We recently had in inquiry from a high school student who asked our advice about starting his own World War II library. "You have a wonderful bibliography of books," he told us "but what's your advice for the best way for someone like me to start when I don't have all that much money?"

Our advice? Start with a good reference shelf. Pick a good encyclopedia/dictionary/almanac, a good chronology, a good war atlas, and a good biographical dictionary. With those four books in your bookcase, you'll be off to an excellent start.

Of course, there are many, many titles to choose from in each of those four categories. Here's a quick review of the ones we recommend and some of the best alternatives.

Encyclopedia/Dictionary/Almanac

The best around right now is The Oxford Companion to World War II by I.C.B. Dear and M.R.D. Foot. At over 1300 pages it covers the most topics, offers the most thorough discussion of each, and for many topics suggests specific titles for further reading.

Others to consider:

Baudot, Bernard, Brugmans, etc. Historical Encyclopedia of World War II. Not bad; international flavor.

Campbell, Christopher. World War II Fact Book, 1939-1945.

Ellis, John. World War II: A Statistical Survey. Excellent title; coverage not broad enough for our purposes

Goralski, Robert. World War II Almanac, 1931-1945.

Keegan, John. Rand McNally Encyclopedia of World War II.

Parrish, Thomas (ed). Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II.

Polmar, Norman and T. B. Allen. World War II: America at War, 1941-1945. Also published as "World War II: The Encyclopedia of the War Years." Good, but definite (and intentional) emphasis on American aspects

Taylor, James and Warren Shaw. Third Reich Almanac. Too narrow for our purposes

Wheal, Elizabeth-Anne et al. Dictionary of the Second World War.

Atlas

Many worthy contenders here, but we always fall back on Atlas of the Second World War by Peter Young. Not quite as flashy as some of the others, but a very solid, thorough volume.

Others to consider:

Gilbert, Martin. Macmillan Atlas of the Holocaust. Too specialized for our purposes

Goodenough, Simon. War Maps: World War II.

Griess, Thomas. West Point Military History Series: Atlas for the Second World War: Asia and the Pacific and Atlas for the Second World War: Europe and the Mediterranean.

Keegan, John. Atlas of the Second World War. Very good; a strong runner-up

Pimlott, John. Historical Atlas of World War II.

Smurthwaite, David. Pacific War Atlas. Pacific only

Chronology

There are bigger one and more specialized ones, but we most often refer to The Chronology of World War II by Christopher Argyle. It contains a huge amount of information skillfully organized by topics under each daily entry and includes sidebars about major events.

Others to consider:

Carter, Kit and Robert Mueller. United States Army Air Forces in World War II: Combat Chronology 1941-1945. Excellent specialized chronology for US air operations

Freeman, Roger A. Mighty Eighth War Diary. Another excellent specialized chronology

Middlebrook, Martin and C. Everitt. Bomber Command War Diaries: An Operational Reference Book, 39-45. A third notable air chronology

Rohwer, J. and Hummelchen, G. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939-1945. This is so good it almost deserves its own category

Salmaggi and Pallavisini. 2194 Days of War. Good general chronology

Williams, Mary. United States Army in World War II: Special Studies: Chronology, 1941-1945. Excellent for day-by-day US ground combat operations

Biographical Dictionary

While the encyclopedia/dictionary/almanac category will include much biographical information, we would not want to be without The Biographical Dictionary of World War II by Mark M. Boatner III. Boatner offers far and away the best coverage in breadth and depth.

Others to consider:

DuPre, Flint O. U.S. Air Force Biographical Dictionary.

Keegan, John. Who's Who in the Second World War.

Mason, David. Who's Who in World War II.

Tunney, C. Biographical Dictionary of WW II.

Whatever your selections, with one book from each of these categories in hand you will have the nucleus of a WWII library and access to information about nearly any aspect of the war you may care to learn more about.