940.53-940.54: World War II Experience in America (2023)

The following list contains books, published in the last 5 years, that discuss American life leading up to World War II. Books in this list will spotlight Americans who participated in the war effort and include works that discuss the various experiences of Americans between the years of 1939 and 1945.

Updated June 22, 2023
H
Huntington Beach Public Library
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1

12 seconds of silence : how a team of inventors, tinkerers, and spies took down a Nazi superweapon
Holmes, Jamie
The riveting story of the American scientists, tinkerers, and nerds who solved one of the biggest puzzles of World War II--and developed one of the most powerful weapons of the war   12 Seconds of Silence is the remarkable, lost story of how a ragtag group ...

2

Agent Jack : the true story of MI5's secret Nazi hunter
Hutton, Robert (Journalist)
"An appealing mix of accessibility and research. [Hutton] has illuminated a fascinating and often appalling side of the war at home." -- Wall Street Journal The never-before-told story of Eric Roberts, who infiltrated a network of Nazi sympathizers in Great Britain...

3

The apocalypse factory : plutonium and the making of the atomic age
Olson, Steve
It began with plutonium, the first element ever manufactured in quantity by humans. Fearing that the Germans would be the first to weaponize the atom, the United States marshaled brilliant minds and seemingly inexhaustible bodies to find a way to create a nuclear chain reaction of inconceivable...

4

The bastard brigade : the true story of the renegade scientists and spies who sabotaged the Nazi atomic bomb
Kean, Sam
From New York Times bestselling author Sam Kean comes the gripping, untold story of a renegade group of scientists and spies determined to keep Adolf Hitler from obtaining the ultimate prize: a nuclear bomb.   Scientists have always kept secrets. But rarely have...

5

Countdown 1945 : the extraordinary story of the atomic bomb and the 116 days that changed the world
Wallace, Chris
The #1 national bestselling "riveting" (The New York Times), "propulsive" (Time) behind-the-scenes account "that reads like a tense thriller" (The Washington Post) of the 116 days leading up to the American attack on Hiroshima, by Chris Wallace, veteran journalist and...

6

The darkest year : the American home front 1941-1942
Klingaman, William K.
The Darkest Year is acclaimed author William K. Klingaman's narrative history of the American home front from December 7, 1941 through the end of 1942, a psychological study of the nation under the pressure of total war. For Americans on the home front, the twelve...

7

Fallout : the Hiroshima cover-up and the reporter who revealed it to the world
Blume, Lesley M. M.
A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2020 New York Times bestselling author Lesley M.M. Blume reveals how one courageous American reporter uncovered one of the deadliest cover-ups of the 20th century--the true effects of the atom bomb--potentially saving millions of...

8

Faster : how a Jewish driver, an American heiress, and a legendary car beat Hitler's best
Bascomb, Neal
Winner of the Motor Press Guild Best Book of the Year Award & Dean Batchelor Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism  For fans of The Boys in the Boat and In the Garden of Beasts, a pulse-pounding tale of triumph by an improbable team of...

9

The great secret : the classified World War II disaster that launched the war on cancer
Conant, Jennet
On the night of December 2, 1943, the Luftwaffe bombed a critical Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking seventeen ships and killing over a thousand servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Caught in the surprise air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a top-secret cargo of 2...

10

Half American : the epic story of African Americans fighting World War II at home and abroad
Delmont, Matthew F.
. Winner of the 2023 Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Nonfiction . A New York Times Notable Book . A Best Book of the Year from TIME, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Washington Independent Review of Books, and more! The definitive history of...

11

Hitler's American friends : the Third Reich's supporters in the United States
Hart, Bradley W.
A book examining the strange terrain of Nazi sympathizers, nonintervention campaigners and other voices in America who advocated on behalf of Nazi Germany in the years before World War II. Americans who remember World War II reminisce about how it brought the country together....

12

Invisible heroes of World War II : extraordinary wartime stories of ordinary people
Borrowman, Jerry
Invisible Heroes of World War II documents ten fascinating true stories of a diverse group of soldiers and noncombatants from all over the world, including African Americans, women, and Native Americans, who fought with the Allies during World War II. These heroes made significant...

13

The race of aces : WWII's elite airmen and the epic battle to become the masters of the sky
Bruning, John R.
The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot. In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a...

14

The train to Crystal City : FDR's secret prisoner exchange program and America's only family internment camp during World War II
Russell, Jan Jarboe
The dramatic and never-before-told story of a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II, where thousands of families--many US citizens--were incarcerated. From 1942 to 1948, trains delivered thousands of civilians from the United States and Latin...

15

Uniting America : how FDR and Henry Stimson brought Democrats and Republicans together to win World War II
Shinkle, Peter
The untold story of the most crucial bipartisan alliance in United States history. As Adolf Hitler's Nazi armies threatened Europe, Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt urged a divided America to mobilize to defend democracy and freedom. Many Republicans accused FDR of...

16

The Washington war : FDR's inner circle and the politics of power that won World War II
Lacey, Jim
A Team of Rivals for World War II--the inside story of how FDR and the towering personalities around him waged war in the corridors of Washington, D.C., to secure ultimate victory on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.   The Washington War is the...

17

Winter war : Hoover, Roosevelt, and the first clash over the New Deal
Rauchway, Eric
The history of the most acrimonious presidential handoff in American history -- and of the origins of twentieth-century liberalism and conservatism

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