World War II Reading List!

May 20, 2021

Understand how the war began, discover the experiences of those involved and the lessons learned. All the information you might have forgotten from history class!

Here’s our selection of fiction, non-fiction, YA, memoir, biography, history and even love stories set during the World War II for you to check out. You will also find some Books on World War I as a bonus.

The World War II took the lives of millions, wounding and horrifying millions more for ages. By creating this list, we want to raise awareness and pay tribute to all War victims around the World.

1 US Pacific Victory in World War Two

US Pacific Victory in World War Two

Bill Brady | History

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US Pacific Victory in World War Two is about engagements that changed the course of the war In the Pacific. The outcome of these major battles was decisive. The results depended on the calibre of men, material, leadership in the field and staff work, culminating in atom bombing. A strategic action that saved millions of lives.

2 Naval Warfare in World War Two

Naval Warfare in World War Two

Bill Brady | History

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Bill Brady has already demonstrated, in his previously published works, that he is able to relate important war history in a manner which keeps the student of history avidly reading ever on wards and devouring the knowledge which has been imparted by this master historian. In respect of experienced and active historians the narratives they are about to read will assist in refreshing memories. This is a work which no doubt will stand the rigors of time as it occupies rightful space in both official and personal libraries, and for all posterity ever available for reference, research or reading purposes.

3 Commanders of World War Two

Commanders of World War Two

Bill Brady | History

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The author approaches this subject on several levels: grand strategy, the difficulties of coalition warfare, the personalities of the commanders (some of whom disliked each other more than they did the enemy) and analysis of the major battles. Recognising that wars in the last analysis are decided by the commanders, he describes the characteristics and fighting power of the combatants. This is a penetrating study and an essential contribution to the understanding of the nature of warfare and an invaluable work of reference for the whole family.

4 D for Daisy

D for Daisy

Nick Aaron | Mystery

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World War II. A Lancaster lands at its base in England after bombing Berlin, and a member of the crew is found dead. However, his young wife Daisy finds out that he has been murdered. But she is only a woman, blonde and pretty, and blind since birth: so who is going to listen to her? In the mayhem of the bombing campaign, who even cares? That is why she will have to find the murderer on her own. The trilogy is a story of crime, punishment, and redemption, and at the same time a portrait of the twentieth century as witnessed by a remarkable blind woman. In volume one Daisy Hayes takes us along with her through World War II. The second book brings us to the Swinging Sixties in London, and finally the third one to 1989, the year the Berlin wall came down.

5 Ready Seapower: A History of the U.S. Seventh Fleet

Ready Seapower: A History of the U.S. Seventh Fleet

Edward J. Marolda | History (Academic)

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A historical study containing information on the pivotal role played by the U.S. Seventh Fleet in the Western pacific from World War II through 2010.

6 To Eat the World

To Eat the World

Gary J Byrnes | Drama

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Everyone must die during dessert. Can Sophie save New York and the world? In the dying days of World War Two, Nazi rocket scientists were spirited to America to give the United States a strategic edge in the atomic arms race. Some of the Nazis built a secret empire in New York, founded on looted art and gold. Fast forward to today. Emboldened by the rise of right-wingers and the broken economy, the Nazis plan to take over the Presidency, destroy Wall Street and enslave the world. Launching their coup at a King Louis XVI-themed art banquet. Sophie, a Manhattan chef, is asked to cook for the President at the feast. Her ex-lover, art expert Jacob, will be served as the main course. A sexy, thrilling tale of great food, classic art and the meaning of beauty, love and life.

7 Pink Lotus

Pink Lotus

Manfred Mitze | Fiction

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Walter Herzog was born in a small town outside of Frankfurt to an emotionally detached mother and a Nazi-sympathizing stepfather at the tail end of World War II. Teenage Walter and his pals come to school drunk and oversexed; eventually, they skip classes altogether to make out with girls and earn drinking money. Over the years, restless Walter finds himself loving numerous women. He gets drafted into the German military and relinquishes his service by claiming pacifism. Later, he discovers marijuana and finally settles with a beautiful girl, Hilde. But a stable relationship isn’t enough to stave off Walter’s mounting depression and intense desire to find meaning. When he and a friend visit the United States in the late 1960s, he falls in love with an unlikely place—Oklahoma City.

