Dabbling in History: November 2009

The following bibliography is a listing of books I have read (denoted with an *) and/or books I plan on reading, and topics I wish to look up in the future. Additionally, there are some videos and DVDs on similar subjects listed as well. This list is a “work in progress” and is constantly evolving as I read books currently on the list and add more to be read in the future. Hopefully I will be inspired by my reading to write a book of my own.
A Transported Life: Memories of the Kindertransport: the Oral History of Thea Feliks Eden. HerBooks, 1995 0939821079/31815232

Ash, William. Under the Wire: The World War II Adventures of a Legendary Escape Artist and "Cooler King". New York, Thomas Dunne Books, 2005.*

A fantastic and exceptionally readable account of William Ash's wartime adventures and escapades. The film "The Great Escape" was loosely based on Ash and his colleagues in their numerous attempts to escape Nazi prison POW camps.

Atwood, Kathryn J. Women Heroes of World War II: 26 Stories of Espioage, Sabotage, Resistance, and Rescue. Chicago, Chicago Review Press, 2011.*

Aubrac, Lucie. Outwitting the Gestapo. Lincoln, Univ. of Nebraska Press, 1993. *

Lucie Aubrac taught high school while successfully working for the local resistance group in Lyon, France. Aubrac's husband was also very active in the resistance and was imprisoned and tortured (he survived) by the infamous Klaus Barbie, the Butcher of Lyon.
Bentinck, Michael. Waving Goodbye: A Collection of "Real Life" Stories from World War II Evacuees. Cambridge: Michael Bentinck, 1999.

Bilson, Geoffrey. The Guest Children. Saskatoon, Sas. Fifth House, 1988.

Binney, Marcus. Women who Lived for Danger: The Agents of the Special Operations Executive Wm. Morrow 2002*

Biographical descriptions of the brave female personnel of the SOE.
Bishop, ?. Fighter Boys: The Battle of Britain, 1940.
Booth, Martin. War Dog: a novel. * (a young adult novel about the evacuation of Dunkirk)

A hunter's dog is impounded after her master is imprisoned for poaching on the eve of WWII. The dog is turned over to the army for training as a war dog, who ultimately serves with three soldiers before returning home to England.
Borden, Louise. How Curious George Saved...* (Juvenile biography of H.A. and Margret Rey)

H.A. and Margaret Rey evacuated Paris on bicycles carrying very few personal possessions in their bicycle baskets after the Nazis arrived in August 1940. Making their way south to Portugal they eventually boarded a boat bound for South America and their ultimate goal, New York City. They're most famous character, Curious George, saved their lives more than once.
ibid. The Little Ships: The Heroic Rescue at Dunkirk in WWII. McElderberry Books, 1997 * (a book for children about Dunkirk)

An account of a young girl who accompanies her father in their small fishing boat as they joined the armada of private watercraft headed for Dunkirk to evacuate Allied forces in May and June 1940.
Boyce, Fredric. SOE: The Scientific Secrets. Stroud: Sutton, 2003. ISBN 0750931655/OCLC 51781596.

Braddon, Russell. Nancy Wake. London, Cassell, 1956.

Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy. YA Non Fiction.*

A young girl living in Cherbourg experiences the Nazi occupation of France first hand. At about 14 years of age she becomes a courier for the French Resistance in her area which she kept a secret from everyone including her family. A fantastic memoir written by the main character's grandson's wife.

Brittain, Vera. Diary: 1939-1945 Wartime Chronicle. London, Victor Gollancz, 1989.*

ibid. England's Hour. London, Macmillan, 1940.

ibid. Testament of Experience. London, Fontana, 1957.

Broadbent, Betty. September 1939 Time Out of Joint: a Story of Two London Evacuees Sent to the South of England at the Start of WWII.

Buckmaster, Maurice. They Fought Alone. London, Odhams Press, 1958.

Carey, Helen. Lavender Road. London Orion 1995 OCLC 32302406 ISBN 1857976142 Fiction *

A fictious story of five families who live on Lavender Road in London from 1935 through 1939.

ibid. On a Wing and a Prayer. London Orion 1997... Fiction*

The story of those same families sill living on the same road in London from 1939 through 1943.
ibid. Some Sunny Day London Orion 1996 OCLC 34796519 ISBN 1857976169 Fiction *

The final installment of those same London families 1944-1946.
Carre, Mathilde. I was the Cat. London, Souvenir Press, 1960.
Carroll, Andrew, Ed. War Letters: Extraordinary correspondence…*

Chase, Odette Depres. This Child's War: A World War II Memoir. Lebanon, Indiana, Red Bud Publishing, 2004.*

A young girl living in Nazi occupied Holland with her family becomes involved in the Dutch Resistance. Several members of her family were directly involved with the resistance and others, such as her mother and grandparents helped out the steady stream of strangers that flowed through their home but officially knew "nothing". Eventually the family is betrayed and Odette and her brother are imprisoned. I would like to say more about this terrific book but do not want to spoil the ending for anyone reading this blog!

