I highly recommend adding “Strongmen” by Ruth Ben Ghiat to your reading list. For those (like me) who scratch their heads wondering what in the world leads countries to fall in thrall to dictators, this is an excellent study. It also offers hope in showing how nations escaped their clutches.
Dave—Thanks for another insightful column. You cite a great reading list of WW2 books. Here’s some more reading to share: Sir Martin Gilbert, an English historian on the Holocaust. Google him and it will guide you on his works which earned him a knighthood.
Also an Iowa angle for American wars: Julie’s dad’s columns in the Des Moines Tribune when he was covering WWII, then Korea and later Vietnam. She organized his coverage into a very readable book and there are still copies on eBay.
I had read many books on the Northern European war but was woefully weak on Africa and Italy. Atkinson’s first two books filled in those gaps. Italy was such a brutal campaign and it doesn’t get a lot of attention. Interesting that we reached Rome the day BEFORE D-Day.
To me this more closely resembles the Hard Hat Riots of 1970. Just as Spiro Agnew incited working class men to beat up college protestors I could easily see Trump calling in his Proud Boys and letting them take the law into their own hands. When that doesn't happen, he declares martial law. Scary times.
Thanks again for your post!! This is a vile man who can’t really read nor comprehend …and yet he has never had to face any consequences his whole 78 years….and thus has led him to feel entitled and special!! He has surrounded himself with ghouls and idiots who adore him…..not the Constitution nor the rule of law….just him!!
Anyone with even the faintest knowledge of history wouldn’t have said what Trump did to Merz. The man is incapable of seeing events from any other person’s perspective.
He's even incapable of knowing anything of history's details. When he voiced to his Chief of Staff General Kelly in his first maladminstration that he wanted his generals to be like Hitler's, he was advised that they had tried to kill him. He resisted this knowledge. It got worse from there.
Amy, that is a long hitch! My dad landed at Marseille in December 1944, so he only had six months of war. “Only”. Did your dad land at Omaha on D-Day or after? Did he talk about it much?
There was something about that opening D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan. My dad loved war movies and he told me that scene was as close to real combat as he’d ever seen in a movie. It freed him up a little to talk about what he’d been through. Or, maybe enough time had gone by.
Dave -- My Dad rarely talked about WW2, unfortunately. The horrors he saw damaged him a lot.
He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and survived many of the epic battles you read about (like the Battle of the Bulge). He also helped liberate at least one concentration camp.
I do remember he described the scene on D-Day with great clarity. The rough seas, the bullets flying, the bloody water, the bodies strewn everywhere.
He also thought "Saving Private Ryan" accurately portrayed it all.
Those who do not at least try to read history don’t realize the terrible things young men (and now women) are forced to do in war. Even those who survive can end up damaged. That’s what so short-sighted about Trump knee-capping our soft power around the world. Diplomacy is much cheaper than war, both in dollars and in violence done to human beings.
Trumps response to Chancellor M. is very telling. It was either ignorance or him showing his true feelings he was sad that the beginning of defeat of the Nazi regime had begun.
I appreciate this comment you bring up: "As ignorant as Trump may be about history, he has an innate understanding of tools dictators throughout history have used to exploit one incident to seize power for themselves and rob people of their rights." I am definitely not a scholar of history, but I have noted this as well many times. I found the Holocaust Museum in DC to be very informative of the specific steps that led to Hitler's rise. I am sure I must have heard about it in HS, but the museum brought it more into focus for me.
I have not read up on history as well as you have but I remember all that we learned in school and have read a few books. Unfortunately, my grandfather, who fought on Iwo Jima, could never discuss the war and we were never allowed to ask him about it.
I just can't imagine living in Hitler's Germany and am thankful my ancestors left there decades before his rise. But, like you, I see signs every day of something evil rising right here in our country.
I'm thinking of joining the June 14th "No Kings" protest in Des Moines, although I don't get around well any more. I just hope the National Guard isn't called in there too.
“Citizens of London,” by Lynne Olson should be on the list, too.
Thanks, Teresa. I haven’t read that. Any and all suggestions are welcome!
I highly recommend adding “Strongmen” by Ruth Ben Ghiat to your reading list. For those (like me) who scratch their heads wondering what in the world leads countries to fall in thrall to dictators, this is an excellent study. It also offers hope in showing how nations escaped their clutches.
Thanks, Chris. I’ll add that to my list of must-reads.
Dave—Thanks for another insightful column. You cite a great reading list of WW2 books. Here’s some more reading to share: Sir Martin Gilbert, an English historian on the Holocaust. Google him and it will guide you on his works which earned him a knighthood.
Thanks, Richard. I listed only a fraction of books I would recommend. Martin Gilbert’s name is familiar. No relation?
Also an Iowa angle for American wars: Julie’s dad’s columns in the Des Moines Tribune when he was covering WWII, then Korea and later Vietnam. She organized his coverage into a very readable book and there are still copies on eBay.
