Would either a Radeon 4850 or Nivida 9800GTX be a worthy upgrade from my Nvidia 8800GTS 320 mb graphics card?

Mostly no with your system. Although I think the biggest difference is the version of Direct X supported and therefore the games which can be played.

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.