Chevrillon, Claire. Code Name Christiane Clouet: A Woman in the French Resistance. Texas A & M Univ. Press, 1995*

An ordinary young Frenchwoman studies to become a school teacher in pre WWII France. Her plans are altered and before she could begin her teaching career she successfully joined the local French Resistance group.
Cohn, Marthe. Behind Enemy Lines: The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany. Harmony Books, 2002*

Conant, Jennet. The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. Simon & Schuster, 2008.*

Extremely interesting to anyone intrested in WWII espionage.

Cook, Ida. Safe Passage: The Remarkable True Story of Two Sisters who Rescued Jews from the Nazis. Don Mills, Ontario, Harlequin Enterprises Ltd., 1976*

Two English sisters, Ida and Louise Cook, were employed as civil servants in London in the late 1930's. The Cook sisters were avid opera buffs and while pursuing their hobby they found a way to rescue 30 Jewish individuals from Nazi occupied Europe and bring them safely to London.
Countess of Romanones, Aline. The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as an Undercover Agent in World War II 1987 NY Random House*

A young woman growing up in rural New York state follows her dream to be a model in New York City. After modeling for a short period of time she decides to contribute to the war effort and leave modeling temporarily. Aline completes her training with the SOE and is sent to Spain to work as a spy.
Craig. Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain.

Dagleish, Alice. Three From Greenways. New York, Scribner's, 1940.

De Champlain, Helene. The Secret War of Helene De Champlain. London, W.H. Allen & Co., Ltd. 1980

Dean, Debra. The Madonnas of Leningrad, Harper Perennial, 2006.*

Desforges, Dorothea. The In-between Years. Yorkshire, Buttercup Press, 2001.

Defiance (DVD 2008) directed by Edward Zwick* Starring Daniel Craig.

The true story of the Bielski brothers who were personally responsible for rescuing approximately 1400 Jews and hiding them in the woods in Russia.
Diamond, Hanna. Fleeing Hitler: France 1940. Oxford University Press, 2007.*

Diehl, Lorraine B. Over Here!: New York City during World War II. New York, Harper Collins, 2010.*

Escott, Beryl E. Twentieth Century Women of Courage. Stroud: Sutton.

FitzGibbon, Constantine. Winter of the Bombs; the Story of the Blitz in London. NY Norton 1958 *

Eyewitness account of life in London during the Blitz throughout the winter of 1940-1941.
Foote, M.R.D. Was SOE any good? Journal of Contemporary History, January 1981.

ibid. SOE: an Outline History of the SOE 1940-46. London, BBC 1984

Foyle's War (DVD 2004-2006) Greenlit Productions, Ltd./Acorn Media*

Foyle is a police detective in SW England during WWII. He is a widower and his son is in the RAF. An interesting view of life outside of London during WWII.

Fox Anne L. Between the Lines: the Letters from the Holocaust. Comte Q Publications

ibid. My Heart in a Suitcase. ISBN 0853033110

Freedman, Jean R. Whistling in the dark: Memory and Culture in Wartime London. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1998.*

Fuller, William F. Reckless Courage: The True Story of a Norwegian Boy Under Nazi Rule. Marion, MA, Taber Hill, year?*

Garfield. Our Hidden Lives: The Remarkable Diaries.

Garfield. Private Battles: Our Intimate Diaries.

Golabek, Mona. The Children of Willesden Lane: Beyond the Kindertransport: a Memoir of Music, Love and Survival. New York, Warner Books, 2002.*

A fantastic true story of survival in an extremely hostile environment: Nazi occupied Austria and London during the Blitz. The author's mother, Lena, was placed on the kindertransport in Vienna and arrived in London a week later. Since she had no family connections in London, Lena was placed in a hostel located Willesden Lane where she stayed for the duration of the war.

Goldsmith, Martin. The Inextinguishable Symphony: a True Story of Music and Love in Nazi Germany.

Graves, Charles. Women in Green: The Story of the W.V.S. (Women's Voluntary Service). London, William Heinemann, 1948.*

Greene, Bette. Summer of My German Soldier. Dell, 1984.

