[Loki]

Originally Posted by Eomer

Anyone recommend some good books about WWI + II, and the history that preceded them? I'm not too interested in super, in-depth books that take 500 pages to cover a single battle or incident, something more overview-ish is what I'm looking for.

And yeah, Guns Germs and Steel is an amazing book, even if a lot of Diamond's conclusions are quite controversial amongst anthropologists. Collapse is also very good, though perhaps not as good of a read. He's an excellent writer than can cover pretty indepth, boring topics, but still have it come across as quite interesting and fresh. He doesn't use ridiculously obscure, fancy, 20 dollar words all over the place just to prove something.

Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich would probably be up your alley, if you haven't already read it.