BENGALURU: The second World War engulfed every continent on earth and inflicted more death and destruction on people and nations than any other recorded event. Even though most of the current generation has not lived through the war, everyone is aware of it thanks to museums, movies and books.
I have been fortunate to have visited some of the most famous World War II museums such as the Holocaust Remembrance Center at Yad Vashem (Israel), Concentration Camp Memorial Site at Dachau (Germany), Anne Frank Museum (in Amsterdam, Netherlands) and the Pearl Harbor National Memorial (in Hawaii, USA). Most of us have felt the intensity of the war through powerful movies: Schindler’s List based on the book Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally and other films based on eponymous books such as Dunkirk (by Joshua Levine); Enemy at the Gates (William Craig) and Escape from Sobibor (Richard Rashke).
With the current Ukraine-Russia war, there is a growing interest on World War II and the lessons we can learn from it. While there are countless books written about it, every year many more are churned out, providing new perspectives. When I spoke to World War II historian Andrew Nagorski about the reason for the continued interest in the topic even after 75+ years, his response was “World War II is the greatest lab to understand human behaviour”.
Here are some of my favourite World War II books. I read Hiroshima by John Hersey in one sitting. In this journalistic masterpiece, Hershey describes what happened on the day the atom bomb was dropped in the city of Hiroshima. Told through the memories of survivors, this timeless, powerful and compassionate document has become a classic “that stirs the conscience of humanity”. This book was recommended to me by Beverly Potter, the 85-year-old bookstore owner of The Title Page in Philadelphia. She said, “You should read this book in one sitting, and I would like to see your face after you finish it. I promise you will have tears in your eyes.” And she was right.
World War II: The Definitive Visual History from Blitzkrieg to the Atom Bomb (published by DK) is an all-encompassing book on the topic because of its visual aids and depth of information.
While Maus by Art Spiegelman is the most famous graphic novel about this war, one of the lesser-known books that I discovered was the 1999 book Dr Seuss Goes To War by Richard H Minear. It is a fascinating collection of wartime cartoons from the beloved children’s author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel.
One of the recent books that I read was 1941: The Year Germany Lost the War by Andrew Nagorski. The author takes a fresh look at the decisive year of 1941, when Hitler’s miscalculations and policy of terror propelled Churchill, FDR, and Stalin into a powerful new alliance that defeated Nazi Germany. The year 1941 forever defined our world and this book is a lively, opinionated account of this critical year.
When it comes to fiction, some of the best have already been made into movies like The Book Thief, Catch 22 and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. So, I would suggest Fatherland by Robert Harris (which was made into a TV film). It is set in 1964 and imagines an alternative world where Hitler has won the World War II, the holocaust is an unconfirmed rumour, and on the eve of Hitler’s 75th birthday the United States (under President Joseph Kennedy) is negotiating diplomatic ties with the Third Reich! Thank god it is fiction!