Hi, hopefully this isn't the wrong subreddit for this. If so, let me know where to post instead.
Somehow I've gotten to be as old as I am, which isn't that old but still, with only knowing ancient history. I'm interested in learning more about modern history, but I'm having trouble finding books on the US about its history since WWII, as well as other places such as Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. When I say post WWII, I mean history from 1945 on. Basically, a time frame and not specifically about what was done to "remedy" (for lack of a better word) the destruction and chaos of the second world war.
I'm not looking for a single book on all of these topics, just a couple books following different regions of the world beginning from some point in the 20th century and cover a chunk of the second half of that century.
Hopefully this has been clear, if not let me know. Thanks!
For Europe, you will struggle to do better than Postwar by Tony Judt, although the amazing historian and author Ian Kershaw just published a book on Europe in the postwar entitled Rollercoaster.
For Japan, the go-to title is Embracing Defeat by John Dower {Amazon Link}. It's the history of Japan's occupation, how it affects both Japan and the US, and how it all points towards modern Japan.
In addition to the Judt and Dower texts, I would recommend William Hitchcock's The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945- Present (the "present here being ca. 2004) as one of the more balanced and comprehensive texts on Europe's long postwar period. For East Asia, Ronald Spector has a good, short book on the chaotic collapse, In the Ruins of Empire: The Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia. The relevant sections of Julian Jackson's recent De Gaulle biography should also impart a good, non-US perspective on the postwar period.