Selected Readings on the Second World War
Introductory Readings
For a general introduction into the research of gender and war, see the Oxford Handbook of Gender, War and the Western World since 1600, edited by Karen Hagemann, Stefan Dudink and Sonya O. Rose (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2020). A general overview of the development of the research on gender and war can be found in its “Introduction: Gender and the History of War” by Karen Hagemann.
Part III of the Handbook on “The Age of the World Wars” includes several chapters dealing with gender and World War II from different perspectives. Chapter 15, “War and Gender: The Age of the World Wars and Its Aftermath—an Overview” by Karen Hagemann and Sonya O. Rose offers an informative introduction.
Further recommended readings from this chapter can be found in:
- the select bibliography of the chapter
- the extensive bibliography of the chapter
Many more titles you will find in GWonline. For our suggestions go here:
- Book Chapters and Journal Articles
- General Literature
- Literature on Gender, War & Revolution
- Methodological Introductions
Book Chapters and Journal Articles
- Atkin, Nicholas. “The Civilian Experience of World War Two: Displacement, Government, Adjustment, Comportment.” In Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Twentieth-century Europe, ed. by Nicholas Atkin, 105–40. Westport, CT and London:Greenwood Press, 2008.
- Fieseler, Beate, M. Michaela Hampf, and Jutta Schwarzkopf. “Gendering Combat: Military Women's Status in Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union during the Second World War.” Women's Studies International Forum 47 (2014): 115–26.
- Litoff, Judy Barrett. “Home-Front Americans at War, 1941–1945.” In Daily Lives of Civilians in Wartime Modern America: From the Indian Wars to the Vietnam War, ed. by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, 67–104. Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press, 2007.
- Strachan, Hew. “Total War.” In Strachan, European Armies and the Conduct of War, 150–87. London and Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1983.
- Vining, Margaret, “Women Join the Armed Forces: The Transformation of Women’s Military Work in World War II and After.” In A Companion to Women's Military History, ed. by Barton C. Hacker and Margaret Vining, 233–90. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012.
General Literature
- Ferris, John, et al. (ed.). The Cambridge History of the Second World War, 3 vols. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015.
- Overy, Richard J. The Oxford Illustrated History of World War II. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
- Weinberg, Gerhard. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
- Zeiler, Thomas W. Annihilation: A Global Military History of World War II. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Literature on Gender & War
- Diamond, Hanna. Women and the Second World War in France, 1939-1948: Choices and Constraints. London, New York: Longman, 1999.
- Hampf, M. Michaela. Release a Man for Combat: The Women's Army Corps During World War II. Cologne: Böhlau, 2010.
- Herzog, Dagmar. Brutality and Desire: War and Sexuality in Europe's Twentieth Century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
- Krylova, Anna. Soviet Women in Combat: A History of Violence on the Eastern Front. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- Lower, Wendy. Hitler’s Furies: German Women in the Nazi Killing Fields. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Rose, Sonya O. Which People's War? National Identity and Citizenship in Britain, 1939-1945. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Methodological Introductions
Women’s and Gender History
- Rose, Sonya O. What is Gender History? Cambridge: Polity Press 2010.
Military History
- Morillo, Stephen, and Michael F. Pavkovic. What is Military History? Cambridge: Polity Press, 2013.
Film History
- Thompson, Kristin and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003.
War in Film
- Chapman, James. War and Film. London: Reaktion, 2008.
Film Analysis
- Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond: Art, Technology, Language, History, Theory. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2009 (4th ed., completely rev. and expanded).