The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War

By Andrew Roberts

The past year I read Andrew Roberts’ biography of Winston Churchill, entitled Walking With Destiny.  It was certainly the best biography of Churchill that I have read, and many others regard it in the same way.  So when I became aware that he had written a one-volume history of World War II, The Storm of War, I definitely wanted to read it also.  It was even better than I hoped. 

Roberts, with a Ph.D. in history from Cambridge, is a superb scholar, but he can also write!  He writes a clear, compelling, at times riveting, story.

This is not a brief book, coming in at over 600 pages.  If you want to understand an overview of World War II with one volume, this is a superb resource.

There are not many history books in which I think to myself, “I need to read this book again.”  But that’s exactly the way I feel with The Storm of War.

The Great Alone

By Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah is a superb novelist.  Widely read.  This is her novel set in Alaska.  Alaska is commonly called “The Great Alone.”  But the great alone in this book probably refers, not just to Alaska, but to the aloneness of Leni Allbright.

The book begins with Leni a preteen.  She has a loving mother and an abusive father, who was traumatized in Vietnam.  During the 1970s, there was no significant help for veterans with PTSD.  The small family decides to leave civilization and move to a remote area of Alaska.  This is their story.  A story of adventure and love, but also a story of fear and violence. 

Kristin Hannah uses her storytelling ability to convey the pain and pathos of abuse in the home.  She sets her tale in the wild and the ruggedness of Alaska.

The book is hard to put down.  The tale is riveting.  The lessons are poignant.

Quite a good read!

Into the Forest: A Holocaust Story of Survival, Triumph, and Love

(Audiobook)

By Rebecca Frankel

This is a true story of a Jewish family who lived in a small town in Poland before World War II.  When the Nazis came and started killing people, the family of four, Morris and Miriam Rabinowitz and their two small daughters, Rachel and Tania, were ushered into a ghetto created for the Jews.  Conditions were harsh and the Nazis began killing members of the Jewish community. 

At one point, the small family of four fled into a nearby forest, which was the largest primeval forest in the world.  Along with other Jewish men, women and children, they survived several years in the forest, eluding Nazi soldiers and surviving bitter winters. 

The family of four survived the war and make their way first to Italy on their way to Israel, but instead end up in America.  This is a fascinating saga, which gives insight into the brutality of World War II and the Nazis on Jewish people in Eastern Europe.  Highly recommended!

The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night in the Second World War

(audio book)

By Malcolm Gladwell

This 2021 book by well-known writer Malcolm Gladwell was first published as an audio book and then later as a print book.  The book concerns bombing and air warfare in World War II.  There was a group of American military officers who gathered in a remote location in Alabama to theorize and plan about bombing.  This was in the early days of air warfare when the Air Force was still part of the U.S. Army.  These military officers determined on a plan for strategic bombing or precision bombing as opposed to area bombing or carpet bombing.  They wanted to save lives by not bombing civilian areas, but by bombing specific factories and key military installations that would end the war sooner.

When the war began, things did not go so well and at one crucial point the leader of the Bomber Mafia, Major General Haywood Hansell, was replaced by General Curtis LeMay.  LeMay was behind the bombing of Tokyo and many other cities in Japan in World War II, which, along with the two atomic bombs, resulted in the surrender of Japan.  The story is fascinating because Gladwell is quite the storyteller.  He raises complicated ethical questions about bombing and warfare, while telling a riveting story.

Practicing the Power: Welcoming the Gifts of the Holy Spirit in Your Life

By Sam Storms

This is probably the most helpful book I’ve read on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The best book is probably Why I Am Still Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Jack Deere.  But this might be the single most helpful and practical book.

Storms has written a number of books on the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  Probably the place to start in Sam’s books on the gifts of the Spirit would be his book, The Beginner’s Guide to Spiritual Gifts.  It is an excellent and succinct overview.  Then there is his extensive book on the spiritual gifts entitled, Understanding Spiritual Gifts.  There is also his book Convergence, which includes his journey, focused on both the Word and the Spirit, coming from a cessationist background.  This is the practical book.  How should pastors and church leaders who believe in all the gifts of the Spirit for today lead their churches to experience all that God has for them with the gifts?

In this book Sam has excellent chapters on the importance of pursuing the spiritual gifts in obedience to 1 Corinthians 12:31 and 1 Corinthians 14:1, on the necessity of praying, on the power of fasting, on practicing the gifts of healings, on the practice and principles for prophecy in the church, on deliverance, on quenching the Spirit, on manipulation and on worship.  This book is superb.  Highly recommended.