Here are 100 books that Cry Havoc fans have personally recommended if you like Cry Havoc. Book DNA is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War

G. C. Peden Author Of Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement

From my list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War.

Why am I passionate about this?

The Second World War featured prominently in comics and conversations with adults when I was a boy. Knowing about the war and its origins was a way to make sense of the world. As an undergraduate, my history professor insisted I also study economics. That has helped my study of strategy, which is also concerned with choices between alternative uses of scarce resources. However, dry analysis is not enough for a historian. It mattered that Churchill and Chamberlain had different personalities. I try to recapture the political passions of the past and the uncertainty people felt then about the future.

G.'s book list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War

G. C. Peden Why G. loves this book

Churchill famously said that history would judge that he was right, and he would write the history. I admire David’s forensic approach to Churchill’s use of omissions and careful phrasing in this book to lend plausibility to counterfactuals regarding how Hitler could have been stopped. A masterpiece of historiography that enabled me to read Churchill’s work with new eyes.

By David Reynolds ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked In Command of History as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winston Churchill fought the World War II twice over-first as Prime Minister during the war, and then later as the war's premier historian. From 1948-54, he published six volumes of memoirs. They secured his reputation and shaped our understanding of the conflict to this day. Drawing on the drafts of Churchill's manuscript as well as his correspondence from the period, David Reynolds masterfully reveals Churchill the author. Reynolds shows how the memoirs were censored by the British government to conceal state secrets, and how Churchill himself censored them to avoid offending current world leaders. This book illuminates an unjustly neglected…


If you love Cry Havoc...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

Book cover of The Gathering Storm

G. C. Peden Author Of Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement

From my list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War.

Why am I passionate about this?

The Second World War featured prominently in comics and conversations with adults when I was a boy. Knowing about the war and its origins was a way to make sense of the world. As an undergraduate, my history professor insisted I also study economics. That has helped my study of strategy, which is also concerned with choices between alternative uses of scarce resources. However, dry analysis is not enough for a historian. It mattered that Churchill and Chamberlain had different personalities. I try to recapture the political passions of the past and the uncertainty people felt then about the future.

G.'s book list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War

G. C. Peden Why G. loves this book

I first read this book half a century ago and still enjoy rereading it. Churchill’s style is modeled on the great historians of the 18th and 19th centuries. He argues with conviction and clarity that war could have been prevented.

However, I find myself echoing a 19th century prime minister who said of the historian Macaulay: ‘I wish I were as sure of anything in this world as [he] is of everything.’

By Winston S. Churchill ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Gathering Storm as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Winston Churchill's six-volume history of the Second World War.


Book cover of Chamberlain and Appeasement: British Policy and the Coming of the Second World War

G. C. Peden Author Of Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement

From my list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War.

Why am I passionate about this?

The Second World War featured prominently in comics and conversations with adults when I was a boy. Knowing about the war and its origins was a way to make sense of the world. As an undergraduate, my history professor insisted I also study economics. That has helped my study of strategy, which is also concerned with choices between alternative uses of scarce resources. However, dry analysis is not enough for a historian. It mattered that Churchill and Chamberlain had different personalities. I try to recapture the political passions of the past and the uncertainty people felt then about the future.

G.'s book list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War

G. C. Peden Why G. loves this book

I attended Alistair Parker’s lectures as a postgraduate in Oxford, and I could hear his voice engaging with his audience when I read this book. Alistair rejected Churchill’s portrait of Chamberlain as narrow-minded and lacking experience in European affairs and accepted that the prime minister’s options were limited by economic and strategic circumstances. However, he argued with characteristic verve that Chamberlain’s obstinacy in pursuing appeasement, caution in rearmament, and opposition to a Soviet alliance dispelled any chance of deterring Hitler.

By R. A. C. Parker ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Chamberlain and Appeasement as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book provides a fresh and original approach to a controversial episode in British history, Chamberlain's policy of 'appeasement' towards Hitler's Germany. Written directly from primary archival sources, Alastair Parker's account offers the student new perspectives on the man who dominated the making of British policy before and after his 'triumph' at Munich in September 1938 - Neville Chamberlain. This study considers his personality, his aims and his methods and the opposition to him from men both within and outside his party.


