I'm doing research for a potential thesis topic involving 20th century Poland, and am trying to get a handle on how Europe dealt with the consequences of the war (rebuilding of cities/economies/societies, emotional trauma/amnesia, the handling of war crimes, executions/expelling of minorities), and how things progressed politically (how the immediate postwar circumstances escalated into the Cold War, and what things were like behind the Iron Curtain).
I'm interested in both Western and Eastern Europe, but know next-to-nothing about the Eastern side of the story and so would love some more background information. I suppose essentially what I'm looking for are cultural and/or political histories of this period, both general and specific.
Postwar by Tony Judt, Under A Cruel Star, and Bloodlands are currently on my 'to-read' list, but are there any others I could add?
Possibly "After the Reich: The Brutal History of the Allied Occupation" or "Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II"
"Postwar" is an excellent book.