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4.24 AVERAGE
4.24 AVERAGE
Wonderfully done - informative, sometimes heartbreaking. The companion to the Ken Burns video documentary, which is every bit as good as the one he made on the Civil War almost a generation ago. As the title indicates, and like that earlier work, this tells the story of the war primarily from the point of view of the ordinary men and women who served in it and their families rather than of the heads of state, generals, and admirals on whom histories have more often focused. In this case, unlike what was possible for The Civil War, the story is enriched by extensive interviews with surviving participants, where the passage of time left only letters and photographs for the earlier war. This is somewhat in the philosophical tradition of Studs Terkel's "The Good War," and like that book, it presents the war as necessary while emphatically putting the quotation marks around "Good War" by showing the tragedy and brutality of it and making the point that there has never been a good war, although there have been wars like this one that were necessary and were the least of the available evils.
I can't recommend this book and the documentary it accompanies strongly enough for anyone who wants to understand the most influential period of the 20th century for this country, and that should include all of us. If more history was presented this way, more people would take an interest in it, and we wouldn't live in a culture where more young people know who Madonna is than know whose side we were on in this war.
I can't recommend this book and the documentary it accompanies strongly enough for anyone who wants to understand the most influential period of the 20th century for this country, and that should include all of us. If more history was presented this way, more people would take an interest in it, and we wouldn't live in a culture where more young people know who Madonna is than know whose side we were on in this war.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Violence, War
Moderate: Rape
A short, but informative overview of WWII from the fighting man's perspective.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, War
Wow - this is emotionally stirring, informative, and powerful. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in realizing how truly overwhelming this war felt to those on the ground as they were led by both good and failable leaders.
While we are currently engaged in war, I am reminded of a saying I hear often among Marines: "The Marines are at war, America is at the mall." We have nothing to compare to the WWII experience within our generation. I challenge you to read about the bleak emotional landscape this war produced and honestly evaluate what the people called to arms in this conflict have given us.
I can't wait to see the documentary.
While we are currently engaged in war, I am reminded of a saying I hear often among Marines: "The Marines are at war, America is at the mall." We have nothing to compare to the WWII experience within our generation. I challenge you to read about the bleak emotional landscape this war produced and honestly evaluate what the people called to arms in this conflict have given us.
I can't wait to see the documentary.
This book was decent. Gave a general glazed overview of the war without too much detail.
At the time of this writing, 1000 veterans of WW2 were dying each day.
Both England and America agreed that if America entered the war they we need to attack Germany first and eliminate them because of their size and strength and only be on the defense against Japan until Germany was eliminated.
1 out of 5 Navy men died off the coast of Okinawa of the entire war.
That Bataan Death March sounded like the worst I need to learn more about what happened there.
At the time of this writing, 1000 veterans of WW2 were dying each day.
Both England and America agreed that if America entered the war they we need to attack Germany first and eliminate them because of their size and strength and only be on the defense against Japan until Germany was eliminated.
1 out of 5 Navy men died off the coast of Okinawa of the entire war.
That Bataan Death March sounded like the worst I need to learn more about what happened there.
Over the weekend, I picked up the companion book for Ken Burn’s The War, written by Burns and longtime collaborator Geoffrey C. Ward. The book, along with other companion books, is a literary mirror to the multiple hours long documentaries that Burns is well known for producing and writing. The War is a 14 hour long documentary that’s to air on PBS starting September 23rd. The book is an outstanding and highly detailed look at the Second World War.
The War is practically comprehensive. Covering an exhaustive amount time, from the entry of the United States on December 8th after the attack on Pearl Harbor through to the extensive campaigns in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranian and the Pacific and to the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Most books and authors hardly dare to cover that amount of ground in the amount of detail that this pair of authors go into.
The War focuses on the entire campaign through the eyes of four towns in the United States- Luverne Minnesota, Sacramento California, Waterbury Conneticut and Mobile Alamaba. This is a war that is shown through the eyes of ordinary Americans, high school graduates and people who had hoped to serve their country in what is considered by many to be the last great war.
However, from the start, Burns shows us that war is not great, no matter what the causes and reasons behind it. He opens with a quote:
I don’t think there is such a thing as a good war. There are sometimes
necessary wars. And I think one might way “just” wars. I never questioned the
necessity of that war. And I still do not question it. It was something that had
to be done. - Sam Hynes.
This is the tone that the rest of the book follows. Burns sets out to show what war looks like, and backs it up with hundreds of photographs, throughout the 451 pages. Some of these pictures are familiar to history buffs. Others, most of them, are completely new to me, and they really show a side of the war that’s the same.
The book also covers a lot of ground that doesn’t really get lumped together. The book not only covers the battlefields and the times that the soldiers spent on the ground between gunshots, but also the home front, from the woes of the families waiting to hear from their sons, fathers, children and husbands, the rationings, as well as the racial tensions among workers and the internment of African and Japanese decendants living in the United States, as well as their plight to get recognized as real people and soldiers.
The book and presumably, the documentary along with it, are not without their flaws. While they provide some stunning work on the war, there are parts that are missing, mainly the years leading up to the US’s entry to the war. The book picks up and drops off with Japan, at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. There’s very little on the buildup of Japanese, Italian German agression, militarily and politically, as well as the Russian relations. Similarly, there’s very little on the aftermath of the war, which is one of the biggest factors in creating the modern world, after the United States and Russia carved up Europe that would essentially plunge the world in to another World conflict.