8 Beastly House

Beastly House

Joni Green | Mystery

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On the lavish estate of mogul Bernard Leigh, there lurks a secret. It is the Roaring Twenties, the Jazz Age, the modern era of the 20th century. The war is over, and Leigh House, once a lavish, private home, is now a sanitarium for the wealthy. Florian Valentine Flix, a veteran of World War One, is one of the patients at this health-oriented resort. He has signed himself into this place by feigning illness. But why?Beastly House is an entertaining whodunit with characters that leap off the page. It is the first in the Cupid/Archer mystery series. Follow two sleuths as they set out to solve this fun whodunit!

9 Broken Heart

Broken Heart

Gary Whitmore | Drama

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It’s 1978 and Jason Jenkins is a middle aged confirmed bachelor who owns a small flight school in Florida. His niece Robyn surprised Jason by flying him to the grand opening of a aviation museum. While at the museum, he sees the nose section of his old B-17 bomber that crashed after being shot down in Germany during World War II. Jason finally caves and tells Robyn how Cindy his true love back in England broke his heart during that war. It’s after he tells him where Jason surprisingly discovers the truth as to why Cindy married another man.

10 Rilla of Ingleside

Rilla of Ingleside

Lucy Maud Montgomery | Fiction Classics

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The eighth book in the Anne of Green Gables series, Anne's daughter, Rilla, endures obstacles of adolescence during the horrifying days of World War I.

11 Out of Time - Encounter at Mid-day

Out of Time - Encounter at Mid-day

Derek P. Blake | Sci-fi Fantasy

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Out of Time - Encounter at Mid-day is the sequel to 'The Time Before' and continues the finding of the treasure in the first book to the ultimate world war and its aftermath. Fantastic weapons back-engineered from the ancient archaeological discoveries from thousands of years in the past that saved the the modern world, but from what? This novel traces every step an outpouring of faith to the brink of annihilation, but who wins?

12 Life Quest

Life Quest

Prongs | Sci-fi Fantasy

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Third world war. The most threatening dream for mankind. Story written with the perspective of Brigadier Jay in Indian army. Includes suspense, thrill and sci-fi.

13 Radar Love

Radar Love

Aileen Friedman | Romance

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Peggy, Audrey, Dorothy, and Maisy; Four young ladies, four young friends studying Physics at University get recruited to join the Special Signal Services to serve their country as Radar Operators. At twenty years old they embark on exciting, sad and nervous times during World War II. They fall in love, they dance, they get challenged in many ways, but mostly they are bonded together by a tight camaraderie with the other officers serving at the Silversands and Hangklip Radar Stations. The story begins when Audrey, Dorothy, and Maisy sit under a Weeping Willow tree in a park opposite the cemetery. They fondly remember Peggy, their precious lifelong friend of sixty-two years. Their grandchildren, are sent to look for them but instead of taking them home they sit on the luscious grass under the Weeping Willow tree and get transported back in time as Audrey tells them one of the greatest love stories of all time. Audrey tells them the love story of Lt. Harvey Newsome and Sgt. Peggy Hatcher. But it is so much more than a love story between two people. It is a story of faith, hope, happiness, tragedy and immense despair. It is a story of a group of people that depend on God to bring them through trying times and to remain faithful when it seems impossible.

14 Nasty Stuff About North Korea

Nasty Stuff About North Korea

Michael Erbschloe | History

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In 1910, Japan began a 35-year period of colonial rule over Korea. Following Japan's surrender in 1945 at the end of World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th parallel into two occupation zones, with the United States in the South and the Soviet Union in the North. Initial hopes for a unified, independent Korea were not realized, and in 1948 two separate nations were established -- the Republic of Korea (ROK) in the South, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the North. This volume covers many of the problems that North Korea presents to the world and its people.

15 US History since 1877

US History since 1877

Dr. James Ross-Nazzal | World Textbooks

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A great reference on US history covering topics on the progressive era, world war 1, world war 2,

16 Destinies

Destinies

Michel Poulin | Sci-fi Fantasy

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This is the fifth book in the collection on the adventures through time of Nancy Laplante A, a Canadian war correspondent from the early 21st Century who is also the co-founder of the Time Patrol, an organization originating in the 34th Century. Nancy continues on as a war correspondent for CNN in the year 2017, while also leading the Time Patrol and ruling over Palestine in Timeline B. On her part, Ingrid Dows C has emerged from World War Two as a very young but also very talented and successful fighter pilot and senior officer of the United States Air Force. She will then fight in two more wars, apart from helping the United States Air Force become the leading air power in the World, following the path of a glorious destiny. However, another destiny will end in tragedy.