If you love Joseph Maiolo...

Book cover of The Duty of Memory

The Duty of Memory by Vicki Olsen,

Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.

This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…

Book cover of Grand Strategy Volume I: Rearmament Policy

G. C. Peden Author Of Churchill, Chamberlain and Appeasement

From my list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War.

Why am I passionate about this?

The Second World War featured prominently in comics and conversations with adults when I was a boy. Knowing about the war and its origins was a way to make sense of the world. As an undergraduate, my history professor insisted I also study economics. That has helped my study of strategy, which is also concerned with choices between alternative uses of scarce resources. However, dry analysis is not enough for a historian. It mattered that Churchill and Chamberlain had different personalities. I try to recapture the political passions of the past and the uncertainty people felt then about the future.

G.'s book list on Britain and the coming of the Second World War

G. C. Peden Why G. loves this book

Norman Gibbs supervised my doctoral thesis at Oxford and kindly lent me the proofs of his book before its publication in the series of official histories of the Second World War. I have often had to consult it since and have never failed to find something relevant to what I want to know about British defense policy, often in the form of a quotation from a key document.

By N. H. Gibbs ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Grand Strategy Volume I as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Pages 892. Reprinted in 2016 with the help of original edition published long back. This book is in black & white, Hardcover, sewing binding for longer life with Matt laminated multi-Colour Dust Cover, Printed on high quality Paper, re-sized as per Current standards, professionally processed without changing its contents. As these are old books, there may be some pages which are blur or missing or black spots. If it is multi volume set, then it is only single volume. We expect that you will understand our compulsion in these books. We found this book important for the readers who want…


Book cover of The Zap Gun

Robert Zwilling Author Of Asteroid Fever

From my list on science fiction books where the big break doesn't change anything.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by science and everything mysterious. I love to read science fiction and mystery stories. I use art and literature to explore reality. Writing or painting allows me to link seemingly unrelated topics together to create my own explanations for why things are the way they appear to be. The biggest things in the universe are replicated on Earth right down to sub-atomic size. I call that life imitating stars. Life is an endless resource found everywhere in the universe, and it's not restricted to just light or heat to grow; it only needs energy.

Robert's book list on science fiction books where the big break doesn't change anything

Robert Zwilling Why Robert loves this book

As we continue our journey into the future, things that people thought would change to our advantage have not turned out the way. I like P. K. Dick's stories because he was a master at understanding how the future would upend traditional lifestyles, jobs, and housing.

This book is about a man who makes highly creative weapons for the government designed to keep the country in power. The kicker is that none of the weapons actually work. On the other side, his counterpoint is doing the same thing, making ridiculous super weapons. When real aliens show up, they find themselves trying to work together to make something that works for real while still superstitiously battling each other under the guise of a white flag.

By Philip K. Dick ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Zap Gun as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Scaldingly sarcastic yet enduringly empathetic, THE ZAP GUN is Dick's remarkable novel depicting the insanity of the arms race.

Lars Powderdry and Lilo Topchev are counterpart weapons fashion designers for a world divided into two factions - Wes-bloc and Peep-East. Since the Plowshare Protocols of 2002, their job has been to invent elaborate weapons that only seem massively lethal.

But when alien satellites hostile to both sides appear in the sky, the two are brought together in the dire hope that they can create a weapon to save the world, a task made all the more difficult by Lars falling…


Book cover of Gambling with Armageddon: Nuclear Roulette from Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis

László Borhi Author Of Hungary in the Cold War, 1945-1956: Between the United States and the Soviet Union

From my list on the search for truth in history.

Why am I passionate about this?

I come from a small country, Hungary, the past of which was consciously falsified in the political system under which I grew up. Some chapters of it, like the cold war period, Soviet rule, the revolution of 1956 couldn't even be discussed. I was lucky because communism collapsed and archives were gradually opened just as I started my career as a historian. Books on international history are usually written from the perspective of the powerful states, I was interested in looking at this story from the perspective of the small guy. Writing this book was both a professional challenge and a personal matter for me. I'm currently a professor at Indiana University-Bloomington.

László's book list on the search for truth in history

László Borhi Why László loves this book

I was privileged to know Marty Sherwin in person. He was the friendliest person ever with a tremendous sense of humour – and a magnificent, honest scholar.

