I am looking for a book or two about World War II. Specifically the European theater, and none of the watered down crap that public schools teach. Something that details, not only the battles, but the events leading up to the war and how rulers in Europe jumped into bed with the nazis.

One or two books will not come even close to satisfying the wide spectrum you want to cover.

If you want something from a military history point of view, I suggest you start with these three.

Douglas Porch - Hitler's Mediterannean Gamble
Rick Atkinson - An Army at Dawn
Rick Atkinson - The Day of Battle

They don't cover the thirties and Hitler's coming to power, but they do as good a job as any on the early years of American military involvement in the war. They cover just the beginnings, North Africa and Italy, which many gloss over and that is their real worth. They will get you warmed up for understanding Normandy and thereafter. It's always better to start at the beginning, especially if you want to understand the relationship between the British, the French and the US.

Ask Scriptus who posts here. He has an IMMENSE knowledge of those things and a HUGE collection of books on that subject.

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Originally posted by Lapidary:
I am looking for a book or two about World War II. Specifically the European theater, and none of the watered down crap that public schools teach. Something that details, not only the battles, but the events leading up to the war and how rulers in Europe jumped into bed with the nazis.

You are chasing a big subject and I doubt that even twenty books will help one understand an immense subject. To really understand the whole subject, one should follow up on European politics in the late 19th Century.
To help you get started, try to track down W S Churchhill's 5 volumn "The Second World War." Obviously written from his perspective, but pretty well balanced.
To round that off, look out for B H Liddell Hart's "HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR," ISBN:978-1-56852-627-0
That should start you off. Keep a look out for Stephen Ambrose books. They help to fill in some of the gaps.
Thanks for the compliment Steve

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To really understand the whole subject, one should follow up on European politics in the late 19th Century.

Yes. Much bigger an more complicated than only WWII event. Many tribal player then.

check with timg953 who posts here he has an pretty good library he can be heard online at high caliber radio on Fridays at 1pm central usa time

for anything on africa check out susan's books shelf on steves web site

"Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei" is popular book on AR. Ad context to later conflict.

Jeff Cooper told the original story in his book "To ride,shoot straight + speak the truth."I keep my autographed copies;thank GOD. My sister has informed me that it has been made into a movie in Deutsch/w/subs.....read the story! + then tell me what you would watch.

Thanks guys, looks like I'll have plenty to read when its -10F this winter.