- Attack & Sink: The Battle for SC42 by Bernard Edwards: While it is not a memoir, this is one of those small, up close kind of books that I love. Edwards tells the story of SC42 (Slow Convoy), a large convoy of slow rickety ships traveling from North America to Great Britain. He also ably tells the story of the U-Boats hunting SC42.
- The Battle of the Atlantic by Andrew Williams: A companion book to the History Channel's series of the same name. A short and simple summary of the Battle of the Atlantic, seasoned with some first person stories.
- Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun by John Prados: A detailed book that provides lots of background, context, and strategic analysis. Prados balances this by artfully including plenty of first-person narrative that conveys the horror and heroism of the campaign.
- Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of World War 2 on the Eastern Front by Constantine Pleshakov: An analysis of Stalin's failures in 1941 at the start of the war on the Eastern Front.
- Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45 by Barbara Tuchman: Tuchman is one of my favorite historians and this book, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is one of her best. Tuchman builds her history of Sino-American relations, particularly during the WW2 era, around Stilwell's biography. No one comes off looking heroic in the Chinese Theater. The U.S., China, Great Britain, and Japan all come off looking bad.
Additional World War 2 Book posts:
My Favorite World War 2 Books
My Latest World War 2 Reads
More World War 2 Books
Even More World War 2 Books
Yet More World War 2 Books
A Stack of World War 2 Books
World War 2 Memoirs