Who was the best WWII author?

[Daniele C]

Paul Carrel no doubts.i felt like being in the battlefields readin his books

[Andy Harris]

My best friend (who originally turned me on to Carell) refers to "Hitler Moves East" and "Scortched Earth" as the "Old and New Testaments" of "The Bible".
Too bad "Hitler Moves East" is out of print. I'd love to find a hardcover edition to replace my paperback.

[PZIV]

1) Me
2) Tony Le Tissier

[stonemint]

Wow, I am only 1 of 6 who thinks Toland was the best (Ryan a close second)--both made use of extensive primary source material, and used the accounts of their interviews with first-hand witnesses.

On the German side, Joachim Fest has done some excellent writing, and I also enjoyed Peter Padfield's biography of Doenitz, and I believe, he wrote a Goring bio circa 1990 as well.

Charles Syndor (IMHO) wrote the best W-SS history hands down, as it was his thesis paper, and is/was a masterpiece of scholarly research--if only all other divisional studies could be as good!

[Jody]

Best WWII Author

Wow, I am only 1 of 6 who thinks Toland was the best (Ryan a close second)--both made use of extensive primary source material, and used the accounts of their interviews with first-hand witnesses.

On the German side, Joachim Fest has done some excellent writing, and I also enjoyed Peter Padfield's biography of Doenitz, and I believe, he wrote a Goring bio circa 1990 as well.

Charles Syndor (IMHO) wrote the best W-SS history hands down, as it was his thesis paper, and is/was a masterpiece of scholarly research--if only all other divisional studies could be as good!

Hello,
I personally voted for Ryan. I also liked the book on the Totenkopf division by Charles W. Sydnor, Jr. and I reviewed this book back in 2005. Here is the thread: http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...rs+destruction

I guess you and I have some of the same tastes, maybe because we are so close in age.

Regards,
Jody

[billmunny]

John Toland, hands down...

Make that Seven, Stone mint, John Toland is my fave. His book "Battle: Story of the Bulge" is hard to beat, and while his writing style is not as flowery as Ambrose, as a historian, he strives to get it right, particularly by talking to primary sources esp. those clouded by myth and controversy such as Peiper, Skorzeny, etc. I also enjoy the fact that Toland, in interviewing the actual players, makes mention of what some did after the war (eg. Mantueffel's carpet business, Skorzeny's attempts to the US, etc.).

Toland also goes to great pains not to get preachy or to take sides. Cornelius Ryan is up there as well, much for the same reasons.

Ambrose is a good read, and he should get credit for cashing in on the boom interest in WWII, but he borrowed heavily from others and often embellished the exploits of some, while down-playing those of others, depending on who he liked. I'm sorry he's gone, but I hold others in higher regard as historians.

[Mark C. Yerger]

Sydnor's old book is full of big errors. Much better books have been written since on "Totenkopf" or its various battles. Does get him on the History Channel even though its the only thing he's done and is decades old (they manage to mention it every time he's on).

[Andy Harris]

I like John Toland too. He did a good job of portraying the Japanese, without making lame excuses for some of the excessive behavior, but still showing them as human.

[stonemint]

You know, one of the best books about the TR era that was non-scholarly in approach (because the author was a journalist, not a trained historian) was "The Bunker" by O'Donnell--he conducted many first-hand interviews with the surviving witnesses--a riveting read. I think it came out in 1980, and the movie with Anthony Hopkins as Hitler was based on it.

I know I am getting slightly off-topic here, but one of the best non-combatent memoir I have read of late from the German POV is "German Boy" by Wolfgang Samuel--Ambrose was so impressed with it that he wrote the forward.

[Zeller]

i would say Sven Hassel. I read all his fiction novels when i was a kid and they brought me on the battlefield

[regular122]

Sven Hassell. There's a name I haven't heard in awhile. Don't know if anyone has mentioned him but what about William Manchester? he wrote his own memoirs as a marine in the Pacific Theatre called Goodbye Darkness and an entire History of the Kruppe family, who made so much of Germany's weapons for 4 or5 hundred years. What a book that is. Called The Arms of Kruppe. Check it out

Have to agree on Manchester Steve. His work from the 'Death of a President' to 'Goodbye Darkness' (one of the most moving accounts of the Pacific ever written), his 'Last Lion' Churchill trilogy, and 'Arms of Krupp' are all impeccably researched and extremely well-written history. His best in my opinion was the classic on Douglas MacArthur called 'American Ceasar.' I place him up there with John Toland, and Charles MacDonald (Company Commander, Time for Trumpets among many) on readable well-researched history.

Toland Got my vote. And he could write about almost any period or culture. Loved 'No Man's Land,' 'Infamy,' 'Adolf Hitler,' 'The Rising Sun,' 'The Last 100 Days,' and his 'In Mortal Combat' is the only history of the Korean War that interviews North Korean and Chinese soldiers and leaders. Two Pulitzers. What do you have to do to top that?

I did not see another astounding two Pulitzer historian on the list but she should be. Barbara Tuchman's 'Guns of August' and 'Stillwell and the American Experience in China' were her award-winning works among many fantastic writings. What do you have to do to top that?

Seems like so many favor the popular writers that suck on historical analysis and facts. Guys (and gals) like Toland, Tuchman, Manchester and Keegan prove you can be a popular writer but still be a very accurate historian.

I have to agree with the Ambrose critics. I met Mr. Ambrose (nice man) and have even heard him lecture (he was a better writer--but still never even got near a Pulitzer). Have several signed works of his. His D-Day book was historically awful. Replete with inaccuracies. A great weaving of vets' tales (they saved the book) but it sucked on historical accuracy. He was called on the carpet and shunned by historians world-wide for his plagiarism of 'Wild Blue.' He was a wonderful Civil War writer and perhaps the best Eisenhower historian out there, but his later works drifted into sloppiness, poor editing and historical inaccuracies--not to mention ethical gaffes. Steve

[6th Nord]

Johann Voss
Kurt Meyer
Franz Kurowski
Antonio Munoz
Mark Rikmenspoel
Mark C. Yerger
George Lepre
Allen Brandt
Joseph P. Slavick

6th Nord

[shinerb]

Rick Atkinson

I'm surprised no one has discussed Rick Atkinson's liberation trilogy. The first of the three on North Africa was awarded a pulitzer. The second will be released this fall and it covers the Italian campaign.

http://www.anarmyatdawn.com/

[Lassi]

Not UK or US but German I would say Adolf with Mein kampf
He had a lot of readers at the time thou
cheers

[regular122]

I'm surprised no one has discussed Rick Atkinson's liberation trilogy. The first of the three on North Africa was awarded a pulitzer. The second will be released this fall and it covers the Italian campaign.

http://www.anarmyatdawn.com/

And Atkinson won a second Pulitzer for reporting. 'An Army at Dawn' was perhaps the best history book on the US army in WWII to come out in the last 5 years. He will clearly put himself in the company of the older great historians with writing like this. I am eagerly awaiting the next volume. Steve