But that’s not the focus of the book or documentary. This story looks at the war, but from the eyes of the soldiers. We get the personal stories of the people from those four towns. And they’ve done that spectacularly.
The War is an outstanding work of popular history. With any luck, Burns will succeed in bringing the Second World War to a public that really only knows it through the films Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers or Flags of Our Fathers, or the books of Stephen Ambrose. Hopefully, the War will be a much more accurate version of what happened those 60 years ago. Hopefully, it’ll go a long way towards telling the public those stories that will soon be lost.
This is really something to check out.
(Originally Printed: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
The War is practically comprehensive. Covering an exhaustive amount time, from the entry of the United States on December 8th after the attack on Pearl Harbor through to the extensive campaigns in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranian and the Pacific and to the dropping of the two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Most books and authors hardly dare to cover that amount of ground in the amount of detail that this pair of authors go into.
The War focuses on the entire campaign through the eyes of four towns in the United States- Luverne Minnesota, Sacramento California, Waterbury Conneticut and Mobile Alamaba. This is a war that is shown through the eyes of ordinary Americans, high school graduates and people who had hoped to serve their country in what is considered by many to be the last great war.
However, from the start, Burns shows us that war is not great, no matter what the causes and reasons behind it. He opens with a quote:
I don’t think there is such a thing as a good war. There are sometimes
necessary wars. And I think one might way “just” wars. I never questioned the
necessity of that war. And I still do not question it. It was something that had
to be done. - Sam Hynes.
This is the tone that the rest of the book follows. Burns sets out to show what war looks like, and backs it up with hundreds of photographs, throughout the 451 pages. Some of these pictures are familiar to history buffs. Others, most of them, are completely new to me, and they really show a side of the war that’s the same.
The book also covers a lot of ground that doesn’t really get lumped together. The book not only covers the battlefields and the times that the soldiers spent on the ground between gunshots, but also the home front, from the woes of the families waiting to hear from their sons, fathers, children and husbands, the rationings, as well as the racial tensions among workers and the internment of African and Japanese decendants living in the United States, as well as their plight to get recognized as real people and soldiers.
The book and presumably, the documentary along with it, are not without their flaws. While they provide some stunning work on the war, there are parts that are missing, mainly the years leading up to the US’s entry to the war. The book picks up and drops off with Japan, at Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima. There’s very little on the buildup of Japanese, Italian German agression, militarily and politically, as well as the Russian relations. Similarly, there’s very little on the aftermath of the war, which is one of the biggest factors in creating the modern world, after the United States and Russia carved up Europe that would essentially plunge the world in to another World conflict.
But that’s not the focus of the book or documentary. This story looks at the war, but from the eyes of the soldiers. We get the personal stories of the people from those four towns. And they’ve done that spectacularly.
The War is an outstanding work of popular history. With any luck, Burns will succeed in bringing the Second World War to a public that really only knows it through the films Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, Windtalkers or Flags of Our Fathers, or the books of Stephen Ambrose. Hopefully, the War will be a much more accurate version of what happened those 60 years ago. Hopefully, it’ll go a long way towards telling the public those stories that will soon be lost.
This is really something to check out.
(Originally Printed: http://jeditrilobite.wordpress.com)
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
A companion piece to the documentary, ultimately, I've read this exact same book done better before.
The idea of using first hand accounts to craft the story of the American war effort in the second world war. Covering the air war, East, West, naval, ground, homefront, all of it. In that I think it does a good job of covering all the necessary aspects. But Burns and Ward don't just rely on their interviews and letters of the highlighted people standing in to lead us through the story, they also utilize some rather famous accounts such as excerpts from Eugene Sledge.
The variety of voices, including minorities and women, is a plus. As well as some interesting techniques such as using one of the towns they spotlight's newspaper as excerpts to show how some of this personalized reporting was done at home. This is something not necessarily touched on a ton and nice to see.
But, overall, it's a book I've seen done before and often in a more interesting way and with more unique takes/sets of people followed. It feels very cookie cutter way of doing this. I always appreciate the collecting of each person's war, the value of which can only help us in time, but I don't think this is really something anyone needs to seek out for their WW2 collection.
The idea of using first hand accounts to craft the story of the American war effort in the second world war. Covering the air war, East, West, naval, ground, homefront, all of it. In that I think it does a good job of covering all the necessary aspects. But Burns and Ward don't just rely on their interviews and letters of the highlighted people standing in to lead us through the story, they also utilize some rather famous accounts such as excerpts from Eugene Sledge.
The variety of voices, including minorities and women, is a plus. As well as some interesting techniques such as using one of the towns they spotlight's newspaper as excerpts to show how some of this personalized reporting was done at home. This is something not necessarily touched on a ton and nice to see.
But, overall, it's a book I've seen done before and often in a more interesting way and with more unique takes/sets of people followed. It feels very cookie cutter way of doing this. I always appreciate the collecting of each person's war, the value of which can only help us in time, but I don't think this is really something anyone needs to seek out for their WW2 collection.
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced