Illuminates the history of World War II
594639
Gives great insight into World War II from beginning to end. It was really hard to put this book down!
1496899
I really enjoyed the perspectives of World War II from two different sides - a young German boy and a young (blind) French girl.  Very well written, especially involving the details of the third reich.
714665
If only our history books in school had read like this! Tim Wendel gives us a little known and fascinating fact from history and ties it to four main characters, all struggling for an understanding of their place in the midst of World War II. We watch them change as their realities force their hands. Cheering on the Japanese-American heroine, Yoshi, and wondering what will come next for the military men she encounters, from a flawed American lieutenant to MacArthur himself, keep the pages turning.
4042013
A good short history of World War II. I recommend it to the "Baby Boomers" and those that came later to show what the war was all about.
4892787
Great book, but lots and lots of details. Not something you want to read in one sitting. I love World War 2 history and this was a nice look into a different aspect
709532
This is a concise and easy to read (if this is the appropriate term for the subject matter) overview of Operation Barbarossa, 1941 invasion of Soviet Union.

The book is refreshing: it does not present Wehrmacht as unwilling participant in the "dirty war," whereas SS was doing all the persecutions. The author does not mince words, e.g. one of the chapters is titled "Initial Victories and Atrocities, June to August." The scale, depth and systematic nature of the atrocities was surprising even to me - having grown up in Russia in the 1970s and 80s I was reasonably exposed to the history of WWII and the suffering in the occupied territories. But the plight of Soviet POWs (65% of those captured - 2 mil - dead by early 1942) was astonishing; this was not the topic Soviet history books focused on.

This is a must-read book for those interested in WWII. I also want to thank the author for detailed responses to earlier reviews and subsequent comments.
2326015
I love history and this story is mired in not just historical facts but told in a way it transports the reader back to world war 2 and shows the human side of it.
1804078
This book will appeal to anyone interested in WW2 history and to anyone with a heart! Couldn't put it down.
3174651
A great overview of the early days of WWII.  The second book in series is even better.
4811955
If you consider yourself to be well-steeped in the history of World War II I don't know how much of this book you will consider to be new to you.  While I don't put myself in this category I have read a few books on the war and found this book to be a beneficial learning experience for me.  It is incredible to realize how much took place during the waning days of the war, and a book that focuses entirely on this time period is certainly appropriate.  The death and desecration of the bodies of Mussolini and his lover followed by the suicide of Hitler in his bunker get the book off to a rousing start.  The discovery of the atrocities at the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, the lewd sexual behavior taking place in Hitler's bunker prior to the Russian entrance into Berlin, plans of escape for Martin Bormann, Heinrich Himmler, Hermann Goring, and others are also included.  I found it especially interesting to have included the experiences of such individuals as Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, Kurt Vonnegut, Bob Dole, Simon Wiesenthal, Aleksander Solzhenthsyn, and others included in the book.

A great deal took place in these last five days of World War II and whether or not you consider yourself  well-versed in the war I believe anyone will find this to be an interesting book well worth your time.
4419997
Well rounded start for people interested in learning about World War Two and the brave men that fought in it
3193490
This is an excellent look at the Anglo-American air war during World War II because Overy has done something I have never seen another author do.  He not only covers the bombing of Germany but also the bombing of Italy and other countries allied to Germany.

Overy makes three points about the bombing campaign that I had never seen anyone else make before.  1) The Germans always expected to be bombed in a future war and began preparing their "civil defense" in the mid-1930s. 2)  Women played a key part in German "civil defense," although this wasn't played up in the Nazi media.  3) The "polycratic anarchy" (competition between government and Nazi party organizations) in Germany actually benefitted those civilians affected by bombing raids, since the rival organizations hurried to help the victims and thus show up their rivals.

By contrast, the Italian Fascist government made little to no preparation for "civil defense" even after Italy entered the war,  However, as Overy points out, the bulk of the Allied bombing of Italy took place after Mussolini was overthrown in mid-1943 and Italy officially joined but the Germans occupied Italy.  Overy argues that the Allied bombing of the Italian north had the affect of strengthening Communism there after the war.

