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The Second World War

4.5 out of 5 stars 609 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0140113419
ISBN-10: 014011341X
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 608 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Books (September 1, 1990)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 014011341X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140113419
  • Product Dimensions: 7 x 1.4 x 9.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (609 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #726,407 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
I purchased the six volumes of this set for my Kindle even though I have the work in hardback. Winnie is quite a stout fellow even when he's only print on paper, most volumes running around 800 pages. Kindle seemed a great way to make him portable instead of portly. I am on my fourth reading of the collection with one of those being this digital version. The works themselves are a unique insight to WWII at the highest level and I recommend them to anyone with an interest in this subject. My negative review is NOT about the writing or the subject matter. I am appalled at the number of typographical errors in the Kindle versions. In the Third volume there is literally at least one on every page of the first half of the book. Throughout the volumes the last name of the French Admiral Darlan is misspelled. Place names, unit designations, conjunctions, prepositions, nouns and verbs are butchered throughout the works. In addition the maps displayed very poorly on my Kindle. It is a shame that these books have been so shabbily converted to digital format. I repeat these errors are rife throughout all six volumes. If I were unfamiliar with the work there are passages that would be meaningless because of the errors. Don't waste your money on the Kindle version.
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Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
As with virtually everything he did in life, Winston Churchill wrote his six volume history of the Second World War with many goals: As the Prime Minister of Britain (and--equally importantly--a member of the "right" class), Churchill had access to volumes of original documents. As the Prime Minister during the War, he was in a unique position to understand the relationship of those documents to real events. As a central actor, he had a huge incentive to prepare the first draft of history...to place himself in the best possible light. As a conservative politician out of power when he wrote, he sought to warn the world of the looming communist menace. Finally, as a long time practitioner of written English, he had an unparalleled command of the language. In this volume, Churchill successfully blends together all of these personas to create an absolutely riveting history of the prelude to the Second World War--from the close of World War One to the invasion of Belgium.
Churchill's mastery of English is reason enough to read this book. For example, in describing the British government's constant debates over what to do about German rearmament, Churchill says the British were "frothing pious platitudes while foeman forge their arms". Very seldom do I have to turn to a dictionary while reading, but Churchill sent me there regularly.
But do not think that this is just a book to be read to enjoy his use of language. His detailed account of how we got into the Second World War, and how we might have avoided it, is incisive and persuasively argued. And always watch for the subtext--his warning that the appeasement on Germany was then (in the 1950's) being repeated in the appeasement of the Soviet Union.
Churchill's weakness flows directly from his strength.
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Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Sadly, the Kindle Edition of this work fails to do it justice. Churchill has dotted this text with numerous charts and tables illustrating the progress of the war, and every single one of them is completely illegible. The Kindle edition has included them at a shamefully useless resolution, and so I must suggest that any interested reader buy a different edition. I am very disappointed in this purchase.
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Format: Paperback
I bought Churchill's 6-volume history of the Second World War many years ago, but did not find the strength to begin reading it until some time later. The effect was immediate. Although it took me over a year to read all of it, that was only because I have long had the habit of reading a number of books concurrently. I simply couldn't put Churchill down. To say that the story of World War II is a gripping one, is to put it mildly. How much more gripping do you think it might be in the hands of that one unique individual who was both one of the central players and the recorder of the events themselves. At times, I found myself actually wanting certain historical events to go in favour of the Allies although, naturally, I already knew the outcome! Such is the effect of Churchill's writing.
In the second volume "Their Finest Hour," Britain was holding the fort against Hitler alone. After Dunkirk, spirits were low all over the place and the value of Dr Goebells's secret weapon was able to come into play with great effect. One can imagine the feeling of the citizenry of Britain at that time, trapped as they felt themselves to be in that little island, with an unbeaten army just across the channel snarling at them. The whys and wherefores of the actions of both Hitler and the German General Staff at that time, can be discussed until you are blue in the face. The fact is that, although most people on both sides of the Atlantic thought they were about to hop across and finish the job, the Germans hesitated, mainly for lack of a plan, and lost the chance. I don't know for sure if Churchill also thought the British might have been defeated in July, August or September of 1940, but from the end of that odd period of stalemate, he never looked back.
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