C. A. Petuch
Jones, James,
The Pistol,
Scribner 1959, Signet paperback. After the sudden attack on Pearl Harbor, Pfc. Richard Mast, with passionate zeal, held on to the pistol which for him and his comrades became a symbol of security and power.
World War II
-Artwork photography and excellent prose.
Kuznetsov, Anatoly Petrovich,
Babi Yar
, translated by Jacob Guralsky, Dial 1971. This documentary novel describes the German occupation of Kiev in 1941 as seen through the eyes of a Ukranian boy who witnessed Nazi barbarity and the mysterious disappearance of thousands of the city’s Jews.
MacLean, Alistair,
Guns of Navarone
, Doubleday, 1956. Five British soldiers invaded a Greek island to silence guns keeping 1200 fellow soldiers pinned down on a neighboring island. Taut, exciting, good characterization.
Montagu, Ewen,
The Man Who Never Was
, Lippincott, 1954. Faked documents planted on the corpse of an unknown Englishman during WW II fooled the Germans into withdrawing troops from a strategic position.
Riess, Curt,
They Were There
. An excellent collection of nonfiction pieces written by journalists. Can be used in both English and History classes.
Ryan, Cornelius,
The Last Battle
, Simon, 1966. (nonfiction) Exciting and readable narrative of the 21 days prior to the fall of Berlin in 1945.
Silva, Anil de and Otto Von Simson, editors,
Man through
his Art Volume I: War and Peace.
N.Y. Graphic Society, 1964. (nonfiction) Through excellent reproductions and a lucid text this book develops the universal theme of war and peace as depicted in the language of painting, sculpture and architecture.