Pacific War in WW2, Triology

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941–1942,The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942–1944, Twilight of the Gods: War in the Western Pacific, 1944-1945. A goo complient to Atkinson's European triology. The sweeping story of the Pacific war.

Agent Sonya

Agent Sonya: Moscow's Most Daring Wartime Spy, by Ben Macintyre. Amazing story of a Soviet spy that spans the decades from the 1930s to the 70s, and somewhat beyond. China, Germany, Switzerland, Poland and the UK are all part of this story, of WW2 and cold war esionage.

WW2 Literature

Recently read: With Wings Like Eagles- Michael Korda. The story of the battle of Britain. D-Day by Stephen Ambrose, and D-Day: The Invasion of Normandy, 1944 by Rick Atkinson. 1944 by Jay Wink. All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, fiction about young people in France and Germany before and during the war. Madame Fourcade's Secret War by Lynne Olson, the underground movement in France. Last Boat our of Shanghai by Helen Zia. The Japanese occupation of Shanghai. Travels With Myself and Another, by Martha Gellhorn, the journalists autobiography. His Final Battle by Joseph Levyveld, Roosevelt's final year. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand.

Garlic and Sapphires

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl. This memoir rounds her life by filling in the space when she was the food critic for the New York Times. Her easy writing style and great sense of humor make her memoirs entertaining and informative. This book ends with her about to be the editor of Gourmet magazine, the story that is told in Save Me The Plums.

The Liberation Trilogy

The Liberation Trilogy: An Army at Dawn, The Day of Battle, The Guns at Last Light by Rick Atkinson, This trilogy is a history of WWII, the European war. The first book, Battle, is the African campaign, the second, Battle, is the Italian campaign, and the third, Guns, is D-Day and the end of the war. I have read the first two, but do not think I will read the third. The death and destruction outlined in these books is a bit too much to spend a lot of time with. (Since I originally posted this, I have gone back and read the third book.) Of course, I am being spoiled, as the people fighting these battles obviously could not just walk away. The details are quite extensive, and the author had access to quite a few personal diaries of both officers and enlisted men, so you get a real insight into 'men on the ground'. It is also interesting to contemplate when reading this that another part of the war was taking place in the Pacific at the same time. Along the same theme of dealing with WWII, the above details the war in Europe, and Ian Toll has a trilogy that deals with the Pacific war. Pacific Crucible and The Conquering Tide are the first two in the trilogy, the third comes out in July 2020. The first deals with a lot of background of the countries to be involved, and the leaders and military men who will be a big part of the pacific war. The second I found more interesting as it looks at the main part of the war in the pacific and does so by looking at different branches of the military, and not just providing a chronological story of battles.

The Outlaw Ocean

The Outlaw Ocean by Ian Urbina. Hard to read at times, do to the subject matter being so disturbing. This book outlines with several different scenarios that troubles of the earth's oceans: over fishing, pollution, forced labor. The author makes the point that the oceans have seemed to be a limitless resource, so 'abusing' them has not been taken seriously by many people. However, the reality is very different. The oceans are the first line that show the affect of climate change, and the rate of acceleration is pretty scary.

Fort Niagara

Fort Niagara by William Utley and Patricia Scott. The history of this fort, located where the Niagara river flows into Lake Ontario. This particular history is of the french period, the first version of the fort, up until the British takeover of the fort in 1759 during the French and Indian War. Having spent time in the early 1980s working at this fort, I have a personal interest in this, and found the early history quite interesting. Like The British Are Coming, this book illustrates how much happened well before 1776, and how all the events before that July date led up to the rebellion actually happening. It is quite complicated how the French, English and native peoples interacted. Each of them jockeying for the best position in the trade that was going on in this part of north America. This book probably appeals to a select group who know this area, but for that group this is a great resource.