The War, 1939-1945 [Paperback]

Desmond Flowers (Author), James Reeves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 1997

This magnificent, chronologically ordered, internationally focused collection covers every phase and theater of World War II. Based on diaries, letters, journals, reportage, and other contemporary documents, The War, 1939–1945 resurrects the voices of Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, Goebbels, Rommel, Yamamoto, MacArthur, Patton, Eisenhower, and other prominent figures as well as the experiences of countless ordinary soldiers and civilians from Germany to Japan, from England to the Soviet Union, from Norway to Africa. The editors have chosen the finest, most revealing writing from all sides of the conflict to forge a sweeping yet intimate chronicle of the most cataclysmic event in history.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Desmond Flowers was an author, translator, and head of the London publishing house Cassell & Company. James Reeves taught English Language and Literature at Teachers’ Training Colleges in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1144 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press (March 21, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306807637
• ISBN-13: 978-0306807633
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #938,147 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars First Person Accounts of Great Power, July 20, 2000

By 

I. Westray (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The War, 1939-1945 (Paperback)

This monumental collection of first person accounts from World War II was the perfect antidote to the chilled feeling John Keegan's "Second World War" gave me. With his "ghost units" and "divisions of less than the first quality," Keegan turned my stomach. I kept thinking of the human stories behind those stock phrases. This book is a collection of those stories.

I would strongly recommend this as a book for the general history reader. It might occasionally lose a reader who isn't familiar with the skeleton of the war's events, as the personal diaries from which excerpts are taken sometimes fall between the cracks of the great events that might appear on a timeline. That isn't a weakness; it's a strength. Those passages often bring the reader most fully into the confusion and the real human experience of the war.

The great events are well represented, at any rate, in a highly personal and emotional way. Where the usual general history concentrates on the innovations of blitzkreig, this book gives us the diary of Rommel - and another journal by a 12-year-old belgian boy, waiting in an air raid shelter for his mother to come back and trying to comfort his steadily more anxious younger brother.

No book could tell this whole story, and of course this one isn't perfect. There are times when the narrative pauses to 'fill in' some big event in an editor's voice, and when that happens I'm jarred by the shift in tones. As a starting point, though, and just as a read, this is without question the first book I would recommend on World War II. The strength of the bibliography makes it a fantastic resource for other choices later, too.

Very, very highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Breadth beyond the generic "histories of", January 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The War, 1939-1945 (Paperback)

This is an edited collection of first person accounts of World War Two. I turned to this book largely because I'd just read Keegan's "Second World War," a strategic level, numbered-units-crossing-important-rivers retelling of the war. I was left cold by Keegan.

This smattering of excerpts from first person accounts was the perfect antidote to the chilled feeling Keegan gave me with his "ghost units" and "divisions of less than the first quality." I kept thinking of the human stories behind those repeated stock phrases. This book is a collection of those stories.

I would very highly recommend this as a book for the general history reader. It might occasionally lose a reader who isn't familiar with the skeleton of the war's events, as the personal diaries from which excerpts are taken sometimes fall between the cracks of the great events that would appear on a war timeline. That isn't a weakness; it's a strength. Those passages are sometimes the ones that bring the reader most fully into the confusion and the real human experience of the war.

The great events are well represented, at any rate, and in a highly personal and emotional way. Where the usual general history concentrates on the innovations of blitzkreig, this book gives us the matter-of-fact diary of Rommel - and another journal by a 12-year-old belgian boy, waiting in an air raid shelter for his mother to come back and trying to comfort his steadily more anxious younger brother. There are times when the narrative pauses to 'fill in' some big event in an editor's voice, and when that happens I'm jarred by the shift in tones.

No book could tell this whole story, and of course this one isn't perfect. As a starting point, though, and just as a read, this is without question the first book I would recommend on World War II.

The strength of the bibliography makes this a fantastic resource for other choices later, too. Very, very highly recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars First Person Accounts of great power, February 5, 1999

By 

Ian Westray ([e-mail] (Minneapolis, MN, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The War, 1939-1945 (Paperback)

This is an edited collection of first person accounts of World War Two. I turned to this book largely because I'd just read Keegan's "Second World War," a strategic level, numbered-units-crossing-important-rivers retelling of the war. I was left cold by Keegan. This smattering of excerpts from first person accounts was the perfect antidote to the chilled feeling Keegan gave me with his "ghost units" and "divisions of less than the first quality." I kept thinking of the human stories behind those repeated stock phrases. This book is a collection of those stories. I would strongly recommend this as a book for the general history reader. It might occasionally lose a reader who isn't familiar with the skeleton of the war's events, as the personal diaries from which excerpts are taken sometimes fall between the cracks of the great events that would appear on a war timeline. That isn't a weakness; it's a strength. Those passages are sometimes the ones that bring the reader most fully into the confusion and the real human experience of the war. And the great events are well represented, at any rate, and in a highly personal and emotional way. Where the usual general history concentrates on the innovations of blitzkreig, this book gives us the matter-of-fact diary of Rommel - and another journal by a 12-year-old belgian boy, waiting in an air raid shelter for his mother to come back and trying to comfort his steadily more anxious younger brother. There are times when the narrative pauses to 'fill in' some big event in an editor's voice, and when that happens I'm jarred by the shift in tones. No book could tell this whole story, and of course this one isn't perfect. As a starting point, though, and just as a read, this is without question the first book I would recommend on World War II. The strength of the bibliography makes this a fantastic resource for other choices later, too. Very, very highly recommended.