History: European: EMW Reading List - Ryan

If you’re interested in a more comprehensive and thorough account of the IRA, go with this book.

Gellately’s book is not comforting because it argues that Germans supported the Nazis far more enthusiastically than is popularly believed. - Note: Book damaged and removed from our collection 2015. Consider Interlibrary loan.

long overdue, not returned

Lenard J. Cohen is Professor of Political Science at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada. He lives in Langley, British Columbia.

wonderful book that gives most of the credit for the collapse of the Communist Bloc in Europe not to Gorbachev, not to Ronald Reagan, but to regular Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, and Slovaks! A wonderful, nuanced, and uplifting analysis.

A straightforward but arguably uncritical one-volume account of Churchill. - JR

Wonderful survey!

An excellent revisionist account of the disintegration of Czechoslovakia.

A good analysis but Ambrose pays short shrift to American and British forces who suffered heavy casualties during D-Day. - JR

More scholarly than Pakenham’s gripping narrative but an excellent academic survey of the “scramble for Africa.”

A good narrative history. - JR

An engaging study that has recently been brought back into print. - JR

A hugely significant book that explains how France and Germany shaped the ways the “The Great War” was remembered. -JR

Superb analysis of Spanish fascism by an internationally renowned [now retired] UW-Madison historian.

One of the best British historians, Keegan’s study is first-rate; student reviewers interested in military history should consider selecting this book.

A good narrative study by a prolific historian.

Tremendous book by an amazingly erudite historian.

A dense and detailed examination of how the Nazi’s used mass propaganda. - JR

An analytically scanty but serviceable narrative history of World War II - JR

Arguably the best English-language biography of Hitler—this is the first volume.

Arguably the best English-language biography of Hitler—this is the second volume.

Bullock’s study is excellent!

Fleming is the only scholar given access to the interrogations of the German civilian crematoria engineers lying inaccessible, until a few months ago, in Moscow. This historically important information finally places the last stone in the mosaic of Auschwitz-Berkenau.

some prior knowledge of the subject would be helpful if you choose this title

This is the A. J. P. Taylor antidote! - JR

Engagingly written account by one of Ireland’s most famous journalists—probably a better selection for those students with prior knowledge of modern Irish history.

A solid study that makes some rather ill-advised comments that have perhaps led to this book’s being harshly criticized. - JR

Student reviewers love Gilbert’s narrative account of “Crystal Night.” - JR

A revisionist account of Stalin that contends “the Red Tsar” was not necessarily in control of all aspects of the Soviet Terror.

A wonderfully written biography of Mussolini that challenges historians who have tried to see the good in Il Duce.

An excellent study of life in Europe’s first “totalitarian” regime.

A good biography but Bosworth’s is a bit better.

A fast-moving and engrossing account on the sickening financial dealings between the Nazis and Swiss banks. Future (and current) business majors may find this book especially engrossing. - JR

Browning is one of the premier historians of the Holocaust—this is an excellent study of the early phases of the Holocaust’s implementation. - JR

A controversial book that created a (and continues to create a) a stir when it was first published in the 1960s—students familiar with inter-war diplomatic history will find this book interesting, possibly irritating, but enjoyable. - JR

Fest may overemphasize the extent of resistance to Hilter but this is a lucid and engaging analysis.

Students who have selected Zuckerman’s book have found it interesting and easy to follow. A good study of Germany’s occupation of Belgium—although Zuckerman fibs when he claims the story is “untold.” - JR

A moving study. - JR

Rites of spring : the Great War and the birth of the Modern Age / Modris Eksteins.(A weird, wandering, but wonderful analysis of the link between World War I and the creation of modernity. Eksteins connects elite artistic movements and popular culture with the horror of the trenches—a great book that remains unselected!

A fine survey by a politically conservative historian. Great book!

The conquest of African told from a largely European perspective but a story well told.

Another excellent Keeganian contribution to twentieth century military history - JR

A solid, traditional Gilbertian analysis of World War II - JR

A pioneering book when it was first published, Sisters in the Resistance sparked other Resistance studies that have arguably surpassed it; still, Weitz’s book is student-friendly and no one has negatively reviewed it. - JR

Keegan’s study spills more ink examining non-American forces than does Ambrose’s study of D-Day. If you’re interested in a less American-centered account of D-Day, opt for Keegan’s study. - JR

This is an interesting book that utilizes a great deal of oral history taken from regular “Joe’s” and “JoAnne’s” to tell its story. A narrative history that is student friendly. - JR

A difficult but interesting collection that argues the nation-state may hamper rather than increase understanding of important historical events—especially good for Eastern and Central Europe. - JR

history of the Ukraine up to the beginning of WWII.

Stokes’ account of 1989 is easy to follow and is presented country by country.

Go with Gilbert’s study; Keegan’s biography is a bit short and impressionistic.

An important comparative history of World War I—excellent book - JR