Grossman, Atha. Jews, Germans and Allies: Close Encounters in Occupied Germany.Harris. Walking the London Blitz.

Harris, Mark John. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport.

ibid. A Life in Secrets: the Story of Vera Atkins and the Lost Agents of the SOE. London, Little Brown 2005.
Henderson, Michael. See you after the Duration: The Story of British Evacuees to North America in World War II. Hyperion, 2006 *

The biographical account of a young boy and his little brother who are evacuated by their parents to Canada for safekeeping during WWII.
Hodgson, Vere. Few Eggs and No Oranges: A Diary Showing How Unimportant People in London and Birmingham Lived through the War Years 1940-1945. London, Dennis Dobson, 1976.*

Hollongsworth, Hilda. They Tied a Label on my Coat. London, Virago, 1991.

Horne, Alistair. A Bundle from Britain*

A young man is sent to the US to stay for the "duration" of the war.

Howarth, Patrick. Undercover, the Men and Women of the SOE. London; Boston Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

Humbert, Agnes. Resistance: A Woman's Journal of Struggle and Defiance in Occupied France. New York; Bloomsbury, 2008.*

Absolutely stunning book of memoirs- could not put it down! The actually diary lasted for nearly a year and from that point the memoirs are written from memory. Humbert was a curator at a large museum in Paris. After the Occupation she lost her job and started a resistance cell with her former co-workers in Paris. In less than a year they were betrayed and most were caught and imprisoned. Humbert was imprisoned for five years at various work camps throughout France and Germany. She was liberated by the Americans in April 1945 and eventually returned to Paris. Humbert died in 1963.

Hunt, Antonia. Little Resistance: A Teenage English Girl’s Adventures in Occupied France. St. Martin’s Press, 1982.*

Absolutely fascinating account of a young English girl who was sent to "stay" in France with her nanny while her parents went to India for business in 1938. Antonia stayed in France for five years, attending school (when possible) until she was rounded up by the Germans and sent to an internment camp as a enemy alien. In the camp she survived for a few months until she was able to escape to Paris and live with relatives and friends for the duration of the war. Along the way she inadvertantly joined the resistance and was captured and tortured for months by the SS. Antonia survived this and was reunited with her mother in London in 1946.
Inglourious Basterds (DVD 2009) directed by Quentin Tarentino*

A fictionalized account of WWII- an excellent film; exciting, gory and fun! Brad Pitt is great.

Inglis, Ruth. The Children's War. London, Collins, 1989.

Jackson, Carlton. Who Will Take Our Children? London, Methuen, 1985.

Jewish Museum. The Last Goodbye: the Rescue of Children from Nazi Europe: an Educational Resource about the Kindertransport. 1996 London

Johnson, B.S. The Evacuees. Edited London, Gollancz, 1968.

Johnson, Derek E. Exodus of Children. Clacton-on-Sea, Pennyfarthing Publications, 1985.
Johnson, David. The London Blitz: the City Ablaze, December 29, 1940. NY Stein & Day OCLC 7306376 *

An eyewitness account of the London Blitz.
Kaplan, Vivian. Ten Green Bottles: the True Story of One Family’s Journey from War Torn Austria to the Ghetto of Shanghai.
Kladstrup, Don & Petie Wine & War: the French, the Nazis and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure. Broadway Books, 2001.*

Absolutely fascinating account of how the wine growing industry, as a whole, fought their own battles (and ultimately won) against the Germans.
Korman, Gerd. Nightmare’s Fairy Tale: a Young Refugee’s Home Fronts 1938-1948.*

A young evacuee and his brother leave Germany and are sent to England for safekeeping during the WWII.

Korobkin, Frieda Stolzberg. Throw Your Feet Over Your Shoulders: Beyond the Kindertransport. Devon, 2008.

Kurek, Ewa. Your Life is Worth Mine: How Polish Nuns Saved Hundreds of Jewish Children in German-Occupied Poland, 1939-1945. New York, Hippocrene Books, 1997.*

Larson, Erik. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. New York, Crown, 2011.*

The Last Goodbye: The Rescue of Children from Nazi Europe: an educational resource about the Kindertransport. London Jewish Museum 1996.

Laurer, Betty. Hiding in Plain Sight: the Incredible True Story of a German-Jewish Teenager’s Struggle to Survive in Nazi-Occupied Poland. *

An eyewitness account of survival in wartorn Poland during WWII.

