Time/Life Books used to make great sets on all sorts of topics, and their World War II set was a big seller. After it was done, they continued by republishing classic World War II books in deluxe volumes, but I didn’t realize this until this week when I came across two of them. I already have some of the Civil War and Epics of Flight deluxe reprints, but these are the first World War II books I’ve ever seen. They aren’t cheap on eBay so hopefully I’ll stumble across more at the thrifts.

A classic example of why I keep a detailed list of my books: the problem of accidentally buying the same book on accident because it has a different cover and altered title. This time, as it often does, my list worked and I left the imposter at the store, but my version of the book wasn’t what I thought it was, it was actually a different reprint, and part of a series. A series that is very hard to find, especially with volumes added to the set after the original lineup proved popular. But, I digress.

Ideally, one would be familiar with every book in one’s library. Although, the great part of having a large library is being able to wander into things forgotten or unknown, or something that is just there when the interest in a topic comes to pass.

Some of this is about the thrill of the hunt, and here, it is the thrill of already having the hunted item, which is far more cost-efficient!

Only two books this week:

The Great War in America • It is always nice to find a World War I book that I don’t have, especially one that fairly recent.

Warrior and Weapon • Two-books-in-one. Interesting how I haven’t run across these before, lots of great photos of war equipment from ancient time until now.

Both Rise and Fall of the Second American Republic: Reconstruction, 1860-1920 and Our Enemies Will Vanish were published in 2024, and in perfect condition. Enemies Will Vanish is my first book on the Russo-Ukraine war, something I’ve been anticipating.

The Bridge at Remagen was something I read about in Stephen Ambroses’ The Victors, so I picked this up although I’ve never been too impressed with older war movies. If I remember from The Victors, a lot of the extras in this movie were actually at the battle. I’m probably just remembering that because it happened in more than one production so soon after the war.

The Proud Tower is one of four recent books by Barbara W. Tuchman I’ve aquired recently, this paperback was at the thrift two weeks ago but at full price ($3.99). It wasn’t there last week, but showed up this week. It is amazing that I’ve never run across this, or the The First Salute / March of Folly before. I used to pass on paperbacks, but they are small and cheap.

This two book set of Reporting World War II in special editions by The Library of America were a great find, and in perfect shape.

Fateful Choices by Ian Kershaw was a nice find, I’m halfway through his Hitler biography and would like to have all of his books.

Four of these books published in the past year, and were originally $35 or more new, wheras I procured them for a fraction of that! This also means that I beat the online-resellers that go over each book with their scanners, they would have picked them up before me. Always nice to get a win. I am two books away from having all six Jack Carr books now, so that was also a win. His books aren’t at the thrifts very often.