17 First Love of Paris

First Love of Paris

B. Barns | Flash Fiction

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All's fair in love and war. The story of a Paris romance of World War II.

18 Christine

Christine

Elizabeth Von Armin | Fiction

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Christine is purportedly a compilation of letters from a "gifted young English girl studying in Germany just before the outbreak of the war" (Charms 188) to her mother in Britain. Written by Elizabeth von Arnim and presented under her anonymous pen-name Alice Cholmondeley, the work dated from May 28, 1914 to August 4, 1914, the letters were published in 1917. "Christine" explained her experience with German pre-war culture; however, Christine did not exist. She was a fictional character that some claim was Arnim's attempt at anti-German propaganda. These detailed letters helped to convey a picture to British citizens of the supposed state of mind of the German public during the chaotic days leading up to World War I.

19 This Side of Paradise

This Side of Paradise

F Scott Fitzgerald | Fiction Classics

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This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature. The novel explores the theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.

20 Treason: The Violation of Trust

Treason: The Violation of Trust

Janet Hudgins | History

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"Treason" is the story of William Palmer and his descendants who were among the first settlers in colonial North America. They were Puritans in the 17th Century, Quakers in the 18th Century, part of the Loyalist Diaspora to Shelburne, Nova Scotia after the American Revolution, and Canadian soldiers in the trenches of World War I. Treason is about the life and times of the Palmers, of the politic individuals who held sway, and the cause and effect of their use and abuse of power.

21 Timelines

Timelines

Michel Poulin | Sci-fi Fantasy

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This is the fourth novel depicting the adventures through time of Nancy Laplante, a Canadian war correspondent from the year 2015 and the Chief of Operations of the Time Patrol, an organization originating from the 34th Century. Nancy has to contend with the Imperium 'C' and with the religious hypocrisy she is facing in 1944 'B', plus the dangers of her life as a war correspondent in the early 21st Century. On her side, Ingrid Dows 'C', the timeline twin of Nancy's adopted daughter, Ingrid Weiss 'B', fights on in the air against the Japanese and the Germans during World War Two, rising steadily in rank through her daring and strategic genius.

22 Baby Boomer's

Baby Boomer's

Rashid Jamallo | Career

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The first thing you have to know is what baby boomers are and what ADEA is all about. First of all, baby boomers are people who were born during the period of increased birth rate. In the United States, baby boomers were born during and after the World War II conflict and before the Vietnam War. This means that there is more than one generation of baby boomers during this period. Today, baby boomers are now in the age of 40's to 50's. ADEA means Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This means that it protects everyone from age discrimination, especially people who are in their 40's to 50's. This means that if you are a part of the baby boomers population, you have to realize that you still have your rights in the workplace. This means that you shouldn't be a victim of unemployment just because of your age. Many people in their 40's and 50's find it hard to find a job in the United States just because of their age. If this happens to you, you should file a complaint with the...

23 When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Hitler!

When You Ride Alone, You Ride With Hitler!

Bill Edwards | History

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Discover the unique prewar, wartime and postwar experiences of everyday people within and connected to one American family that survived World War Two.

24 Esther

Esther

Henry Adams. | Gender Studies

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Best known for his classic American memoir, The Education of Henry Adams, Henry Adams was one of the most lively, probing writers between the Civil War and World War I. An offspring of presidents, Adams was steeped in the intellectual and moral traditions of the eighteenth century yet became an enthusiast of the energy, science, and industry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Esther -- originally published in 1884 under a female pseudonym -- is the story of Esther Dudley, a young painter, who meets a clergyman, Stephen Hazard of St. John's in New York City. At first she recoils from him, owing to his preoccupation with ministry and her radical views imbibed from her moribund father. When Esther receives a commission to renovate the decorations of the church, however, St...

25 The Psychology of Revolution

The Psychology of Revolution

Gustave Le Bon | Sociology

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Le Bon was one of the great popularizers of theories of the unconscious at a critical time during the formation of new theories of social action. Wilfred Trotter, a famous surgeon of University College Hospital, London, wrote similarly in his famous book Instincts of the Herd in Peace and War, just before the beginning of World War I; he has been referred to as 'Le Bon's popularizer in English.' Trotter also introduced Wilfred Bion, who worked for him at the hospital, to Sigmund Freud's work Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse (1921; English translation Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, 1922), which was based quite explicitly on a critique of Le Bon's work. Ultimately both Bion and Ernest Jones became interested in what would later be called group psychology.

