Some books, you read, place on a shelf, and never return to them. This is not one of those books. As my library is overflowing with Civil War and WWII books, there are now TWO that I use for study and reference. "Battle Cry of Freedom' by James McPherson is, in my opinion the best one volumn overview of the Civil War ever written.
"A Short History of WWII" is in that same category as far as a complete, one volumn acount of this period of history. It is in depth, yet very readable. When I finished, my copy was tattered, dog,eared, high-lighted, and contained many of my personal observations in the columns.
I will return to it as I continue my study of WWII. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is that I would have liked to had more complete maps denoting troop movements. If you're reading my review, you must be considering buying this book. My recommendation is "Buy it, without a doubt. You will not be disappointed." A Short History of World War II
This book sets an impossible task...and very nearly succeeds. The rub is in the phrase "short history." If there's one central lesson to be drawn from this book it's that World War II was immensely complex, with ramifications so vast that it's impossible to discuss them all at any depth in a "short" book. At 150,000 or so words, this book is a lot more than an outline, but it's still forced to abbreviate. If you're interested in details about any given campaign, or any given individual, you're going to be disappointed; if you have a favorite World War II topic or personality, you're bound to feel that it's been given short shrift. Even the most famous battles rarely rate more than a page or two. Where this book triumphs is in putting presenting the big picture--military, political, and to some extent cultural--and in drawing interconnections such as why the North Africa campaigns sucked the Allies into a nightmare slog down the Italian peninsula, or how Germany's conquest of Norway helped tip the scales in the Battle of Britain.Overall, this is a masterful achievement. Is it flag-waving, as some would say? Perhaps--but remember, the author's writing from Nova Scotia, which gives him a Canadian-eye view that allows some detachment in his references to "the British" or "the Americans." (Given the fact he was writing in 1980, that might also explain why he takes a dim view of De Gaule, whose post-war association with French Canada stirred many resentments.) Stokesbury clearly views this war as the crowning achievement of "The Greatest Generation," even if the book pre-dates that phrase. And maybe he's right. Highly recommended, especially to those wanting to put recent World War II movies into context.
Simply a superbly written broad history of World War II. I loved this book because it reads much like a novel and has the proper amount of detail without becoming mired in it. Pre-war causes and crisis were given a great amount of emphasis, and focuses on all aspects of the War. Interesting focus on Axis mistakes which cost them the War. Proper emphasis on the Eastern front is given as well as the falicy of French defensive tactics and frankly, this is the best easy reading, broad topic, book on World War II that I have found so far, suitable for beginners and people with extensive WWII knowledge.
For someone who doesn't know much about World War II, this is a recommended book. It gives you just enough history to understand the different aspects of the war, but doesn't flood you with too much technical information. I'm glad I read this, and recommend it to anyone else that is new to this period of history, or just wants a nice summary to begin with.
I guess I'm a little bias because I was a student of Prof. Stokesbury at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada in the late 1980s. He was my honors thesis advisor and also a great lecturer. His death in 1995 has left a void for me and many others who regarded him as a mentor. The book was the basic text for his WWII history class and serves as a great example of what can be accomplised with a massive topic in an abbreviated manner. There are tens of thousands of books written on WWII and millions of documents, to read or even find it all an impossible task for any student or historian. The book, like the others in his short history series, is not meant to be a detailed, footnoted account to argue a point or rewrite history. Its a narrative and great narrative it is, with insightful wisdom and a breezy manner of writing that is a far cry from the usual stiff academic writing. Stokesbury's tome is a great starting point, with all the famous players, battles, heroes and villians, controversies, and results of the greatest tragedy in human history. He also gives the reader a list of research materials and books at the end to further their studies. It has been on my bookshelf for almost 20 years now, wore out and scribble through, tatter and beaten, through my use of it for my own history lectures in 20th century history at St. Mary's University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Overall, a great staring point for any student of the war and a perfect classroom text.
If you want to know about WW2, but you dont have much time to spend on reading, this book is for you. Without missing the necessary details this book pretty much covers WW2. And if you want to dig deeper, there is a huge list of references where you can continue your research.
If you are looking for a well written and informative one-volume account of WWII then go no further. This book will probably not just meet your expectations but surpass them. If you have a penchant for history, I strongly recommend the other Stokesbury books as well.
I must admit to being amazed when I read this book. I must also admit to being wrong. When I was first given a copy, I took one look at it, saw the size of the book (about 400 pages) and said, "yeah, right, a short history of World War II all in one relatively small volume...what a waste of time this one will be." Good grief, I was wrong. If an individual is looking for a very concise and readable overview of this world changing event, that is extremely readable, well researched and hold the readers interest from cover to cover, then this is the one to buy. Now granted, there is no way to compact the information of thousands of volumes of information in to a mere 400 pages, but the author has certainly made a good stab at it and it is astounding the amount of information he was able to pack into this one.
The author has treated all sides of this war with a pretty equal hand, more or less calling it as most reliable historical documents indicate. I do note that at least one reviewer did not appreciate the way the author treated French involvement. About the only thing you can say to this is "hey, read your history." The author certainly did not make this stuff up as there is ample evidence at this time of pretty well who did what to whom at the time.
Like another reviewer, the only objection I had to the entire book was the lack of maps. This work could have been greatly enhanced by a nice set of maps. Now this is a pet peeve of mine and may not bother others as it did me. The author does have a wonderful writing style with syntax that is easy on the eye and quite simple to follow.
This is a very nice, one volume survey type study that is quite readable and quite informative. Even for the individual who knows absolutely nothing of this event, it should stimulate that reader to find more, other volumes to follow up with and goodness knows there are plenty of them out there. Buying them has kept me on the verge of complete poverty for the past 40 or so years. Recommend this one highly.'
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