Thanks for an important column. Atkinson's books are terrific.
I had read many books on the Northern European war but was woefully weak on Africa and Italy. Atkinson’s first two books filled in those gaps. Italy was such a brutal campaign and it doesn’t get a lot of attention. Interesting that we reached Rome the day BEFORE D-Day.
January 6
The January 6 insurrection and Trump’s pardons are ironic in this context, are they not?
More like hypocritical. He’s all for cracking down on mayhem unless he’s caused it.
To me this more closely resembles the Hard Hat Riots of 1970. Just as Spiro Agnew incited working class men to beat up college protestors I could easily see Trump calling in his Proud Boys and letting them take the law into their own hands. When that doesn't happen, he declares martial law. Scary times.
Thanks, Randy. I don’t recall the Hard Hat riots. I’ll read up. Meantime, an excellent NYT editorial this morning. Should be accessible to all: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/08/opinion/los-angeles-protests-national-guard-trump.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Nk8.Jl5X.a4ZN2IM6mpmG&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Your father. His service. 🙏
Thanks again for your post!! This is a vile man who can’t really read nor comprehend …and yet he has never had to face any consequences his whole 78 years….and thus has led him to feel entitled and special!! He has surrounded himself with ghouls and idiots who adore him…..not the Constitution nor the rule of law….just him!!
“Merz calmly told Trump, ‘This was the liberation of my country from Nazi dictatorship.’”
This is so direct and eloquent. That eloquence has vanished in the current administration.
Anyone with even the faintest knowledge of history wouldn’t have said what Trump did to Merz. The man is incapable of seeing events from any other person’s perspective.
He's even incapable of knowing anything of history's details. When he voiced to his Chief of Staff General Kelly in his first maladminstration that he wanted his generals to be like Hitler's, he was advised that they had tried to kill him. He resisted this knowledge. It got worse from there.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4948174-john-kelly-donald-trump-praised-hitler-generals-loyalty/
Many thanks to your brave father for his service ❤️
Like your Dad, mine landed on Omaha Beach. He miraculously survived countless battles in Europe during 3 1/2 years of combat during WW2.
My late Dad would be appalled by Trump's actions today. History is repeating itself.
Amy, that is a long hitch! My dad landed at Marseille in December 1944, so he only had six months of war. “Only”. Did your dad land at Omaha on D-Day or after? Did he talk about it much?
There was something about that opening D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan. My dad loved war movies and he told me that scene was as close to real combat as he’d ever seen in a movie. It freed him up a little to talk about what he’d been through. Or, maybe enough time had gone by.
Dave -- My Dad rarely talked about WW2, unfortunately. The horrors he saw damaged him a lot.
He landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and survived many of the epic battles you read about (like the Battle of the Bulge). He also helped liberate at least one concentration camp.
I do remember he described the scene on D-Day with great clarity. The rough seas, the bullets flying, the bloody water, the bodies strewn everywhere.
He also thought "Saving Private Ryan" accurately portrayed it all.
Unfathomable 🥺
Those who do not at least try to read history don’t realize the terrible things young men (and now women) are forced to do in war. Even those who survive can end up damaged. That’s what so short-sighted about Trump knee-capping our soft power around the world. Diplomacy is much cheaper than war, both in dollars and in violence done to human beings.
Amy, I honor your dad and his sacrifice.
Trumps response to Chancellor M. is very telling. It was either ignorance or him showing his true feelings he was sad that the beginning of defeat of the Nazi regime had begun.
I appreciate this comment you bring up: "As ignorant as Trump may be about history, he has an innate understanding of tools dictators throughout history have used to exploit one incident to seize power for themselves and rob people of their rights." I am definitely not a scholar of history, but I have noted this as well many times. I found the Holocaust Museum in DC to be very informative of the specific steps that led to Hitler's rise. I am sure I must have heard about it in HS, but the museum brought it more into focus for me.
It sure does. Trump doesn’t seem like the museum-going type. Unless the display is about him, he doesn’t see the relevance
I have not read up on history as well as you have but I remember all that we learned in school and have read a few books. Unfortunately, my grandfather, who fought on Iwo Jima, could never discuss the war and we were never allowed to ask him about it.
I just can't imagine living in Hitler's Germany and am thankful my ancestors left there decades before his rise. But, like you, I see signs every day of something evil rising right here in our country.
I'm thinking of joining the June 14th "No Kings" protest in Des Moines, although I don't get around well any more. I just hope the National Guard isn't called in there too.
I sincerely doubt Trump would send troops into a red state like Iowa. He only wants to pick fights with states run by Democratic governors.
Outstanding analysis, Dave. Very frightening to say the least! Your Dad sounds like a great person. Thanks for sharing this story.
Thanks, Denny. He was a wonderful dad.