A very well-written and thought-provoking book.
499450
This book compiles events and photographs from the personal histories of many of the men who served in the 86 FBG. The result is a rich timeline that describes a unique form of warfare from the perspective of the men who experienced it in the air and on the ground. My Father was an A-36 pilot in the 525th Fighter-Bomber Squadron in Sicily and Italy in 1943. I was humbled to find a photograph of him in this book that I had never seen before. Even without this personal tie, I can recommend this book as an excellent record of a little-known part of the Second World War.
4290886
Gerhard L. Weinberg's single-volume history of WW II is truly remarkable in that it presents not merely an account of the battles and major events of the war, but the politics and diplomacy that were truly as important and as essential as what happened on the battlefield.  Too many histories of wars are written by historians who are fixated on battles, and the development of wartime technology, and bombing campaigns, and tactics on the field.  Weinberg does not neglect these expects of the war, but he knows that these other aspects are in large part an outgrowth of other factors:  industrial output, the cooperation between allies in sharing ideas, goals, and materials as well as coordinating battle plans, and the personalities driving each country.
In short, this is a comprehensive history of World War Two, and not merely an account of its military campaigns.  Not only this, but Weinberg successfully addresses the greatest fault of most Anglo-European histories of the war:  to focus too much on the European Western front and the Pacific campaign, ignoring the fact that by far the greatest amount of fighting--both in terms of men deployed and in casualties suffered and inflicted--came on the long and decision Russian front.  Although the Germans deployed far more of their military along their Eastern front, in the West we constantly tend to forgot this.  Unquestionably, this is in part a function of the natural myopia all human beings are subject, as we tend to focus more closely on those aspects of an affair that more directly involve us.  But in the West it is also a lingering offshoot of the Cold War, during which time Americans and Europeans unquestionably minimized and even ignored the massive Soviet contributions to the war.  No nation gave more of its lifeblood in the winning of World War Two, and Weinberg is to be praised for writing accurately about it.
Despite being only one volume, this is truly a massive book.  Weinberg deals with every imaginable aspect of the war, some that I have already noted.  It is a weighty, thick book, replete with extensive bibliography and footnotes.  There are no illustrations, a decision that was probably made because there are thousands of other books that visualize the war in every imaginable fashion.  My complaint concerns the paucity of maps.  There are a group of maps contained at the end of the volume, but I think the text would have been far more useful with a series of additional and smaller maps that would have more precisely located geographically where major events were taking place.  But this is a minor point.  A more substantial criticism is that the book leaves out almost entirely the social aspect of the war and does not deal as extensively with what was happening on the homefront, on how the war was changing and altering the nations participating.  For instance, the war exerted massive influence on the United States, having dramatic effects on politics, race, gender, and economic matters.  These topics are almost completely left alone.  In a one-volume history, one must make decisions about what to leave in and out, and Weinberg focuses on the fighting and the geopolitical aspects.
There is a wealth of other one-volume histories of World War Two available, but this is, I believe, clearly the one for anyone wanting to learn more about the war in depth to read.  I would, however, argue that any event the magnitude of WW II requires the serious student to approach it from several points of view.  No single volume could ever do the trick.
4613706
Ernst Rodin's "War and Mayhem" is a must-read for students of the Holocaust and for anyone interested in understanding how Adolf Hitler managed to captivate and ultimately cripple Germany in the period between 1933 and 1945.
  Rodin is a mischling, or "impure" Austrian, who nevertheless gets drafted into the Wehrmacht.  In "War and Mayhem," he looks back on his life and offers us two points of view that are skillfully woven together:  an eyewitness account of what it was like to be a young man growing up in Vienna during Hitler's rise to power; and an analysis of  the most cataclysmic period in modern history from the perspective of an adult survivor.
  Rodin's book is accessible and engaging.  We follow young Ernst to school, a place he has little use for in his younger years, and to the summer swimming parks that he and his older brother sneak into because they cannot afford admission.  We suffer along with him as he loses his biological father, a "ne'er-do-well" who abandons the family, and we hope, in vain, that his mother's second husband will somehow fill the void left by his biological father.
  At the same time, Rodin, a retired neurologist, now living in Utah, offers us an adult perspective on how the day-to-day events of his childhood were being played out against a much larger and unsettling screen. He captures the flavor of pre-war Vienna and offers unique insight into factors that contributed to the latent, simmering anti-Semitism of the era, anti-Semitism that boiled over so viciously after Hitler came into power.  Rodin is careful to explain historical factors that led to the Anschluss and includes valuable information about Austrian clergy and politicians, whose roles in the 30's and 40's have not been well-detailed in other books written about this time period.
  As an avid  reader of World War II-era non-fiction,  I've read books written by Jewish authors, Christian authors, American authors, German authors.  What intrigues me about "War and Mayhem" is Ernst Rodin's distinctive point of view.  Rodin fought in the Werhmacht, yet was considered "less than German" because his maternal grandfather was Jewish.  He suffered from anti-Semitism at school but is quite candid in his observations about how Jews in Vienna were easily targeted for mistreatment because they did little to embrace the community at large.  His tone is straightforward, always honest, always enlightening.
  I recommend Ernst Rodin's "War and Mayhem" to every historian and layperson interested in reading a first-rate account of life in Vienna before and immediately after World War II.  Rodin's final assessment of the events he witnessed deserves our immediate and collective attention:  given the right conditions, history could easily repeat itself.
2593267
The Pacific Ocean was the theatre for many battles in World War II.  Not only were there lives at stake in the island countries as well as mainland Asia, but the European countries as well the United States had their colonies to protect in that region.
One of the most interesting stories from this book was about the "Bicycle Blitzkrieg" in Malaysia.  Tanks are destructive, however the Japanese soldiers on bikes had maneuverability that made their invasion so effective.  I would not have believed it had there not been a photo and the details provided.
The book also touches on more of the struggles in the battles and conditions in the world, especially on land which tropical rainstorms, mudslides and diseases.  There was bravery on all sides and some of those stories are described within including Private Bruce Kingsbury of Australia, or the volunteer Coastwatchers.  This collection of war stories, battles, maps, and other events during the course of the Second World War in the Pacific will bring greater insight than most introductory text.
389210
A richly woven story of events and people previously unknown to me. It paints a much more detailed picture of the war than heard in history class or the history channel. I consider this a must-read for anyone seeking further information on the details of the Second World War.

Read this and share it, this book deserves a place in anybody's library.