Okay,
If someone asked you to recommend a good history book to them what would your top five books be?
Here are mine in no particular order. Hot linked to Amazon.com...

This Kind of War

Into the Storm

A Bridge Too Far

The Face of Battle

Flyboys

These aren't necessarily my favorites, just really great books I would highly recommend.

What are yours?

Shaun

Ola Shaun

Nice thread
Well my recommendations would be:
in no current order:
Men at Arnhem by Geoffry Powel.
Beyond the Rhine : A Screaming Eagle in Germany by Donald Burgett
The Road to Arnhem : A Screaming Eagle in Holland By Donald Burgett
Arnhem 1944 by Martin Middlebrook
D-Day 6 June 1944 by Stephen Ambrose

My five, again not in any order, and unfortunately without links

Rubicon - Tom Holland (end of the Roman republic)

AD43: The Roman Invasion of Britain - John Manley (a truly shameless plug, since I'm in the acknowledgements)

First Day on the Somme - Martin Middlebrook

Crusade - Rick Atkinson

Tanks at Flers - Trevor Pidgeon

More on the last one here:

http://www.fairmile.fsbusiness.co.uk/default.htm

Shaun-- great topic. My top five:

General Ike-- John D Eisenhower
A Bridge Too Far-- Cornelius Ryan
This Kind of War - - TR Fehrenbach
Soldier-- Matthew Ridgway
Patton Papers - -Martin Blumenson

Some superb choices from the other fellows.
Well done
DJ

A Bridge too far? No, not a great book...

It Never Snows in September
B Company has arrived
Red Devils in Normandy
Deadalus Returned
The Fall of Eben Emael

Those are my top 5 books from my airborne forces selection...

Others that deserve an 'honourable' mention...

About Face
Normandy 1944 - Zetterling
Micheal Wittmann and the Tiger Commanders of the Liebstandarte
Panzers in the Mud
Panzer Commander

Since five books is never enough, here are some others which are also on my favourites list:

'Caen - anvil of victory' by Alexander McKee - an excellent account of the British and Canadian fighting in Normandy based on his own experience and first-hand accounts (and he also found the Mary Rose)

'Tank warfare' by Frank Mitchell - victor of the first tank battle. And it's obvious from the book that it wasn't against 'Elfriede' despite what later 'researchers' have written.

'The Trench' by Richard van Emden - re-enacting the Hull Pals near Flesquieres. Book of a TV series the BBC sadly made a mess out of.

'Tanks across the desert' by Jake Wardrop - diary of a desert rat tankie.

'Flametrower' by Andrew Wilson - Crocodile commander.

BTW I didn't get to end of 'It never snows in September' and gave my copy to a charity shop.

Macdonald's "Battle of the Bulge". Includes a short OOB and brief history of each division (Allied, German) in the appendix.

"Afternoon of the Rising Sun". Forgot the author (my bad). Very good book on the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

"Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". Forgot author. Same as "Afternoon" mentioned above

"The Bear Went Over the Mountain" - not so much as a history book, but more of a study of the tactics used by the Soviets in Afghanistan. Forgot the editor(s).

"Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides. Great book about the Cabanatuan POW camp raid.

"Face of Command" (I think that's the title) by Sir Keegan. Again, not really "history-history" book, but an analysis of the
leadership qualities and styles of several commanders - from Alexander the Great, to Grant, to Hitler, and (I think - forgot really) finally Schwarzkopf. Small little book, good read.

"Leave No Man Behind" by David Isby. Again, not a history book per se. It is a series of special operations, from WW2 to as recent as Saddam's capture in Iraq. Each operation (Mayaguez Incident, Song Tang Raid, and the failed hostage rescue attempt in Tehran) is detailed with an analysis of what made the operation succeed or fail.

"Thunder Run" - I dunno if that'd qualify as a history book as well, but it's fairly recent and I have heard nothing but only high praise about it.

Right on with "Ghost Soldiers." Great book.
DJ

Since my favorite subject is the German Army, Here is my 5 favorite:

"The History of the PanzerKorps Grossdeutschland" Volumes I,II and III by Helmuth Speater.

" Death of the Leaping Horsemen " 24. Panzer-Division in Stalingrad by Jason D. Mark

" Tiger " The History of a legendary weapon 1942-45 by Egon Kleine/Volkmar Kuhn

"Armor Battles of the Waffen -SS " by Will Fey

" The Forgotten Soldier "by Guy Sajer

It was hard choosing my favorites. It would have been easier to pick my top 25.

got to be reader's digest "the world at war" for me

sorry, only got 1 recommendation

Kevin-- not too long ago we had a very enlightening discussion on Sajer. The basic question centered around whether Sajer actually experiencesd these events or was a writer who compiled a novel from others' real or imagined wartime experiences. I seem to recall we were pretty even divided over the conclusions. What do you think?
DJ

Dj,
I found this webpage when I was researching the Grossdeutschland for a History class. It really makes you think and poses a good arguement in the deffense of Sajer.
http://members.shaw.ca/grossdeutschland/

Kevin

Kevin-- thank you for the information. I would recommend that site to all for a detailed look at GD. I took this from one of the reviews and I believe it well expresses my opinion on the book:

"Of course, none of this is conclusive, but the obvious caution is to treat The Forgotten Soldier with some healthy skepticism; there is a good chance that it is not what it is supposed to be. And even if it really is the true account of Sajer's experiences, either the author's memory is so poor and unreliable, or the translation so riddled with errors that, again, the information cannot be counted on. Either way, it amounts to much the same thing: The Forgotten Soldier is not a good source of information about the German Army."

Thanks again
DJ

Hi there,here's my selection in no particular order,

A People's Tragedy- Orlando Figes
Russia's War-Richard Overy
A History of Twentieth Century Russia-Robert Service
Stalingrad-Antony Beevor
Berlin-Antony Beevor

In my opinion they offer newer perspectives on familiar topics.

I just ordered Beevor's book on the Spanish Civil War. Has anyone else read it?
thanks
DJ