Orem Library

The inspiring, true story of Sir Nicholas Winton, who ingeniously rescued hundreds of children before Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia. The shadow of war was spreading across Europe. Hitler's armies had marched into the borderlands of Czechoslovakia, forcing Jewish families, among others, to flee their homes and seek refuge in any location that would accept them.When Nicholas Winton, the son of Jewish-German immigrants, traveled from London to...

A summary of the history of World War II (1939-1945) on the Asian and Pacific fronts.

Eleven-year-old Nico Crispi never told a lie. When the Nazi's invade his home in Salonika, Greece, the trustworthy boy is discovered by a German officer, who offers him a chance to save his family. All Nico has to do is convince his fellow Jewish residents to board trains heading towards "the east" where they are promised jobs and safety. Unaware that this is all a cruel ruse, the innocent boy goes to the station platform every day and reassures the...

The attack on Pearl Harbor unfolds through the actions and perspectives of American, Japanese, and Hawaiian leaders, soldiers, sailors, nurses, and civilians.

On July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed in the South Pacific by a Japanese submarine. An estimated 300 men were killed upon impact; close to 900 sailors were cast into the Pacific Ocean, where they remained undetected by the navy for nearly four days and nights. Battered by a savage sea, they struggled to stay alive, fighting off sharks, hypothermia, and dementia. By the time rescue arrived, all but 316 men had died. The captain's subsequent...

A young gunnery liaison officer, Lee Bishop, during the ferocious battle for the island, is pulled from his station aboard the USS Nevada to serve on-shore as a spotter, calling in coordinates for the ship to target with missiles. But Bishop is completely unready for what he will witness and experience: a literal hell, during which 26,000 Americans are killed in a fight to the very last man, which culminates in the blistering, sulphurous tunnels of...

Using interviews with the families of the protagonists as well as deep archival research, Brown portrays the kaleidoscopic journey of four Japanese-American families and their sons, who volunteered for 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Deployed to France, Germany, and Italy, they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were forced to shutter the businesses, surrender their homes, and...

Young schoolteacher Andrée Geulen secretly defies the Nazis in Belgium who are forcing Jews to wear a yellow Star of David. Andrée is not Jewish, but she feels a maternal connection to her students, who are living in constant fear, and decides to take action. But what can one woman do against an entire army? Ida Sterno is a Jewish woman who works with the Committee for the Defense of Jews in Belgium, a resistance group tasked with hiding children...

Twelve-year-old Lidia's life is forever changed by the Nazi occupation of Poland, leading her to join the resistance movement to fight against the Nazis and aid Jewish people in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII.