Scott McGaugh is a former journalist, founding marketing director (2004-2020) of the USS Midway Museum in San Diego, CA, and the author of 10 nonfiction books, including the New York Times bestselling Civil War biography, Surgeon in Blue. His current project is The Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin about the volunteer combat glider pilots of World War II. He has appeared on NPR, the History Channel, and elsewhere.
The riveting true story of Japanese Americans who volunteer In World War II from behind internment camp barbed wire for a segregated army commanded by white officers, and who become the most-decorated unit of its size in the war. The book focuses on the rescue of a “lost battalion” after other units had failed and its movie rights have been optioned.
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Though a novel, the research and factual basis of this classic oozes from almost every page. A book that examines the people, innocent and otherwise, who make World War II a compelling subject and a worthy, thought-provoking read to this day.
An unvarnished memoir of war in the Pacific that inspires and horrifies. The deeply personal horrors witnessed and exacted by young men on both sides makes it almost a character study of the battlefield. A compulsory read for anyone who wants to understand true sacrifice in uniform far beyond the headlines of the day.
The classic Pulitzer Prize book about the outbreak of World War I. This book weaves detail that pulls the reader in, without distraction. A groundbreaking distillation of historical research into a storytelling style that captivates both readers and authors.
This book shines a spotlight on the humanitarian side of war, seemingly mutually exclusive concepts. Yet those who suffer the most often raise to the greatest heights of sacrifice in rescuing others. A riveting tale, thoroughly researched and hard to put down.
This book reads as a gripping thriller rooted in gruesome fact in the Philippine jungle. I’ve read this book several times for inspiration in crafting my books. A great balance between the necessary detail to establish the context and the laser focus on remarkable devotion to duty.
5,888 authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about World War 2, World War 1, and concentration camps.
We think you will like The Wooden Horse, The Rape of Nanking, and Red Star over China if you like this list.
From Peter's list on World War 2 from several different perspectives.
This is, quite simply, the greatest escape story of all time. I’ve chosen this book because I’ve read it so often, at least five times, mostly when I was a teenager. It is brilliant story-telling, and it may just be the book that most got me hooked on World War 2 history. It tells the story of a tunnel dug from under a vaulting horse in the middle of an exercise yard in a German POW camp. The original plan was for a mass escape of prisoners through the tunnel, but in the end, only three prisoners made it back to England and freedom. All brilliantly told.
From Shouhua's list on the Pacific Theater in WW2.
When this book was first published in 1997, the world (at least the Western world) had all but forgotten the atrocity that had been inflicted on my hometown in the winter of 1937-38. Re-reading the gripping nonfictional account today would serve to remind us that we should not forget that ignoble page in our modern history and more importantly that we are all duty-bound to do all we can so such atrocities will not happen again.
From Shouhua's list on the Pacific Theater in WW2.
This was a bestseller when it was first published in 1937, when the War of Resistance against Japan (essentially WWII in the Pacific) was on the cusp of going all out. It was a must read for anyone back then who wanted to know what was going on in the Far East and it is still a must read for anyone today who wants to understand China.