The Second World War by Antony Beevor

(Posted for Paul Mathews)

Six years starting in 1939-1945, historian tells of causes, operation and violence. My only conclusion to this book is:  War is Hell.

Audio:  37 hours

Print:  880 pages

The Thirty Years War: Europe's Tragedy by Peter H. Wilson

A complex and indepth work, the book covers the period of the Thirty Years War (1618-1645) as well as extensively detailing the period immediately before the war. All the factions and nations involved are extensively profiled and discussed. Wilson also goes over much of the previous scholarship of the war in an attempt to make sense of the conflict's origins and causes. Well written and thoughtful the book does tend to get bogged down by an endless array of German princlings and locations. A good working knowledge of German geography would be useful to the reader. 851 pages.