Five Books has extensive coverage of World War II. Antony Beevor recommends his best books on World War II as a whole, but we also have interviews dedicated to specific battles. Anna Reid recommends the best books on the horrific Siege of Leningrad. Simon Ball recommends the best books on El Alamein. We also have a collection of D-Day books and of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
One of the most brilliant accounts of World War II from a Russian perspective is the novel Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman. It's been recommended by a number of our interviewees as a great read, including the late and great military historian Michael Howard. Also a must-read is Ordinary Men by Christopher Browning, for its insight into how “ordinary” Germans got involved in perpetrating the Holocaust in Eastern Europe.
No account of World War 2 is complete without some of the memoirs of people who lived during it. The Diary of Anne Frank, which many of us read as teenagers, remains unmissable, as is Maus, the graphic novel Art Spiegelman wrote about his father's experience in Poland. Other heartbreaking memoirs are Elie Wiesel's Night and Primo Levi's If this is a Man. Less well-known but twice recommended on Five Books is A Woman in Berlin.
If you prefer reading novels, we also have a section dedicated to World War 2 historical fiction.
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Stalingrad
by Antony Beevor -
2
The Longest Day
by Cornelius Ryan -
3
Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader, Hero of the Battle of Britain
by Paul Brickhill -
4
To Hell and Back: The Classic Memoir of World War II by America's Most Decorated Soldier
by Audie Murphy -
5
The War: A Memoir
by Marguerite Duras
The best books on World War II Battles, recommended by Alex Kershaw
The best books on World War II Battles, recommended by Alex Kershaw
In World War II human beings were tested over and over again, and that is part of what explains its enduring fascination, says bestselling historian Alex Kershaw. He recommends five books of great storytelling that immerse you in the drama, the heroism and the tragedy of World War II and also have the benefit of being relatively short.
The best books on World War II, recommended by Antony Beevor
The popular military historian Antony Beevor recommends some of his own favourite books about the Second World War.
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Auschwitz and After
by Charlotte Delbo -
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Man's Search for Meaning
by Viktor Frankl -
3
The Search: The Birkenau Boys
by Gerhard Durlacher -
4
The Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial, 1963-1965: Genocide, History and the Limits of the Law
by Devin O Pendas -
5
Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman's Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany
by Marie Jalowicz-Simon
The best books on Auschwitz, recommended by Mary Fulbrook
The best books on Auschwitz, recommended by Mary Fulbrook
Why were so few of the Nazis involved in running Auschwitz brought to justice? Why did some Germans during the Holocaust risk death to hide Jewish people from Nazi persecution, while others were passive bystanders? Historian Mary Fulbrook—author of Reckonings, which won the 2019 Wolfson History Prize—recommends essential reading for understanding Auschwitz and its aftermath.
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Russia at War
by Alexander Werth -
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A Writer At War: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945
by Vasily Grossman, edited and translated by Antony Beevor and Lyuba Vinogradova -
3
Reflections on the Russian Soul
by Dmitry Likhachov -
4
Less Than One
by Joseph Brodsky -
5
Conversations with Stalin
by Milovan Djilas
The best books on The Siege of Leningrad, recommended by Anna Reid
The best books on The Siege of Leningrad, recommended by Anna Reid
Glorified by Russia, glossed over by the West, the siege of Leningrad is rarely seen for what it was – a tragic story of tremendous suffering and death. The author of Leningrad, Anna Reid, tells us what really happened there
The best books on The Holocaust, recommended by Steven Katz
In the years immediately after World War II, the Holocaust was little studied. That all changed with the publication of Raul Hilberg’s book, The Destruction of the European Jews. Steven Katz, professor of Jewish Holocaust Studies at Boston University and former Director of the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, introduces the best Holocaust books.
Novels and Memoirs of World War II, recommended by James Holland
Historian and novelist James Holland talks us through some of his favourite memoirs and novels about the Second World War and explains his lifelong fascination with the global conflict.
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My Early Life 1874-1904
by Winston Churchill -
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Churchill and the Islamic World: Orientalism, Empire and Diplomacy in the Middle East
by Warren Dockter -
3
In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War
by David Reynolds -
4
Churchill and the Dardanelles
by Christopher M Bell -
5
Winston Churchill As I Knew Him
by Violet Bonham Carter
The best books on Winston Churchill, recommended by Richard Toye
The best books on Winston Churchill, recommended by Richard Toye
Winston Churchill’s role as a global statesman remains immensely controversial. For some he was the heroic champion of liberty, saviour of the free world; for others a callous imperialist with a doleful legacy. Here, historian Richard Toye chooses the best books to help you understand the man behind the myths and Churchill’s own role in making those myths.
