A Troubled Peace

Recommended Reading

Under a War-torn Sky and A Troubled Peace tell the story of a B-24 bomber pilot who survives bailing out over Nazi-occupied France and then returns, following liberation, to find a young Resistance boy who saved him. Other recommended reading and films, focusing on the war against Hitler, include the following:

Holocaust:
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank; Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli; Night by Elie Wiesel (for 14 and older)

The American experience:
The Last Mission by Harry Mazer; Don’t You Know There’s a War On? by Avi;
The Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene; Good Night, Maman by Norma Fox Mazer

Resistance:
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry; Twenty and Ten by Claire Huchet Bishop; Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan; For Freedom: the Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley; The Boys from St. Petri by Bjarne Reuter

The German experience:
Soldier Boys by Dean Hughes; Soldier X by Don L. Wulffson; The Book Thief  by Markus Zusak; The Boy Who Dared by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Non-fiction:
Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
The Good Fight: How WWII was Won by Stephen Ambrose
Vive La France: the French Resistance during WWII by Robert Green

Aircraft:
The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany by Stephen Ambrose; A Wing and a Prayer by Harry H. Crosby (for high school readers)

Resistance memoirs (for high school readers):
The Autobiography of The Woman the Gestapo Called the White Mouse by Nancy Wake; The Diary and Memoir of Virginia Albert-Lake (American in French Resistance); Outwitting the Gestapo by Lucie Aubrac

Photo collections: Lee Miller’s War (Allied war correspondent/photographer, 1944-45); Life: Our Finest Hour, the Triumphant Spirit of the WWII Generation

For high school readers:
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky; The Blood of Others by Simone de Beauvoir; Catch-22 by Joseph Heller; The Great Escape by Paul Brickhill

Films:
Bombers and crews: Twelve O’Clock High; Memphis Belle (PG); Tuskegee Airmen (PG-13)
Resistance: Charlotte Gray (PG-13); Paris Underground; Julia (PG); Valkyrie (PG-13)
Civilians: Casablanca: The Best Years of our Lives; Au Revoir, Les Enfants (PG)
Nazis/Holocaust: Life is Beautiful (PG-13); Lacombe, Lucein; the miniseries Holocaust (starring Meryl Streep); TV movie Playing for Time (Vanessa Redgrave)
Combat: Patton (PG); The Longest Day (G); The Great Escape (PG)

Documentary:
Anne Frank Remembered; The Eye of Vichy: France’s Shocking Collaboration with the Nazis; Secret Lives: Hidden Children and Their Rescuers During WWII.