Overlord by Max Hastings (Pan, £7.99 in UK)

Hastings's account of D-Day and the Normandy landings seems to have superseded Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day as a good, readable piece of popular history. The main difference is that he has talked to many Germans who took part in the fighting, which gives him greater objectivity. In particular, Hastings dispels the myth that the landings were essentially a triumph of Allied air power - in fact, neither the aerial bombings nor the naval shelling inflicted anything like as much damage on the defenders as had been hoped. Neither did the generals - English, American, etc - pull together well, and good opportunities were wasted for shortening the war. There is a candid picture of Rommel, who is shown - contrary to what is often claimed - to have been a committed admirer of Hitler until he finally realised that Germany could no longer win the war.