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This page displays book recommendations and writings from the Military History Group's speakers and audience.  We hope that you enjoy them.

Book Recommendations
        French & Indian Wars  
        Revolutionary War
        American West 
        World War I
        World War II
        Vietnam

 

 

  WMHG Recommended Reading

             
General
How Great Generals Win by Bevin Alexander.  W. W. Norton & Co., 1993.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Bill Saunders.  P This book explains the qualities of leadership displayed by a dozen great commanders.  It enables the reader to understand those generals’ successes independent of the details of the conditions of their times.  

French and Indian Wars
Arundel by Kenneth Roberts.  Down East Books, 1995 (PB).  Fiction.  Recommended by Judy Markland.

Roberts is an excellent historian and his novels are carefully researched.  Arundel describes Benedict Arnold’s march through the Maine swamps to Quebec to fight Montcalm.  It gives a superb picture of the New England colonists in the mid-18th century and an excellent description of the background of the Battle of Quebec.

Revolutionary War
Washington ’s Crossing by David Fischer.  Oxford, 2004.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Robert Leach.
It puts the role of George Washington in proper perspective as a successful military commander.  The first battle of Trenton was the turning point for the war and it was a planning triumph.  It also examines the next two battles and what happened in NJ for the rest of that winter with the NJ militia.  This was militarily important and immense with regard to the psyche of the “colonists”.

The American West Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Rob Nikoleski.  About George Custer and the battle of the Little Big Horn.  The book is not written in chronological order.  The author has a background as a novelist and doesn’t write a standard history, but the book is not a historical novel.  It’s factual, compete with footnotes. It’s a great book and takes an unsparing look at both sides of the Indian wars.

World War I No Graves as Yet by Anne Perry.  Ballantine Books, 2004.  Fiction.  Recommended by Judy Markland.   
Anne Perry uses the guise of a murder mystery set in an English public school to portray vividly the disbelief, horror and (sometimes misguided) patriotism of school boys and their elders as they watch England being inexorably drawn into a war that makes no sense to anyone.  A very easily read history and a good mystery to boot.

Shoulder the Sky by Anne Perry.  Thorndike Press, 2005.  Fiction.  Recommended by Judy Markland.  P 

The second in Anne Perry’s series of sagas with World War 1 as a background, this novel gives a graphic picture of the horror of the trenches in Belgium, the tragedies at Gallipoli, and British townspeople struggling to make sense of it all.  Extremely well written.

World War II America’s Mighty Eighth Air Force: Conception to D-Day, Volume 1 by Warren Bodie & Allan Macpherson.  Widewing Publications, 2002.  ISBN 0-9629359-6-4   Recommended by John Gates.    While not designed as a coffee-table book, never-the-less this large format book (8-¾” high x 11-½” wide) is filled with large pictures, predominantly black & white, of the 8th AF; its aircraft and its men. The sheer volume and diversity of the pictures, several of which are very rare (or at least not widely published) make this book an excellent reference that often makes up for the author-publisher’s idiosyncratic writing style, occasional chronological repetitions, repeated opinions sprinkled throughout the text & photo captions and the often inaccurate index at the back of the book.
The coverage of the 8th AF is pretty comprehensive, covering the range of operations, groups and bases throughout England, from the fly boys to the ground crew. For example, most 8th AF books don’t give the 8th Fighter Command Air Technical Section sufficient credit for their (literally) live-saving work, let alone clearly detail their accomplishments, as well as publish pictures of the group, their leaders and a few of their engineering projects. This book is worth seeking out for the pictures alone. You will find pictures of the commanding officers and the pilots we have read about in other histories of the air war over Europe, coupled with useful captions and explanatory text. The vast majority of the pictures are aircraft photos reproduced in pretty good detail throughout the book. All the photos are large (one per page); a nice change from the often poorly printed and small pictures found in most WWII history books

Battle: The Story of the Bulge by John Toland.   Random House, 1959.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Chan Rogers. P This book presents in detail the story of the defeat of the German forces attacking in the Battle of the Bulge. It begins with the details of the German successes in the initial phases of the attack, carries through with their early progress to the turn of the tide, and then to the ultimate  elimination of the attacking forces.  The story is interesting in that it deals with details of small unit activity on both sides as well as the big picture.  The small unit action details the many episodes of heroic action by the American forces, which were the root of the success of the Allied effort to defeat the German desperate effort to stop the drive into Germany .  While Toland’s book is excellent reading, it does not mention nor give tribute to Eisenhower for his decision to immediately (on the 16th of December) pull entire divisions (three each) from the flanks of the First and Third Armies and send them by road convoy overnight to the points of insertion on the flanks of the penetration of the attack (The Bulge). Eisenhower also ordered the immediate deployment of the 101st Airborne Division from reorganization and rest at Reims to Bastogne , the vital crossroads the Allies had to hold to ensure success of the counterattack. These movements of entire divisions were the most extensive ever executed by an army in combat which caused the defeat of the enemy.


