Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich - Norman Ohler

"The Nazis had their own recipe for healing the people. They promised ideological salvation. For them, there could be only one legitimate for of inebriation, the swastika. National socialism strove for a transcendental state of being as well. The Nazi world of illusions into which the Germans were to be enticed often used techniques of intoxication. World historical decisions, according to Hitler's inflammatory text, Mein Kampf,  had to be brought about in states of euphoric enthusiasm or hysteria. So, the Nazi party, NSDAP, distinguished itself on one hand with populist arguments, and on the other with torch parades, flag consecrations, rapturous announcements, and public speeches aimed at achieving a collective state of ecstasy. These were supplemented with the violent frenzies of the Brown Shirts..."

This is a fascinating book, and I would highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys WWII history.
Prior to reading this, I'd heard the standard rumors that Hitler was on drugs and that Nazis created meth, but this book goes into so much detail. It's amazing. And we've had all this information available all along, just no one wanted to dig around for all of it.
After WWI, Germany was cut of from the rest of the world and had a hard time getting imports, so they had no tea, coffee, chocolate, Coke, etc. The Germans decided that if they couldn't import anything, then they would just synthetically make it at home. This is the beginning of the rise of German dominance in the pharmaceutical industry that we still see today.  During the Weimar Republic (the 20's), all of Germany was pretty much high out of its mind.  Enter the Nazis on the scene, and they go about as the quote above indicate. Saying that all these drugs are made by the Jews and benefit the Jews and are the Jews' way of keeping the Aryan race down, bla bla bla. They demonize recreational drug use and even alcohol by associating it with the Jews. (I'm not sure how many Jewish people were running the pharmaceutical companies, but I would guess at least several.) THEN, as soon as the fighting of WWII breaks out, the Nazis do a 180 on their drug demonizing and give all their soldiers meth and cocaine and anything else they can cook up.
In fact, meth was the reason Germany was able to take over France so fast. All the Nazis were on meth and it was the first time they had lead with the tanks. The foot soldiers were even pissed that the tanks were taking lead and got in their way for a while. But once the tanks started rolling, they didn't stop. Typically, after conquering a town, an army would make sure it was clear and set up protections, and make sure the provision train was running sufficiently before moving on. The Nazis did not do that and the French had no idea how to respond. It was totally new. It also helped that the general in the lead tank so so hopped up on meth that a courier would take a report to Hitler about the successful take-over of a French town and by the time the courier got back with the new orders, the lead general would be miles away, meaning Hitler had nothing to do with the invasion of France, thus its success. Next time someone makes fun of France for being a push-over in WWII, inform that person that the French were going up against an ENTIRE ARMY OF NAZI METH HEADS!!
Hitler himself was on an insane and untested cocktail of drugs including (but not limited to) vitamins, steroids, hormones, meth, ecstasy, cocaine, and "extracts" all thrown together by his personal physician.   But don't let that change your thinking on his motivations.  Hitler didn't do insane things because he was on drugs.  The drugs helped him do the insane things his sober mind thought up.

Go Set a Watchman - Harper Lee

This was clearly a first draft, and as such, should never have been published. But the author was dead and the manuscript couldn't be sent back for edits. Someone wanted some money, so they published it anyway.
I really liked To Kill a Mockingbird and had hopes for this book despite some negative reviews.  However, I found this book awkward, stilted, convoluted, hard to follow, and overall lacking.  The best parts were the trips down Memory Lane, stuff that could have been cut out of To Kill a Mockingbird, but for the fact that it happened a little later than that book takes place.  All the "current" parts of this book drag, the characters lack depth and Scout had thought patterns that are near impossible to follow.  The big blow-up fight scene at the end is near impossible to follow and Dr. Finch's ramblings prior to the big fight scene, even more so.
Don't read this book.
HOWEVER, the one thing that was interesting, is that having just finished White Trash, a lot of the information from that book was directly used in this. I think I understood more of Go Set a Watchman for that reason. I still wouldn't recommend this book, though.

White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America - Nancy Isenberg

This was a fascinating book. I think it would be particularly fascinating for people who are reasonably well versed in US history because it's all the same rebellions, the same presidents, the same scandals, but you're looking at them from a new angle with a specific goal in mind.  This book addresses the same topics as other history books, but comes from a completely different angle.  When the "west" opened, people didn't go there looking for riches, they went there because they had NOTHING and were essentially pushed out of their old, eastern states.  Poor southerners didn't give up their lives to protect the rich mans' slave interests. All those poor white men fought because being above blacks was all they had going for them.  The institution of slavery was the only thing keeping them from the very bottom and being equal to their dark-skinned brothers. They were so desperate to cling to that one rung of the ladder they were given. This mentality still continues today.
The whole idea of the book, when it comes down to it, is that by denying that class is extremely difficult to break out of, Americans deny the true societal mobility we claim to hold so dear.  Everyone would argue "but there's nothing holding any one person back" and list a handful of extremely talents/lucky or genius people as proof.  There are ALWAYS exceptions to any made-up rule, like those imposed by society and someone, somewhere who can always break social constructs, but again, those are exceptional people. By saying, "Anyone can climb as high as he pleases." Americans are expecting everyone to be a genius and blame the individual if they are not.  If everyone were a genius, then no one would be.  Expecting this to be the norm is not only unrealistic, but bizarre.
I would recommend this book to every American with a good background in American history (I think without that you'd be sitting around going, "What's Bacon's rebellion?")  It is an eye-opening take on American society.