Lewis, Jon E. Eye-Witness D-Day: The Story of the Battle by Those Who Were There. New York, Carroll & Graf, 1994*

Lidz, Richard. Many Kinds of Courage: an Oral History of World War II. *

Lifesaving Letters: a child’s… * (evacuee received letters from parents 20 years after their arrival at her “new” home in England)

Lorimer, Jean. Pilgrim Children. London, Muller, 1942.
Lowry, Lois. Number the Stars. Houghton Mifflin, 1989.* ( a book for young adults about life in Denmark during the Nazi occupation)

An excellent book. A young girl and her family live in Copenhagen where her older sister was active in the resistance and has been captured and killed. The story of how the rest of her family copes and ultimately survives the war.

Lukas, Richard C., editor. Forgotten Survivors: Polish Christians Remember the Nazi Occupation. University Press of Kansas, 2004.

McIntosh, Elizabeth P. Sisterhood of Spies: The Women of the OSS. New York, Random House, 1998.

Magorian, Michelle. Back Home. Penguin, Puffin Books, 1987.

Magorian, Michelle. Goodnight Mister Tom. Hammondsworth, Puffin, 1983.*

A young boy is evacuted to the county outside of London during the Blitz. This boy has never slept in a bed or had a proper meal in his life. An older man named Tom is selected to be his guardian for the duration of the war and he sets out to teach the boy about love, kindness and security.

Mann, Jessica. Out of Harm’s Way: The Wartime Evacuation of Children from Britain. Headline Book Pub. ISBN 0755311396.
Marks, Leo. Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemakers Story. London, Harper Collins, 1998.*

Massey, Victoria. One Child's War. London, BBC, 1978.
Menzies, Janet. Children of the Doomed Voyage. Chichester, UK/Hoboken, NJ Wiley 2005 *

An account of the tragedy of the sinking of the HMS City of Benares in September 1939. Ninty children aboard that ship were to be evacuated to Canada but the ship was torpedoed and sank 500 miles into the Atlantic. Of the ninty evacuees only seven survived.

Meyerhoff, Marianne. Four Girls from Berlin: The True Story of a Friendship that Defied the Holocaust. Hoboken, NJ; J. Wiley & Sons, 2007.*

Outstanding book written by the daughter of Lotte, the one Jewish girl in a group of four devoted friends. Lotte was the only member of her family to escape, barely, the Nazis and made her way to California. After the war was over her other three friends packed up a box of family mementos they had salvaged from Lotte's home during the war and returned them to her in Los Angeles. Lotte's three friends hid these family heirlooms at great personal risk in their homes during WWII. Although Lotte never saw Germany or her three friends again, Marianne went back to Germany several times and reestablished ties with her three honorary "aunts".

Michell, David. A Boy's War. Singapore, OMF, 1988.

Minney, R. J. Carve Her Name with Pride. London, George Newnes, 1956.

The biography of Violette Szabo- onee of the best and most courageous members of the SOE.

Minns, Raynes. Bombers and Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. London, Virago, 1980.*

Mortimer, Gavin. The Longest Night: The Worst Night of the London Blitz. 0425211835 *.

An eyewitness account of the London Blitz.

Newton, Agnes. Three Came Home. * (British family captured in Singapore, interred in Jap POW camp in Singapore).
Norwalk, Rosemary. Dearest Ones: A True World War II Love Story. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1999.*

A young woman volunteers for the American Red Cross during WWII and is sent to London; France and Germany during the two and one half years she served.

Nossiter, Adam. The Algeria Hotel: France, Memory, and the Second World War. Houghton Mifflin, 2001. *

Ottis, Sherri Green. Silent Heroes: Downed Airmen and the French Underground. Univ. of Kentucky Press, 2001.*

The Pacific. HBO, 2010.*
Parsons, Martin. I'll Take that One. Peterborough, Beckett Karlson, 1998.

Pearson, Judith L. The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of the Greatest Female Spy. city? publisher? year?

Pelham, Angela. The Young Ambassadors. London, Andrew Dakers Ltd., 1944.

Perry, Colin. Boy in the Blitz. London, Leo Cooper, 1972.*

Potak, Chaim, Ed. I Never Saw another Butterfly: Children’s Drawings….*.

Children's drawings made during various art classes at concentration camps. These drawings were recently discovered and published.
Rosen, Bob. One of the Lucky Ones: Rescued by the Kindertransport. 2005*

Rossiter, Margaret L. Women in the Resistance. New York, Praeger, 1986.

Samuels, Diane. Kindertransport. Nick Hern Books ISBN 1854592270.

Schweitzer, Pam. Londoners Remember: Living Through the Blitz. S.I.: AERG 1991 .

