World War II | Self-Publishing Review

The Mills Kept Grinding by Martin Smallridge

The Mills Kept Grinding by Martin Smallridge is a harrowing depiction of World War II that fleshes out characters in stark detail – both the good and the brutal – in which readers can eerily see themselves on every side of the conflict. By the end, it is hard to imagine such a brutal and sadistic Europe, which acts as a grim recollection of the past, and a reminder of what humans are capable of in the present and future.

Written as a creative literary exploration of the time period, Smallridge weaves family history, personal narrative, and fictional events into […]

SPR2021-09-22T03:02:02+02:00September 22nd, 2021|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Historical Fiction, World War II|

Review: Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, KCB by John D. Gazzelli

The massive strategic plan known in the annals history as Operation Overlord, which resulted in the final defeat of Nazi Germany, was the vision of a man who, author John D. Gazzelli insists, has been largely overlooked and almost forgotten by those same annals, as chronicled in Lieutenant General Sir Frederick Morgan, KCB: The Planner Who Saved Europe.

By 1943, Hitler’s forces had assumed increasing control of Europe, and it rested on the British and American armies to resist and overcome German domination. However, the two nations were not in agreement about how this could and should be accomplished. […]

SPR2021-10-13T03:13:37+02:00August 25th, 2021|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Biography, History, World War II|

Review: Somewhere in Persia: Memoirs of a War Correspondent by Dward Lee Greenbird

The observations, writings, poems, photos and jokes created by his father, Sam Greenberg, in service overseas in World War II fill the highly readable biographical portrait by author Dward Lee Greenbird, Somewhere in Persia: Memoirs of a War Correspondent.

Greenberg, born in 1912, was a newspaper staff writer when the war broke out, enlisted and became a war correspondent stationed in an army garrison on the Persian Gulf in Iran. Described by his son as a “happy guy,” Greenberg saved and sometimes sent home photos of the foreign countries he inhabited or visited. The material in this memoir comes […]

SPR2020-10-06T06:32:58+02:00September 7th, 2020|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Memoir, World War II|

Review: When We Were Brave by Karla M. Jay

The stories of World War II often focus on battlefield heroics and the history-shaping decisions made by famous leaders. However, scaling this global conflict down to a more intimate level can also be immensely valuable, which is precisely what author Karla M. Jay has done in her new work of historical fiction, When We Were Brave.

Three very different storylines grow and artfully wind together in this sometimes harrowing read: a recently emigrated family sent back to Germany, an SS officer wrestling with a crippling crisis of faith, and a young Jewish boy just beginning to understand the cruelty […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-12-02T04:21:48+02:00July 22nd, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, Karla M. Jay, World War II|

Review: Ripple Effect: Because of the War by Jenny Ferns

Some of the most traumatic and impactful events in human history are tied to war, which tears apart families, history, ideas and entire continents with their senseless brutality. In Ripple Effect: Because of the War, the first book in the Ripple Effect series, author Jenny Ferns steps down from the macrocosm of the battlefield to the peripheral effects of violence and chaos away from the frontlines. As this book’s title implies, the long-term results of war go much further than those who were wounded or killed.

Veronica and Rachel are sisters, although they both fell on opposite sides of […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2020-05-20T05:17:04+02:00April 4th, 2019|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, World War II|

Review: It’s All Coming Back: On Love After the War by Jon Kahn

★★★★

When Anne-Marie and Helmut marry in London just a year after World War II, they are young, in love, and glad to be finally free of the deep tragedy Hitler had brought to Europe. Swedish Anne-Marie is sweet, educated, and emancipated, but Helmut is from Germany, and Jewish. He has lived through many terrible family losses, and there are many divides in their knowledge of world events recently passed.

Through their love, they must now get to know each other, and heal the rifts in understanding between their families, both culturally and emotionally. The awful truth is almost to […]

SPR2018-02-16T10:10:26+02:00January 9th, 2018|Categories: Book Reviews|Tags: Historical Fiction, World War II|

Review: Shot Down by Steve Snyder

In Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth, author Steve Snyder tells his father’s story in World War II in a riveting and unforgettable peek into the past. When Lieutenant Snyder and his crew are shot down over Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II, hope of survival is grim, and the brutal nature of wartime is fully revealed.

Based on hundreds of unique accounts, letters, interviews, and intensive research, Shot Down pieces together a profoundly compelling story of survival and perseverance. With such a strong body of material and […]

John Staughton, Senior Reviewer2019-02-11T09:22:42+02:00November 13th, 2017|Categories: Book Reviews, Lead Story|Tags: Biography, History, World War II|

1939: The Phantom Zeppelin (Churchill’s Children Book 1) by A.R. Grogan

The Phantom Zeppelin (Churchill’s Children Book 1) by A.R. Grogan is an engaging middle grade historical novel following the exploits of a group of aristocratic children during World War II who work undercover for Winston Churchill. Christopher Finch, the child of a diplomat, is at the story’s center, who becomes one of Churchill’s spies, leading to incredible adventures for the typical 12-year-old boy in this informative and engrossing first book in the series.

The Churchill’s Children series seems very much geared as an historical lesson, while not drowning younger readers in too much detail, and keeps readers engaged by Kit’s […]

James Grimsby2017-06-23T10:12:44+02:00June 22nd, 2017|Categories: New Releases|Tags: Middle Grade Fiction, World War II|