Tuesday 20 December 2011

History Books of the Year for 2011

For those of your struggling to find the last few Christmas gifts - here is a short list of my favourite History Books of 2011...

Anna Reid - Leningrad: Tragedy of a City under Siege, 1941-44.

Max Hastings - All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945

Ian Kershaw - The End: Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945

Rodric Braithwaite - Afgantsy: The Russians in Afghanistan, 1979-89

Robert Gerwarth - Hitler's Hangman: The Life of Heydrich

Norman Davies - Vanished Kingdoms

All good - all very much worth reading, and giving..

Happy Christmas

2 comments:

Keir said...

Just brought home Hitler's First war by Thomas Weber. Have to say I immediately find myself at odds with some of his claims, particularly in regards the photo of Hitler at Odeonsplatz in August 1914 and the author's unquestioning acceptance of film apparently showing the same scene with Hitler visible.

historian at large said...

Hmm. There are a couple of issues with Weber's book - not least his contention that Hitler was a coward - despite the evidence to the contrary that he himself cites. A bit of PC that, methinks.
It is nonetheless a good and thorough study of Hitler's early years and is, all in all, a welcome addition to the literature...