North African campaign (1 Viewer)

[sirsydney]

I'm looking for a good general history about the North African campaign. Does anyone have a recomendation or two?

 

[Currahee Chris]

I think Osprey does some Campaign books on Tobruk, El Alamein, etc.

I have a WW2 Time Life series book on the War in the Desert- they are good- especially for guys like me- big pictures, 2-3 syllable words, and simple sentence structure- - hey, I'm not looking to get a PhD in this stuff, I just want to read what the heck happened.

From what I understand, this area is somewhat glossed over here in the states- mostly because we got rocked by Rommel and also because it was more of a British vs. German war.

If I venture into a new area of interest, I ALWAYS go to Osprey and look at their campaign selection- I just think those books make great primer material for any campaigns of interest.

CC

 

[jazzeum]

I don't really think Osprey is the answer. They're a little superficial in their general histories, in my view.

I enjoy reading about the North African campaign and here are some books that I would recommend:

John Bierman and Colin Smith - The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point of World War II. This is an excellent one volume history and may be out of print but I would check abebooks.com or amazon. They may have it. It's been republished under another name.

Jon Latimer - Alamein. The first book I read. Great analysis and good bibliography for further reading.

Alan Moorehead - Desert War. He was a correspondent during the war and this recounts his reportage there. A great book.

If these whet your whistle, then I recommend Barrie Pitt's Crucible of War, a two volume set. Fantastic writer. I think it's in paperback under a different title. You can always check abebooks.com

Another book that came out last year and is not bad and also includes American participation is James Holland's Together We Stand: America, Britain and the Forging of an Alliance. He looks at various participants in the war and tells the war through their story.

There's also a nice book (out of print, but available from Abebooks) called the Imperial War Museum Book of the Desert War 1940-1942. Good commentary and great photos.

 

[damian]

Don't forget Spike Milligan's great works "Mussolin My part in his downfall and Hitler My part in his downfall"
Regards
Damian

 

[sirsydney]

Don't forget Spike Milligan's great works "Mussolin My part in his downfall and Hitler My part in his downfall"
Regards
Damian

Thanks for the info but you forgot the book he wrote in 1974 which is more on the topic of the North African campaign, "Rommel: Gunner Who? A Confrontation in the Desert."

 

[Louis Badolato]

Like Brad, I would recommend Moorehead's Desert War. Another good book on the North African campaign is "Rommel's War". If you like the Long Range Desert group, you can't go wrong with William Kennedy Shaw's Book of the same name.

 

[Rob]

I don't really think Osprey is the answer. They're a little superficial in their general histories, in my view.

I enjoy reading about the North African campaign and here are some books that I would recommend:

John Bierman and Colin Smith - The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point of World War II. This is an excellent one volume history and may be out of print but I would check abebooks.com or amazon. They may have it. It's been republished under another name.

Jon Latimer - Alamein. The first book I read. Great analysis and good bibliography for further reading.

Alan Moorehead - Desert War. He was a correspondent during the war and this recounts his reportage there. A great book.

If these whet your whistle, then I recommend Barrie Pitt's Crucible of War, a two volume set. Fantastic writer. I think it's in paperback under a different title. You can always check abebooks.com

Another book that came out last year and is not bad and also includes American participation is James Holland's Together We Stand: America, Britain and the Forging of an Alliance. He looks at various participants in the war and tells the war through their story.

There's also a nice book (out of print, but available from Abebooks) called the Imperial War Museum Book of the Desert War 1940-1942. Good commentary and great photos.

I think as Brad says Osprey are good for giving you a basic grounding/overview of the conflict but not an indepth study.

Rob

 

[Showman]

An Army at Dawn, the War in North Africa, 1942-1943. BY Rick Atkinson. Pulitzer Prize Winning author. Fantastic Read in my opinon..

Greg

 

[sirsydney]

Brad--thanks for the book information. I found the Bierman and Smith book on Amazon used book listing for $4.00 which included $3.99 for postage. And the best thing is that the book is hardback and brand new! I'm looking forward to reading it.

 

[jazzeum]

Up for review.

 

[Harrytheheid]

I'm looking for a good general history about the North African campaign. Does anyone have a recomendation or two?

I know this is an old post and others have made suggestions, but I think "The Battle For North Africa" by John Strawson is a good one volume primer for this facinating conflict. It may be available from;
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

Cheers
H

 

[johngambale]

NEW "EL Alamein "Book by Francois Lannoy , a HEIMDEL Publisher! It has Battles of N. Africa, and Photo's , that has never been Seen, and Shown before, to the Public! Its a GREAT Book ! Grab it whileits HOT! CASEMATE Book Company, is getting them in in MARCH 2008! The Price is around $32.00US! CIAO!

 

[jazzeum]

Here's a link to the book John mentioned by Francois de Lannoy. I have a couple of the books published by Heimdal and they're very good.

 

[jazzeum]

Up for review.

In addition to the books previously mentioned, I would add the following:

Niall Barr Pendulum of War: The Three Battles of Alamein.

Tim Clayton and Phil Craig The End of the Beginning.

I haven't read the following but they are considered standard texts in the literature:

C. E. Lucas Phillips Alamein.

Michael Carver has written considerably on the Desert War and his books include El Alamein, Tobruk and Dilemmas of the Desert War.

Corelli Barnett The Desert Generals (highly critical of Montgomery).

 

[Mitch]

I read the Barr and Clayton books but, although they were good in their own right Rob mentioned what I consider the seminal work on the desert war Alan moreheads 'Desert War' still have not read an account better than that IMO
Mitch