He was the friendliest person ever with a tremendous sense of humour – and a magnificent, honest scholar. History, as Paul Ricoeur has reminded, is not a record to be played. The Cold War nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union, and mainly, the Cuban missile crisis did not have to end as they did, peacefully.

When two A bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945, a genie was released that the world will not be able to get rid of any time soon. Martin J. Sherwin, the doyen of American nuclear historians always argued that this did not have to be so. Nuclear technology could have been placed under international supervision and arms race and proliferation could have been…

By Martin J. Sherwin ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Gambling with Armageddon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Prometheus comes the first effort to set the Cuban Missile Crisis, with its potential for nuclear holocaust, in a wider historical narrative of the Cold War—how such a crisis arose, and why at the very last possible moment it didn't happen.

In this groundbreaking look at the Cuban Missile Crisis, Martin Sherwin not only gives us a riveting sometimes hour-by-hour explanation of the crisis itself, but also explores the origins, scope, and consequences of the evolving place of nuclear weapons in the post-World War II world. Mining new sources and materials, and going…


If you love Cry Havoc...

Book cover of The Deviant Prison: Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary and the Origins of America's Modern Penal System, 1829-1913

The Deviant Prison by Ashley Rubin,

What were America's first prisons like? How did penal reformers, prison administrators, and politicians deal with the challenges of confining human beings in long-term captivity as punishment--what they saw as a humane intervention?

The Deviant Prison centers on one early prison: Eastern State Penitentiary. Built in Philadelphia, one of the…

Book cover of Playing to Win

Jean Linscott and Kenneth Ruoff Author Of What is the Goal?: The Truth About the Youth Sports Industry

From my list on understanding the youth sports industry.

Why am I passionate about this?

We raised three children who loved athletics, but as we parented them through what we came to term the youth sports industry, we gradually realized how dramatically and for the worse, youth sports had changed since we were kids. The present profit-based model treats children as commodities, and we feel strongly that this is the worst way to approach youth sports. So, yes, we feel passionately about this topic, especially about the need for reform.   

Jean's book list on understanding the youth sports industry

Jean Linscott and Kenneth Ruoff Why Jean loves this book

We found Michael Lewis’s new audiobook (Audible Originals, 2020) a hilarious first-person account of the insanity that youth sports has become, in this case focusing on pay-to-play softball. Lewis even describes how he cut short time with President Obama to rush back to one of his daughter’s softball tournaments to demonstrate how youth sports colonized his family’s life. 

By Michael Lewis ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Playing to Win as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When New York Times best-selling author and journalist Michael Lewis got involved in his kids’ local softball league, it all seemed so wholesome and simple. Ten years later, his family looked back to find that they had spent thousands of dollars - not to mention hours - and traveled thousands of miles in the service of a single sport.

All over America, families are investing blood, sweat, tears, and retirement savings in their children’s sports careers, all with the ultimate goal of…what exactly? A college scholarship? A professional contract? Simply the taste of victory?

Through the lens of the highly…


Book cover of The Wizards of Armageddon

Paul Lashmar Author Of Britain's Secret Propaganda War

From my list on the madness of the Cold War.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started researching the way the West’s intelligence services manipulated the public when I was a student in the mid-1970s. I then became an investigative journalist and often returned to the subject in different ways, especially as a national security correspondent. I fully acknowledge the massive manipulation by the Communist Bloc during the Cold War but believe that it is important the public is aware of the manipulation that the West’s Cold Warriors utilized is fully known and recognized as it has left a legacy that has allowed for the rise of ‘fake news’.


Paul's book list on the madness of the Cold War

Paul Lashmar Why Paul loves this book

Kaplan’s book captured the mindset of the Cold Warriors and how the concept of a nuclear holocaust became accepted. Brilliantly researched and written with a dispassionate eye, it remains one of the most insightful accounts of the nuclear weapons race and how it was exploited by the military to build their own empires. It was a great influence on my film Baiting the Bear about General Curtis 'Bomb them back to the Stone Age’ Lemay that I made for BBC's Timewatch in 1996. I haven’t yet read Kaplan’s latest book, The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War, which looks like a development of Wizards with new declassified material. 

