Second World War Books

Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.The battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation...

Honorable Mention forthe John Lyman Book Award in the category of "U.S. Naval History."Mastering the Art of Command is a detailed examination of Admiral Chester W. Nimitz's leadership during World War II. It describes how he used his talents to guide the...

Winner of the 2022Rear AdmiralSamuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval LiteratureThis is the first-ever biography of Vice Admiral Willis A. Lee Jr., who served a key role during World War II in the Pacific. Recognizing the achievements and legacy of one of...

Stuart Goldman convincingly argues that a little-known, but intense Soviet-Japanese conflict along the Manchurian-Mongolian frontier at Nomonhan influenced the outbreak of World War II and shaped the course of the war. The author draws on Japanese,...

In Great at Heart Gavin Long finally gets the biography he richly deserves.While Charles Bean is the subject of several major biographies, this is the first life story of his acolyte, war correspondent and editor and principal author of the official...

The members of the Australian battalion of Gull Force endured some of the harshest prisoner of war conditions of any Australian during the Second World War.In February 1942, on the remote island of Ambon in Indonesia, 1150 Australian soldiers were...

An astonishing tale of romance, resistance and bravery‘A sad and beautiful book, shining a light on quiet heroism in dark times.’ Lucy Adlington, New York Times bestselling author of The Dressmakers of Auschwitz Sabine’s War is the previously untold...

Discover the untold World War II story of a young man's courage and the saga of a dictator's pistol that continues to unfold today.It's World War II. Young soldier Ira "Teen" Palm and his men burst into a Munich apartment, hoping to capture Adolf...

‘Lucid and damning … an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup and denial’ PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of EMPIRE OF PAINA groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third...

Allene Carter's father-in-law was a decorated veteran. Yet it was not until the Carter family received a call from the White House that she discovered he was a heroic force in the Rhineland campaign. President Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to...

‘Among the most moving documents I have read in years … You will not forget it’ Elie Wiesel From her small, sunny hometown between the beautiful Carpathian Mountains and the blue Danube River, Elli Friedmann was taken – at a time when most girls are...

"Magnificently researched, brilliantly written, Lethal Tides is immensely entertaining and reads like an action novel. Catherine Musemeche has brought to life the incredible work of the scientists and researchers who made such a remarkable...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER.In honor of the 75th Anniversary of one of the most critical battles of World War II, the popular primetime Fox News anchor of The Story with Martha MacCallum pays tribute to the heroic men who sacrificed everything...

(Previously published as ‘After the Flood’)Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol sets out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood. RAF 617 Squadron’s destruction of the dams at the heart of...

The untold story of the D-Day scientists who changed special operations forever. 'Fascinating...a great historical military account and essential reading' John Volanthen, author of Thirteen Lives.On the beaches of Normandy, two summers before D-Day, the...

THE SUNDAY TIMES #1 BESTSELLER'Reads like a thriller… I couldn't put Max Hastings's new book down' DAILY MAIL'Hastings is a master of drama, a writer intimately familiar with the mind of the soldier' THE TIMES Operation Biting was one of the most...

"A beguiling tale of espionage and double-dealing in the years leading up to World War II. ... Strap in for a narrative that demands a suspension of disbelief—and richly rewards it." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review); Best Books of February...

‘Excellent’ Antony Beevor‘Saul David is a brilliant historian … In shocking and jaw-dropping detail, he brings a battle that deserves far greater prominence and understanding vividly back to life’ James Holland From award-winning historian Saul David,...

The Sunday Times bestseller‘An utterly engrossing book’ Nigella Lawson‘Remarkable and gripping’ Edmund de Waal'A near-perfect study of Jewish identity in the 20th century … I don’t hesitate to call it a masterpiece’ Telegraph After her grandmother died,...

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise was one of the most extraordinary episodes of the Second World War, yet it has also become one of the most...

The Instant New York Times Bestseller"I could not put this extraordinary book down. Three Days at the Brink is a masterpiece: elegantly written, brilliantly conceived, and impeccably researched. This book not only sparkles but is...

An engrossing and fact-filled collection of the great screwups of the Great WarNever had there been a war on the scale of World War II—a global conflict so widespread and involving so many different military organizations from such a diverse pool of...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive history of combat aviation and fighter aircraft, from World War I to present INCLUDES 32 PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND 12 MAPSLords of the Sky is the “dramatic, fast-paced, and definitive" (Michael...

The gripping true story of the woman who became the Gestapo's most wanted spy In the early 1930s, Nancy Wake was a young woman enjoying a bohemian life in Paris. By the end of the Second World War, she was the Gestapo's most wanted person. As a naïve,...

A magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. A book which shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world- soldiers, sailors and airmen;...

Drawing on a wealth of new material from military, ecclesiastical and secular civilian archives, Michael Snape presents a study of the experience of the officers and men of Britain's vast citizen armies, and also of the numerous religious agencies which...