to learn about WWI and WWII

[Brittany]

Could anyone recommend a book that would give the history of WWI or WWII? I am looking to learn the most basic facts/reasons on the wars (I have forgotten so much since grade school) for general knowledge and so that I can fully enjoy books that build upon them.
Preferably something that would be interesting, but most important is the information. Thanks to everyone who replies!

[Chrissie]

For WW1 I recommend: The Guns of August

[Em]

WWII is such a broad subject that I don't think you will get an accurate view of the history of it in one book.

A wonderful book that covers the Pacific part of the war is A Pledge of Silence. It is about the nurses stationed in the Philippines during WWII.

[Inna]

John Keegan's books on WWI and WWII are pretty good.

[Paisley]

MausMaus, Vol. 1: My Father Bleeds HistoryMaus, Vol. 2: And Here My Troubles Began

I really love them. But it's not really a history, but it is kind of a biography... HA

[Victoria_Grossack]

I always recommend The Winds of War and War and Remembrance for WW II. OK, these are "fiction" but Wouk did a TON of research and also worked on making the subject as accessible as possible.

[Paisley]

I like reading the transcriptions. It really gives some great accounts of WWI. Good book... with flavor~ Forgotten Voices Of The Great War

[Xdyj]

I think the most well-known fiction based on WWI is probably All Quiet on the Western Front.

[Steelwhisper]

Have a look at Lyn Macdonald's very encompassing series of books about WWI


1914
1915 The Death Of Innocence
Somme
They Called It Passchendaele: The Third Battle of Ypres & the Men Who Fought in It
To the Last Man: Spring 1918
The Roses of No Man's Land
1914-1918 Voices and Images of the Great War

She covered every aspect of WWI in very readable manner.

For personal accounts I suggest this quartet, but beware, it's no easy reading!

Testament of Youth
Not So Quiet...
A Soldier's Diary
The Backwash Of War

The last two are available free online at archive.org or gutenberg.org.

[Sharon]

You might check your local library in the nonfiction section for some good WWI and WWII books. I read several and also used for reference when writing fiction in the WWII timeframe.

[Gabriella]

I'm currently reading Fall of Giants which is the first book in Follett's Century Trilogy, which will span across the 20th century. The first book begins in 1911 and will end in 1923. It features characters from the US, Russia, Germany, England, France, and Austria. I was never much of a history buff, but I felt that I've learned a lot about WWI, its causes, characters, and complexities since I've started reading this book. I absolutely love all of Follett's historical fiction, and I've hardly been able to put this text down. I think you'll find it very enlightening!

[Rexcrisanto]

One of my favorite WW2 book's is Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

[Zoe]

Victoria_Grossack wrote: "I always recommend The Winds of War and War and Remembrance for WW II. OK, these are "fiction" but Wouk did a TON of research and also worked on making the subject as accessible as possible."

I join this recommendation most passionately!
Both those extensive novels are covering WW2 from every side and angle possible, and they are great reads as well. Very enjoyable and enriching :-)

[happy]

A couple recent complete histories of WW II I can recomend

by Max Hastings

by Andrew Roberts (No Photo)

Hastings new one on the first year of WW I is also excellent




For an overview of the wars for younger readers the American Heritage books can't be beat





lots of good pictures!

[Lee]

I totally agree with "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." An excellent book on the lead up to World War I, centered around the development of the first modern battleship, is Robert K. Massie's "Dreadnought."

[Melissa]

I just started My Enemy's Cradle. It's about a lost part of the Holocaust and World War Two- German maternity homes. It's pretty good so far.

[Brittany]

Thank you all for the amazing feedback! I can't wait to look into the suggestions.

[happy]

Lee wrote: "I totally agree with "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance." An excellent book on the lead up to World War I, centered around the development of the first modern battleship, is Robert K. Mass..."

Don't forget its sequel



IMO both are excellent!

