Full Reviews

The Navigator’s Letter: The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together (Jan Cress Dondi, Union Square & Co., New York, NY, 400 pp., 8 pages of photos, 2026 $32.50 HC)

Patton’s War: An American General’s Combat Leadership Volume 3: January 1-December 21, 1945 (Kevin M. Hymel, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, MO, 600pp., 50 images, 12 maps, July 1, 2026 $44.95 HC)

Eight Days in August: The Countdown to the Collapse of Japan and the End of World War II (Peter Zablocki, Stackpole Books/dist. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 256 pp., Aug. 4, 2026 $34.95 HC)

Ortiz’s War: The Allies’ Secret Weapon Against the Nazis in France (Nicholas Reynolds and Katie Sanders, Harper Horizon, New York, NY, 304 pp., Aug. 25, 2026 $29.99 HC)

The Nazi Ghost Train: Evasion, Betrayal, and Escape during World War II (Greg Lewis, Pegasus Books/Dist. by Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 336 pp., July 7, 2026 $29.95 HC)

They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich’s Most Wanted (Charles Lachman, Diversion Books/ Dist. by Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 304 pp., Aug. 25, 2026 $32.99)

Resisting Nazism: True Stories of Resistance to the World’s Most Dangerous Ideology, from 1920 to the Present (Luke Berryman, Bloomsbury Academic, New York, NY, 296 pp., 2026 $27 HC)

New & Noteworthy

Into the Firestorm: The Allied Heroes Who Flew World War II’s Most Daring Missions (Scott McGaugh, Osprey, New York, NY, 320pp., 8pp. b&w photos June 2, 2026 $32 HC) The first complete history of the Allied aircrews who flew unarmed C-47 transport planes into enemy territory with supplies, ammunition, arms and paratroopers to help turn the tide of World War II.

Battleship Yamato: The Ship, The Myth, The Legend (Alexander Wooley, Naval Press Institute, Annapolis, MD, 304 pp., 16 b/w photos, Aug. 18, 2026 $44.95 HC) The ultimate guide to the largest and most heavily armed battleship ever built battleship—Imperial Japan’s Yamato.

Overshadowed: US Marines in World War II: Europe, the Caribbean, and South America (Isaac Lamberth, Osprey, New York, NY, 288 pp., fully illustrated June 2, 2026 $40 HC) Explores the non-Pacific theaters where the U.S. Marine Corps fought—Operation Torch in North Africa, on the beaches at D-Day, parachuted behind enemy lines in France, on commando raids in Italy, attacking German submarines in the Caribbean—all the while guarding the American East Coast.

Generalship on the Eastern Front, 1941–45: A Study in Command (Robert Forczyk, Osprey, New York, NY, 592 pp., 16-pp. b&w photos, July 14, 2026 $40 HC) This comprehensive history focuses on the mass of field commanders and their operational staff who directed the war, rather than the famous leaders who overshadowed them.

The American School of Spies: The Archaeologists Who Fought the Nazis and Saved the Treasures of Ancient Greece (Stephan Talty, Dutton, New York, NY, 320 pp., June 9, 2026 $35 HC) The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) “Greek desk” in Cairo employed the unlikeliest of spies—academics, classicists, and other specialists who supported the protection of Greek cultural heritage during World War II.

1942: Hitler’s Gamble for Victory (Richard Hargreaves, Osprey, New York, 496 pp., 8 pp. b&w photos, June 16, 2026 $40 HC) ) The author spent 15 years researching in archives, museums and libraries across Europe examining Hitler’s ambitious spring and summer campaigns in the Soviet Union and Africa in 1942.

The Last of the Old Breed: An Oral History of the Final Marines from World War II (Scott Davis, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 336 pp., May 19, 2026 $35 HC) An oral history of U.S. Marines in the Pacific Theater of World War II, featuring more than 130 veterans, ranging in age from 90 to 103—some of the last witnesses to the brutal struggle against Japan.

The Fifty: The Fallen Heroes of the Great Escape (Steve Darlow and Sean Feast, Fighting High Books, Hitchin, England, 240 pp., b&w photos throughout, UK release, July 15, 2026, ~Aug./Sept. in U.S. $34.95 HC) After the “Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III on March 24–25, 1944, 73 of the 76 men were recaptured. This is the story of the 50 men executed on Adolf Hitler’s direct orders.

MIRACLE: The Boys Who Escaped the Gas Chamber at Auschwitz (Michael Calvin and Naftali Schiff, Harper Horizon, New York, NY, 272 pp., June 9, 2026 $29.99 HC) In an incredible twist of fate, a group of 50 Hungarian Jewish boys (plus one who slipped in with them) who were naked and about to enter the gas chamber at Auschwitz, were taken away to unload potatoes.

Hiroshima, 8:15: The Lost Memoir (Kiyoshi Tanimoto, Modern Library/Penguin Random House, New York, NY, 224 pp., Aug. 4, 2026 $32 HC) Methodist minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto, 36, saw the huge flash over Hiroshima at about 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945,as tens of thousands died in an instant. This newly discovered, unpublished memoir offers a vivid look at the aftermath.

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