I've been doing some research on POW's lately and I recommend these

Given Up for Dead: American POWs in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga  by Flint Whitlock  (this is quite upsetting and is an amazing story)

I just posted a thread here in the history forum, "Meeting a Holocaust survivor". When Hope Prevails by Sam Offen is one I would suggest. I actually haven't read it yet, since I just met the fantastic man tonight, but I got to hear a few of the stories firsthand. 

Courage Before Every Danger, Honor Before All Men by Joanne Emerick

This author visited our library on Veteran's Day.  It was an amazing program!  The book's title is the  motto of the 31st Bombardment Squadron (H)

The book begins in 1938 with the 31st Bomb Squadron's transfer from Mainland to Hawaii, and follows the Squadron through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the ensuing four years as it played a vital role in the United States' campaign in the Pacific Theatre.

The book is the culmination of 17 year of research.  Written in the Squadron veterans' own words, the book contains personal interviews, letters, diaries, and excerpts from the official Squadron records.  The reader will see WWII in the Pacific through the eyes of the men who fought its air war.

This book is not listed on Amazon or PBS.  But, I have listed the website for this book below.  The author's father was a medic with the 31st, but never talked about the war.  Her father died when she was 22.  She had a photo of her father with 5 other medics in the 31st and their names, and she went searching for them.  She never intended to write a book.  She taught secondary social studies for 31 years.  The 31st paid her a salary for two years to write their story. It is a labor of love. The book was finished last year.

Joanne Emerick's list of honors include:

• Kansas Council for the Social Studies Exemplary Teacher Award, 1988
• National History Day Kansas Teacher of the Year, 1992
• Kansas DAR Outstanding History Teacher of the Year, 1994
• Milken National Educator Award, 1995

www.couragebeforeeverydanger.com

I just finished the brief book 1939: Countdown to War by Richard Overy, which is about the politics of the war's beginning.  I found it interesting that the war started in Poland, not because it was easy pickings, but because they could actually put up a fight (unlike Czechoslovakia).  The book went into the fact that Hitler never believed France and Britain would declare war in retribution until it had been done, and only wanted a small war with Poland to assert German strength.  Finally, the book is partly a vindication of Neville Chamberlain, who Overy asserts was strong and decisive once he realized Hitler could not be trusted in the wake of the Czech takeover.

That looks like an interesting book Matt. Thanks for mentioning it.

How about  The Jewish Brigade: An Army with Two Masters 1944-45.

A good book about our disfunctional president Roosevelt and how he did his best to ignore the Holocaust is Michael Beschloss' The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany 1941-1945. It is not the only area the book covers, but it does cover it in some depth.

The Dressmakers of Auschwitz: The True Story of the Women Who Sewed to Survive by Lucy Adlington

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II by Sonia Purnell