Apartment in Athens  •  Glenway Wescott LITERATURE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES Back in print after 30 years, Glenwood Wescott's 1945 bestseller is the story of a Greek couple who are forced to share their home in Nazi-occupied Athens with a German officer during World War II. (GRE198, $12.95)
At Dawn We Slept, The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor  •  Gordon W. Prange HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 889 PAGES This massive, extensively researched assessment of the invasion of Pearl Harbor draws much of its power from the numerous interviews the author conducted with both American and Japanese leaders and servicemen. It's long, but extremely readable. (HWI183, $22.00)
Atomic Spaces, Living on the Manhattan Project  •  Peter Bacon Hales HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 456 PAGES A detailed study of how American culture grew out of the tensions between ideals of obedience and freedom, efficiency and democracy, brought to light by the dawn of the atomic age. Rather than focusing only on the major events and players in the development of the atomic bomb, Hales describes the everyday workers and small worlds impacted by this work. He concentrates on the three key sites of the Manhattan Project: Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Hanford, Washington; and Los Alamos, New Mexico. Hales draws his information from thousands of never-before-studied documents. Nicely presented with 60 photographs. (USW425, $29.00)
The Avengers, A Jewish War Story  •  Rich Cohen BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2000 •  PAPER  • 262 PAGES Cohen conveys the passion, persistence and verve of three kids from the Jewish ghetto, who went from the streets of Vilna to fighting the Germans and, eventually, a Kibbutz north of Tel Aviv. Cohen, who first met Ruzka, Abba and Vitka on a family trip to Israel in 1977, has fashioned a suspenseful, riveting story from the tale of their remarkable lives. With sections on ghetto, forest, city and desert. Abba Kovner, who died in 1987, a poet, soldier and public figure in Israel, designed the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. (BLT16, $14.95)
Badenheim 1939  •  Aharon Appelfeld  •  Dalya Bilu LITERATURE •  1980 •  PAPER  • 148 PAGES A haunting tale that powerfully depicts the everyday concerns and daily life of well-to-do Jewish vacationers at a fictional resort town on the eve of the holocaust. (AST35, $12.95)
The Battle of Britain, The Myth and Reality  •  Richard Overy HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES Renowned war historian Richard Overy's reassessment of the Battle of Britain, arguing that while it was indeed a turning point in World War II, its significance has been slightly mythologized. (WAR28, $13.95)
Battle of Normandy 1944 Map  •  Michelin Travel Publications MAP A detailed map of Normandy at a scale of 1:200,000 showing the main sites of the summer 1944 battle. This nifty map is an antique-feeling reproduction of a map originally published by Michelin in 1947. The main map is thick with place names, and features special icons denoting battle dates and parachute drops, as well as an inset showing the broader movements of the forces. (FRN264, $12.95)
Battle of the Bulge, Hitler's Ardennes Offensive, 1944-1945  •  Danny S. Parker HISTORY •  2000 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES A focused, fact-heavy survey of the events surrounding the Battle of the Bulge. (WAR25, $24.95)
The Bitter Woods  •  John S.D. Eisenhower  •  Stephen Ambrose HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER The enthralling narrative of the decisive Allied victory at the Battle of the Bulge is told in this volume, one of the best of many on the subject. The book is subtitled "The Dramatic Story, Told at All Echelons -- From Supreme Command to Squad Leader -- Of the Crisis That Shook the Western Coalition." (WAR24, $22.95)
A Blood-Dimmed Tide, The Battle of the Bulge by the Men Who Fought It  •  Gerald Astor HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 544 PAGES Drawn from interviews with both American and German soldiers, this is a harrowing account of the Battle of the Bulge, strong on fact and personal detail. (WAR88, $7.50)
A Bridge Too Far  •  Cornelius Ryan HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 670 PAGES War historian Cornelius Ryan chronicles in detailed, readable prose the battle of Arnhem, one of the most important -- and bloodiest -- campaigns in World War II. (WAR21, $18.00)
Brotherhood of the Bomb  •  Greg Herken HISTORY •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 464 PAGES Science pressed into the service of politics is the subject of this new work on the Manhattan Project. Herken delivers a triple biography of Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Edward Teller, the trio of physicists responsible for creating the atomic bomb. With a focus on their tumultuous relationship, Herken demonstrates how their personalities affected the course of science and history. Herken draws his information from private papers, interviews with Manhattan Project survivors, and recently released documents and coded intercepts obtained from FBI and KGB archives. (USW424, $30.00)
The Burma Road, The Epic Story of the China-Burma-India Theater in World War II  •  Donovan Webster HISTORY •  2004 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES The tale of the building of the 700-mile supply route to China under impossible circumstances over difficult terrain during WWII. It's a heroic tale of daring pilots and workers, both local and American, many of them black soldiers, dramatized in the movie The Bridge over the River Kwai. The book, by a former editor at Outside magazine, is part history and part adventure. Donovan draws on archival materials, military history, interview and travel in recreating the harrowing events surrounding the building of the Burma Road and the connecting Ledo Road from 1942-1945. General Joseph (Vinegar Joe) W. Stilwell gets a starring role. (BMA41, $14.95)
