I read a ton and one of my favorite things to read about is history. I read alot about history and certain historical eras. While I enjoy learning more about the civil war, English/Scottish history, Medieval History and American Native History (which often coincides with Pioneer history), my most commonly explored era is the WWII era. I have read a lot on this time and wanted to add a few of my favorites for you to read if you are interested in WWII history like I am.
A few reasons why I like this era so much are first that it was a perfect example of why unbiblical ideology was a gigantic fail. Atheism gone to its ultimate end becomes the reality of Europe during the German occupation. Many countries and peoples have records of great heroism because of this great evil that arose out of a hatred for life while they acted bravely to safe those lives. Second, there are still people from this era living and the many facts and ideas that can be found are linked to living human beings. This reality brings history to life in an amazing way. Third, this is the first time in modern history when an entire world was affected and almost every continent touched. The world became truly smaller in active thought. From the invasion of china by the Japanese empire, to the conquest of the African North, to the bombing of the American Pacific Islands, to the post war development of the Communist Eastern Europe and the Nation of Israel. Even to the modern day trials and deportations of war criminals, 70 years from the war.
So here are some books, novels, and children stories where I learned a lot about our world's History by reading about an era.
Gladys Alward: The Little Woman - Depicting a missionary life in the late twenties and into the thirties. Covers the invasion of china by the Japanese. Sad and educational, we often forget how many fronts there were!
The 23rd Psalm - The second most powerful holocaust memoir I have ever read! Evil of man and also the unexplained heroism of others. This young man endured five lifetimes before his 16th birthday!
Citizen Soldiers - The European theater from the American perspective.
Clara's War - can you imagine sitting down for more than two years? Surviving murder only because the town outcast and drunk had pity on you?
Band Of Brothers - If You haven't read this, you must! Intimate relationships amongst men in the most straining of times! Brilliant because of the love these men exhibited toward one another.
With the Old Breed - Dark, bloody, violent. The experiences of a very young man in the Pacific theater. Wildly emotional and heart rending.
The Pianist - Highly logical and human account of survival against all odds. From Life in Warsaw before the start of WWII to the Ghetto uprising and also the liberation by the Soviets. The voice in this account reflects its being written in 1946.
The Hiding Place -As ten Boom herself describes her incarceration "I went to prison for loving Jewish people."
The longest Day - A deeply detailed account of D-Day.
Schindler's List - The Path of a life which should have ended in prison for war crimes, but instead became a champion for Human lives.
Alicia - Powerful first Person account of a Jewish girls life in Poland during WWII outside of the Concentration camps.
