General European History
 

Judt, T. 2007. Postwar, A History of Europe Since 1945. London, UK. Pimlico.

An excellent overview of European history which cleverly challenges basic assumptions.

Davies, N. 1996. Europe: A History. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

Heavy weight history on an epic scale. The relevant chapters on Europe after 1939 provide a fascinating explanation of events.

Davies, N. 2006. Europe at War. London, UK. Pan Macmillan.

Comprehensive explanation of the War in Europe.

Germany 1939-2000

Green, S. et al 2008. The Politics of the New Germany. Oxford, UK. Routledge.

A series of themed essays linking Germany’s past and present.

O’Dochartaigh P. 2004. Germany Since 1945. Basingstoke, UK. Palgrave Macmillan.

A comprehensive introduction to Germany’s post-war history.

Kettenacker, L. 1997. Germany Since 1945. Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press.

Detailed analysis and comparison between East and West Germany.

MacDonough, G. 2007. After the Reich. London, UK. John Murray.

Detailed study of Germany from liberation to the Berlin Airlift. Describes Germany’s suffering and provides context for later developments.
 

Spain 1939-2000

The standard texts on modern Spain have been for some time been associated with English historian Sir Raymond Carr. The latter chapters of his Modern Spain, 1875-1980 (OUP 2001) help put Franco and years of transition into a wider historical perspective.

Javier Tusell, Spain: from dictatorship to democracy: 1939 to the present, (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) A highly readable text by one of Spain’s leading historians.

Paul Preston has two written two outstanding biographies that cover the history of post-war Spain from the perspectives of those who ruled it. Franco: a biography, (Fontana Press New Ed edition, 1995) and Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy (HarperPerennial 2005). Despite their discouraging length, the style is lively and very accessible.

Two excellent books by journalists from the British Guardian Newspaper offer an outstanding overview of Spain since the Transición. John Hooper's The New Spaniards (Penguin, 2nd Revised edition 2006) is an updated version of his award winning text originally written in the early years of the first PSOE government. Giles Tremlett’s Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past (Faber and Faber, 2007) This is a series of overlapping essays that brilliantly demonstrate how the past is important to understanding contemporary Spain.