For a Russian perspective o the War Massie's



is also excellent - tbough it covers a lot more than just WW I

[Andrew]

A bit late, but I'd strongly recommend Gary Sheffield's book The Chief. If anyone still buys into the now very outdated "lions lead by donkeys" my this non-fiction work provides a powerful antidote. I read it back to back with Max Hastings Catastrophe 1914. Very powerful combo.

[Hudson]

Not sure of this thread is about fiction or non fiction, but I just finished the Rick Atkinson trilogy about WWII and they were amazing. He won a Pulitzer for the first book An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 Of course, these books only cover the Allied war in Africa and Europe and that is really only a portion of the story. I am now reading BARBAROSSA DERAILED: THE BATTLE FOR SMOLENSK 10 JULY-10 SEPTEMBER 1941 VOLUME 1: The German Advance, The Encirclement Battle, and the First and Second Soviet Counteroffensives, 10 July-24 August 1941 which covers a key battle between the German and Soviets. Their was was even more brutal if you can believe it!

[Annella]

Hi,

Three fiction books that come to mind immediately are 'Sarah's Key', 'The Life of Objects,' and the recent 'Skeleton's at the Feast.'

I enjoy books on the Flying Tigers--based in Burma, and the most successful combat pilots in US history so I've read Daniel Ford's nonfiction on them. I notice that he's subsequently written a few novels about them; you might check them out.

I just completed a book about a family's survival in WWII France, and am hoping to have it published, so it's really nice to see all this interest in WWII. Maybe there are agents out there who share it, and accept my book for representation. I'll let you know.

[Annella]

If you are looking for nonfiction, I can add a couple of titles that my husband just completed: 'Hell above Earth 'about a B-17 crew that flew 48 missions over Europe, well above the required 36. The second book, about minorities that should be rememberes for their tremendous contributions, is 'The Red-tails," about the Tuskegee fliers. It is mostly a collection of quotes from the men, and is quite fragmented. There are other, outstanding books on them.

[Andrew]

WWI offers many/many fine fiction choices. Might I suggest Pat Barker's Regeneration Trilogy? It's a bit different than either the Ernst Junger isn't-war-great or Robert Graves isn't-war-terrible (I'm simplifying, of course) -- well worth the read.

by Pat Barker

[Victoria]

For aspects of the First World War from a British perspective, you might like to look out for books by Richard Van Emden. For military history including both World Wars, Richard Holmes (who doesn't come up when I try to add author, although some of his books are on Goodreads).

Richard Holmes did a tv series called War Walks in which he visited battlefields in Europe, including some from both World Wars. You can find it on YouTube.

Someone mentioned Testament of Youth. The BBC did an excellent adaptation of that some years ago starring Cheryl Campbell. That's also on YouTube, unfortunately chopped up into ten minute segments.

[Emma]

Learning this is SS Class:

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is shot by Gavrillo Princip, a Serbian college student.

Austria-Hungary threatens Serbia...

...so Russia threatens Austria-Hungary...

...so Germany threatens Russia...

...so France threatens Germany...

...so Germany sends soldiers into France but they cross through Belgium... So England threatens France.

And then America barges in.

[Tytti]

Well, Finland hasn't been mentioned yet and there are not that many books in English, either.

Of course Finland as a country wasn't really involved in WWI but that didn't stop Finns fighting for both sides and actually against each other on the Eastern front. But in 1918 they were already on the same side and fighting in the Finnish Civil War, with some help from Germans (and the other side of Finns got help from Russians).

In WWII the situation was a bit different, because our enemy was always the same but more or less every other country changed sides...

So, here is a biography of the only man who served in both World Wars as a general and the only one who was decorated by BOTH sides in BOTH World Wars. When he wasn't busy fighting in wars, all six of them, or hunting man-eating tigers, he was a spy, anthropologist, diplomat, philanthropist, the head-of-state (twice), a hero of both Finland and Russia...
Mannerheim: President, Soldier, Spy by Jonathan Clements