The best books on Hitler, recommended by Michael Burleigh
Hitler has a reputation as the incarnation of evil. But, as British historian Michael Burleigh points out in selecting the best books on the German dictator, Hitler was a bizarre and strangely empty character who never did a proper day’s work in his life, as well as a raving fantasist on to whom Germans were able to project their longings.
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Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
by Christopher Browning -
2
Jews, Germans, and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany
by Atina Grossmann -
3
A Brief Stop on the Road from Auschwitz
by Goran Rosenberg -
4
Dissonant Lives: Generations and Violence Through the German Dictatorships
by Mary Fulbrook -
5
Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall
by Anna Funder
The best books on Modern German History, recommended by Hester Vaizey
The best books on Modern German History, recommended by Hester Vaizey
In the 20th century, Germany suffered defeat in two world wars and withstood two kinds of dictatorship. Yet today it is Europe’s strongest economy. Hester Vaizey, fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and author of Born in the GDR, selects five brilliant books on a tumultuous century.
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Pendulum Of War: Three Battles at El Alamein
by Niall Barr -
2
The Desert War: The Classic Trilogy on the North African Campaign 1940-43
by Alan Moorehead -
3
Rommel
by Desmond Young -
4
Montgomery and the Eighth Army
by Bernard Montgomery and Stephen Brooks (ed) -
5
The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain
by Stephen Bungay
The best books on El Alamein, recommended by Simon Ball
The best books on El Alamein, recommended by Simon Ball
Churchill hailed the Allied victory at the Battle of El Alamein as “the end of the beginning” for Hitler in World War II. But in that very same speech, he downplayed its significance. Historian Simon Ball separates clichés from facts and chooses the best of the vast number of books written about El Alamein, the Desert War and World War II in general.
Books on the Aftermath of World War II, recommended by Keith Lowe
Postwar Europe was a scene of both physical and moral destruction. Keith Lowe, author of the award-winning Savage Continent, recommends essential reading for understanding the sheer scale of suffering, dislocation and fighting after the war was over.
VE Day Books: Editors’ Picks, recommended by Sophie Roell
For the anniversary of VE or Victory in Europe Day, Five Books editor Sophie Roell takes a personal tour of books about World War II and the Holocaust.
The best books on The Psychology of Nazism, recommended by Daniel Pick
The historian and author of The Pursuit of the Nazi Mind, Daniel Pick, tells us what we can learn from attempts to use psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis to understand Nazism.
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After Jutland: The Naval War in North European Waters, June 1916-November 1918
by James Goldrick -
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The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command
by Andrew Gordon -
3
The Silent Deep: The Royal Navy Submarine Service since 1945
by James Jinks & Peter Hennessy -
4
Battle Line: The United States Navy, 1919–1939
by Thomas C. Hone & Trent Hone -
5
World War II at Sea: A Global History
by Craig L. Symonds
The best books on Naval History (20th Century), recommended by Nicholas Rodger
The best books on Naval History (20th Century), recommended by Nicholas Rodger
In the world wars of the twentieth century, naval warfare has often been given a secondary role. But as naval historian Nicholas Rodger explains, the protagonists who thought like that lost. Here, he chooses five books that explain the military role and development of navies over the course of the 20th century.
The best books on The French Resistance, recommended by Jonathan Fenby
The historian and author chooses five books on de Gaulle and the Resistance. He says the British tried to veto de Gaulle’s famous 1940 speech from London calling on the French to stand up to German occupation
The best books on The Other France, recommended by Carmen Callil
Author and founder of Virago Press decries the absolute silence of the church during the Holocaust, and discusses five books on the “dark and murky side” the French have now “faced up to”
The best books on Pilots of the Second World War, recommended by Steve Darlow
Steve Darlow, author of nine books on military aviation, discusses his favourite books on pilots during the Second World War – a time when 800 Allied airmen were lynched
The best books on Nazi Hunters, recommended by Guy Walters
The Times journalist calls Simon Wiesenthal a liar. He’s just not this secular saint that everyone says he is – his memoirs all contradict each other and are at odds with the rest of the evidence