MHM’s round-up of the latest military history titles
The Final Archives of the Führerbunker
Paul Vallatoux and Xavier Aiol
Casemate £29.99 (hbk)
ISBN 978-1612009049
The Führerbunker is the subject of endless fascination. The mysterious cavern under central Berlin was the final home of Adolf Hitler in the last months of the war. It was where he married Eva Braun, and where he killed himself just over a day later. Winston Churchill was one of the few outsiders who got to explore the complex before it was levelled by the Soviet Union. But although the building may have gone, troves of historic documents survived. Now, many have been published for the first time in this new visual history, an excellent guide to the horrendous final days, hours, and minutes of the Third Reich.
Britain at Bay: the epic story of the Second World War, 1938–1941
Alan Allport
Profile Books, £25 (hbk)
ISBN 978-1781257814
The Second World War is akin to modern Britain’s origin story: figures such as Churchill and events such as Dunkirk continue to define our society for good and ill. This vast legacy is the topic of Alan Allport’s sweeping new survey of Britain’s experiences during the war against the Axis; a mix of military, social, and cultural history rolled into one.
War: how conflict shaped us
Margaret MacMillan
Profile Books, £20 (hbk)
ISBN 978-1788162562
Although the world has not been engulfed in a global conflict since 1945, war and its consequences have continued to shape our collective history. In this new book from the bestselling author of Peacemakers and The War that ended Peace, Margaret MacMillan takes on the often-unexpected influence of conflict in everything from medicine, culture, and the role of women in the modern world.
Hitler and Stalin: the tyrants and the Second World War
Laurence Rees
Viking, £25 (hbk)
ISBN 978-0241295205
Hitler and Stalin – the two great monsters of the 20th century – have been studied together many times before. Now, bestselling historian Laurence Rees takes another, more intimate look at the two leaders, comparing Hitler’s insane fantasy of a German empire in the East versus Stalin’s murderous determination to defend the Soviet Union at all costs.
SAS Band of Brothers
Damien Lewis
Quercus Books, £20 (hbk)
ISBN 978-1787475236
At the height of WWII, 12 SAS agents were parachuted into occupied France, only to be captured and tortured by the Gestapo. Two of this band escaped, and later became involved in one of the most extraordinary post-war Nazi hunts, which saw over a hundred Nazi war criminals tracked down by the end of 1948. Based on new material, Damien Lewis explores this remarkable quest for justice.
Imperial War Museums Code-Breaking Puzzles
Richard Galland
Welbeck Publishing,
£12.99 (hbk)
ISBN 978-1787394902
The perfect Christmas stocking-filler for military history enthusiasts, this new book, produced in association with Imperial War Museums, contains puzzles, codes, and ciphers that will take a fine mind to crack. Accompanying them is a history of cryptography and its best-known students, from Leon Battista Alberti to Alan Turing.
