World War II books like you've never read before
Over 500,000 sold. Real history from the men and women who were there.
Start the story, or continue it.
The book that became a film project, and the sequel arriving this December. Read the first, reserve the second.
A Train Near Magdeburg
- American soldiers stop a Nazi death train, April 1945
- Survivors and their liberators reunited seventy years later
- 501 pages, in their own words
- Paperback, hardcover, ebook and audiobook
One Second Before Midnight
- Some rescues are sudden and dramatic
- The remembering takes the rest of your life
- Reserve your copy at today's price
- Signed bookplate editions available
They couldn't always share their stories with their own wives and children. But they open up to you, the reader. Come sit at the kitchen table for a few hours and let them tell you what they've never told anyone before. Because dying for freedom isn't the worst that could happen. Being forgotten is.
So I had a hard two months, I guess. I kept mostly to myself. I wouldn't talk to people. I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do when I got home. How was I going to tell my mother this? You know what I mean?
Everything he recorded, in one box.
Thirty years of interviews. Every theater of the war, from Pearl Harbor to the liberation of the camps. Most of the people in these pages are gone now, and this is what they said while there was still somebody there to ask.
- All ten volumes of The Things Our Fathers Saw, plus A Train Near Magdeburg
- Over 3,600 pages of firsthand testimony
- Collector's bookmark included, signed bookplate option available
- Cheaper than buying the eleven books separately
What readers say about the complete library.
I feel like I am sitting in the room with the veteran as he speaks. Very nice series. 3 down several to go.
I bought the series because I hoped to find answers to questions I had about my dad. Some of them have been answered along with things I didn't understand about my six uncles. Reading the experiences of the soldiers, pilots and sailors has given knowledge about issues I didn't know existed. I better understand what my uncle Paul went thru in the.Battle of the Bulge and liberating a concentration camp.. What uncle Bob went thru as a tail gunner over Europe. But reading about the Philippines gave me answers about mr dad. This series should be required reading for high school students
Thank you for making it available
I have started reading the series and am currently reading Volume III. Was absolutely engrossed in the first two volumes and feel certain that I will find the other volumes just as hard to put down. Both of my parents served during the war and other than talking about how they met in Key West, never really discussed what they saw or felt. So glad that you picked up the mantle and recorded what our fathers and mothers went through. Thank you Matthew. A must read to remind us of the greatest generation ever.
Good read.
My Dad served in the 3rd armored Division Normandy to Germany. He did not talk about it, it is nice to sit down and read about it. Thank you very much My Dad Eugene Harper
Or start with a single volume
Every book stands on its own. Most readers pick the theater their own family served in, then work outward from there.
Voices of the Pacific Theater
Marines and sailors share what they saw, felt, and endured across the islands of the Pacific.
307 pages
War in the Air
Pilots, bombardiers, and airmen from the cockpit and the bomb bay.
316 pages
Combat, Captivity, and Reunion
Fighter pilots and bomber crews, including a Tuskegee Airman.
The Bulge and Beyond
The bloodiest single battle fought by the US Army.
309 pages
Across the Rhine
Pointe du Hoc to the Siegfried Line, then the camps.
358 pages
On to Tokyo
Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and the B-29 missions over Japan.
374 pages
Homefront and Women at War
The factory floor, the services, war brides, and the displaced children of the war.
280 pages
Over the Hump
The China Burma India theater, the most overlooked of the war.
364 pages
A Train Near Magdeburg
How Rozell reunited Holocaust survivors with the American soldiers who liberated them from a Nazi death train.
501 pages
Who is Matthew Rozell, and Why Should You Care?
Over a half-million readers. Groundbreaking World War II and Holocaust narrative history, all TRUE, told in veterans' and survivors' own words.
Matthew Rozell was not a professional historian in the technical sense. He was an ordinary schoolteacher who recognized the extraordinary people sitting in his community, and spent 30 years making sure their stories did not die with them.
Discover Our Stories
History is not just a list of dates and battles. It is the story of people who lived and endured things we can barely imagine. Explore articles, veterans' oral histories, and historical reflections from Matthew's decades of research at his Teaching History Matters blog, going strong for more than 15 years.
You can also follow the development of the A Train Near Magdeburg film project at teachinghistorymatters.com.
Buy Now
Every purchase helps ensure these stories are remembered and supports veteran outreach and Holocaust education non-profits on a monthly basis. Matthew calls it Heal the World, and he means it literally.
Books ship from New York or Florida. Available as softcover, hardcover, eBook, and audiobook. Signed copies available on select bundles.