The Capture of Attu, A World War II Battle As Told by the Men Who Fought There  •  Robert J. Mitchell  •  Sewell T. Tying  •  Nelson L. Drummond HISTORY •  2000 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A detailed, oral history of the battle fought in the outermost Aleutians, compiled by Lieutenant Robert J. Mitchell, a witness to the events he describes. (ALA149, $18.95)
Christ Stopped at Eboli, The Story of a Year  •  Carlo Levi  •  Frances Frenaye BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2006 •  PAPER  • 268 PAGES Set in Lucania the south of Italy, where Levi was banished by Mussolini for his political activity, this affecting memoir tells of the people, traditions and life in the region. A physician, writer, and painter. Levi writes movingly of poverty and lack of health care in Alsiano. Translated by Frances Frenaye. (ITL09, $14.00)
Citizen Soldiers  •  Stephen Ambrose HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 528 PAGES Told through the perspectives of Allied soldiers on the front lines, this is Ambrose's account of the battles fought in the year between D-Day and the German surrender. Visceral and well researched, it's subtitled "The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944 to May 7, 1945." (WAR19, $18.00)
The Clown  •  Heinrich Boll LITERATURE •  1965 •  PAPER  • 247 PAGES In this famous short novel, Boll draws a revealing portrait of German society under Hitler and in the post-war years through the eyes of an artist. This sensitive but cynical novel is one of his best about the moral dramas of common people in a changing society. The first German to win the Nobel Prize after Thomas Mann, Boll was put in an American prison camp in World War II. (GER32, $13.95)
Codebreakers, the Inside Story of Bletchley Park  •  Alan Stripp  •  F.H. Hinsley HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES The "inside story" of the British codebreakers who cracked the German Enigma code and turned the tide of World War II, as told by 27 of the codebreakers themselves. They were perhaps the most motley crew ever attached to the British government: an assortment of Oxford and Cambridge dons trained in classics and mathematics, thrust suddenly into the world of secret military intelligence. These narratives were written in 1970, shortly after a gag order was lifted. (WAR46, $19.95)
Collins Atlas of World War II  •  John Keegan HISTORY •  2006 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES Two hundred color maps, illustrations, and photographs cover every campaign of World War II in every theater, accompanied by an examination of important military engagements, weaponry, military tactics, and commanders, as well as an analysis of the war's social, political, and economic contexts. (WAR126, $19.95)
The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941  •  Michael Beschloss HISTORY •  2003 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A bestselling, popular history of the politics and diplomacy among Allied leaders leading up to the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. (GER164, $15.00)
Crusade in Europe  •  Dwight D. Eisenhower BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1997 •  PAPER  • 608 PAGES The complete story of World War II as strategized and lived by Five-Star General Eisenhower. (WAR132, $25.00)
D-Day June 6, 1944, The Climactic Battle of World War II  •  Stephen Ambrose HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 655 PAGES Written by the best-selling historian Stephen Ambrose, this well researched book draws together interviews and recent government documents to tell the gripping tale of June 6, 1944. It's a comprehensive account of D-Day. With 32 pages of photos and eight maps. (FRN40, $18.00)
A Dark and Bloody Ground, The Hurtgen Forest and the Roer River Dams, 1944-1945  •  Edward G. Miller HISTORY •  1995 •  HARD COVER  • 250 PAGES In the waning months of World War II, a series of battles were fought in the Hurtgen Forest of Germany, mostly under miserable conditions. One of the lesser discussed campaigns of the war, it resulted in thousands of American deaths, and stood in sharp contrast to the victory at the Battle of the Bulge. This is the well documented story of events. (WAR26, $32.95)
Dawn of D-Day: These Men Were There, June 6, 1944  •  David Howarth HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 255 PAGES The airdrop, Utah, Omaha beach. Historian David Howarth weaves interviews and eyewitness reports to recreate the atmosphere, horror and confusion of the assault on Normandy, orginally published in 1959. (FRN768, $14.95)
Defiance, The Bielski Partisans  •  Nechama Tec HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES Led by Tuvia Bielski and his brothers, a group of Jews in 1940s Belorusssia, known as the Bieleksi Partisans, mounted an armed rescue Jewish Europeans, saving hundreds from the Holocaust. This is their story, as gathered through interviews by Holocaust surviver Nechama Tec. (RUS120, $26.75)
The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition  •  Anne Frank BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1995 •  PAPER  • 340 PAGES The classic story of an adolescent Jewish girl's life and thoughts while in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland. Anne's simple wisdom and optimism, juxtaposed against the horrid realities of the world outside and her inevitable fate, make this a very powerful book, considerably enhanced by newly restored material. (NTH05, $12.95)
Doomed at the Start, American Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941-1942  •  William H. Bartsch HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER The little-known story of the defeat of pursuit pilots in the Philippines at the dawn of American involvement in World War II. The story highlights the courage and heroism of men who were clearly outmatched. (PLP25, $29.95)
