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery's plan to end World War II.

The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944

Ian W. Toll · 688 pages

Neptune's Inferno: The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal

James D. Hornfischer · 516 pages

While the Battle of Midway is perhaps more well known, the Battle of Guadalcanal was a far larger, longer, and more brutal struggle which marked the turning point in the Pacific War. It was an all out fight on land, sea, and air which lasted for over 4 months, into which both sides poured all the resources they could summon. This book is about the many major naval battles which to a large extent

Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway

Jonathan Parshall, Anthony Tully · 613 pages

"The Battle of Midway turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange's Miracle at Midway, comes a myth-smashing new interpretation of this great naval engagement." "Making extensive use of untapped Japanese primary sources, including Imperial Navy operational records never before used by Western

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 Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942

Nigel Hamilton

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

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.

Killing Patton: The Strange Death of World War II's Most Audacious General

Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard · 368 pages

General George S. Patton, Jr. died under mysterious circumstances in the months following the end of World War II. For almost seventy years, there has been suspicion that his death was not an accident--and may very well have been an act of assassination. "Killing Patton" takes readers inside the final year of the war and recounts the events surrounding Patton's tragic demise, naming names of the m

The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All For the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II

Gregory A. Freeman · 336 pages

Now in paperback the amazing James Bradley - New York Times bestselling author of Flags of Our Fathers - never-before-told story of the greatest escape of the Second World War.In 1944 the OSS set out to recover more than 500 downed airmen trapped behind enemy lines in Yugoslavia. Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self

The Rising Sun: The Decline & Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-45

John Willard Toland · 954 pages

Comprehensive account of the military and political events that led to Pearl Harbor, the war in the Pacific, and Japan's defeat; based on interviews with participants, and told from a Japanese point of view.

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

D-Day, June 6, 1944: The Battle for the Normandy Beaches

Stephen E. Ambrose · 656 pages

On the basis of 1,400 oral histories from the men who were there, Eisenhower biographer and World War II historian Stephen E. Ambrose reveals for the first time anywhere that the intricate plan for the invasion of France in June 1944, had to be abandoned before the first shot was fired. The true story of D-Day, as Ambrose relates it, is about the citizen soldiers - junior officers and enlisted me