WWII nonfiction?

I'm teaching a section of 8th grade history this year -- I'm ordinarily teaching language arts classes. I'm going to read a work of historical fiction with the class called, When the Emperor Was Divine. But I'd also like to read some nonfiction, even if it's just an article or chapters of a book.

Does anybody have a suggestion for compelling and informative nonfiction about WWII that 8th graders would find interesting? It doesn't necessarily have to be at a middle school level as I can read it with them (especially if it's a chapter or two) to help them access it.

I think the speeches of FDR and Churchill would be appropriate. Don't rule out presenting them in audio if you can.

Also, George the VI's speech is fascinating and has an amazing back story considering his triumph over a crippling speech impediment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkMyKGx7TQ&spfreload=10

I teach 8th grade history and focus on WWII as a unit....I use a lot of primary and secondary sources...some of which I will be trying to change this year...I will say that WWII is the section the students are most interested in and that stuff on the holocaust is what grabs their attention the most

One I have always found interesting...

Panzer Commander:Memoirs of Col. Hans von Luck

He details his time in WW2 starting in Pre-War Germany, Africa through D-Day, and then and after as a prisoner of war in Russia. Very informative book with good example of the civility and brutality of the war. Plus it offers the perspective and thoughts of a German looking at his own country during that time.

At Dawn We Slept, by Gordon W. Prange, regarding the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prange interviewed every significant player who survived the war on both the Japanese and American sides. The chapters on the day of the attack are compellingly told. (I was fortunate to have taken a couple of classes from the author, who died in about 1980.)

These are great ideas. I don't agree with much of FDR's politics. but he was a very good wartime leader and communicator. Churchill - absolutely unparalled in both arenas.


I found a good book called No End Save Victory. It is an anthology edited by Robert Cowley. The book has of several true stories and historical vignettes that span the entire war. Very interesting 15-20 page reads.

August West said:

I think the speeches of FDR and Churchill would be appropriate. Don't rule out presenting them in audio if you can.

Also, George the VI's speech is fascinating and has an amazing back story considering his triumph over a crippling speech impediment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opkMyKGx7TQ&spfreload=10

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Had to watch "Night and Fog" as a freshman in high school. Went through the rest of the day feeling like I'd been physically assaulted.

My aunt is a teacher in Atlanta and a movie buff. She showed the class "The Great Escape" once. They liked it.

But my vote, movie-wise would probably be "A Bridge too Far". It cuts the bs (unlike the recent movie "Pearl Harbor") and basically tells you exactly how Market Garden went down. As a classroom exercise, I would say a few minutes of maps or PowerPoint presentation before the movie would be just the thing.

"The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.

Sajer was Alsatian and was an enlisted man in the German Army. The book details his experiences on the Eastern Front, and most of the writing deals with his participation as a member of the Grossdeutschland Panzer Division. This division was always in the thick of most of the major battles in the East. I was relatively impressed with Sajer's talent of putting his experiences, some were rather harrowing, into words. With Sajer, you learn that soldiers get sick, are often hungry, they get cold, they get frightened to the point of losing control of their bowels, and they see and hear things most people who haven't been there can begin to comprehend.

"Death Traps" by Belton Cooper. Cooper was an ordnance officer in the 3rd Armored Division during WW II. He was often interviewed on shows about military history, and I thought he was an urbane speaker; his writing style, not so much. Nonetheless, an interesting read.

If you're up for some learning by video, I'd recommend the American Experience's "Battle of the Bulge." Some of the footage is inaccurate; German soldiers advancing with tanks that were last used in 1940, but the interviews with the veterans were great. Listening to a vet tell you that he was trying to knock out his seriously wounded foxhole buddy with his helmet so that his moans of pain wouldn't give their position away to the Germans really puts your own problems and complaints into perspective.

Don

"Band of Brothers" by Steven Ambrose. As good as the mini-series was, the book was even better. I can't imagine that it wouldn't be interesting to them, and it provides a good picture of the war from D-day thru the end of the war in Europe. The story of Easy Company touches on many aspects of the war that would make great discussion topics. I would love to take that class.

