940.53-940.54: World War II in Europe (2023)

The following list contains books, published in the last 5 years, that discuss the European theater of World War II. Works in this list will feature battles, campaigns, and personal narratives set in eastern and western Europe as well as Scandinavia, Russia, and northern Africa between 1941 and 1945.

Updated June 9, 2023
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1

All the frequent troubles of our days : the true story of the American woman at
Donner, Rebecca.
The INSTANT New York Times Bestseller Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography Winner of the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award  Winner of the Chautauqua Prize Finalist for the Los...

2

Big week : the biggest air battle of World War II /
Holland, James, 1970-
The vivid and largely untold story of the dramatic Allied air campaign against Germany that was a turning point in World War II and ultimately crucial to the success of D-Day and the Allied invasion of Europe During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces...

3

Bloodlands : Europe between Hitler and Stalin /
Snyder, Timothy
From the author of the international bestseller On Tyranny, the definitive history of Hitler's and Stalin's politics of mass killing, explaining why Ukraine has been at the center of Western history for the last century. Americans call the Second World...

4

The bravest voices : a memoir of two sisters' heroism during the Nazi era /
Cook, Ida.
This timeless memoir documents two sisters' bravery leading up to WWII--a singular historical account that shines a light on one of humanity's darkest hours. Ida and Louise Cook are two ordinary Englishwomen, seemingly destined never to stray from their quiet London suburb and...

5

Brothers in arms : one legendary tank regiment's bloody war from D-day to VE-day
Holland, James, 1970-
Celebrated military historian James Holland chronicles the experiences in World War II of the legendary tank unit, the Sherwood Rangers In the annals of World War II, certain groups of soldiers stand out, and among the most notable were the Sherwood Rangers. Originally a...

6

The correspondents : six women writers on the front lines of World War ll /
Mackrell, Judith.
The riveting, untold history of a group of heroic women reporters who revolutionized the narrative of World War II--from Martha Gellhorn, who out-scooped her husband, Ernest Hemingway, to Lee Miller, a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent. "Thrilling from the...

7

D-Day girls : the spies who armed the resistance, sabotaged the Nazis, and helpe
Rose, Sarah, 1974-
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The dramatic, untold history of the heroic women recruited by Britain's elite spy agency to help pave the way for Allied victory in World War II "Gripping. Spies, romance, Gestapo thugs, blown-up trains, courage, and...

8

The diary keepers : World War II in the Netherlands, as written by the people wh
Siegal, Nina, 1969-
A riveting look at the story of World War II and the Holocaust through the diaries of Dutch citizens, firsthand accounts of ordinary people living through extraordinary times  Based on select writings from a collection of more than two thousand Dutch diaries written during World War...

9

Eight days in May : the final collapse of the Third Reich /
Ullrich, Volker, 1943-
In a bunker deep below Berlin's Old Reich Chancellery, Adolf Hitler and his new bride, Eva Braun, took their own lives just after 3:00 p.m. on April 30, 1945--Hitler by gunshot to the temple, Braun by ingesting cyanide. But the Führer's suicide did not instantly end either Nazism or the Second World...

10

The escape artist : the man who broke out of Auschwitz to warn the world /
Freedland, Jonathan, 1967-
Winner of the National Jewish Book Award · New York Times Bestseller "A brilliant and heart-wrenching book, with universal and timely lessons about the power of information--and misinformation. Is it possible to stop mass murder by telling the truth?" -- Yuval Noah Harari,...

11

Every man a hero : a memoir of D-Day, the first wave at Omaha Beach, and a world
Lambert, Ray
The New York Times Bestseller ^ Winner of the Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award  Omaha Beach legend Ray Lambert's unforgettable firsthand account of D-Day  "Lambert landed on [Omaha Beach] as a 23-year-old Army...

12

The first wave : the D-Day warriors who led the way to victory in World War II /
Kershaw, Alex
Beginning in the pre-dawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows ten men attempting to carry out D-Day's most critical missions. Their actions would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe. The ten make a charismatic, unforgettable cast. They include the first...

13

A game of birds and wolves : the ingenious young women whose secret board game h
Parkin, Simon
As heard on the New Yorker Radio Hour: The triumphant and "engaging history" (The New Yorker) of the young women who devised a winning strategy that defeated Nazi U-boats and delivered a decisive victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. By...

14

The girls who stepped out of line : untold stories of the women who changed the
Eder, Mari K.
For fans of Radium Girls and history and WWII buffs, The Girls Who Stepped Out of Line takes you inside the lives and experiences of 15 unknown women heroes from the Greatest Generation, the women who served, fought, struggled, and made things happen during WWII--in and out of uniform--for theirs...

