What are some highly-regarded books on (modern or historic) programming language design?

Following three are IMO the must-read books for any programming langauges junky :).

Every 15 years, the ACM puts on a History of Programming Languages conference (affectionately known as HoPL). The proceedings are of exceptionally high quality, and are available, unfortunately only behind the ACM paywall. (However, if you access them from a university, college or school IP address, you should be able to access them.).

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.