Well if money is no object, get the Hunicut book, the bible of Shermans. If youre on more of a budget and want concise information on specific variants, look at Osprey or Concord publishings. Both houses publish several good books on the M4 series.

try this: ampersandpubco.com/the-son-of-sherman

Haynes do a Sherman book on the same lines of their one on the Tiger have both and they have some good info in them.

ref=sr11?ie=UTF8&qid=1385203213&sr=8 1&keywords=haynes+sherman

Phil

For inspiration of lots of contemporary WW2 photos, the Concord books have many offerings: "Sherman at War" parts 1 & 2.  "British Shermans", Many others.

Possessing and having read all the books mentioned above, I don't know what to recommend to you as a "starter" primer book -- my Sherman knowledge as accumulated steadily.  But I can assure you this: You can ask anything and people will chime in to give you the likely answer.

Maybe Squadron 2048 "M4 Sherman Tank in Action" by Doyle and Ervin -- not expensive -- good brief overview of major variants

www.amazon.com/.../0713716789

This book by George Forty is a good "Reader's Digest" version of the Sherman tank. Not as technically complete as a book like Hunnicutt's or Son of Sherman, but is readable and gives the reader a good understanding of the development of the tank and its usage.

Probably the biggest misconception about the Sherman is that nomenclature denotes sequential development; i.e. M4 then M4A1, then M4A2, etc. but Shermans actually were built in parallel methods by a number of differing factories.

Department of the army technical manual tm9-7018

I have been reticent about acquiring knowledge of the ( I once thought boring  ) Sherman until very I recently.

From the early 1970s until last month, my only general resource was the 1970s era:

"British and American Tanks of World War II

by Peter Chamberlain and Chris Ellis" 

.

Half Price Books has been selling:

"Images of War

Sherman Tank

Rare Photographs From Wartime Archives" 

By Gavin Birch

ISBN 1-84415-187-5

priced at $9.99 ( I purchased at discount using a 30 pct off coupon).

.

I view it as a general introductory book for guys like me who have very little knowledge of the tank.

Mostly photos, of course, but the clincher for me was the photo of a heavily camouflaged Sherman in action ( image IWM EA 36533 ) that rivals anything the Germans might have fielded.... as well as

..a general photo study of different types produced

..a list of US Department of the Army Tech manual numbers and Supply Catalogs

...production types, acceptance figures

..British Army Wartime Designations

while the photographs in the book provide excellent diorama inspiration.

.

Thanks to that book, Sherman tanks are now anything but boring for me.

I bought the "Building and detailing realistic Sherman tanks" book right here on this site. Its a good book for a starter as it includes lots of color pics of all the different Sherman models from the T6 prototype to the M60 HVMS Sherman used by the Israeli's and sold to the Chilean army and used up to 2002. Anyway good luck with your search. Here's my first Sherman in 1/72. Its the M4A3E8 by Hasagawa.  Dave

'

Thanks everyone. Hunnicutt is out of the universe, but, it looks like a few others would be good.

sprue-ce goose: contact me offsite.  I have an errata sheet for the Gavin Birch book's captioning errors.  I'll send it to you (or anyone else who'd like a copy)

T26E4

sprue-ce goose: contact me offsite.  I have an errata sheet for the Gavin Birch book's captioning errors.  I'll send it to you (or anyone else who'd like a copy)

Another book that I can recommend is "Armored Thunderbolt" by Steven J. Zaloga. It has good info on the development of the Sherman and plenty of technical and in action pics. Plus it's not as expensive as some of the other books.

Jay Biga

Another book that I can recommend is "Armored Thunderbolt" by Steven J. Zaloga. It has good info on the development of the Sherman and plenty of technical and in action pics. Plus it's not as expensive as some of the other books.

It was free for Kindle back in September, but now $19. Good reference.

If you want something modeling related I picked up Steven Zaloga's Modeling US Armor of World War 2 (Modelling Masterclass) and have found it one of the most useful modeling books I've ever bought, possibly second only to Shep Payne's books.

Amazon Link

I'd like to thank everyone again for there opinions. I decided on the "Armored Thunderbolt" book. It arrived today and just flipping through, it appears to be just what I was looking for.

I just ordered the "Images of War" book, $11.39 with shipping.

You can never have too many Sherman books.

I don't think you will be disappointed in the quality of the images in that Sherman tank book.

I am using a rare spare moment to compare the excellent photos in that "Images of War" book with the errata sheet for the book..

Those notes are proving very useful.

Thanks again, Mr. Chow. 

Squadron recently had "Son of Sherman" (SC) on sale, so, being curious and needing something to read I ordered it. As I'm sure many of you already know, this looks to be one that the serious Sherman historian/modeler should have in their library! I thought it was a nice touch that included along with the book was a large "bookmark type" Glossary of Terms & Registration Index. All of the above printed on glossy paper.

Jay Biga

Another book that I can recommend is "Armored Thunderbolt" by Steven J. Zaloga. It has good info on the development of the Sherman and plenty of technical and in action pics. Plus it's not as expensive as some of the other books.

Yeah, I got that one.   A real good source of info.