I'm interested in buying a book about WWII. Which one do you suggest me buying and why?

by andrewtsit

I'm interested in learning more about WWII. I've done some research and I've found two books that seem to be popular and critically acclaimed:

  • All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945 by Max Hastings
  • The Second World War by Anthony Beevor

Which one is better in your opinion? Also, are there any other books, not necessarily covering the whole war, worth reading? (e.g. battle of Stalingrad, D-day, Nazi Germany etc.)

Spark_77

I haven't read that Beevor book, but the Hastings book is very good (as is all of his stuff).

In terms of books that concentrate on a specific part of the war: There are many books on D-Day, but one of the best is "D-Day and the battle for Normandy" by Antony Beevor. I haven't read it but "D-Day" by Cornelius Ryan is very highly rated.

Fighter Pilots - one of my favourite books is "First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum. He was a teenage fighter pilot and flew during the Battle of Britian, he flew with the best and survived. Its a brilliant account of his life in the RAF.

Enigma - The battle for the code by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore covers the highly secret work to break the encryption on the German enigma machine. Its a very comprehensive guide to the baffling world of encryption and code breaking. Obviously centered on the engima machine it does cover some of the history of Bletchley Park and GC&CS.

Most Dangerous Enemy - Stephen Bungay. An analysis of the Battle of Britain. Not often mentioned but I found it a good read.

Wartime Britain 1939-1945 - Juliet Gardiner. Rather than combat or military this covers the effect the war had on the general public of the UK - rationing, evacuation, the blitz, the rise of female workers etc. Its quite thought provoking.

We could go on all day! there are literally thousands of books out there. I generally look for auto-biographies and books from Max Hastings, Patrick Bishop, Antony Beevor, John Nichol & Tony Rennel, Joshua Levine and Ben Macintyre - there are probably a few more too that I don't recall but I've enjoyed books from all of them.

Hope that helps.

Domini_canes

There's always the WWII section of the book list.