Books - Second World War - General Works
Fateful Choices, Ian Kershaw. A fascinating book that looks at ten of the most important turning points during the Second World War, starting with the British decision to stay in the war in 1940 and ending with the German decisions to declare war on the United States and to turn the persecution of the Jews into the Final Solution. Kershaw has managed to find a new approach to the history of the Second World War, and gives us an interesting insight into the systems of government in the main combatant nations of the Second World War [see more] |
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The Second World War: I: The Gathering Storm, Winston S. Churchill. The first volume of one of the classic histories of the Second World War. Churchill was close to the centre of many of the events covered in this book, although he did not become Prime Minister until the very end of the period covered. The first half of this book looks at the rise of Hitler and the road to war, while the second half covers the invasion of Poland, the Phoney War and the campaign in Norway, before finishing with the events that took Churchill into No. 10 [see more] |
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 The Second World War: III: The Grand Alliance, Winston S. Churchill. Book Three of Churchill's grand history of the Second World War covers the events of 1941. Britain started the year fighting alone against Hitler's Germany, but ended it as part of the Grand Alliance with the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite this generally positive theme, this was a dark period, with Pearl Harbor and the rapid Japanese conquests in the east, and massive German gains in Russia [see more]. |
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Fallen Eagle , Cross, R., Michael O’Mara Books, London, 1995.
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A World at Arms : A Global History of World War II , Weinberg, Gerhard L, Cambridge University Press, 1994
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World War II , Young, Brigadier Peter. (Ed), Orbis Publishing, London, 1978.
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The World at War , A new edition of an excellent book based on the massive British TV series of the same name this book covers all theatres and aspects of the war with good maps and photographs. A must for students studying this period for an excellent overview.
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The Imperial War Museum Book of War Behind Enemy Lines , Julian Thompson, A good history of behind the lines warfare in World War 2. Thompsons military experience adds greatly to his skillful examination of this area of warfare.
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Atlas of the Second World War , Young, Brig P. (Ed), Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1973.
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Atlas of the Second World War , Keegan, J. (Ed), Times Books / Guild Publishing, London, 1989.
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Great Battles of World War II , Macdonald, John, Guild Publishing (BCA), London, 1986.
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Fortress Europe: European Fortifications of World War II , J.E.Kaufmann & R.M.Jurga, a detailed study of the huge number of fortifications erected across Europe during the Second World War.
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World War II , Matanle, Ivor, Godalming, 1995 (Second Edition).
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Battlefields of the Second World War , BBC Worldwide Ltd, London, 2001, Richard Holmes
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On the Psychology of Military Incompetence , Pimlico, London, 1994 (first published 1976), Norman Dixon
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 Eating for Victory. This volume is a collection of food information leaflets issued in Britain during the Second World War. It contains a wide range of leaflets, from simple collections of recipes to advice on nutrition. Some concentrate on using wartime ingredients such as dried eggs, while focus on how to make the best of small quantities of things that were in short supply, such as sugar [see more]. |
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 Make Do and Mend. This book is a collection of wartime Make Do and Mend leaflets issued in Britain during the Second World War. While it is food rationing that attracts most attention now, this book reminds us that clothes were also strictly rationed while fuel was in short supply. The majority of these leaflets give advice on how to repair clothes, how to avoid damaging clothes or how to make the best use of fuel for heating, hot water and cooking. [see more] |
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Partners in Command, Mark Perry. This is a dual biography of George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower, the two most important American army officers of the Second World War. Perry looks at the way their two careers intertwined and the part they played in creating and maintaining an effective coalition to fight the war. [see more] |
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Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris , takes the life of Hitler from birth and childhood, through Vienna, the Trenches of the First World War, and into politics, stopping with his gaining of power in Germany.
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Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis , Ian Kershaw: Takes the story of Hitlers life from his gaining of power in Germany, through the buildup to war, and on to the last days in the Berlin bunker
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The Last Days of Hitler , Joachimsthaler, A., Cassell Military, London, 2000.
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A Bridge Too Far , 1977, directed by Richard Attenborough and starring, amongst others, Dirk Bogarde, James Caan, Michael Caine, Sean Connery, Edward Fox, Elliott Gould, Gene Hackman, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier, Ryan O'Neal, Robert Redford, Maximilian Schell and Liv Ullmann.
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| World At War - Complete Series Boxset , The complete 11 tape set of the ground breaking British documentary series which covers the whole of the Second World War from the pre war build up and Hitlers rise to power to the final bitter struggle. Using eye witness accounts from survivors from both sides it is largely unbiased and an excellent resource for schools.
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Kelly's Heroes. A classic war film depite being full of historical inaccuracies and stereotypes (especially the German Tiger commander and Oddball's Hippy 20 years before Hippies were about) but ignore this and treat it as it was intended, as a tongue firmly in cheek wartime adventure [see more] |
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The Armed Forces of World War II: Uniforms, Insignia and Organization, Andrew Mollo. This is an invaluable reference book that looks at the uniforms, rank insignia, organisation and even the major campaigns of every armed service of all of the main and most of the minor combatants of the Second World War. [see more] 