The Bedford Boys – One American Town’s Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice by Alex Kershaw.  Da Capo Press, 2003. Recommended by John Gates.   P
This former New York Times bestseller is ultimately a heart-breaking true tale of the men in Company A, 116th Regiment, 29th Division from the rural town of Bedford , VA. 19 young men from that town died in the first few minutes of D-Day on Omaha Beach and 3 more died within just a few more days. The effect of that loss on the small unpretentious town was devastating. The author weaves a clear story of the true impact of war on both the combatants on the front line and their family & friends on the home front. 

In the author’s own words “I wanted to write a history about working people and the fight on the home front and abroad. I also wanted to write about ordinary people who made great sacrifices and did so with great dignity. I also very much admired this community and what it did.” This story was one of the inspirations for “Saving Private Ryan” and is worth finding and reading. (Available in paperback.)


Beyond Belief:  The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1935-45 by Deborah E. Lipstadt.  The Free Press, 1986. P
A scholarly study of – and indicting commentary on – the conduct of the American press before and during the Holocaust.

Black Hole of Wauwilermoos by Dan Cutler.  Ghost River Images.  Non-fiction. Recommended by Maurice Rockett.
This is one of the most unusual POW stories I have ever read.  It is not well written; however, it comes from the heart of the writer, who endured the worst of personal harm from a nation purportedly non-violent and appreciative of peaceful activities.  The story relates to a downed aircrew, one taking refuge in neutral Switzerland.  What happens to one crewmember will make your hair stand on end.  It is repulsive and shocking, the way the Swiss prison officials handled this airman during his internment.
Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose.  Simon and Schuster, 1998.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Chan Rogers and Bill Saunders. P  

I liked this book very much for the way the author tied specific critical events of the European Theater of Operations to the actual service personnel of virtually every rank who were responsible for successful accomplishment of that event.  The author then arranged the episodes chronologically so that it leads the reader from Normandy to the Elbe.


Code-Name Downfall by Thomas B. Allen & Norman Polmar. Simon and Schuster, 1995. Non-fiction.  Recommended by Chan Rogers. P The fly-leaf states that this book tells the details of the secret plan (now declassified) to invade Japan and why Truman dropped “The Bomb”.  However, the real exciting part tells the detail story of the attempted mutiny by a number of field-grade officers of the Japanese elite palace guards who attempted to thwart the Emperor’s surrender to end the war. The book also details the many plans to make the Allies pay dearly in the invasion of the homeland.  This included the mass production of planes and submarines for kamikaze attack on the invasion fleet and the distribution of millions of rifles to civilians to kill Allied solders in suicide attacks on the invasion forces. Fortunately, the mutiny did not succeed for two unrelated reasons which are good reason to read the book to find out why it failed. 

 

Death Traps – The Survival of an American Armored Division in WWII by Belton Y. Cooper.  Ballantine Books, 1998. Recommended by John Gates. P Don’t let the title put you off finding and reading this book. Written by an Ordnance Liaison Officer in the 3rd Armored Division, Belton Cooper shares his unique perspective on the European Campaign. His group was in combat from the Normandy landings until the end of the war and he is very good at sharing his feelings and emotions during that time, always from the perspective of a combat soldier. Most often serving the forward combat elements in the recovery and repair of damaged American tanks, Mr. Cooper was able to see the war from many different vantage points and he shares them all with the reader. Filled with enough details, maps and pictures to understand his experiences, the course of the war and the reality of the all too real shortcomings of much of our mechanized combat equipment, you can see another facet to what General Eisenhower termed “a Great Crusade”.

