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4.35 AVERAGE
4.35 AVERAGE
Very highly recommended.
The book was a long read, but was very good. I especially appreciated the attention the author paid to home-front issues, such as the "Rosie the Riveter" effect, or the trials of civilians and soldiers in Budapest. It's always great to read WWII history that isn't part of the standard narrative.
Overall hugely informative and very interesting. Anyone interested in WWII should read it.
This history of the Second World War focuses less on the sweep of events and more on their effects upon individuals and their perceptions of events. If you are interested in WW II this does provide a unique point of view. By focusing on the concerns of individuals, Hastings manages to bring home the horrific costs of the war, particularly the high cost in lives lost in Eastern Europe. He also provides some interesting identification of key strategic elements of the war as compared to some of the more well-known. For example, among the more strategically important factors were:
- American use of submarines to destroy Japanese shipping lines (far more important than the "Battle for the Atlantic")
- Germany's blunder in engaging in strategic bombing of Britain, perhaps the only arena of battle in which the English could prevail in 1940.
- The extraordinary willingness of Russia to accept (and use) mass casualties in battle in the service of tactical and strategic objectives as compared to the U.S. or U.K.
Finally, although the Holocaust itself is not an area of particular emphasis, I found his documentation of the depth and breadth of anti-Semitism to be a poignant reminder of our continuing struggles with religious, racial, and cultural intolerance. Their pursuit of a "Final Solution" to the detriment of a war effort that was obviously struggling from 1942 onwards beggars any rational explanation. And lest we forget, every single country (Denmark excepted) gave up their Jews to be interned, converted to slave labor, and killed. Nor does the U.S. escape some measure of culpability
When Americans were polled in November 1938 about whether they believed Jewish fugitives from Hitler should be granted special immigration rights to enter the United States, 23 percent said yes, 77 percent no.
It is perhaps of measure of progress that recent polls indicate Americans reject allowing Syrian refugees fleeing conflict and persecution, albeit by a narrower margin (56% to 41%).
