Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Book Opinion: The Storm of War (Update)

So I recommended The Storm of War to my brother "Matt," who knows everything—and I mean everything—about World War II.

His thoughts, which I thought worth sharing:

"I am about 3/4 of the way through The Storm of War and, honestly, I am disappointed.  It is a pretty good narrative and, for someone who is unfamiliar with the subject, it is pretty good as a general history of the war.  But, there is very little new in it.  And, what little new stuff there is is all referenced from secondary sources (other books already written).  He takes quite a bit of information from guys like Richard Overy, Rick Atkinson, Ian Kershaw, Christopher Browning, and John Keegan. If you haven't read any of the books by those guys about the war, then it's worth it.  But, if you have the time and interest, I think you'd get a better picture by reading the six or seven books from which he synthesized his book.  If you're interested here's the list of books I would suggest as (if you read all of them) an alternative to reading this one.  I think it would give you a much better version of events.

Richard Overy:  Russia's War and Why the Allies Won.

Rick Atkinson: An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle (He's writing another to complete the trilogy and they deal with, specifically, the American Army's experience of the war in Europe).

Ian Kershaw: Hitler:Hubris and Hitler: Nemesis.  Two of the best books about WWII that I've ever read.

Christopher Browning: Ordinary Men (About a German Special Police Battalion that participated in the extermination of Polish Jews)

John Keegan: The Second World War (a shorter, and better, one volume history of WWII) and Five Armies in Normandy.

John Dower: War Without Mercy (about race and brutality in the Pacific war).

Eugene Sledge: With the Old Breed (a first person account of Guadalcanal and Pelilu by a Marine who survived both)"

Matt is the father of this darling little girl.


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