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wescovington 's review for:
Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945
by Max Hastings
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.