Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
No Japanese carrier immediately sank at Midway since none had suffered any hits below their waterline. All were first abandoned then eventually scuttled. The Kaga and Soryu were sunk in the evening of June 4, 1942 by torpedoes fired by Japanese destroyers. The Akagi and Hiryu met a similar fate the following morning.
The U.S. Navy lost some 1,000 sailors and airmen killed at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, not the 2800+ claimed by Hastings. Figures for the B-29 and Manhattan Project program costs are also not accurate. The cost for producing the Superfortress was approximately $3 billion, the Manhattan Project $2 billion, not $4 and $3 billion.
The U.S. Navy lost some 1,000 sailors and airmen killed at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, not the 2800+ claimed by Hastings. Figures for the B-29 and Manhattan Project program costs are also not accurate. The cost for producing the Superfortress was approximately $3 billion, the Manhattan Project $2 billion, not $4 and $3 billion.
Excellent one volume history of WW2
This took me a long time to complete and in fact I put it down many times and started over with my reading of it. However that was due more to the heavy material and nature of the book rather than the difficulty level of it. I appreciated the author's attempt to bring together both the over arching themes of the war as well as the individual voices of the war.
This took me a long time to complete and in fact I put it down many times and started over with my reading of it. However that was due more to the heavy material and nature of the book rather than the difficulty level of it. I appreciated the author's attempt to bring together both the over arching themes of the war as well as the individual voices of the war.
World War II is not an event for which there is a shortage of books. Max Hastings, a British military historian who had already written several books about the war, produced a one volume epic of World War II. And the emphasis of this book is war. This book is not about politics. It is about the brutality and violence that is war.
It might be hard to believe that anyone can write anything new about World War II given that libraries and bookstores are flooded with titles on the topic, but Hastings has made a valuable contribution to the genre.
Hastings does not start with a rehashing of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Fascism or anything like that. The book begins with German and Soviet troops pouring into Poland. And the fighting goes on and on and on. He weaves together details from soldiers and civilians, all of whom were affected by the war in some way. Many of the diary entries come from soldiers writing them just before their deaths.
My only quibble with the book was Hastings penchant for Monday morning quarterbacking (if a Brit can do such a thing). Hastings asserts that Germany and Japan were doomed in their war efforts once they extended themselves too far. Germany actually makes several blunders in the war: 1) attacking Britain through the air after Dunkirk, which served only to get the British more involved in the war in the one area where the British were on equal technological footing, 2) bringing the war into the Soviet Union, stretching its lines too far and 3) failing to work with Italy well enough to close off the Mediterranean.
The book's strength is bringing to the forefront parts of the war that most people, especially those in the U.S., don't know much about. Much of this involves the war on the Eastern Front, but it also includes British problems in India and Burma. The famous generals of World War II are not the ones singled out by Hastings. Generals with names like William Slim and Lucian Truscott are the heroes, not people like Eisenhower, Macarthur, and Montgomery.
Hastings makes sure you know that World War II was indeed an inferno, especially for the people of Europe. It is estimated that close to 60 million people died as the result of the war, some as casualties on the battlefield, but others in concentration camps, or in their own homes as the results of famine and disease.
From 1939 to 1945, human beings brought unspeakable horrors on to themselves. Modern technology has made a war in the style of World War II unlikely. Even though some may view at as a "good war" few who involved in the fighting of it cared much about good or bad at the time. It was merely just hell.
It might be hard to believe that anyone can write anything new about World War II given that libraries and bookstores are flooded with titles on the topic, but Hastings has made a valuable contribution to the genre.
Hastings does not start with a rehashing of World War I, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Fascism or anything like that. The book begins with German and Soviet troops pouring into Poland. And the fighting goes on and on and on. He weaves together details from soldiers and civilians, all of whom were affected by the war in some way. Many of the diary entries come from soldiers writing them just before their deaths.
My only quibble with the book was Hastings penchant for Monday morning quarterbacking (if a Brit can do such a thing). Hastings asserts that Germany and Japan were doomed in their war efforts once they extended themselves too far. Germany actually makes several blunders in the war: 1) attacking Britain through the air after Dunkirk, which served only to get the British more involved in the war in the one area where the British were on equal technological footing, 2) bringing the war into the Soviet Union, stretching its lines too far and 3) failing to work with Italy well enough to close off the Mediterranean.
The book's strength is bringing to the forefront parts of the war that most people, especially those in the U.S., don't know much about. Much of this involves the war on the Eastern Front, but it also includes British problems in India and Burma. The famous generals of World War II are not the ones singled out by Hastings. Generals with names like William Slim and Lucian Truscott are the heroes, not people like Eisenhower, Macarthur, and Montgomery.
Hastings makes sure you know that World War II was indeed an inferno, especially for the people of Europe. It is estimated that close to 60 million people died as the result of the war, some as casualties on the battlefield, but others in concentration camps, or in their own homes as the results of famine and disease.
From 1939 to 1945, human beings brought unspeakable horrors on to themselves. Modern technology has made a war in the style of World War II unlikely. Even though some may view at as a "good war" few who involved in the fighting of it cared much about good or bad at the time. It was merely just hell.
This book is a good overview of World War II. Although it does not go particularly deep in any area, it paints a good picture of the various political, economic and military factors at play that led up to and impacted the progress of the war.
At times a bear to get through only because of the scope and detail, this was overall a terrific book. Hastings has written a wonderful tome.
Before I read this book I thought I had a smattering of WWII knowledge but wasn't really that 'up' on the subject. After reading this, I am happy to say that I was far more informed than I thought I was and now am even better informed thanks to this great 700 page synopsis of 6 years of the twentieth century.
The author does an incredible job of condensing WWII into one book that covers all the main points of the war and gives enough detailed information to make a person quite knowledgeable about these events.
The author does an incredible job of condensing WWII into one book that covers all the main points of the war and gives enough detailed information to make a person quite knowledgeable about these events.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
medium-paced