Dresden: Tuesday, February 13, 1945  •  Frederick Taylor HISTORY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 376 PAGES A re-evaluation of the Allied firebombing of Dresden, one of the most destructive -- and still controversial -- air campaigns of WWII. Taylor argues that the bombing was not the atrocity depicted by Germans, but was instead an important and strategic campaign. (GER145, $15.95)
Embracing Defeat, Japan in the Wake of WWII  •  John W. Dower HISTORY •  2000 •  PAPER  • 676 PAGES A social and political history of Japan during the postwar occupation, mixing analysis, reporting, popular culture and straight-forward narrative history. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, it's an eye-opening account by a leading scholar of Japanese-American relations at MIT. With 80 photographs and illustrations, including some terrific cartoons and other cultural artifacts from the period. (JPN54, $18.95)
The Endless Steppe, Growing Up in Siberia  •  Esther Hautzig  •  Jean-Francois Podevin BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1995 •  PAPER  • 243 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS The moving World War II story of a girl, her mother and grandmother, Polish Jews who were taken prisoner in Vilna by the Russians and shipped to a forced labor camp in Siberia, where they remained for five years. It's based on the true experiences of the author. In a mass market edition for young adults. (SIB07, $5.99)
Everything is Illuminated  •  Jonathan Safran Foer LITERATURE •  2003 •  PAPER  • 276 PAGES The very modern tale of a young man and the search for his past. Foer plumbs the humor and tragedy of the young American protagonist (like the author, named Jonathan Safran), translator Alex, an old man -- and a very odd dog -- on a journey back to Ukraine, haunted by the spectre of WWII and the Nazis. This accomplished -- and complex -- first novel has been very well received. (RUS168, $13.95)
The Finest Hour, The Battle of Britain  •  Phil Craig  •  Tim Clayton HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES A well told and thoroughly researched history of 1940, and the air war over Britain, with a particular focus on Winston Churchill's evolution as a popular leader. (WAR49, $16.95)
Flags of Our Fathers  •  James Bradley HISTORY •  2006 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A compelling portrait of the young men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, five marines and a navy corpsman. The author, whose father was one of the six, tells the story of the brave men in the bloody battle and their subsequent, sometimes tragic fate. Bradley's father died in 1994. (PAC77, $14.00)
The Forgotten War, A Pictorial History of World War II in Alaska and Northwestern Canada, Vol. 2  •  Stan B. Cohen HISTORY •  1993 •  PAPER  • 264 PAGES A concise, illustrated history of Alaska during World War II, with much of the action taking place on the Aleutian Islands. (ALA150, $14.95)
From Here to Eternity  •  James Jones LITERATURE •  1991 •  PAPER  • 954 PAGES One of the finest books on the army and World War II, this powerful tale is set among the soldiers at the US Army base at Diamond Head in 1941. While the army is the primary subject of the book, it's also a vivid portrait of Hawaii just before Pearl Harbor. You've probably seen the movie with Burt Lancaster and Frank Sinatra. (HWI16, $17.00)
From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day, the American Armed Forces in World War II  •  D. Clayton James HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 227 PAGES A clear and concise introduction to the strategy, personalities and campaigns of World War II. (WAR51, $10.95)
Ghost Soldiers, The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II's Most Dramatic Mission  •  Hampton Sides HISTORY •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 342 PAGES A well told popular history of a plan to liberate American soldiers captured by the Japanese Army in the Philippines, based in part on interviews with survivors. (PLP23, $29.95)
Graveyards of the Pacific, From Pearl Harbor to Bikini Atoll  •  Robert D. Ballard  •  Michael Hamilton Morgan  •  Stephen Ambrose HISTORY •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 255 PAGES An exploration of Pacific battle and nuclear testing sites, focusing on the sunken ships and downed airplanes scattered across the surrounding ocean floor. Robert D. Ballard (made famous for his discovery of the Titanic wreckage) combines his years of research with photographs depicting the battles and their archaeological legacy, the eerie, submerged remnants of once mighty war machines. (PAC111, $45.00)
Guadalcanal, The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle  •  Richard Frank HISTORY •  1992 •  PAPER  • 816 PAGES A comprehensive account of the battle, using a variety of primary sources to flesh out the story of one of the most important battles on the Pacific front during WWII. (PAC61, $22.00)
Hiroshima  •  John Hersey HISTORY •  1989 •  PAPER  • 152 PAGES This classic book by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, first published in 1946, puts a human face on the unthinkable. Hersey explores the tragedy through interviews with residents, scientists and politicians. (JPN20, $7.50)
A History of Fascism, 1914-1945  •  Stanley G. Payne HISTORY •  1996 •  PAPER  • 628 PAGES A scholarly, comprehensive history of fascism -- and other forms of ultra-nationalism -- with a focus on Europe between the World Wars, and especially Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. (EUR132, $24.95)
Hitler and the Holocaust  •  Robert S. Wistrich HISTORY •  2003 •  PAPER  • 295 PAGES A short history of the cultural and political circumstances surrounding the genocide of the Jews. Wistrich looks closely at Anti-Semitism in Germany, Europe and abroad in an attempt to understand the evil unleashed during World War II, cautioning that we must be always vigilant about intolerance. (EUR114, $13.95)
Hitler's Thirty Days to Power, January 1933  •  Henry Ashby Turner HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 155 PAGES Yale professor Henry Ashby Turner's fascinating examination of a pivotal moment in modern history, the series of events (taking place over one month) that led to the appointment of Hitler as German chancellor. (GER126, $16.00)
Hitler's Willing Executioners, Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust  •  Daniel Jonah Goldhagen HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 624 PAGES Controversial, maddening and thoroughly researched, this study of what the German people did -- or did not do -- in reaction to the escalating horrors of World War II is a provocative contribution to Holocaust studies. (GER06, $17.95)
I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941, Vol. 1  •  Victor Klemperer BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1999 •  PAPER  • 519 PAGES The diaries of a Jewish professor of Romance languages in Dresden who lost his position under the Nazis but managed to survive the war. This is the first volume in a two-volume series. (GER88, $16.95)
I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1941-1945, Vol. 2  •  Victor Klemperer BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2001 •  PAPER  • 556 PAGES The diaries of a Dresden professor of Roman languages who, being Jewish, lost his position under the Nazis but managed to survive the war in Dresden. This is the second volume in a two-volume series. (GER89, $15.95)
Into the Rising Sun: In Their Own Words, World War II's Pacific Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat  •  Patrick K. O'Donnell HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 314 PAGES A visceral portrait of the Pacific campaigns of World War II, drawn from the oral accounts of veterans. These detailed, and often startling, testimonies offer a glimpse into the memories of soldiers fighting on the front lines of Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and other island battles. (PAC143, $15.00)
Into the Teeth of the Tiger  •  Donald S. Lopez Jr. HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 272 PAGES The lively, illustrated memoirs of a World War II pilot in Asia. (ASA39, $17.95)
Jakob the Liar  •  Jurek Becker  •  Leila Vennewitz LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER First published in Germany in 1969, this novel is considered one of the great contributions to Holocaust literature. It's the tragic tale of a German-occupied Jewish Ghetto, in which Jakob's lie that the Russians are on their way to liberate the town causes an extraordinary transformation. (GER93, $13.00)
King Rat  •  James Clavell LITERATURE •  1962 •  PAPER  • 479 PAGES The first in Clavell's acclaimed Asia series, this book describes the life of a POW (presumably Clavell himself) in Japanese-occupied Singapore during World War II. It is richly evocative of the region during this important historical period. (ASA03, $7.99)
Kingdom of Auschwitz  •  Otto Friedrich HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 128 PAGES Otto Friedrich's slim book is an intensely personal account of the infamous Auschwitz death camp. The entire history of Auschwitz, from its impractical site in a Polish swamp through its construction and terrible purpose, is covered in short chapters punctuated with eyewitness accounts and testimonies. Black-and-white maps show the layout of the camp along with its relation to other nearby camps and transfer points. A must for the visitor wanting a deeper understanding of one of humankind's darkest creations. (PLD04, $11.00)
Love and War in the Apennines  •  Eric Newby TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2008 •  PAPER  • 276 PAGES Eric Newby's powerful account of his days as a young Brit during World War II in German occupied Italy. After leaving a POW camp, he takes flight from advancing German forces and finds allies in some Italian families who take him in and help him hide. Newby has gone on to fall in love with Italy, building a house there and marrying an Italian woman. (ITL171, $14.99)
Lying with the Enemy  •  Tim Binding LITERATURE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES Set near the end of World War II, this novel takes place on the island of Guernsey during the German occupation. It involves the murder of a woman, and the bond between her two lovers -- one German, the other British -- who must track down the killer. (GBR204, $12.95)
The Making of the Atomic Bomb  •  Richard Rhodes HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 886 PAGES From the discovery of the nucleus to the making of atomic bomb, this Pulitzer Prize winning book tackles the people, discoveries and places of the Atomic Age in spellbinding detail. Rhodes tells the story of nuclear physics in the first half of the 20th century, wartime work on the bomb, and how the world -- and especially science -- has grappled with the horrific consequences of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A major arc of the book is how a remarkable group of physicists, German and American, were thrust out of the ivory tower and into wartime efforts -- and onto the stage of world history. A remarkable accomplishment. (USW231, $20.00)
The Man in the Box  •  Thomas Moran LITERATURE •  1997 •  PAPER  • 272 PAGES A story of the human spirit and the rite of passage, set in a small Austrian village during World War II, told through the eyes of an adolescent Niki. Niki's family takes on a task of the highest secrecy: hiding a Jew. (AST41, $12.00)
Memoirs of the Second World War, An Abridgement of the Six Volumes of the Second World War With an Epilogue by the Author on  •  Winston, Sir Churchill BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1991 •  PAPER  • 1065 PAGES Churchill's own abridgment of his 6-volume memoir is a manageable, sweeping account of World War II from the perspective of one of its major players. (WAR131, $24.95)
Midway, The Battle that Doomed Japan  •  Mitsuo Fuchida HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES A groundbreaking first-person account of the Battle of Midway told from the Japanese perspective. Fuchida's military history is well researched as he details the events leading from Pearl Harbor to Japan's defeat at Midway. Both an outstanding piece of historical writing and a compelling personal account. (HWI58, $19.95)
The Naked and the Dead  •  Norman Mailer LITERATURE •  2000 •  PAPER  • 721 PAGES The 50th anniversary edition of Mailer's astonishing novel of a platoon fighting for the fictional Japanese held island of Anopopei. A rifleman in the Pacific during the war, Mailer brings documentary detail to the novel, published when he was but 25 and an immediate critical and commercial success. (JPN313, $16.00)
Night  •  Elie Wiesel  •  Marion Wiesel BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  2006 •  PAPER  • 109 PAGES Autobiographical in nature, this slim memoir is drawn directly from Elie Wiesel's horrifying experiences during the Holocaust. He witnessed the death of his family before being shipped off to Auschwitz and Buchenwald. Ultimately, Wiesel struggles to find faith in a God who has allowed such monstruous events to happen. (EUR79, $9.00)
Number the Stars  •  Lois Lowry LITERATURE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 137 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Set in German-occupied Copenhagen, this is the fictionalized account of 10-year-old Annemarie Johanneson and her struggle to help her Jewish friend to safety. Winner of the Newbery Medal in 1990, Lois Lowry's book masterfully recreates this dramatic tale of the Danish Resistance. Recommended for children ages 9-12. (DMK11, $6.99)
Outwitting the Gestapo  •  Lucie Aubrac BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1993 •  PAPER Aubrac chronicles her participation in the French Resistance from her home in Lyon (where Klaus Barbie was head of the Gestapo) in this absorbing memoir. Told in a series of flashbacks from 1943-1944, she captures the immediacy of the resistance and daily life under the Vichy government. Nicely translated by Conrad Bibber and with a 1992 epilogue by the author. (FRN352, $15.95)
Overlord, D-Day and the Battle for Normandy  •  Max Hastings HISTORY •  1985 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES A readable and well researched account of "Operation Overlord," the name given to the Allied Invasion of Europe. (WAR20, $22.95)
Pacific Legacy, Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific  •  Rex Alan Smith HISTORY •  2002 •  HARD COVER  • 312 PAGES A treasure trove of archival and modern photographs, this oversize book explores the battle sites of World War II in the Pacific, pairing images with essays, many taken directly from eyewitness accounts. (PAC144, $65.00)
The Painted Bird  •  Jerzy Kosinski LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES Based on much of the author's own experiences in World War II Poland, "The Painted Bird" won international recognition for Jerzy Kosinski. The often disturbing account of a young Jewish boy's journey through rural Poland as he tries to evade everyone from SS officers to Anti-Semitic Polish peasants will leave an indelible impression. A powerful, frankly disturbing account of the cruelty of war. (PLD07, $13.00)
Patton and the Battle of the Bulge  •  Michael Green  •  Gladys Green HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES A short history of the Allied victory at the Battle of the Bulge and the strategies employed by General George S. Patton. (WAR87, $19.95)
Pearl Harbor Commemorative Map  •  National Geographic 2001 •  MAP A three-dimensional relief map, featuring archival photographs, short descriptions of events, and locations of key ships, created for the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Price includes shipping in a separate mailing tube. (HWI70, $17.95)
Pearl Harbor Ghosts, The Legacy of December 7, 1941  •  Thurston Clarke HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A well-researched and evocative look at the bombing of Pearl Harbor by a veteran travel writer. Clarke compares and contrasts the social life and culture of Hawaii on the day of the bombing and sixty years later, enumerating the changes wrought by WWII. (HWI68, $19.00)
Pegasus Bridge  •  Stephen Ambrose HISTORY •  1988 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES Another celebrated history of World War II from the prolific Stephen Ambrose. Detailed and engrossing, this volume tells of the British airborne troops whose attack on German defense forces on June 6, 1944, opened the door for the Allied invasion of Normandy. (WAR18, $13.00)
The Rape of Nanking, The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II  •  Iris Chang HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 290 PAGES Chang's account of the 1937 massacre of an estimated 250,000 Chinese civilians by the Japanese is related with honesty and interspersed with shocking statistics. Going beyond the horror of the Japanese invasion, Chang also investigates the reactions of other countries during the Second World War to this "forgotten Holocaust", addressing also the continued Japanese denial that the events in Nanking ever took place. (CHN272, $16.00)
The Reader  •  Bernhard Schlink  •  Carol Brown Janeway LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 218 PAGES Originally published in Switzerland, this is the story of a man whose adolescent affair with an older woman returns to haunt him years later when he discovers her accused of a terrible crime at a trial related to Germany's Nazi past. (GER68, $12.95)
Remember D-Day, Both Sides Tell Their Stories  •  Ronald J. Drez  •  David Eisenhower HISTORY •  2004 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • YOUNG ADULTS An engaging and well-constructed history of the D-Day invasion for readers in grades 5 to 8, complete with anecdotes from soldiers, black-and-white photographs, plenty of historical information, and an introduction by David Eisenhower which paints a personal portrait of his grandfather, Dwight. (USA96, $17.95)
Remember Pearl Harbor  •  Thomas B. Allen HISTORY •  2001 •  HARD COVER  • 64 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) Historic photographs and survivor accounts are incorporated into this short commemoration of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Although the book is geared to a middle school audience, it's written by a prominent war historian and offers much in terms of interviews with witnesses and images of the monumental attack. (HWI71, $19.95)
Resistance, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising  •  Israel Gutman HISTORY •  1998 •  PAPER  • 277 PAGES As a Jew who survived the Nazi death-camps, Gutman draws on a variety of personal and scholarly sources in constructing this history of the uprising. The book turns out to be much broader than the title suggests, as he places the ghetto experience in the context of Jewish history in general. With maps and photographs. (PLD17, $16.95)
The Rising Tide, A Novel of the Second World War  •  Jeff Shaara LITERATURE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 672 PAGES From the author of Gods and Generals and the son of Michael Shaara, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Killer Angels, comes this piece of historical fiction set during World War II in the Pacific, North Africa and throughout Europe, whose main characters are Hitler, Mussolini, Eisenhower and Churchill. (EUR235, $27.95)
The Rock of Anzio: From Sicily to Dachau, A History of the 45th Infantry Division  •  Flint Whitlock HISTORY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 496 PAGES An in-deth history of a famous WWII national guard unit that hailed from the southwest, covering both the bloody invasion at Anzio and the contoversial liberation of Dachau. The author draws on archives, photos, official records, and many personal interviews with veterans in this vivid history. (ITL520, $22.00)
Saipan, The War Diary of John Ciardi  •  John Ciardi BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1988 •  PAPER  • 155 PAGES The American poet's 1944-45 war journal, written on the island of Saipan, where he was stationed as a gunner. Saipan -- the site of a harrowing mass suicide by Japanese civilians in 1944 -- was a Japanese territory until the Americans arrived. John Ciardi, just 28 at the time, brought his poet's eye and heart to the war in the Pacific. (PAC113, $16.95)
Schindler's List  •  Thomas Keneally LITERATURE •  1993 •  PAPER  • 400 PAGES A landmark in literature about the Holocaust, this modern classic was made popular in Steven Spielberg's award-winning screen adaptation. It is the compelling story of the transformation of a Nazi tycoon and his rescue of 1,300 Jews from the concentration camps near Plaszow. (GER51, $15.00)
The Second World War  •  John Keegan HISTORY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 624 PAGES Military historian Keegan, author of a definitive history of the first world war, here encapsulates the action, politics and major themes of World War Two. Focusing his narrative on six critical battles -- the battles of Britain, Okinawa, Midway, Berlin, Crete and Falaise -- he elucidates the different types of WWII-era warfare, as well as the Allies' evolving strategic aims. Superbly written, as are all Keegan's books. (WAR44, $22.00)
The Second World War, A Short History  •  R.A.C. Parker HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 330 PAGES Originally published in 1989, this birskly written history puts the battles, theaters and campaigns of WWII in a wide context, trating not only the military aspects but also loking at the political, economic and social ramifications of the war. Parker, who died recently, tackles complex subjects fearlessly, offering, for example, an excellent account of Nazi atrocities. (WAR54, $19.95)
The Shetland Bus, A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival and Adventure  •  David Howarth HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 236 PAGES David Howarth, author of "We Die Alone," tells another little-known story of courage and survival during World War II. This time he writes of the "Shetland Bus," a fleet of fishing boats that made regular journeys across treacherous waters from the Shetland Islands to Norway, in order to bring relief and fortifications to Norwegians weathering Nazi attacks. Howarth, who was second in command at the Shetland base, knows the story first-hand, and brings out the ferocity of the storms and battles endured by a few hundred brave men. (NOR26, $16.95)
Shosha  •  Isaac Bashevis Singer LITERATURE •  1996 •  PAPER A powerful novel of love set in the Jewish quarter of Warsaw as World War II erupts around the protagonists. (PLD18, $15.00)
Sicily, Salerno, Anzio: January 1943 to June 1944  •  Samuel Eliot Morison HISTORY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 472 PAGES Volume 9 of Morison's 15-volume official History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. A distinguished historian, Morison was given extraordinary access to the Navy during WWII by FDR himself. With maps, photographs and documents. (ITL519, $24.95)
Sisterhood of Spies, The Women of the OSS  •  Elizabeth McIntosh HISTORY •  1999 •  PAPER  • 368 PAGES The story of the unlikely spies whose invaluable espionage helped the Allies to victory in World War II. Real life James Bonds, these educated, upper-class women embarked on dangerous missions behind enemy lines. Authored by a former agent. The first half of the book offers insights into the Office of Strategic Services, which would later become the CIA, while the second focuses on the heroines' daring adventures. (SPY02, $7.99)
Six Armies in Normandy, From D-Day to the Liberation of Paris  •  John Keegan HISTORY •  1994 •  PAPER  • 365 PAGES A provocative account of the invasion of Normandy and the battles that proceeded it. Keegan's intense descriptions of the war in northern France are accompanied by perceptive analysis of the military tactics that resulted in Allied victory. (FRN118, $16.00)
The Sledge Patrol, A WWII Epic of Escape, Survival and Victory  •  David Howarth HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES An engrossing true-life adventure story of Danish and Norwegian hunters evading Nazi troops across the hostile terrain of Greenland. (ARC112, $16.95)
A Small Death in Lisbon  •  Robert Wilson MYSTERY •  2002 •  PAPER  • 440 PAGES Set in Lisbon in 1941 and 1999, this award-winning mystery intertwines a present day murder mystery and some unsavory arms production and smuggling in Nazi Germany. An engaging literary thriller covering much of the history of 20th-century Portugal. Be warned, there are some graphic passages dealing with the horrors of war and concentration camps. (PGL22, $7.99)
The Small Woman  •  Alan Burgess BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1996 •  HARD COVER  • 221 PAGES A biography of Gladys Aylward, a missionary responsible for leading more than 500 children over the mountains of northern China to safety during the Japanese occupation of World War II. (CHN77, $35.95)
The Snow Goose  •  Paul Gallico LITERATURE •  1941 •  HARD COVER  • 60 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A handsome hardcover edition of Gallico's poignant tale of innocence and longing set in Word War II England. In this ageless tale, a young girl finds a wounded snow goose, which she delivers into the hands of a strange lighthouse keeper on the Essex coast. The simple prose, growing friendship, fairy-tale quality (the unrecognized lighthouse keeper distinguishes himself at Dunkirk) will appeal to the whole family. (BRD20, $19.95)
Song of the Exile  •  Kiana Davenport LITERATURE •  1999 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES An epic of love and war which opens in Honolulu as WWII erupts, this novel follows the fate two lovers in Hawaii, New Orleans and Paris -- interweaving much of the history and flavor of Hawaii from the war to statehood in 1953. A sequel to "Shark Dialogues. (HWI51, $14.95)
Soviet Blitzkrieg, The Battle for White Russia, 1944  •  Walter S. Dunn HISTORY •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 252 PAGES A history of the Russian campaign to regain control of Belarus from the invading Germans. A monumental battle staged in 1944, the details of events have finally come to light thanks to the release of previously classified military documents. (RUS121, $55.00)
The Svalbard Archipelago  •  P.J. Capelotti CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2000 •  PAPER  • 180 PAGES A reprint of a slim WWII-era report on Spitsbergen by U.S. military intelligence, covering the geography, history and geo-politics of the archipelago, and its strategic significance. With original maps and illustrations. Subtitled "American Military and Political Geographies of Spitsbergen and Other Norwegian Polar territories, 1941-1950, " Capoletti also includes a 1950 report by the C.I.A.on the country. With 63 photographs, maps, glossary, illustrations, bibliography, appendices, and index. (ARC91, $49.95)
Target: Pearl Harbor  •  Michael Slackman HISTORY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 354 PAGES A thoroughly researched, balanced account of the buildup to the attack, the bombing itself and its aftermath, illustrated with black-and-white photographs. (HWI22, $23.00)
Their Finest Hour (The Second World War, Volume 2)  •  Winston S. Churchill HISTORY •  1986 •  PAPER  • 683 PAGES An account of the Battle of Britain from Winston Churchill himself, volume two in his six part series on World War II. (WAR29, $20.00)
The Thin Red Line  •  James Jones LITERATURE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 528 PAGES Philosophical, lyrical and brutal in its depiction of war, James's celebrated novel of the boys from C-Company and the battle for Guadalcanal is a triumph of narrative voice and one of the most celebrated novels about World War II and its consequences on the hearts and minds of soldiers. (PAC145, $13.00)
This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen  •  Tadeusz Borowski  •  Barbara Vedder  •  Jan Kott BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1992 •  PAPER  • 180 PAGES A series of uninflected, austere stories, published in Polish after WWII -- and drawn from the author's experiences in Auschwitz and Dachau from 1943 to 1945. The stories, which caused a sensation upon publication, reflect the daily horrors in the camps. They stand as testimony to the will to survive. (GER95, $14.00)
The Thousand-Mile War, World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians  •  Brian Garfield HISTORY •  1996 •  PAPER  • 456 PAGES A gripping account of the Aleutian Island campaign (1942-43), originally published in 1969. Many of the islands, depicted in black-and-white photographs, are littered with WWII era runways, huts and other relics. (ALA114, $24.95)
Thunder Out of China  •  Theodore H. White  •  Annalee Jacoby  •  Harrison Salisbury HISTORY •  1980 •  PAPER  • 331 PAGES A classic account of the revolutionary developments in China in the years surrounding World War II, highly readbale and illuminating. Originally published in 1946. (CHN113, $16.50)
A Time for Trumpets, The Untold Story of the Battle of the Bulge  •  Charles B. MacDonald HISTORY •  1997 •  PAPER  • 720 PAGES A massive, authoritative history of the Battle of the Bulge, made all the more powerful by the knowledge that the author was a soldier who fought there. (WAR23, $19.95)
The Tin Drum  •  Gunter Grass LITERATURE •  1990 •  PAPER  • 592 PAGES Probably the best German novel written since the end of World War II, this is the surreal story of a mute dwarf named Oskar who lives through Nazi Germany and finds himself in a mental institution. Nobel Prize winner Gunter Grass provides a profound and hilarious perspective on both German history and the human condition in the modern world. (GER33, $15.95)