By Fred Kaplan ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Wizards of Armageddon as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the untold story of the small group of men who have devised the plans and shaped the policies on how to use the Bomb. The book (first published in 1983) explores the secret world of these strategists of the nuclear age and brings to light a chapter in American political and military history never before revealed.


Book cover of Bomb: The Race to Build--And Steal--The World's Most Dangerous Weapon

William L. McGee Author Of Operation Crossroads - Lest We Forget!: An Eyewitness Account, Bikini Atomic Bomb Tests 1946

From my list on the atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1946.

Why am I passionate about this?

William L. McGee is an award-winning World War II Pacific war historian. His writing career has spanned six decades and his writing style has been described as journalistic and spare. Bill currently has nine titles in print; six with his co-author and wife, Sandra V. McGee.

William's book list on the atomic bomb tests at the Bikini Atoll in 1946

William L. McGee Why William loves this book

Many books have been written about the development of the atomic bomb, most of them more technical than the average reader wants or needs. That is why I’m recommending this book. Don’t let the “Perfect for middle grade readers” in the Amazon book description put you off. The book was factual, yet read like a spy thriller. The only thing I missed was a cast of characters in the front matter, so I created a list as I read.

By Steve Sheinkin ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Bomb as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 10, 11, 12, and 13.

What is this book about?

In December of 1938, a chemist in a German laboratory made a shocking discovery: when placed next to radioactive material, a Uranium atom split in two. That simple discovery launched a scientific race that spanned three continents. In Great Britain and the United States, Soviet spies worked their way into the scientific community; in Norway, a commando force slipped behind enemy lines to attack German heavy water manufacturing; and deep in the desert, one brilliant group of scientists was hidden away at Los Alamos. This is the story of the plotting, risk taking, deceit, and genius that created the world's…


If you love Joseph Maiolo...

Book cover of Pioneer Paddles of the Colonial South

Pioneer Paddles of the Colonial South by William D. Auman,

Award-winning novelist William Auman, author of If Trees Could Testify..., takes the reader on a time-traveling odyssey featuring 345 bodies of water in six states within the historical context through which they unfold.

Journey into remaining Colonial-era wilderness with stories of pirate treasure, epic frontiersmen, Indigenous Peoples, and Revolutionary…

Book cover of The Stem Cell Dilemma: Beacons of Hope or Harbingers of Doom?

Jonathan Slack Author Of Stem Cells: A Very Short Introduction

From my list on stem cells from a scientist who studies them.

Why am I passionate about this?

I spent my career in developmental biology: the science of how embryos develop. My main discovery was the discovery of one of the signals that controls development, called the fibroblast growth factor. Stem cell biology grew up on the basis of previous discoveries in developmental biology, and now, every day, people around the world use fibroblast growth factor among other substances to control the development of their stem cells. From 2007-2012 I was Director of the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Minnesota, so I got a good inside view of the whole field.

Jonathan's book list on stem cells from a scientist who studies them

Jonathan Slack Why Jonathan loves this book

This is a popular book, focusing on human interest but still scientifically reputable. Its main theme is the ethics, law, and politics of stem cells, mostly from a US perspective. It describes the debate in the USA about embryonic stem cells and how it polarized the nation. It covers many examples of political maneuvering to establish rules and regulations. It also has an international dimension and describes the legal position in countries around the world. I like it because I was in the USA during many of these debates and feel the book nicely captures the atmosphere of the controversy.

By Leo Furcht , William Hoffman ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Stem Cell Dilemma as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Today's scientists are showing us how stem cells create and repair the human body. Unlocking these secrets has become the new Holy Grail of biomedical research. But behind that search lies a sharp divide, one that has continued for years. Stem cells offer the hope of creating or repairing tissues lost to age, disease, and injury. Yet, because of this ability, stem cells also hold the potential to incite an international biological arms race.

The Stem Cell Dilemma illuminates everything you need to know about stem cells, and in this new edition the authors have included up-to-date information on scientific…


Book cover of In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War
Book cover of The Gathering Storm
Book cover of Chamberlain and Appeasement: British Policy and the Coming of the Second World War

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5 book lists we think you will like!

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