The Oxford Companion to World War II [Paperback]

I. C. B. Dear (Editor), M. R. D. Foot (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 24, 2002

'The Oxford Companion to the Second World War, by virtue of its scale, its range and its scholarship, is an outstanding guide, as sensible and cogent on the big questions as it is instructive and informed on the lesser ones.'
HEW STRACHAN, TLS

'indispensable...unlikely to be superseded this century'
JOHN KEEGAN, Daily Telegraph

'easy to use, solid of fact, perceptive and judicious'
JOHN ERICKSON, Times Higher

'It will immediately take its place as the indispensable reference book for students of the second world war.'
GORDON LEE, The Economist

'a magnificent volume and an invaluable resource'
J. A. CRANG, The History Association

These are just a few of the review quotes generated by the Companion when it was published in hardback in 1995.

World War II was a war that affected the entire world and reached into every aspect of existence. It was a war which touched all nations, penetrated all aspects of people's lives, and which helped shape the world today. Over 140 distinguished and internationally renowned contributors have written over 1750 entries covering the very wide-ranging topics that make up the single subject of World War II.

Entries include:
surveys of major countries: France, Germany, Australia, India, USA, Japan, including sections in each about domestic life, culture, economics, government, resistance, and defence

colonial possessions and less major players: British Central Africa, British Cameroons, Dutch East Indies, Latvia, Libya, Slovakia

campaigns: East Africa campaign, Burma campaign, Normandy campaign, Fezzan campaigns, Western desert campaigns

battles: battle of the River Plate, battle of East China Sea, battle of Kasserine Pass

military operations: FALL GELB, BARBAROSSA, OVERLORD

types of warfare: electronic, chemical, economic, signals intelligence

wartime leaders: Stalin, Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Mussolini, Hirohito

politics and strategy: Grand Alliance, the Final Solution, the atomic bomb

design, development and use of machines and weapons: tanks, submarines, rockets, battleships, anti-tank weapons, human torpedoes, Baka bombs

organisations associated with the war: Arab League, Force K, Hitler Youth, Cossacks

places made famous in the war: Dachau, Bletchley Park, Nagasaki

slogans and phrases: wavy navy, Bevin Boys, Big Red One, jerry cans, Blackshirts

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The definitive single-volume reference work for students of World War II, I. C. B. Dear's 1,400-page compendium provides a wealth of detail on matters that standard histories often gloss over or pass over altogether. For example, Dear covers the Night and Fog Decree, which called for the execution of any civilians committing crimes against German forces in occupied territories, as well as the Battle of the Courland Peninsula, in which Red Army soldiers overwhelmed the last German forces in the Baltic and seized Latvia and Lithuania for the Soviet Union. This is a fine book to browse through while watching Bataan or The Longest Day, or to have on hand to provide background material for other World War II-related reading. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

This compendium was issued in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of World War II. Several other one-volume encyclopedias treat this topic: The Simon & Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II (1978), The Historical Guide to World War II (Greenwood, 1983), The Dictionary of the Second World War (Bedrick, 1990), and World War II: America at War, 1941^-1945 [RBB Ja 15 92]. The last-named book is closest in coverage to Oxford but was criticized for its American viewpoint.

This new work has more than 1,700 alphabetically arranged entries. More than 160 scholars contributed to the volume, most from universities in Britain. Entries range from 50 words to almost 30 pages on major countries. Almost every aspect of the war is covered, including its effect on civilians. Children discuss the war's impact on children in many nations. Lengthy essays cover Women at War and Religion. The many biographical entries include both political and military persons. By far the most exhaustive essays are reserved for countries, all of which have standard subsections such as "Domestic Life, Economy, and War Effort" and "Government." The entry for the U.S. includes 27 pages of text and eight statistical tables. Briefer entries treat countries that were neutral during the war, for example, Sweden and Turkey.

In addition to statistics within entries, there are special tables accompanying articles. Unfortunately there is no index or table of contents for these tables. Cross-references within entries are noted by asterisks; there are limited see also references at the ends of articles. Like other Oxford companions, there is no index.

More than 100 line-drawn maps provide battle information as well as sites of death and concentration camps and the Manhattan Project. A separate section of color maps shows territorial changes between 1939 and 1945, the British and French empires, and other themes. A chronology begins in 1931 with Japanese troops occupying Manchuria and lists events under five geographic regions to the formal surrender of the Japanese on September 2, 1945. A list of place-name changes shows current and wartime names (e.g., Gdansk and Danzig).

