I’ve been faithfully plugging along on my WWII reading, though I’d be remiss in making you think that it’s a trial; “plugging along” has such a negative connotation, like something you have to do. I enjoy history and learning about such a critical war in American—and human—history.

Currently, I’m listening to The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich while simultaneously reading A World at Arms. I want to get a good history foundation before I embark on the fun books. I’ve updated my list, but noticed a particular lack in YA and children’s books about WWII. For all of you book lovers and history buffs out there, which ones am I missing?

Anyway, back to what I’ve read so far, I’m flabbergasted by Hitler’s madness. This man was a psychopath. It’s a testament to his maniacal brilliance that he wormed his way into a position of power, second to that of only the president, in such a short time. And he was put in that position (somewhat) legally by the people. Add to that the fact that he wanted war in order to restore the splendor of Germany—which he assumed was stolen from the country after the first world war—and it’s nothing short of a miracle, a terrible sort of serendipity, a merging of the worst of circumstances that he managed to perpetuate such horror on the world. There was so much hate inside of him, so much pride and narcissism. So much darkness in his soul. And as far as the historians and his contemporaries could tell, there was so little reason for it. As somebody who isn’t a psychopath, it’s impossible for me to understand the man. The most I can hope for is to understand the intricacies of how choices and events fed into each other in order to create the perfect storm which was World War II.