City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945

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.Up the Line to Death: War Poets, 1914-18
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
from: Methuen Publishing Ltd

January 09, 1986
The poetry of soldiers of the First World War.

Supposedly the War to end ALL Wars, it was a bloody, brutal and harrowing campaign. It wasn't over by Christmas as many had speculated and lasted four long years and it marked the emergence of a new type of warfare.

The poetry in this anthology covers those four years of war, from the eager young men joining up to fight the enemy on foreign soil, to the maimed returning home and, of course, those who never returned at all.

The poems are deeply moving, especially those of the men stuck in the trenches, knee deep in mud with nothing to listen to but the sound of shells exploding outside and nothing to see but their friends injured and killed. Some of ... Read More:
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.Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife 49'
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
from: Profile Books Ltd

November 16, 2006
I can only add to the unalloyed praise of others and wish that Nella Last could know what pleasure and enlightenment her "scribbling" would bring to others over 60 years later.

She writes beautifully and naturally, but what's most interesting is the way she changes as the war progresses. At the beginning she is sickly and weak, plagued with arthritis, and refers to a "breakdown" she had a few years before. But she determines to "do something" for the war effort and joins the WVS. From there she goes from strength to strength, and the evolution of her ideas is fascinating; she comes to see her conventional marriage to an old stick of a husband as "slavery". She's also very observant and perceptive of the people around her.
She ... Read More:
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.Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Max Hastings

April 15, 2005
An impressive panoramic narrative of the battle for Germany, "Armageddon" combines a wide range of sources (including many veterans) with Hastings's sharp, often iconoclastic judgement. His criticism of the military folly of Operation Market Garden, the Ardennes offensive, and Zhukov's Oder crossing is hard-hitting, but frequently deserved. Hastings is no apologist for military failings, although he frequently gets moralistic: discussions of the justice of the allied cause or the tyranny of Stalin, which is perceived in downright Manichean terms, should not be part of a work of history. This is not to deny the reality of good and evil, or to say that tales of atrocity should not be included: of course they should, especially in a book that intends to ... Read More:
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.Major and Mrs.Holt's Battlefield Guide to Normandy Landing Beaches (Major & Mrs Holt's Battlefield Guide)
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Tonie Holt, Valmai Holt

1999-08
If you doing any battlefield tours you will never go far wrong with getting the books by Holt's. informative, factual, easy to understand and packed with hints and tips a must for all budding historians.
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.Alicia: My Story
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Alicia Appleman-Jurman

1990-01
I received this book only a day or so after ordering it here on Amazon, and began it that very evening.....
I have found it hard to put down, and thoroughly recommend it, I shall finish it by tomorrow, and then my daughter is going to read it. She is learning all about Hitler and world war2 for G.C.S.E's, but not enough is taught regarding the Jews and what happened. This book should be read by all children, to help them realise how lucky they are not to have to experience such horror, and to feel and empathise for what really happened, and to stop it ever happening again. This is an amazing, inspirational and terribly moving insight into a young Jewish girls experience of living through World war 2 in Poland. I cried, and also am filled with admiration ... Read More:
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.The Operators: On the Streets with Britain's Most Secret Service (Pen & Sword Military Classics)
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: James Rennie

July 30, 2004
This book appears to be written by someone who worked in Northern Ireland but there are a number of anomolies which indicate they were not as involved as they claim.

Beware the first three quarters of the book is taken up with extremely dull detail about special forces training which will be nothing new to you if you have any of the SAS books previously.


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.Austerlitz
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: W.G. Sebald

July 04, 2002
I fear for the future of this wonderful book, published months before the author's death. In my eyes, W.G. Sebald deserves a place in the German canon alongside Hermann Hesse, Thomas Mann and Gunter Grass; but I doubt that will happen. One way of looking at this melancholy novel is as a riposte to Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's Ark". In a historical episode of unique evil, Keneally finds heroism, compassion and a happy ending. But, more often than not, the historical facts don't fit into neat blockbuster plotlines, and the novelist who "reimagines" the good stories risks obscuring the underlying truth. That truth is Sebald's goal.

The present-day narrator of "Austerlitz" meets Jacques Austerlitz in a London hotel in the late '90s, and Austerlitz, adopted ... Read More:
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.Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations (Official Wwii Info Reproductns)
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Foreword by Jill Norman

September 06, 2007
In the current financial climate of negative equity and rising prices, we all need to make do and mend. There really is no need to keep buying new stuff when there is a bit of life left in something older and this books will help you.

Featuring reproductions of wartime pamphlets, some of the print quality is not perfect. A little sewing experience would be a good thing, but not vital.

In the war years fabric, ready made clothes were rationed and in short supply, and so was cash! So if you had a good dress but needed a larger one, this book tells you how to insert strips of fabric to bring new life to old garments.

We can buy cheap clothes nowadays but there is great satisfaction in "make do and mend" and reducing waste and, anyway, it is fun reading ... Read More:
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.The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Orlando Figes

October 04, 2007
In this book, Figes has diluted and refined his mastery of the art of weaving historical sources together. These family narratives which, without this book, would certainly have been lost, provide a compelling insight into the reality of Soviet Russia - the 'historical' backdrop of dates and movements takes a back seat to the gritty honesty of real people's testimony of what living through this era was actually like.
A fantastic read.
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.First Light
City Travel Guides > Books > World War II 1939-1945
by: Geoffrey Wellum

May 01, 2003
The number of reviews for this book should be recommendation enough, gripping from start to finish and a fitting tribute to all Battle of Britain pilots and not least Geoffrey Wellum himself!
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