From Greenwood Press in Westport, Connecticut we have been fortunate enough to receive a number of volumes of the excellent Bibliographies of Battles and Leaders and Bibliographies and Indexes of World History series. These series -- which have been in progress for a number of years, are as yet incomplete, and will likely continue indefinitely -- include books on topics ranging from agriculture to alcohol in the British Isles to the Falklands/Malvinas campaigns. Within our area of specialization there is a growing number of titles focusing on a sequence of battles, campaigns, individuals, and specific subjects.

In the past few months we've reviewed three of the newest titles: The Southwest Pacific Campaign, Signals Intelligence in World War II, and Wartime Poland. Here we offer a survey and general overview of eight of Greenwood's WWII titles that are currently in print.

Baxter, Colin F. The War in North Africa, 1940-1943: A Selected Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. In the first 60 pages Baxter presents the various facets of the campaigns in more or less chronological sequence, highlights the salient historical facts and scholarly debates, and indicates the prime references for each topic. The bibliography itself lists 504 titles (books and articles) without further annotation. Given the huge numbers of books on North Africa, this is certainly a "selected" bibliography, but all the principal sources are here. Includes a few foreign language titles, especially Italian.

Controvich, James T. The Central Pacific Campaign, 1943-1944: A Bibliography. Westport, CT: Meckler, 1990. Controvich distills the story of these amphibious campaigns into about ten pages, then proceeds to list titles according to ten general categories: General Reference Works, General Histories, Memoirs and Biographies, Gilbert Islands Operations, Marshall Islands Operations, Marianas Islands Operations, Army Air Force Unit Histories, Army Unit Histories, Marine Corps Histories, and Naval Unit Histories. Each bibliographic entry includes a single descriptive sentence. With over a thousand titles, this was quite comprehensive for its time, but after seven years is beginning to show its age.

Okonski, Walter. Wartime Poland, 1939-1945: A Select Annotated Bibliography of Books in English. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997. Just over 350 English-language titles divided into nine general categories, each with a paragraph of commentary. Topics include Poland in the Twentieth Century, Pre-War Period, War Origins and Outbreak, Military Aspects, Political and Diplomatic Aspects, Economic and Legal Aspects, Social Impact, Consequences of the War, Post-War Period. Some titles appear in more than one category.

Rasor, Eugene L. The Southwest Pacific Campaign, 1941-1945: Historiography and Annotated Bibliography. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. In the opening narrative, the author devotes about 90 pages to reviewing various aspects of the campaign and indicating the most important, controversial, and/or definitive accounts of each. He then lists in strict alphabetical sequence over 1500 titles, each with annotation ranging from a sentence to a paragraph. Probably the most thorough and comprehensive title in the series.

Sexton Jr., Donal J. Signals Intelligence in World War II: A Research Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996. Sexton's introduction surveys the highlights of signals intelligence (also known as communications intelligence) and points out appropriate authors and works, then lists four general bibliographies: Reference Works and Research Guides, General and Introductory Works, Signals Intelligence: General and Theoretical, and Signals Intelligence: Strategy and Operations. Each of these topics is subdivided into several more specific headings, and titles are repeated under multiple headings as necessary. Approximately 800 entries are included, most with enough annotation to glean new facts about the topic and begin to comprehend some of the ongoing scholarly debates.

Smith Jr., Myron J. The Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway, 1942. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991. The first few pages of this volume comprise a brief overview of the two naval battles; the book also includes day-by-day chronologies of the actions. The bibliography itself is divided into several major sections -- each with its own introductory material -- with numerous sub-sections. Over 1300 titles are included, but very few are annotated. Unfortunately, this book suffers from the dual drawbacks of somewhat confusing organization and typescript appearance that is difficult to read. Nevertheless, very inclusive of relevant titles (although growing a bit aged).

Smith Jr., Myron J. Pearl Harbor, 1941. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991. This bibliography opens with a chronology of Pearl-related events beginning in January 1941 and concluding with President Kennedy laying a wreath at the USS Arizona memorial in June 1963. Just over 1500 titles (books and articles) are included, most with a very short annotation. The entries are divided (much as Smith's Coral Sea/Midway volume) into three main categories, each with several sub-sections. Very thorough, but again a little confusing, somewhat aged, and suffering from its typescript appearance.

Wilson, Eunice. Dangerous Sky: A Resource Guide to the Battle of Britain. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. More than just a bibliography, this is a rather ambitious guide to every aspect of the Battle of Britain. The book is split into dozens of topics ranging from artists to bookshops to stamps and the author discusses BoB-relevant materials for each. (For example, the list of bookshops includes many which will be familiar to those who have perused our own Bookseller Directory.) These topical discussions are followed by an alphabetical listing of several hundred books.

In addition to these eight bibliography volumes, the Greenwood series also includes WWII-related titles such as Colin Baxter's The Normandy Campaign, General Matthew B. Ridgway from Paul M. Edwards, and General Douglas MacArthur by Eugene L. Rasor. These were unfortunately not available for review. Forthcoming titles include Rasor's imminent The Solomons Islands Campaign: Guadalcanal to Rabaul and also his The China-Burma-India Campaign, 1941-1945.

While the quality of these books certainly varies from title to title and author to author, overall they form an unsurpassed resource for serious collectors, researchers, and hobbyists. Booksellers also find them invaluable. As we've stated in the past, Greenwood Press is to be commended for continuing to support such an important contribution to the study of the Second World War.

Available through mail order booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Greenwood Press.

Thanks to Greenwood for making these review copies available.