Back to reading lists

 

Historical Fiction: Depression, Pre-WWII & WWII
(late 1920s to Mid 1940s)


  AUTHORS    TITLES
  BALLARD, JG. Empire of the Sun
  BAT-AMI, Miriam Two Suns in the Sky (WWII refugee camp)
  BEACH, Edward Run Silent, Run Deep     
    Dust on the Sea
  BENNETT, Cherie Anne Frank and Me
  BERNSTEIN, Sara Tuvel Seamstress
  BLIGHT, Edward A Time to Choose (Japanese American families, WWII)
  BONHAM, Frank Burma Rifles
    Ghost Front
  BRADBURY, Ray    Dandelion Wine
  BUCHHEIM, Lothar-Gunther The Boat
  BUCK, Pearl      Dragon Seed
  BURNFORD, Sheila Bel Ria
  CAEDDERT, Luann Friends and Enemies
  CAREY, Janet Lee Molly's Fire
  CLARKE, John Black Soldier
  CLAVELL, James    King Rat
  CORMIER, Robert Heroes: A Novel
  DE BERNIERES, Louis Corelli's Mandolin
  DEIGHTON, Len   Winter
  DELDERFIELD, R. F.  To Serve Them All My Days
  DENENBERG, Barry One Eye Laughing: The Diary of Julie Weiss (1938)
  DOWELL, Frances O'Roark Dovey Coe
  DU MAURIER, Daphne   Rebecca
  EARLY, Tony Jim the Boy (Depression)
  ERICKSON, John R.   Moonshiner's Gold  (Texas, Prohibition)
  FITZGERALD, F. Scott  Great Gatsby
    Beautiful and the Damned
    Tender is the Night
    Last Tycoon
  FOLLETT, Ken    Eye of the Needle        
    Key to Rebecca
  FORBES, Colin Palermo Affair
  FORMAN, James Skies of Crete
  FUKEI, Arlene Skies of Crete
  GABRIEL, Marion Seventh Moon
  GARDNER, John    Secret Generations
    Secret Houses
  GARTH, David  Watch on the Bridge
  GREENE, Bette   Summer of My German Soldier
  GRIFFIN, W. E. B Soldier Spies
  GUTERSON, David Snow Falling on Cedars
  HAAS, Ben House of Christina
  HAMMETT, Dashiell Maltese Falcon
  HANSEN, Ron  Hitler’s Niece
  HELLER, Joseph Catch – 22
  HESSE, Karen Out of the Dust
    Time  of Angels
Witness (Vermont, 1922, Ku Klux Klan)
  HEMINGWAY, Ernest    For Whom the Bells Toll
    Islands in the Stream
  HERSEY, John  The Wall
  HIGGINS, Jack     Eagle Has Landed
    Eagle Has Flown
    Where Eagles Dare
  HIJUELOS, Oscar A Simple Havana Melody (Cuba and Paris)
  HOUSEHOLD, Geoffrey Doom's Cavern
  HULME, Kathryn  Nun’s Story
  JACKSON, Mick Five Boys (England, WWII)
  KENEALLY, Thomas  Schindler’s List
  KESSLER, Brad Lick Creek (1920s Virginia)
  KENNEDY, William Ironweed
  KINSEY-WARNOCK, NATALIE   If Wishes Were Horses
  KNAUSS, Sibylle Eva's Cousin (Germany 1933-1945)
  KNOWLES, John A Separate Peace
  KOZINSKY, Jerzy Painted Bird
  LANSDALE, Joe R. Bottoms (Depression Texas)
  LEE, Harper To Kill a Mockingbird
  LEE, John    Ninth Man
  LEWIS, Sinclair   Babbit
  LISLE, Janet Taylor Art of Keeping Cool (1942 Rhode Island, German spy?)
  MACLEAN, Alistair    Guns of Navarone
  MARSHALL, Catherine  Julie
  MATAS, Carol After the War
  MAZER, Harry A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor
  MCCULLOUGH, Colleen    An Indecent Obsession
  McNICHOLS, ann Falling From Grace (1930s Arkansas)
  MEYERS, Annette Murder Me Now (Prohibition Era mystery)
  MORRISON, Toni Bluest Eye
  MOWAT, Farley Black Joke
  NATHANSON, E. M.   Dirty Dozen
  PECK, Robert Newton   A Day No Pigs Would Die
  PLATT, Randall Beth Likes of Me (Seattle, 1918) 
  POTOK, Chaim   Chosen
  POUPENEY, Mollie Her Father's Daughter (Oregon, 1930s)
  PUZO, Mario    Godfather
  PRESSFIELD, Steven Legend of Bagger Vance
  REMARQUE, Erich Maria Arch of Triumph
  RYAN, Pam Munoz Esperanza Rising (Depression, Mexican farm workers)
  RYLANT, Cynthia I Had Seen Castles
  SAROYAN, William Human Comedy
  SEIFFERT, Rachel The Dark Room (Germany 1930s)
  SHAW, Irwin   Young Lions
  SIMONS, Paullina Bronze Horseman
  SNEIDER, Vern Tea House of the August Moon
  SPARK, Muriel Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
  STEINBECK, John    Grapes of Wrath  
    Moon is Down
  TAN, Amy        Kitchen God’s Wife
  TAYLOR, Mildred    Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry
  THURBER, James     Secret Life of Walter Mitty
  TUNNELL, Michael O.  Brothers in Valor: A Story of the Resistance (Germany, WWII)
  URIS, Leon  QB VII
    Mila 18
  VONNEGUT, Kurt Slaughterhouse Five
  WALLACE, Randall Pearl Harbor
  WALTERS, Eric Caged Eagles (Japanese internment)
  WAUGH, Evelyn       Brideshead Revisited
  WEST, Morris Devil's Advocate
  WESTHEIMER, David Von Ryan’s Express
  WHITE, Robb     Up Periscope
  WIESEL, Elie  Dawn
    Fifth Son
    Night
  WOOLF, Virginia A Room of One’s Own
  WOUK, Herman          Winds of War
    War and Remembrance
    Caine Mutiny
  WILLIS, Patricia Barn Burner (Depression, 14-year-old runaway)
  WRIGHT, Richard    Native Son
     

 

Back to reading lists

 

 

--from the Springfield Township High School Virtual Library