Jeff Shaara's WWII Series:

The Rising Tide, The Steel Wave, No Less Than Victory, by Jeff Shaara

As a fan of US military history I have enjoyed many of Jeff Shaara’s books.  I believe his three part series on World War II is simply fantastic.  For those of us who were raised by the WWII generation or in my case the children of the WWII generation we often experienced a vacuum of information about this very important part of history. Our parents and grandparents often would not talk about their experiences or only gave romanticized accounts and public school history class only offered the slightest overview of the entire WWII period!   In this vacuum we know about the names, the battles, the themes, but we often do not know the decisions or the personalities behind them.  Jeff Shaara makes all of it come alive!  His retelling of the events from the first days to after the final shot was fired closely follows the historical account but gives readers an inside view to the conversations, thoughts and decisions the solders, from the Generals to the privates, were having.  In addition I appreciated that these books do not over simplify the German’s role in the war.  They do not deny the evil that occurred but also seek to look behind this vale to show the personalities of the German people.  For anyone who enjoys history or wants to know more about WWII history I highly recommend this series.