Customer Reviews

The World at War: The Landmark Oral History

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Holmes does a fine job compiling interviews from most of the World At War personalities that appeared on the TV Series. There are lots of expanded insights here that were cut from the production. I would love to see much of this archived footage at the Imperial War Museum available on video at some point. The only complaint here is that the proof reading could have been much better. Lots of print errors in this book.

Even though the legendary BBC Series The World at War first ran on T.V. in 1973-1974, it is still the best documentary on the subject ever made.(Ken Burns- eat your heart out) It had magnificent footage, the narration of Lawrence Oliver, a great sound track, but most importantly, eyewitness accounts from participant from all walks of life. Famous figures such as Albert Speer, Anthony Eden, Jimmy Doolittle, Mitsuo Fuchida, Arthur "Bomber Harris" and one of Hitler's secretary's Traudl Junge were interviewed along with hundreds of others. Only small portions of the interviews appeared in the final cut. The rest of the unedited interviews were in the vaults of the Imperial War Museum. Historian Richard Holmes has edited them and given up to date introductions at the start of each chapter.(Although some of the interview material is dated- for example the role of Ultra intelligence was never mentioned in the series because it was still secret-the vast majority of material gives great insights into the war) The recollections are vivid and represent military and civilian experiences from all the major participating nations. This collection is perfect primary source material to put in the hands of students which would allow them to analyze and come up with their own conclusions. This is first rate history that gives a fine over view of the conflict. One of my favorite remembrances is when Anthony Eden (Lord Avon) recalled taking Wendall Wilkie on a fact finding mission in London for FDR, during the Blitz. As the two men left a building that had been bombed, Wilkie asked a worker repairing bomb damage how much more the English could take, he replied" Hitler ain't dead yet is he?" RAF ace Max Aitken was asked if there was chivalry between the RAF and the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain, he replied"...absolutely none at all... I hated them, they were trying to do something to us, to enslave us..." These first rate vignettes have been given a new lease on life that allows the reader an inside look at a world at war.

The World at War is a lot more than the book of a 1970's TV series. Back then, The World at War was groundbreaking TV, epic in every sense. This book is a collection of much of the raw material that did not see the light of day back then, plus the best of the TV series, all assembled and introduced by Richard Holmes. It is a significant work on WWII, and as much a significant work on the Cold War in Europe.

The book is a series of recollections in oral interview by statesmen, politicans, admirals, generals, soldiers of all ranks, and civilians. Due to the Cold War, there is very little from the Soviet side, and accordingly little coverage of the Eastern front at all. This is very much the World at War, from the Western point of view. There are former Nazis, a ex-British PM, the Japanese Lord Privy Seal, and a few "Western" officials who were spies for Sovet Russia. The result is generally high level, with the occasional swoop in to a particular battle or event. It is superb in conveying the "feel" of the second world war without becoming bogged down in detail.

The section on the Holocaust is of course chilling.

The book does not end on V-J Day, but considers - or rather features interviews considering - the end of WWII in Europe, Poland, and the Iron Curtain. This is as valuable a short study on the Cold War as you can find in an accessable text, and Holmes considers that really the Cold War was a continuation of sorts of WWII, and that the roots of that conflict can be traced back to 1848 or even earlier.

Provocative and thoughtful, heartening and saddening, this is a truly excellent work of history - and the knowledge that those original TV Archives may now be opened to other researchers offers hope that perhaps some lessons of history may not be forgotten.