Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Color" Commentary on WWII, May 28, 2002
This book is an excellent companion piece to any conventional history of the Second World War. This compilation of essays represents a "best of the best" of previously published articles from the magazine MHQ, and each provides unique "color" commentary on snap-shot events of the war, some well-known,
some not. Obviously, some of the contributions are better than others, but there are none that I didn't enjoy reading.The more noteworthy ones include novelist Caleb Carr's look at Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland. The author of two works in the book (the second is a look at the "Black Knight"-Field Marshal Gerd von Runstedt; an interesting piece marred by poorly substantiated and thus unfair criticism of Gen. Eisenhower's strategy in 1944-45), Carr makes a good case in his first essay that the conduct of the often forgotten Polish campaign which started the war is worthy of a lot more study and attention than it has generally received. Similarly, David Glantz gives us a good look at Operation Mars, the gigantic offensive designed to push the Germans away from Moscow in 1942. The offensive was a colossal failure but Soviet suppression and the victory at Stalingrad allowed this battle to be shrouded in obscurity for most of postwar history. David Shears provides two interesting looks at the possibilities surrounding Operation Sea Lion, Germany's half-hearted (and ultimately junked) plan for invading England. In this same theme, "The Turning Points of Tarawa" by Joseph H. Alexander gives a startling reassessment of the bloody battle for Tarawa, from predominantly a Japanese point of view. For stories from the Home Front, Theodore F. Cooke Jr. gives readers a very illuminating look at Japanese reaction to the news of Pearl Harbor in "Tokyo, December 8, 1941," while George Feifer's "The Last Picture Show" gives an account of Joesph Goebbels' bizarre film project in the dying days of the Third Reich to rally German morale to face the final cataclysm. Interesting "I Was There" pieces include "The Day the Hornet Sank", a memoir by a nineteen year old petty officer "Airedale," and "A Kamikaze's Tale," the first account published in the West by a surviving Kamikaze flier. Worthwhile assessments of wartime leadership include Alistair Horne's "In Defense of Montgomery", an apology for the often disparaged British field marshal by an historian worthy (if name-recognition wasn't such a marketing factor) of front-cover billing, but unfortunately he's trumped by the overrated William Manchester (who does have a good, if somewhat disjointed account of the Battle of Britain in this book), as well as the ubiquitous Stephen Ambrose. While I did not agree with many of Horne's conclusions--I would say that von Rundstedt's description of Rommel also fit's Rommel's nemesis Monty: "a brave man, and a very capable commander, but not really qualified for high command" (besides, Monty was a pompous [jerk], a point Horne willingly concedes)--this essay is still highly recommended reading. I was more sympathetic to Victor Davis Hanson's rehabilitation of the legacy of Curtis LeMay (America's version of the RAF's "Bomber Harris") in "The Right Man." While he's been an object of left-wing ridicule beginning primarily in the 1960s, a frank, contextual appraisal of LeMay's wartime (and postwar, too) accomplishments indicates that he's worthy of recognition as one of our great wartime commanders (and deserves credit as the architect of the strategic force crucial to democracy's victory in the Cold War). Read this piece together with Williamson Murray's "Did Strategic Bombing Work?", an excellent rebuttal to the often repeated assertion that the Allied bombing campaign against Germany was not only ineffective but patently immoral. Finally, Eliot A. Cohen's "Churchill and his Generals" is not only an excellent study of the British Prime Minister exercising wartime leadership, it's also an important reminder to Americans of the inseparable linkage between politics and war. Our traditional desire to separate those two considerations has arguably led to outcomes that fell well short of expectations following many of America's wars. All in all, this book should be considered an essential addition to any World War II library.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Illuminating Collection Of Essays On World War Two!, July 23, 2003
What a wonderful gift editor Robert Crowley has given us with this treasure trove of individual essays from individual contributors in this spellbinding book covering a number of different aspects and experiences during World War Two! As one of the authors, the late popular historian Stephan Ambrose has shown us with many of his own works, the history of the Second World War was such a massive and variegated plethora of anecdotes, campaigns and experiences that it is nearly impossible to exhaust the steady stream of captivating stories that spring from its loins like bouncing babies, fully formed, into the waiting reader's lap. This is a particularly attractive package of essays, perfect for people who want something relatively short, as each individual offering within is, something one can read on a plane flight in its entirety and then pick up later without trying to remember the context or story thread where he had left off. And each of the stories makes for fascinating reading indeed. The list of authors included is both impressive and eclectic, ranging from Ambrose, who weighs in with the taut and stirring tale of a platoon of paratroopers attempting to take and control a bridge key to the initial thrust of the first few hours of the Normandy landing, to Caleb Carr, better known for his success as a novelist ("The Alienist") but quite an eminent historian as well, to William Manchester to John Keegan to Antony Beever to Stanley Weintraub to David M. Glantz. And this is only some of the luminary historically prominent authors gathered together in what can only be described as a bravura collection of stories and perspectives on the total war effort, ranging in topics from the island hopping effort in the South Pacific to the desperate hours of the first few hours leading up to the Battle of the Bulge in the French Ardennes in December of 1944. Despite my own wide reading of similar historical sources over the last thirty years, I found several of the articles quite illuminating and educational, as with Caleb Car's treatment of life on the ground as the invasion of Poland proceeds in September, 1939 in the precipitating event that quickly served to trigger the advent of the Second World War as such. Similarly, articles by Charles Berges, Sir David Fraser, and Carlo D'Este proved both fascinating and edifying in illuminating aspects of the war only poorly understood and studied in the existing literature. This monograph especailly serves the interested private scholars like me who wants to know more about various different aspects and perspectives of the war that are not adequately or fully treated elsewhere, and used in conjunction with marvelous other resources such as Gerhard Weinberg's masterful "A World At Arms", Richard Spector's terrific ""Eagle Against The Sun", and William Shirer's eye-witness testimony in "The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich", gives us a much richer and more comprehensive understanding of the signal historical event of the 20th century. Enjoy!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heavyweight Authors Write on World War II, October 1, 2002
We have heavyweight authors such as William Manchester, Stephen Ambrose, Caleb Carr, John Keegan, and others write essays covering all aspects of World War II in this heavyweight volume of 688 pages. The essays are fairly short so you can put the book down and come back to it later without feeling you have to pick up where you left off. From familiar stories such as the invasion of Normandy to an interesting story on Germany's Black Knight, Field Marshal von Rundstedt and another on General Curtis LeMay will provide you, the reader, with additional information whatever your background on World War II. As mentioned, the book is long, but the essays enable you to break the book up into managable parts so you are able to pioneer your way through it successfully. Don't be intimidated by the length. It is worth the time to wade through it.
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