Seaborne, Mike. Shelters: Living Underground in the London Blitz: Images by Bill Brandt and Other Unrecorded Photographers. City? Nishen Photography, 1988.*

Segal, Lore. My Knees were Jumping: Remembering the Kindertransport. DVD 1995 Melissa Hacker, Director*

Eyewitness acounts of children who were evacuated to London from Europe during WWII.
Shakespeare, Geoffrey. Let Candles be Brought In. London, Macdonald, 1949.*

Shead, I.A. They Sailed by Night. London, Faber & Faber.

Sonnino, Piera. This has Happened: An Italian Family in Auschwitz. Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.*

A brief, heartbreaking account of a cultured and sheltered Italian jewish family betrayed and sent to Auschwitz.

Sorel, Nancy Caldwell. The Women who Wrote the War. Harper Paperbacks 2000*

Excellent biographical sketches of women journalists during WWII.
Shaffer, Mary Ann and Barrow, Annie. Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society* Fiction.

An excellent book about about a London newspaper columnist who strikes up a correspondence with a resident of the island of Guernsey during the Nazi occupation.

Shiber, Etta. Paris Underground. New York, Scribners, 1943.

Skidmore, Kenneth. Follow the Man with the Pitcher. Merseyside, England, Countrywise, Ltd. 1996.
Smith, M. Station X: the Code Breakers of Bletchley Park London 1998*.

An excellent account of the men and women who worked at Bletchley Park during WWII trying to break the AXIS codes.
Stalcup, Ann. On the Home Front: growing up in wartime England. Linnet Books, 1998.*

An eyewitness account of a young girl growing up outside of London during WWII.

Stargardt, Nicholas. Witnesses of War: Children's Lives under the Nazis. Alfred A. Knopf, 2006.*

Statler, Jocelyn comp. Special Relations. London, Imperial War Museum, 1990.

Sweet-Escott, Baker Street Irregular. London, Methuen, 1965.
Tannehill, Evelyne. Abandoned and Forgotten: An Orphaned Girl's Tale of Survival During WWII. Tucson, AZ 2000*

A horrific account of the life of a very young girl whose country was occupied by the Germans and how she managed to survive.
Tartiere, Drue. The House near Paris. New York, Simon & Schuster, 1946.
Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. Bantam Books, 1971.*

Thompson, Brian. Keeping Mum: A Wartime Childhood. London, Atlantic, 2006.*

An eyewitness account of a young man who lived on the "other side of the tracks" in wartime London and how he survived.

Travers, P.L. I go by Sea, I go by Land. London, Harper & Brothers, 1941.

Travers, Susan. Tomorrow to be Brave. London, Boutlam Press, 2000.

Turner, Barry. And the Policeman Smiled. 1990.

Van Young. London’s War: A Traveler’s Guide to WWII.

Verity, Hugh. We Landed by Moonlight. Wilmslow (UK?), Air data Publications, 1994.
Victory. DVD. Warner Brothers, 1981. Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine, Pele.*

An excellent film about a soccer team that was started at a POW camp and went on to win a big soccer match in wartime Paris (beating the pants off the German team).

Vromen, Suzanne. Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Belgian Nuns and Their Daring Rescue of Young Jews From the Nazis.
Wake, Nancy. The White Mouse. Melbourne, Macmillan, 1985.
Weitz, Margaret Collins. Sisters in the Resistance: How Women Fought to Free France 1940-45. New York, J. Wiley & Sons, 1995. *

An excellent book, biographical accounts of the female members of the SOE.
Wheal, Donald James. World's End: A Memoir of a Blitz Childhood. London, Century, 2005.*

Whitman, Sylvia. V is for Victory: The American home front during WWII. Lerner, 1992.55.

Wicks, Ben. The Day they Took the Children. Toronto, Stoddart, 1989.*

ibid. Nell's War: Remembering the Blitz. Toronto, Stoddart, 1990.

Unable to borrow through ILL .

ibid. No Time to Wave Goodbye. Toronto, Stoddart, 1988.*

ibid. Waiting for the All Clear. 1990 Bloomsbury. *

Wish Me Luck. (VHS parts 1-6, year?). Acorn Media, year? *

ibid, Season 2, DVD, Acorn Media, 2006?*

Wittkower, Mary. An Extraordinary Time: Memories of a Young Girl Growing Up in WWII. Philadelphia, XLibris, 2003*.

Woon, Basil. Hell Came to London; a Reportage of the Blitz During 14 Days. London: P. Davies 1941 LCCN 41-7881; 2569207.

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