To Destroy a City, Strategic Bombing and Its Human Consequences in World War II  •  Herman Knell HISTORY •  2003 •  HARD COVER  • 464 PAGES A thoughtful account of the purpose and results of strategic bombing in war, written by a German historian who witnessed the destruction of his hometown of Wurtzberg at the end of World War II. (WAR110, $32.50)
A Traveler's Guide to D-Day and the Battle for Normandy  •  Carl Shilleto  •  Mike Tolhurst GUIDEBOOK •  2004 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A compact guide to the battlefields, memorials, sites and cemeteries of the invasion. With maps, travel information, archival and modern photographs. (FRN330, $14.95)
Tzili, The Story of a Life  •  Aharon Appelfeld  •  Dalya Bilu LITERATURE •  1996 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A moving story of a young Jewish girl whose family accidentally leaves her behind when they flee Poland. She survives the Holocaust hiding in the forest, where she finds love and a sense of belonging. Like Tzili, the author is a Holocaust survivor. A prominent Israeli author, Appelfeld fled to the forest from a concentration camp at the age of eight. (PLD13, $12.00)
Under the Blood Red Sun  •  Graham Salisbury LITERATURE •  1995 •  PAPER  • 246 PAGES • MIDDLE READERS (Age 9-12) A novel set on Oahu immediately before, during and after the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor, featuring as its protagonist, a 13-year-old Japanese-American boy. Tomikazu must help his bewildered mother and grandfather while his father is interned in a mainland camp. The book is a sensitive treatment of a grave collision of cultures, geared for kids ages 9 to 12. (HWI79, $6.50)
Vichy France and the Jews  •  Robert O. Paxton  •  Michael Robert Marrus HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 432 PAGES An excellent, scholarly history of World War II-era France, an especially of Nazi collaboration by the Vichy government. The authors, after mapping events, ask, "Why did this happen?" (FRN291, $26.95)
War in Val D'Orcia: An Italian War Diary, 1943-1944  •  Iris Origo  •  Denis Mack Smith BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1995 •  PAPER  • 239 PAGES Iris Origo records in diary entries the day-to-day heroism and fortitude of her family and workers at an estate in southern Tuscany during WWII. The family takes in children, escaped prisoners, soldiers, civilians and Jews all fleeing as the German army advances south toward their home, 100 miles north of Rome between Siena and lake Trasimene. Originally published in 1947, it's an engrossing chronicle that captures the immediacy of the war in Italy. (ITL219, $14.95)
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War  •  John W. Dower HISTORY •  1987 •  PAPER  • 416 PAGES (PAC149, $16.95)
Wartime, Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War  •  Paul Fussell HISTORY •  1990 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES The great Paul Fussell writes of British and American soldiers during World War II, expertly probing their emotions, worries, hopes and joys. Fussell, who served in World War II, is a distinguished literary historian and author of a milestone history of World War I (The Great War and Modern Memory, WAR34). This compelling, profoundly anti-jingoistic book is a synthesis of genres: part memoir of war, it is also a cultural critique, a history and an elegy. (WAR48, $18.95)
We Band of Angels: The Untold Story of American Nurses Trapped on Bataan by the Japanese  •  Elizabeth M. Norman HISTORY •  2000 •  PAPER  • 352 PAGES A tribute to the group of nurses that gave care to wounded soldiers in the jungles of Bataan during World War II. Forced out of their comfortable surroundings in Manila by Japanese invasion, these nurses, and the soldiers they cared for, spent years in the Philippine wilderness fighting off starvation and disease. A true story of heroism. (SEA20, $14.95)
We Die Alone, A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance  •  David Howarth  •  Stephen Ambrose EXPLORATION •  2007 •  PAPER  • 208 PAGES A 1955 account by British historian David Howarth of courage, determination and valor in Nazi-occupied Norway. It's the story of Jan Baalrud -- and his extraordinary escape across the Lyngen Alps, as reconstructed from interviews with Baalrud and the brave people who helped him escape. Stumbling half-dead into an Arctic village, he is nursed back to health by the local people and, finally, makes his way to neutral Sweden. (NOR14, $16.95)
Winston Spencer Churchill, The Last Lion: Alone, 1932-1940  •  William Manchester BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1989 •  PAPER  • 684 PAGES This second volume in the fascinating three-part biography of Winston Churchill further illuminates the character of one of the largest human beings of our time. War clouds had once again gathered, and the storm of World War II was beginning. (GBR78, $23.00)
The Winter War: The Soviet Attack on Finland, 1939-1940  •  Eloise Engle  •  Lauri Paananen HISTORY •  1992 •  PAPER  • 176 PAGES The story of the 105-day campaign against Finland in the early days of WWII. This book displays how the Finns, though vastly outnumbered, showed great ingenuity in the field of battle. The authors draw on both archival research and interviews to tell their story. With maps and a section of photographs. Originally published in 1973. (SCN20, $19.95)
A Woman in Amber, Healing the Trauma of War and Exile  •  Agate Nesaule BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1997 •  PAPER  • 280 PAGES The author, who fled rural Latvia on the heels of the Russian advance at the age of seven, chronicles the terrible dislocations of World War II. In this American Book Award-winning memoir, she tells the powerful story of what she witnessed and experienced as a young girl during the war. Ultimately a testimony to survival, this book brings to light a terrible knowledge of rape, torture and execution. (RUS30, $15.00)