What to buy, oh what to buy...

Well top of my list is the one a new member spent two years on.

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-books-publications/28465-harry-peulev-soe-agent-bio.html

 

"GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS!" As most current books can be acquired without much difficulty, I'd suggest a militaria collector focus on older books long out-of-print, especially those no later than 1945! I bought the entire series that bore these titles: "He's in the Marines Now," "He's in the Paratroops Now," "He's in the Signal Corps," etc.! There were 15 in that set and after acquiring them I scanned them, almost 5,000 pages and turned the CDs over to en eBay seller who started selling them and I was so surprised when he sent me roaylty cheques, something he did not have to do, now those books are on CD and of course their prices rose since then because others take note of a single individual when they are on to something others seem to miss? There are still some great insignia books out there waiting for a good home and loving environment; I have most of them and scanned almost all of them, almost 100,000 pages and I give away free daily scans to anyone who'll email me. In the past I gave away almost 400 CDs and took care of postage and handling myself, never was sure if everyone got them or if they did, looked at them? I figured if I gave master CDs to eBay sellers, the people they reach would appreciate them for their reference material and those eBay sellers I rarely hear from again, but its important to adopt an old book same as you'd adopt a cat or dog from a shelter, there are still USED BOOK STORES waiting for you to go and see what they have. The newer stuff will still be out there and priobably if you wait, their prices will fall, but the older militaria books are disappearing! Also, COPYRIGHT does not exist after 27 years except in the case of Disney Productions who keep their's up-to-date, that means you can scan them and give them away, sell them or trade them for other books and you'll have you scanned books on CDs, takes up less room too! HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009! Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California

 

Theo Boiten's Nachtjacht Diaries volume one and two (RedKite editions) comes to my mind first.

 

Indeed, the 'Nachtjagd Diaries' was without a doubt one of THE WWII publishing highlights of 2008 ( but obviously for airwar enthusiasts only ).

Obscure/rare ? If you haven't already got them, I still ( despite all reservations ) highly recommend Paul Carell's 'Hitler's War On Russia' duo ( that title and 'Scorched Earth' ). Unforgettable Eastern Front reading and great photos, too ( try to get the originals - not Schiffer reprints ). These two books are still cornerstones of any 'Ostfront' bookshelf.

And I recently returned to 'Hitler And His Generals' ( Enigma/Spoellmount ). A monumental book collecting together all the surviving transcripts of the Fuhrer's military situation conferences. Quite riveting to read - it's almost like eavesdropping - and great notes ( by David Glantz ), too.

 

Angriff - The German Attack On Stalingrad In Photos by Jason D Mark (ISBN: 978-0-97510-767-6) - quite simply the best photo history published. The level of research that has gone into the book has raised the bar for this type of book. The vast majority of the photos have had their location pinpointed and have been placed in the correct chronological context with accurate captions. A highlight are the set of aerial recce photos at the back of the book displaying the spots where certain photos were taken.

 

The war in Europe, Norman Davies, you'll either love it or hate it. But you WILL finish it.
Allenbrooke diaries...Everyone has to have the Allenbrooke diaries...

 

We talked about this before Slip, you probably have it already, but anyway it's just a great book with a different view of the BOTB.

 

hmmm slip what are your interests specifically ? NJWD's which I am looking through the third time right now is really for the night air war between BC and the German LW but it is a day and night by night chronological ordered book and if your intense interest does not lie here then forget them entirely.

Armor, Naval ?

 

Baseball warfare of course

 

Why didnt you say earlier then.

The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II Hemorrhoids

A useful companion in vein war often bought by armchair generals.

I have 2 copies....One for each...welll...a good read anyway.

 

While this isn’t WW2 exactly, I really enjoyed one book I received as a gift a while back; Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan. And believe it or not the companion book suggested by the Amazon.com site turned out to be an interesting (to say the least) view of the Middle East as it developed post WW1.

A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East, by David Fromkin, really gets "down and dirty" to why and how the area has devolved to the conundrum we find ourselves in today. Those are my two "lesser known" titles, and which I enjoyed but would probably NOT have bought for myself without knowing of them. They can both seem a bit "dry" to the non-history buff, and even to some of those. But, I enjoyed them both.

Both "filled in" some of the confusion I had received from my schooling through univerity and graduate work concerning the politics and interpretation of same leading up to WW2. Made me go HMMMM, more than I had expected. Of course, you will make your own choice with the "found money" but those two I can (with a clear conscience) recommend.

 

a book on 'roids!

oh that's just wrong.

 

A book that appealed to me and I had on my list:
"A Soldiers View: The Personal Photographs 1939-1945" Blake Heathcote and another by the same author "Testaments of Honour" TESTAMENTS OF HONOUR: Books I have gift cards for Indigo books and when I just checked they were sold out! Shall have to try further afield....

 

Here are a couple of suggestions, one of which you may have already read:

With the Old Breed - E.B. Sledge
- first-person account of Peleliu and Okinawa

Playing with the Enemy - Gary Moore
- The true story of a baseball prodigy who, after signing on w/ the Brooklyn Dodgers, sees his world turned upside down by WWII. He then goes on to play baseball during the war and winds up teaching a group of German u-boat POWs how to play the game.

I had a similar dilemma, albeit a smaller gift card to spend. I ended up purchasing both volumes of Klemperer's I Will Bear Witness, and am about 40 pages into the first one. Took quite a bit of shopping to decide on those!

 

Well, what did you get?

 

I could use a bail out