Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich is Norman Ohler’s tautly written account, based on previously overlooked documents, of how drugs fueled Adolf Hitler’s rapid rise during the 1930s and sensational fall during the second half of World War II. Among the conclusions: Methamphetamines distributed to thousands of soldiers made possible the blitzkrieg that killed France in 1940. Hitler became dependent on a witch’s cornucopia of heroin and other drugs during World War II.

In 2009, Maverick Books published John R. Erickson’s Story Craft: Reflections of Faith, Culture and Writing from the Author of Hank of the Cowdog. With permission from the publisher, we’re posting in our Saturday Series a chapter each month through January.

If you read only one new book on the greatest conflict of the last century, Victor Davis Hanson’s The Second World Wars—plural—should be it. It made our 2017 Books of the Year short list in the History category because Hanson’s expertise about both ancient Greece and modern war allowed him present a comprehensive look at wars against Germany and Japan on land, at sea, and in the air that were largely distinct.

Voting for the winner of the 2018 Hope Awards for Effective Compassion has one week to go. If you haven’t already read about the regional winners and voted, please visit our Hope Awards page by Sept. 8 and vote for whichever of the Final Five moves you the most.

To warm you up more for that effort, here is a transcript of a talk about helping the poor I gave four years ago at a national conference of philanthropists.

Christopher J.H. Wright’s Hearing the Message of Daniel: Sustaining Faith in Today’s World made our 2017 Books of the Year short list in the Accessible Theology category because he shows how Daniel lived faithfully in exile, and how Christians should live today. Babylon was like a beast of prey, but Daniel and his three friends nevertheless avoided “pious separatism.” Instead, they were diligent during their “downright offensive and idolatrous” Babylonian education.

In 2009, Maverick Books published John R. Erickson’s Story Craft: Reflections of Faith, Culture and Writing from the Author of Hank of the Cowdog. With permission from the publisher, we plan to post in our Saturday Series a chapter each month over the next half year.

Henry Olsen now writes about politics for WORLD Magazine, but his latest book made our 2017 Book of the Year short list in the Understanding America category before he became our correspondent.