Inferno

I love everything by the renowned historian Max Hastings, and Inferno is one of his most absorbing works. I loved this book in particular because, unlike most World War II books–which focus on either (1) how Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, and other leaders conducted the war or (2) how soldiers, sailors, and aviators fought it on the ground, in the seas, or from the air–this book does both.

It puts you in the room with FDR and other world leaders, and it puts you on the battlefield in the Pacific, northern Africa and Italy, the Soviet Union, and… show more.

Max Hastings is the author of more than thirty books, many of them about the Second World War. All Hell Let Loose describes the Second World War in considerable detail but focuses on the human experience of what it was like to be a participant in this critical period of history. For its breadth, its power of expression, and penetrating analysis, this book is unsurpassed. There are many excellent single-volume studies of the Second World War, but I rate this as one of the very best.