26 Why the Actions of Vichy France Were Helpful to the ALLIED Cause During World War II

Why the Actions of Vichy France Were Helpful to the ALLIED Cause During World War II

Tommy Coleman | History (Academic)

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This thesis explores how the initial defeat of the French army in June 1940 would eventually allow the Vichy French time to aid the Allies in the defeat of Germany. Subsequent request by Marshal Pétain for an armistice with Nazi Germany was followed by a collaboration with the Nazi regime with the attempt to maintain some degree of French National Sovereignty.

27 Antic Hay

Antic Hay

Aldous Huxley | Humor Classics

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The Classic book Antic Hay by Aldous Huxley. A satire in nature, this novel takes a look at life in London following the First World War. He mocks the Bohemians and their idealism. While written over a 100 years ago, many of the main themes such as feelings of disillusionment, the experience of feeling adrift in the world and the like are very applicable in today's society.

28 Pogroms And Other Atrocities

Pogroms And Other Atrocities

Bassam Imam | History

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Until the end of the Second World War, Jews had historically endured countless pogroms, acts of gross injustice, and a lesser number of expulsions throughout Europe. Persecution and isolation were commonly the norm; the Jews were Europe's punching bag (Historical Anti-Semitism). Superstition, ignorance, and outright hatred were powerful forces that led to horrible atrocities against defenseless targets, culminating in the Jewish Holocaust. Although the danger to Europe's Jewish population appears to have decreased insurmountably since the Second World War, anti-Semitism still exists; the situation can change in a blink of an eye.

29 Out of Time's Abyss

Out of Time's Abyss

Edgar Rice Burroughs | Sci-Fi Classics

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Out of Time's Abyss is the third book of the Land that Time Forgot series. It continues the story of the World War I German submarine captured by a combined allied group that gets stranded in a mysterious pre-historic land.

30 Jacob's Room

Jacob's Room

Virginia Woolf | Fiction Classics

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The tale of Jacob Flanders, a lonely young man unable to reconcile his love of classical culture with the chaotic reality of World War I society, unfolds in a series of brief impressions and conversations, internal monologues, and letters.

31 Mr. Standfast

Mr. Standfast

John Buchan | Fiction Classics

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In Mr Standfast (1919), the third of the four novels featuring Richard Hannay, Hannay is brought out of the battlefield to perform the desperate task of tracking down and destroying a network of German spies. Set in the later years of World War I, Brigadier-General Hannay is recalled from active service on the Western Front to undertake a secret mission hunting for a dangerous German agent at large in Britain. He is forced to work undercover disguised as a pacifist, roaming the country incognito to investigate the deadly spy and his agents.

32 Notes on Life and Letters

Notes on Life and Letters

Joseph Conrad | General Non Fiction

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Twenty-six essays in Notes on Life and Letters (1921) present a kaleidoscopic view of Joseph Conrad's literary views and interest in the events of his day, including the Titanic disaster and First World War.

33 Bridge at War

Bridge at War

Trevor Hopkins | Sci-fi Fantasy

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Bridge at War is set in 1946, immediately after the end of the Second World War. The story follows three young men (Tom, Alistair and Bram) who were comrades in the Army during the War. Bram gently introduces the world of Lyndesfarne to the others, and engineers their recruitment into the Guardians, one of the secretive organisations whose purpose is to protect the crossing to Lyndesfarne.

34 The Intent

The Intent

Jurgen Beck | History

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Newly released historical novel tells tragic World War II love story and closely examines the importance of virtuous and corrupt intentions. A young German woman's life changes forever during World War II when she falls in love with an American soldier whose life she saves; historically accurate events in both Germany and the U.S. are interwoven throughout the book Jϋrgen D. Beck explores the topics of vice and virtue in his new historical novel The Intent. This heartfelt and poignant story, at its core, asks readers to ponder the following question: What is the intent of the heart? Notes Beck, “To some extent, the book is born from my need to reconcile postwar years in my native Germany as a young boy.” To that end, Beck’s novel returns readers to Germany during World War II.

35 Billy Boy

Billy Boy

Liam Foxx | Fiction

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Billy Boy starts with a journalist taking shelter in an old railway station, then goes on to tell the story of an underage boy who joins up in the patriotic fervor of the first world war. He finds love and a horror he never thought imaginable wrongly accused of a capital crime his soul hangs in limbo until the injustice is put to rights. There is laughter and despair triumph and failure set against some of the most savage battles of the first world war and at the end a twist to the story that will seem astonishing.