World War II with Tom Hanks: Books written by the on-screen historians
The historians behind World War II with Tom Hanks have written some brilliant books. Here's what to read next if the series has left you wanting more.
Image: Simon Sebag Montefiore has covered Hitler and Stalin in some of his most notable works | World War II with Tom Hanks
Engrossed by Sky HISTORY’s World War II with Tom Hanks? With its plethora of historical experts and little-seen archive footage, it provides fresh perspectives on a conflict you may have thought you knew everything about.
It’s worth treating the 20-part documentary as a jumping-off point to learn even more about this tumultuous era. Why not start with the following reading matter recommended by Sky HISTORY – and written by the same esteemed historians you see in the series?
Dan Snow
You have likely seen Dan on TV many times before, and he appears in a mammoth 11 episodes of World War II with Tom Hanks.
Dan’s books include 20th Century Battlefields, co-written with his father, former Newsnight presenter Peter Snow. It details several of the 20th century’s most intense military tussles – including the World War II battles of Midway and Stalingrad.
Dr Tessa Dunlop
World War II with Tom Hanks certainly doesn’t mark Dr Tessa Dunlop’s first appearance on Sky HISTORY. She previously voiced her views on the British royal family for our series Two Sides of History.
The Scottish historian also spoke to 15 veterans of Bletchley Park – Britain’s codebreaking centre during the war – for her book The Bletchley Girls.
Did you know that World War II was the first where the British government conscripted women as soldiers? Several of these women’s stories were woven into another Tessa book, Army Girls.
Sir Antony Beevor
The highly respected military historian Sir Antony Beevor made his name with Stalingrad, a narrative history of the battle of the same name. He has also written extensively about the beginning of the end for Nazi Germany in D-Day: The Battle for Normandy.
What was it like in Berlin as the German capital finally fell to invading Allied forces in 1945? You can get a pretty vivid picture by reading Beevor’s Berlin: The Downfall 1945. For a more general readership, Beevor also penned The Second World War.
Saul David
How did the Royal Air Force establish air superiority so early on in the Battle of Britain? Find out by reading Saul David’s Sky Warriors: British Airborne Forces in the Second World War.
The Tunisian campaign is one of the war’s most unjustly overlooked, but the Welsh-born historian gives it fresh attention in Tunisgrad: Victory in Africa
.
Meanwhile, how did the Allies hold off Japan in the Pacific Theatre? Saul’s Devil Dogs: First In, Last Out - King Company from Guadalcanal to the Shores of Japan provides revelatory insights.
The Battle of Okinawa was especially frenetic. This is attested by Saul’s Crucible of Hell: Okinawa - the Last Great Battle of the Second World War.
Dr James Bulgin
Watching World War II with Tom Hanks, you will see how Nazi Germany’s antisemitic policies culminated in the Holocaust. It’s a highly emotive subject addressed with sensitivity by Dr James Bulgin in multiple episodes of the series.
Dr Bulgin is Head of Public History at the Imperial War Museum (IWM) – which, in 2021, published his book The Holocaust. He also co-wrote (with IWM curator Dr Toby Haggith) the 2025 book Nuremberg. This looks at how the postwar Nuremberg trials put Nazi leaders in the dock for committing atrocities against their citizens.
Simon Sebag Montefiore
How does Adolf Hitler compare to other sadistic leaders of history? Historian and TV presenter Simon Sebag Montefiore tackles that very question in Monsters: History’s Most Evil Men and Women.
Another of the ‘evil men’ featured in that book is Josef Stalin – who, owing to his ardent communism, attracted Hitler’s animosity during the war. Montefiore has devoted an entire book to the thorny subject of the Soviet premier, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar.
Guy Walters
Sky HISTORY viewers will recognise popular historian Guy Walters from our series The Last Hunt for Nazi Gold, co-starring Justine Ostrowska.
While on the subject of Nazi gold, it’s the athletes who had their hands on it in 1936, when the Summer Olympics were held in Berlin. The extraordinary political context of this particular sporting event is the subject of Walters’ book Berlin Games: How Hitler Stole the Olympic Dream.
We’ve mentioned Nuremberg, but in the aftermath of the war, many former members of the Nazi regime desperately strove to escape the Allies’ clutches. There’s even a Walters book about it – Hunting Evil: The Nazi War Criminals Who Escaped and the Quest to Bring Them to Justice.
Love reading about times gone by? Sign up to the Sky HISTORY newsletter and every week you'll receive the latest articles, episodes and more delivered straight to your inbox.