15

A house in the mountains : the women who liberated Italy from fascism /
Moorehead, Caroline
NATIONAL BESTSELLER The extraordinary story of four courageous women who helped form the Italian Resistance against the Nazis and the Fascists during the Second World War. In the late summer of 1943, when Italy changed sides in WWII and the Germans, now their...

16

In the garden of the righteous : the heroes who risked their lives to save Jews
Hurowitz, Richard
"In the Garden of the Righteous brilliantly describes how in the midst of the brutality of the Holocaust and the collaboration, acquiescence and passivity of millions, there were people who risked their lives to save others out of a sense of shared humanity. This book is more timely...

17

Information hunters : when librarians, soldiers, and spies banded together in Wo
Peiss, Kathy Lee.
While armies have seized enemy records and rare texts as booty throughout history, it was only during World War II that an unlikely band of librarians, archivists, and scholars traveled abroad to collect books and documents to aid the military cause. Galvanized by the events of war into acquiring...

18

Last call at the Hotel Imperial : the reporters who took on a world at war /
Cohen, Deborah, 1968-
WINNER OF THE MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE * A prize-winning historian's "effervescent" (The New Yorker) account of a close-knit band of wildly famous American reporters who, in the run-up to World War II, took on dictators and rewrote the rules of modern journalism ...

19

Last Hill : The Epic Story of a Ranger Battalion and the Battle That Defined WWII
Drury, Bob
Bob Drury and Tom Clavin's The Last Hill is the incredible untold story of one Ranger battalion's heroism and courage in World War II. They were known as "Rudder's Rangers," the most elite and experienced attack unit in the United States Army. In December 1944, Lt. Col....

20

Last witnesses : an oral history of the children of World War II /
Aleksievich, Svetlana, 1948-
"A masterpiece" (The Guardian) from the Nobel Prize-winning writer, an oral history of children's experiences in World War II across Russia NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE WASHINGTON POST For more than three decades, Svetlana...

21

The liberation of Paris : how Eisenhower, De Gaulle, and Von Choltitz saved the City of Light
Smith, Jean Edward.
Prize-winning and bestselling historian Jean Edward Smith tells the "rousing" (Jay Winik, author of 1944) story of the liberation of Paris during World War II--a triumph achieved only through the remarkable efforts of Americans, French, and Germans, racing to save the city from destruction...

22

The Nazi conspiracy : the secret plot to kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill /
Meltzer, Brad
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "An absolute home run! You will never look at WWII the same way again." --Brad Thor, #1 bestselling author "Meltzer and Mensch are masters." --Jon Meacham, author The Soul of America "A...

23

The nine : the true story of a band of women who survived the worst of Nazi Germ
Strauss, Gwen
"[A] narrative of unfathomable courage... Ms. Strauss does her readers--and her subjects--a worthy service by returning to this appalling history of the courage of women caught up in a time of rapacity and war." --Wall Street Journal "Utterly gripping." --...

24

Operation Pedestal : the fleet that battled to Malta 1942 /
Hastings, Max.
The Sunday Times bestseller 'One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings' DAILY MAIL In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people...

25

Pegasus Bridge : June 6, 1944 /
Ambrose, Stephen E.
In the early morning hours of June 6, 1944, a small detachment of British airborne troops stormed the German defense forces and paved the way for the Allied invasion of Europe. Pegasus Bridge was the first engagement of D-Day, the turning point of World War II. This gripping account of it by...

26

The princess spy : the true story of World War II spy Aline Griffith, Countess o
Loftis, Larry
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER "As exciting as any spy novel" (Daily News, New York), The Princess Spy follows the hidden history of an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS's most daring...

27

Prisoners of the castle : [large print] an epic story of survival and escape fro
Macintyre, Ben, 1963-
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * The "entertaining [and] often-moving account" (The Wall Street Journal) of the remarkable POWs whose relentlessly creative attempts to escape a notorious Nazi prison embodied the spirit of resistance against fascism, from the author of The Spy and...

28

Sicily '43 : the first assault on fortress Europe /
Holland, James, 1970-
A major new history of one of World War II's most crucial campaigns--the first Allied attack on European soil--by the acclaimed author of Normandy '44 and a rising star in military history On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even...

29

Taking Paris : the epic battle for the city of lights /
Dugard, Martin
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * From Martin Dugard, the #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Killing series with Bill O'Reilly, comes the spellbinding story of the Allied liberation of Paris from the grip of the Nazis during World War II "Taking Paris does...

30

Three days at the brink : FDR's daring gamble to win World War II /
Baier, Bret
The Instant New York Times Bestseller "I could not put this extraordinary book down. Three Days at the Brink is a masterpiece: elegantly written, brilliantly conceived, and impeccably researched. This book not only sparkles but is destined to be a classic!" --Jay Winik,...

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