I'm looking for some well written books/series on WWI & WWII. I read a couple books about the American Revolution by Jay Winik last year and enjoyed his story-telling style.

tia

For WW1 I really enjoyed Lyn MacDonald's series of accounts of the BEF starting from 1914 through 1918. I Read her accounts while living an hour or so from Ypres so that may have influenced my views of her work. John Keegan and Gilbert Martin's books also are good reads.

If your interested in WW1 I would also recommend Poems of the Great War on the poetry written during the war. Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon, Edmund Blunden, etc...

Haven't done a lot of reading on WW2.

WWII - Stephen Ambrose

Have you read John Keegan's books?

"The Face of Battle" was a personal favorite. Talked about the "human" aspects of war: fear, attitude, emotion, etc

One point I never forgot was from Gettysburg: one rifle was found loaded 23 times! Round upon round were packed one on top of the other (imagine if he fired it!). The point being in the heat of battle the mind plays quite a few tricks on ever the most seasoned of soldiers!

Agincord (sp?) was another!

If you enjoy fiction mixed in with the War, W.E.B. Griffin's "The Corps" series is outstanding. They are not history books per se but do follow the time line and events. "Semper Fi" starts with China Marines in 1941 and follows the characters from there. Other books in the series continue the saga.

I don't know if you're into this kind of writing, but I really enjoy reading the memoirs of people who fought in the war. German memoirs are particularly interesting and well-written. Let me know if you're interested in reading anything like that and I'll give you some examples of my favorite ones.

I'll warn you though a couple of them are depressing. One of them was so depressing that I could only read it an hour or so at a time, so it ultimately ended up ruining probably two weeks of my life.

if you're into reading about individuals william manchester did a good job with old soldiers never die, and geoffrey perret did an excellent job on eisenhower.

a time for trumpets by charles macdonald, and the rise and fall of the third reich are great as well, along with omar bradley's memoirs a soldiers story.

For World War I, I'd reccommend both Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel and Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger, both fantastic first person accounts.

For World War II, I would suggest The Longest Day (About D-Day) By Cornelius Ryan and Enemy at The Gates (Covers Stalingrad) by William Craig.

If you're into WW II naval aviation, some of the best books about the first year of the war are by John B. Lundstrom:

The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway

and

The First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942

In terms of fiction, Herman Wouk's books are excellent. And the two miniseries are pretty good.

There are a ton of great WWII books. I could send you my entire catalogue, but that would take time.

We had a post on this a long time ago, but I can't seem to find it in a search. Lots of folks listed their favorite books and I had about 20-30 titles there. I had my list with me then, I don't now.