 

Duty: A Father, His Son & the Man Who Won the War by Bob Greene.  Wm. Morrow – Harper Collins,  2000.   Recommended by John Gates. P Growing up in Central Ohio in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Bob Greene’s father often pointed out a man about his own age and told his young son, “That’s the man who won the war.” As his father, a WWII infantryman, lay dying, Bob Greene started meeting Paul Tibbets face-to-face and developed a close personal relationship with him leading to this book. An accomplished author and syndicated columnist, Mr. Greene rights well of a very private man, with a distinguished military career; one that was all but eclipsed by his leading the 509th Composite Group and piloting the B29 “Enola Gay” on the first military mission using nuclear weapons – Hiroshima. You may think you know Paul Tibbets, but this book provides another perspective on a life of duty, honor and service. As the book jacket states “…a powerful tribute to the ordinary heroes of an extraordinary time in American life.”

 

Embracing Defeat:  Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower.  W. W. Norton, 1999.  Non fiction.  Dower’s Pulitzer Prize winning account of Japan in the Occupation years.


Flight of the Enola Gay by Paul W. Tibbets. Mid-Coast Marketing,1989.  Recommended by John Gates.     
This is Paul W. Tibbets’ story in his own words, written many years after the event that even the most casual WWII aficionados associate him with; the first nuclear combat mission – August 6th, 1945 – Hiroshima. An extraordinary pilot and leader of men, this is a story well worth reading, and well worth remembering. 
Recommendation: For a more rounding understanding of Paul Tibbets and the two nuclear combat missions that ushered in the nuclear age while ending WWII, read this book, plus Duty: A Father, His Son & the Man Who Won the War by Bob Greene (reviewed here) and War’s End – An Eyewitness Account of America’s Last Atomic Mission by Major General Charles W. Sweeney (also reviewed here).
First Light by Geoffrey Wellum. Hardcover, Viking 2003. Paperback, Penguin 2003.  Recommended by Mark O’Day. P A bestseller in the UK, not sure it was sold here. This is the self-told story of a 17 year old who signed up for the RAF and flew in the Battle of Britain and throughout the war. One quote from the inside cover "If you read only one autobiography of an RAF pilot, make it this one: First Light really hooks you from the first page."

The Gentle Infantryman by W.Y. Boyd.  (Elton-Wolf Publishing, 2003) Fiction.  Recommended by Alan R. Earls. P
Boyd was a World War II infantryman, and while his writing is sometimes less polished than other authors, his tales possess total veracity.  It is hard to imagine anyone creating a more compelling account of combat.

 

“The Good Old Days”:  The Holocaust as Seen by its Perpetrators and Bystanders edited by Ernst Klee, Willi Dressen and Volker Riess.  The Free Press, 1991. P Astounding insights into the minds of the German perpetrators of the Holocaust.  A real eye-opener.

 

The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill.   Buccaneer Books, 1978.   Recommended by Mark O’Day. P  

This needs no introduction, but it is the real account of what the movie was based on.

Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer, B-17’s Over Germany by  Brian D. O’Neill.  Special Revised Edition, McGraw Hill  1998, 1999.  Recommended by John Gates.
If you read just one book about WWII air combat over Europe, read this book. 
Essentially, this is an extremely readable account of the 303rd Bomb Group’s combat history as they served in the 8th Air Force in the European Theater of Operations during WWII. But this book is much more than a mere record of operations. The story of the “Hell’s Angels” is most often compellingly told in the first person by the men who flew the bombing missions, extensively corroborated with actual (official) combat records (USAAF, RAF & Luftwaffe). It largely follows one very special B-17 crew led by Pilot Robert J. Hullar, as they fly all their combat missions, becoming leaders within the 303rd BG, in every sense of that word, along the way. 
Author Brian O’Neill does an excellent job as a historian and story-teller, using maps and photographs as guides to their many stories, while still presenting a clear picture of WWII aerial combat. At times, this book reads better than the best combat fiction you are likely to find and will give you an excellent picture of, and a real feel for, this time gone by. Make sure you read the revised edition for all the updates and additional stories. 
Noted WWII USAAF historian Roger A. Freeman’s review of this book reads in part  “A well researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew’s experience…excellent.”

