By ultimate I mean one that doesn’t just focus on one topic, but one that covers the entire war from start to finish, including some events leading up to it and after it, in the most detail.
Thank you for any help on this matter.
John Keegans’s Second World War or the German Chronik of Zweites Weltkrieg. L. B. Hart’s History of Second World War should be good as well. But I haven’t read it yet.
John Keegans’s Second World War, the German Chronik of Zweites Weltkrieg or L. B. Hart’s History of Second World War
ANY book by John Keegan can be considered the ultimate war book.
Thank you; I am going to check out Keegan’s Second World War on Amazon.
Winston Churchill’s book is very excellent. 6 volumes.
The war against Japan is often treated as a minor event in Euro-centric texts.
John Costello’s “The Pacific War” is the best and most comprehensive treatment of the war against Japan, starting with early pre-war aspects.
It is not free of some irritating errors on a few things I know something about so it is probably the same on many other aspects, but for a single volume that puts it all into perspective it is still far and away the best book.
It’s not just one book, but it’s a set. The Time Life WWII set covers from before the war, the war on all fronts and post war. We were lucky enough to find ALMOST the entire set at the Goodwill for 75 cents a book! Sometimes I see them on eBay. They have lots of pictures, but don’t skimp you on the text by any means. I really enjoy the set.
A World At Arms (A Global History of WWII)…Gerhard Weinberg