Other titles give more detailed coverage of specific aspects of this period in history, for example, The D-Day Encyclopedia [RBB Ja 1 94] and the Encyclopedia of the Holocaust [RBB Mr 1 90]. But The Oxford Companion to World War II is an excellent overview for public and academic libraries that need to supplement other works in their reference collections. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 1072 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (January 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198604467
• ISBN-13: 978-0198604464
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,233,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The War -- A to Z, August 10, 2005

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to World War II (Paperback)

A book with the word "Cambridge" or "Oxford" in the title is guaranteed to be authoritative, written by top-notch scholars, contain excellent maps and charts, and be as dryasdust. The "Oxford Companion to World War II" is no exception. Within these 1,000 pages is an enormous amount of information on countries, people, events, and battles of WW II.

One can, for example, look up "Riom Trial" and get a two paragraph description of a trial of those held responsible for the fall of France. Or a 4-line description of "Force Viper" a small British marine force in Burma. Unfortunately, the selection of the topics worthy of a separate entry was more than a little Anglo-centric. The US Marine Corps Raiders were far more important that "Force Viper" but for information about them one is referred to a section of the article on the USA. Likewise, the Soviet Union is slighted. The Raid at Dieppe gets 2 columns of attention; the Battle of Stalingrad gets less than 4 columns. Was Stalingrad more than twice as important as Dieppe? Yes! It was a thousand times more important.

The space devoted to description of battles often seems arbitrary rather than rational. The Normandy invasion gets 12 columns of attention; the second largest amphibious operation of the war, Okinawa, gets one column. That's a travesty. Midway -- the crucial turning point in the war for for the United States -- gets one measly column of attention. Another travesty. India, a British colony, gets eight pages; the battle of Iwo Jima only one column.

The most valuable parts of the book are the numerous charts illustrating nearly every facet of the war. For example, on page 480 is a chart of Japanese production during the war including tanks, planes, and ships. On page 306 is a list of the aggregate strength and equipment of a US infantry divison: 14,253 men, 2,012 vehicles, 58 band members, 13 chaplins, 157 30 caliber machine guns, etc. On page 117 is described and illustrated "the corkscrew maneuver," a defensive strategy for bombers under attack by fighters. These are samples of the gems of information found in this book that would be difficult to find elsewhere.

The above complaints notwithstanding "The Oxford Companion to World War II" is a superb reference book and every serious student of WW II should have it on his bookshelf.

Smallchief

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Cautionary Note, September 10, 2006

By 

David A. Kemp (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oxford Companion to World War II (Hardcover)

I'm a fan of the first edition (1995) of this fine book: I'm a World War Two buff, and this is the best one-volume reference book on World War Two that I know of. So why would I give only four stars to the revised edition of 2005? Here's why. Prospective purchasers of the revised 2005 edition might like to know that it is 1,039 pages long, whereas the first edition of 1995 was 1,343 pages long. That's a loss of 304 pages, representing 23% of the material in the first edition---a considerable loss.

In the case of The Oxford Companion to Music, there was a beautiful, lavishly illustrated edition of 2,017 pages of 1983; it was replaced by a revised edition in 2002 that had 1,434 pages---a whopping loss of almost 600 pages of material. In this case I know what I'm talking about, because I have both editions: the 2002 edition represents a substantial abridgement and cheapening of the 1986 edition; I doubt that anyone who had the chance to compare the two would choose the newer edition.

I don't know if the same thing is going on with this Oxford Companion to World War Two (I don't have the new edition at hand to compare the two), but the loss of 23% of the material in the first edition, and my experience with The Oxford Companion to Music described above, would incline me to approach the new edition with caution.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth every cent !, February 3, 2002

By 

Todd T. Smith (Farmington, MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Oxford Companion to World War II (Paperback)

This book is without question the most useful and comprehensive reference book on the Seond World War to appear in a single-volume, paperback format. It presents data ranging from amazing weapon specifications to wonderfully detailed biographies. Along with the many facts and dates of WWII, the book also includes information that while not common knowledge, is vital to a complete understanding of the conflict. For example, the book explains the strategies, theories, and the complex organization of the axis and allies. In addition, this wealth of information is presented in an easily accessible manner. While it can be read like a book, it is most useful as a quick reference. When I'm reading a book and come upon something I'm not familiar with, I just look in the Oxford Companion for a concise, yet complete explanation. It truly is a superb book.