Visitors to Stone & Stone's Second World War Books website have over the last two months nominated and voted for almost sixty of the best nonfiction WWII-related titles published in 1998. Given the large number of great new books published in '98 and the highly divergent tastes and specializations of readers, researchers, veterans, hobbyists, collectors, and other visitors to our site, it's no wonder that votes were spread over so many different titles.

As usual, though, some patterns emerged: many ballots for books on the German armed forces and the SS in particular; much interest in the Russian front; many votes for books on aircraft and air operations; and considerable interest in U-boats. It was also a very good year for two-volume sets and the second volume of two-volume sets. On the other hand, although many personal accounts by veterans were nominated, none garnered large numbers of votes.

Unlike last year (when nearly two dozen candidates stayed closely bunched together as contenders for the top slots until the very end), almost without exception this year's top ten titles staked out substantial early leads and only two or three other titles even remotely challenged them. Of particular interest, volume two of Clay Blair's Hitler's U-Boat War -- which was not published until after balloting had been underway for some time -- quickly shot up the charts to the number one position to become far and away the leading vote-getter of the year.

Balloting was halted at the stroke of the New Year (California time) and tallying of votes is now complete. Here, then, are the Top Ten Books of 1998 as selected by visitors to these webpages, in alphabetical order by author:

Blair, Clay Hitler's U-Boat War, volume 2: The Hunted. Published by Random House. Along with volume one (which scored in the Top Ten two years ago), the most important work ever published on the U-boat war.

Cynk, Jerzy The Polish Air Force at War: The Official History (2 volumes). Published by Schiffer. An incredibly thorough study of the Polish Air Force.

Gamble, Bruce The Black Sheep. Published by Presidio Press. A very fair and balanced account, even while debunking the Boyington myth; also one of the most enjoyable "reads" of the year.

Glantz, David M. Kharkov 1942: Anatomy of a Military Disaster. Published by Sarpedon. Glantz uses his expertise to brilliantly expand and explain the Soviet analysis.

Glantz, David M. Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War. Published by University Press of Kansas. A fine treatment and all the more impressive as Glantz's second Top Ten success this year.

Hammel, Eric Air War Pacific. Published by Pacifica Press. Enormous amounts of data in consistent, easy-to-find, easy-to-use format.

Hayward, Joel S. A. Stopped at Stalingrad: The Luftwaffe and Hitler's Defeat in the East, 1942-1943. Published by University Press of Kansas. This excellent book proves once again that the air war attracts more and more of our top historians.

Lenton, H. T. British and Empire Warships of the Second World War. Published by Naval Institute Press. The ultimate reference book on the subject, the culmination of years and years of work.

Smith, J. Richard and Eddie J. Creek Me 262 (2 volumes). Published by Classic Publications. Top notch effort from an important publisher; two more volumes to come in this series.

Wynn, Kenneth U-Boat Operations of the Second World War (2 volumes). Published by Naval Institute Press. Another spectacular reference set and a perfect complement to Clay Blair's titles.

Thanks also to all the visitors to Stone & Stone's Second World War Books website who helped select these winners and made 1998 such a great year for us.

Now let's start searching for the best new books of 1999!

A note on methodology

Last year we built an online "voting machine" to automate balloting. As anyone who has been on the Net for any length of time knows, this kind of Net-based voting can be subject to the worst kind of electronic ballot-stuffing spam, so we took great pains to write "Jimmy Carter" algorithms for the voting machine program to ensure a clean election. Because last year proved that such measures were necessary, we expanded and refined the system this year.

Although it might not have been immediately evident ("Jimmy" is a pretty subtle kind of guy), in addition to counting votes, the voting machine was also carefully monitoring the election. Visitors could vote as often as they wanted, but no more than ten total votes per visitor were actually tallied; excess votes from a visitor were quietly ignored. "Jimmy" was able to detect and disallow many kinds of fraudulent voting patterns automatically; meanwhile, everything else was forwarded to the "voting commission" for review, and if necessary, manual adjustments.

There are always a few people who seem to think anonymity gives them the right to cheat, so -- as with last year -- these "Jimmy Carter" precautions unfortunately proved warranted. Some examples: At least two individuals cast well in excess of 100 votes for a single title. A slate of books from one publisher received a ballot day in and day out from another individual. And one book in particular was the subject of such repeated, egregious voting abuse that it was finally disqualified.

All these ballot-stuffing spam votes were disallowed and we're confident that we conducted a certifiably clean, fair election. Thank you, "Jimmy Carter".