The Interrogator by Raymond F. Toliver.  Schiffer Publishing. Non-fiction.  Recommended by Maurice Rockett.
It is always a pleasure to hear from the other side, the German, especially if the tale relates to WWII and the 8th AF, which occupied some of my time as an air combatant.  This is another story about POWs, but this time we hear about an astute German interrogator for the Luftwaffe.  Torture or brutality was not his style, but cunning and a profound understanding of human nature gave him the ability to elicit information from crew members or fighter pilots as they talked in a physically harmless environment.  Also, he debunks the denial by the 100th BG, which, by many in the group, refuse to admit to a cowardly act of shooting down an escorting German fighter, once having dropped their wheels in surrender.

Japan at War, an Oral History by Haruko Taya Cook and Theodore Cook.  The New Press, 1992. P

From war widows, the men who perpetrated the horrors at Unit 731 in Manchuria , and a star at a Tokyo nightclub, to Zero fighters and political cartoonists, the Cooks have compiled a great compendium of Japanese memories or the Pacific War as expressed in their oral histories.

 

The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary.  St. Martins Press.  Recommended by Mark O’Day. P
Also known by its first title from 1942 Falling Through Space, this is an autobiography written during the war of a young pilot who was horribly burned, yet returned to action only to be killed in 1943. 


Liberty , the Ships that Won the War by Peter Elphick.  Naval Institute Press, 2001.  Non-fiction. Recommended by Mat Leupold. P

The Normandy Diary of Marie-Louise Osmont 1940-1944.  Random House, 1995. Recommended by Mark O’Day. P

This is a fascinating look at the wartime life of a well off farm owner during both the German and Allied occupations. She lived through air raids, battles, being wounded by shrapnel, soldiers of both sides occupying her home and more.


Once Upon A Town – The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen by Bob Greene.  Wm. Morrow – Harper Collins, 2002.  Recommended by John Gates and Bill Saunders. P

Syndicated Columnist Bob Greene, author of many books, including the best seller “Duty: A Father, His Son & the Man Who Won the War, brings us a look into a unique part of the American “Home Front” during WWII.  From Christmas Day 1941 until the end of the war, the little town of North Platte Nebraska met every troop train that stopped at their station, an important railroad junction during that time, and provided America’s Citizen Soldiers with some of the comforts of home: coffee, food, magazines and a touch-stone to the lives they were leaving behind on their way to war. It is estimated they entertained over 6 million servicemen during the war. Bob Greene characterized his research as looking for “the best America there ever was” and he may have found it. Poignant and funny and true, this insightful look into a true phenomenon is worthwhile and rewarding reading. (Also available on CD and cassette.)


 One Christmas in Washington  by David Bercuson & Holger Herwig  The Overlook Press 2005.  Recommended by Bill Saunders.  P
This book is a gem. It gives a fascinating behind the scenes insight into the little known RCADIA conference just after Pearl Harbor.   Included are brief biographies of over a dozen major British and American war leaders plus some highly entertaining vignettes of Churchill raising havoc in the White House and dazzling the American public. The authors give a fascinating appraisal of FDR's opaque management style, made more so by the fact that he deliberately kept few written records.

The Second World War (6 volumes) by Winston S. Churchill.  Mariner Books, 1986.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Alan R. Earls. P
This is the only personal account of the source and conduct of WWII by one of the top national leaders.  Churchill brings both his personal experience and historian’s eye to this detailed and lucid account.  For better or worse, Churchill bulked up the work by including the text of numerous memos and letters, as well as lengthy appendices.  However, most of these make fascinating reading and provide a portrait of events and people difficult to find elsewhere.  Volume One, The Gathering Storm, is a particularly useful view of the failures that led Europe back into war.

Spyglass by Helene Deschamps. Henry Holt, 1995.  Recommended by Mark O’Day. P
This is an autobiography of a 17 year old French woman who joined the resistance, and later the OSS. She helped American pilots escape, and provided key information to the Allies during the war.


To Lose a Battle:  France 1940 by Alistair Horne.  Little Brown, 1969. Non-fiction.  Recommended by Bill Corker. P
It is a well-documented book about the fall of France at the beginning of WWII.  Although it covers the period between the signing of the Versailles Treaty and the occupation of France in 1940, it emphasizes the 10 critical days of the invasion, when Hitler’s armies successfully cut off and destroyed the British and French expeditionary forces in Belgium.  It provides detailed information and answers many questions about the German attack through the Ardennes forest and the breaching of the Maginot Line in the north. Politically it describes the abject failure of the Allied nations to come to grips with the new tactics of the Blitzkrieg and France’s reliance on the obsolete military thinking that led to the creation of the Maginot Line.  The technical details are enlightening with many photographs and battlefield maps.  This impacts the emotions when one compares Hitler’s plans for the domination of Europe and how it was carried out, versus the sorry machinations of the French, Polish and the British governments.  As the disaster unfolds, one is likely to ask the question, “How could they . . .?”


