Books on the Second World War

Buying our books on the Second World War

You can buy copies:

  • from your local bookshop, anywhere in the UK. We can supply, on standard bookshop sales terms, any UK bookshop that wishes to order from us. Our books are currently stocked by Sheen Bookshop in East Sheen, Kew Bookshop (near Kew Gardens station), The Open Book at King Street Richmond, and Parade’s End Books on Richmond Road, Ham Parade, in Ham.
  • by post from Robert Smith, 3 Chelwood Gardens, Richmond TW9 4JG. Cheques should be made payable to the Richmond Local History Society. Our prices are listed below. (Reduced prices for members are shown in brackets.) For orders by post we also charge for postage and packing. For orders to UK addresses this is £2.25 for the first item; we may need to charge additional postage for orders of more than one item.
  • online, paying with a credit or debit card via PayPal. Our online prices include postage and packing.

NEW IN 2024 Kew at War 1939-1945

by David Blomfield, Christopher May and Simon Fowler

84 pages. Fourth edition, published 2024.

ISBN  978-1-912314-05-8

£10.00 (£7.00 for members) Our prices for buying online via PayPal include postage and packing.

Using eyewitness accounts, diaries and official records, this fully revised and expanded fourth edition tells the story of local people and those who were stationed in Kew in the Second World War.

Despite its relatively small size, Kew played a significant part in the war effort. American soldiers, who made the maps that helped the Allies’ D-Day landings, were based at a camp where The National Archives is now. After the Americans left, it housed Italian prisoners of war.

Our prices for buying online via PayPal include postage and packing.



Kew at War 1939-1945



NEW IN 2024 Petersham: radar and operational research 1940-1946

by J M Lee

50 pages.  Second edition, published 2024.

ISBN 978-1-912314-04-1

£8.00 (£5.00 for members) Our prices for buying online via PayPal include postage and packing.

Petersham was transformed during the Battle of Britain in September 1940, when Anti-Aircraft Command requisitioned the village hall and institute, the vicarage, All Saints Church and Elm Lodge, and then set up radar transmitters on the golf course.

Some of the most important experiments that led to discoveries that made British radar such an effective instrument of war were carried out in Petersham vicarage.

Michael Lee, an emeritus professor of the University of Bristol and a former editor of our journal, Richmond History, tells the story.

  • This second edition, edited by Robert Smith and Simon Fowler, includes a new, additional appendix by Timothy M M Baker on Petersham as a birthplace of radio astronomy.

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Petersham: Radar and operational research 1940-1946



Richmond at War 1939-1945

RWW2 front coverRichmond at War 1939-1945 by Simon Fowler tells the story of life in the town during the Second World War. A series of raids saw the deaths of 98 civilians and damage to ten thousand buildings. The book also looks at some of the hush-hush activities in Richmond Park. There are stories of heroism, tragedy and good humour based on the memories of the men, women and children who were there.

 102 pages. Published 2015.  ISBN 978-0-9550717-8-2

£7.00 (£5.00 for members)

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Richmond at War 1939-1945