Could you help me pick good, reliable books on WWI and WWII?

by leverhelven

Hello guys,

I'm a History graduate and, recently, I've been feeling a lot like reading about World War II, and also a bit of WWI. I went to a book store and took notes of some of the most interesting books on WWI and II that I could find there, but I'd love it if you could help me pick the best ones, i.e. the ones you know have good sources/accredited authors. I don't know much about the best WWI and WWII Historians out there, so any help is appreciated. I'd hate to waste my money and time on an unnacredited book or author.

These are the ones I could find:

WWI

  • The Pity Of War: Explaining World War I by Niall Ferguson;

  • The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 by Margaret MacMillan;

  • World War One: The Global Revolution by Lawrence Sondhaus;

WWII

  • Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945 by Max Hastings;

  • The Second World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert;

  • The Second World War by Antony Beevor;

  • The Richard J. Evans trilogy ( The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, The Third Reich at War)

Thanks!

DuxBelisarius

All those WWII books are good; scratch Ferguson for the WWI books though.

If I may add to the list, War of Attrition by William Phillpott, July Crisis by Thomas G. Otte, The Deluge and Wages of Destruction by Adam Tooze, and The First World War, Volume One: To Arms! by Hew Strachan are all excellent books about WWI. Tooze's books are economic histories of WWI and WWII respectively.

KingDeath

If you can read german or somehow get a good translation then i also suggest:

WW1

  • Ehlert, Epkenhans, Groß: Der Schlieffenplan. Analysen und Dokumente
  • Stachelbeck: Militärische Effektivität im Ersten Weltkrieg. Die 11. Bayerische INfanteriedivision 1915 bis 1918
  • Groß: Die vergessene Front. Der Osten 1914/15.
CaesarBrennius

If you're interested at all in the Pacific Front of World War II, I recommend the books that we used in a class on that topic. There's a lot of good information in them.

  • Edwin P. Hoyt: Japan's War, The Great Pacific Conflict
  • Saburo Ienaga: The Pacific War, 1931-1945.
akbrit

For the First World War, this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eleventh-Month-Day-Hour-Armistice/dp/0375760458 is a good book. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitcheners-Last-Volunteer-Allingham-Surviving-ebook/dp/B004K6MEDG?ie=UTF8&btkr=1&ref_=dp-kindle-redirect this is also an excellent read. What an amazing life! Harry Patch's autobiography is also good: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Fighting-Tommy-Trenches-1898-2009-ebook/dp/B003FI37QI?ie=UTF8&keywords=Harry%20Patch&qid=1462133612&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

Edit: Added links