War Without Mercy:  Race and Power in the Pacific War by John W. Dower. Pantheon Books, 1986. P
Drawing on propaganda materials from both sides of the Pacific – in particular, vehicles of popular culture such as films, songsslogans and cartoons – Dower explores racial stereotypes of “the other” in Japan and America during World War II.


War’s End – An Eyewitness Account of America’s Last Atomic Mission by Major General Charles W. Sweeney with James A. Antonucci & Marion K. Antonucci.  Avon Books, 1997. Recommended by John Gates. P
General Sweeney & the Antonucci’s have crafted a readable and compelling story that clearly brings the reader into WWII and the 509th Composite Bomb Group; the US Army Air Forces Bomb Group formed specifically to carry out the United States first (and only) nuclear combat missions – missions that ended WWII and started the nuclear age (and the international nuclear arms race). As (then) Colonel Paul W. Tibbet’s #2, and the only pilot to fly both nuclear combat missions, General Sweeney’s unique insights and his intellect help him to make his case for the necessity of these two missions. His perspective will help you understand a little bit better what the 509th was like and what the pressures for success and the potential for failure felt like on a very human scale. (Available in paperback.)

Why the Allies Won by Richard Overy.   W.W. Norton & Co., 1995.  Non-fiction.  Recommended by Bill Saunders.  P  This book is unique because it seeks to explain the fundamental reasons for the allied victory in WWII.  Eschewing the usual blow-by-blow descriptions of battlefield events, the author examines basic elements of military success – leadership, industrial strength, technology and tactics.

With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge.  Oxford University Press, 1981. P  Perhaps the greatest first-person account of war ever written.  

Vietnam Eye for the Dragon by Dennis Bloodworth.  Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1970. Nonfiction.  Recommended by Michael Schuttenberg.   P
Essentially a compilation of this British news reporter's notes, essays, and reports from when he covered all of Southeast Asia from post--WWII.  Not so much a history, but a first-hand contemporary report of activities and events in the whole of SE Asia from the 50’s to 70’s from a non-American viewpoint.

Indochine by Christie Dickason.  Villard Books, 1987.  Fiction. Recommended by Michael Schuttenberg.   P
A historical novel that does for the French involvement in Vietnam what " Saigon " provides for U.S. involvement.  The book is much better than the movie based on it (starring Catherine Deneuve).  Indochine and Saigon both place their characters in Viet Nam , and focus on events in that country. They both begin well in advance of the American war, and therefore supply it with some context.

Pentagon Papers: As Published by the New York Times.  1971. Nonfiction. Recommended by Michael Schuttenberg.   P
The famous compilation of U.S. government reports and memoranda on U.S. involvement in Vietnam, starting in 1946 with Ho Chi Minh's personal letter to Pres. Truman for military, political,  and logistical assistance to keep Vietnam independent and a continuing post-WWII ally of the U.S.  [The letter was not answered].  Although not the most exciting reading, it is probably still the definitive work on documenting what the U.S. govt. knew, and when it knew it. 

Saigon by  Anthony Grey.  Little Brown, 1982.  Fiction.  Recommended by Michael Schuttenberg.   P
This historical novel uses a fictional American family's multigenerational personal and political involvement in Vietnam to provide a background for the U.S. 's involvement.  A nice novel that revolves around the history of Vietnam from 1925 to 1975.  Anthony Grey spins a nice story that is hard to put down. Very easy reading; very thoroughly researched history.  

Afghanistan and Iraq

Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks. Penguin Press, 2006.  Recommended by Bill Saunders.  P This book opens with "President George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 ultimately may come to be seen as one of the most profligate actions in the history of American foreign policy". Ricks, an experienced Pentagon correspondent, presents a well organized history of the war showing the background, training, experience and thinking of the people who led the country into a disastrous blunder.  Most of the author's information has already been printed in the media, but Ricks ties it together in such a way as to make the course of events clear and understandable.  His biographical sketches acquaint you not only with the bunglers who created the disaster but also with some impressive commanders who performed effectively. The book leaves you wit the hope that the latter will one day rise to the top in the Pentagon.

 

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