Recommended Reads

[Cpl Rootes]

Just thourght that i would like to see everyone's recommended reads (any period - military theme). I'll start, so settle down and listen to:

Rootes' Recommeded Reads:

Pre WW1:
Fact:
Caeser - Christian Meier
Fiction:
The 'Emperor' series - Conn Iggulden
The 'Sharpe' series - Bernard Cornwell
Pompeii - Robert Harris

WW1:
Fact:
World War 1 in Photographs - Paul Whittle (editor)
Great Battles of World War 1 - Anthony Livesey
A Western Front Companion 1914-1918 - John Laffin
Forgotten Voices for the Great War - Max Arthur
Tommy - Richard Holmes
Fiction:
Great First World War stories - Chancellor Press
The First Casualty - Ben Elton
Rememberance - Theresa Breslin

WW2:
Fact:
Band of Brothers - Stephen E. Ambrose
D-Day - Stephen E. Ambrose
The Victors - Stephen E. Ambrose
Pegasus Bridge - Stephen E. Ambrose
Overlord - Max Hastings
Stalingrad - Anthony Beevor
Berlin - Anthony Beevor
Campaigns of World War II Day by Day - Chris McNab, Chris Bishop
Chronicles of World War II - David G. Chandler, Colin McIntyre, Michael C. Tagg
The Desert Rats - Kevin Jones
The Normandy Landings - Derek Blizard
World War II in Photographs - Paul Whittle (editor)
Forgotten Voices of the Second World War - Max Arthur

Post WW2:
Fact:
The Royal Navy today and tomorrow - J. R. Hill
The British Army today and tomorrow - H. C. B. Rogers
The Royal Air Force today and tomorrow - R. A. Mason
Shoot to kill - Michael Asher
Fighting Forces - Richard Bennett
Fiction:
All books by Chris Ryan
All books by Andy McNab

Miscellaneous:
Fact:
20th Century Military Uniforms - Chris McNab
20th Century Artillery - Ian Hogg
Fighting Vehicles of the world - Philip Trewhitt, Chris McNab
Fighting Ships of the world - Robert Jackson, Steve Crawford
Horrible History series - Terry Deary (I know that these books are not filled with military knowlage, but they are what got me interested in history when i was very young)
Fiction:
What if - Robert Cowley (editor)*

Magazines:
Skirmish
Armourer
Soldier

*In what if military historians imagine what could have been, for example if Hitler had stopped D-Day.

Anyone else like these books? Tell me and post your own.

[Victorvonvalentine]

Stephen Ambrose listed under 'Fact'... Thats a first ;-)

[52nd Airborne]

Originally Posted by Victorvonvalentine

Stephen Ambrose listed under 'Fact'... Thats a first ;-)

It should be listed as "One sided view" apart from pegasus bridge which was a very good book!!!!

[Victorvonvalentine]

Yup... Very true... Pegasus Bridge is good.

[Gnomey]

Yep. One for the Pacific air war is "Flyboy's" by James Bradley. Another couple I would add to the list is:

Witness to War: Diaries of the Second World War in Europe by Richard Aldrich
Faraway War: Personal Diaries of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific by Richard Aldrich
Armageddon - Max Hastings

[Fritz]

"Take that kraut" by Terrence Ndoku is one of my favourite world war II books. i think it is fiction!

me being me you know my subject so:

Return to Auschwitz, Kitty hart-moxon
Eyewitness: 3yrs in the gas Chamber, Filip Muller
Lodz Ghetto A History: Cant remember Author

3 very good ones, 100's more I could list. But if your really looking for an insight into the holocaust, Filip Muller's book is the one.

[lancesergeant]

Lee, it's known of your interest in the Holocaust. What is it that interests you on the subject. Is it social history or the Jewish people. To me I would find it depressing, the amount of suffering that happened. Genuine interest, not being critical or anything.

Its often asked, dont worry.

There are several parts that interest me.

The planning
Its organisation
The strength of its victims

I still beleive even today that few really understand the scale of the holocaust. It was a murder machine, an industry, an economy.

The Jews were the slaves of industry and the currency of the economy, those that were left were as we know destined for only one thing and that included children that should be here today living their lives.

Just how it developed into what it became and the way in which the victims lived with strength within the camps is where my main interests lie.

I did find it very depressing at first and still do each time I pick up a book on the subject, but its simply something we cant ignore.

[lancesergeant]

Thanks for that Lee. While I agree it is something that should never to be forgotten, I just find it sad that the species could sink to an all time low. One can draw strength from those, who on the outside would be forgiven for looking on the whole thing with despondency and resignation, but showed an unconquerable spirit. The mental turmoil/torture can only be hinted at not imagined.