Any recommendations for books/documentaries about the experience of the average person/ country during WW2? Looking to start making a game and I need ideas for events/characters that hopefully cover more diverse figures and events than my U.S. Highschool education taught me.

by TimTheEnchntr

Like the title says I'm in the beginning processes of designing a new board game themed around WW2, more specifically the industries people behind the scenes that are often glossed over or barely touched on. Before I start to actually work on the project, I want to refresh on potential events, themes and characters that I might be able to use as inspiration.

Even better if the works in questioned specifically focus on marginalized communities or areas of the war that are not often spoken about. By no means does this have to be U.S. specific, my main goal is to try and avoid a white ethnocentric/ American focused series before even deciding what the game is going to be.

Hergrim

Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.

Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.

For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.