Osborn Cox said:

"Band of Brothers" by Steven Ambrose. As good as the mini-series was, the book was even better. I can't imagine that it wouldn't be interesting to them, and it provides a good picture of the war from D-day thru the end of the war in Europe. The story of Easy Company touches on many aspects of the war that would make great discussion topics. I would love to take that class.

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+1
also, im reading Freedom's Forge currently. It's about the industrial aspect of WWII and how manufacturers switch gears to help the effort.

I'm a big fan of Sir Ian Kershaw's books, particularly The End, which describes the final months of WWII inside Germany. Not particularly uplifting subject matter but a fascinating look at the complete deconstruction of a society.

Unbroken. I read this book a year or two ago and absolutely loved it. True story. Now a movie!

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

en.wikipedia.org

• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is a 2010 non-fiction book by Laura Hillenbrand, author of the best-selling book Seabiscuit: An American Legend. Unbroken is a biography of World War II hero Louis Zamperini, a former Olympic track star who survived a plane crash in the Pacific theater, s…
  
• en.wikipedia.org

Mike

"A Higher Call" by Adam Makos


Four days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a 21-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—2nd Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of 1,000 bombers each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American 8th Air Force would later classify as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention or else face a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

jazzman said:

At Dawn We Slept, by Gordon W. Prange, regarding the attack on Pearl Harbor. Prange interviewed every significant player who survived the war on both the Japanese and American sides. The chapters on the day of the attack are compellingly told. (I was fortunate to have taken a couple of classes from the author, who died in about 1980.)

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A wonderful book with a very detailed analysis, but probably a little too advanced for 8th graders. Highly recommended for adults though.

Keep in mind this is for students in 8th grade and not a college class...while I use high level reading we also work on reading strategies...on top of that, teachers do not have time to read entire books

I appreciate all the great suggestions. I'm going to check out a few of these and see what might work for my class.

Enemy at the gates, huge book but there are great chapters including the one they made the movie about. Amazing book about the battle of Stalingrad.

I would also suggest a book about Stalingrad, it really was a turning point in the war. It was after that battle the Russians knew they had a chance to defeat the Germans.

ColeMinor said:

Keep in mind this is for students in 8th grade and not a college class...while I use high level reading we also work on reading strategies...on top of that, teachers do not have time to read entire books

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It might be interesting to let them see what 8th graders would have been reading about the war during the war. For example you could find copies of Ernie Pyle's books, This Is Your War and Brave Men, collections of his newspaper columns published during the war, and they would be reading what 8th graders would have seen in their local papers 1941-1945. The individual articles are relatively short and relate the stories of common soldiers.

dgreen92807 said:

"A Higher Call" by Adam Makos

View attachment 523024
Four days before Christmas 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggled to fly over wartime Germany. At its controls was a 21-year-old pilot. Half his crew lay wounded or dead. It was their first mission. Suddenly, a sleek, dark shape pulled up on the bomber’s tail—a German Messerschmitt fighter. Worse, the German pilot was an ace, a man able to destroy the American bomber in the squeeze of a trigger. What happened next would defy imagination and later be called the most incredible encounter between enemies in World War II.

This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day—the American—2nd Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17—and the German—2nd Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II.

A Higher Call follows both Charlie and Franz’s harrowing missions. Charlie would face takeoffs in English fog over the flaming wreckage of his buddies’ planes, flak bursts so close they would light his cockpit, and packs of enemy fighters that would circle his plane like sharks. Franz would face sandstorms in the desert, a crash alone at sea, and the spectacle of 1,000 bombers each with eleven guns, waiting for his attack.

Ultimately, Charlie and Franz would stare across the frozen skies at one another. What happened between them, the American 8th Air Force would later classify as “top secret.” It was an act that Franz could never mention or else face a firing squad. It was the encounter that would haunt both Charlie and Franz for forty years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.

Click to expand...

+1 a great book and men's code of honour.