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Loading... The Second World War (1989)by John Keegan
There is no easy way to write about WWII, obviously you can't cover everything. Someone else used best introduction and overview, I think that works well. I would believe with the least amount of effort I came away with the most and greatest understanding of the war in this book. Although he is much to politically correct and kind to the horrid mistakes made in the war, this left me wondering what else was avoided. I will read on. (  ) Newmans2001 | Dec 3, 2011 |  This book was awesome! Really well written and very informative. I never in my life thought I would want to read a book about WWII, in the past the subject bored me to death..this book completely changed the way I look at military history altogether. I'm actually excited to read more about the events surrounding WWII. (  ) phaga | Mar 31, 2010 | Keegan's book is a very clear explanation of the conduct of the Second World War however because it a road very well traveled there were stretches where I was reading through information I had already encountered. However when Keegan switches to such topics as an evaluation of the effectiveness of the various resistance movements in the occupied countries as opposed to the role played by signals intelligence especially the code breakers in Bletchly, he makes some very interesting points. Keegan assesses and evaluates traditional viewpoints well and it was a book I was glad to read (  ) maunder | Dec 19, 2008 | Publisher's blurb aside, this IS actually the best one-volume introduction to World War II. An excellent overview of the grand strategy, with the details of different kinds of fighting handled in separate chapters on air warfare (Battle of Britain), parachute operations (Battle of Crete), etc. Also includes an excellent list of suggestions for further reading. ( ) cstrauber | Dec 9, 2007 | La seconda guerra mondiale è il più vasto evento bellico nella storia dell’umanità: in sei anni (1939-1945), lascia sul campo circa cinquanta milioni di morti, devasta gran parte dei Paesi coinvolti e causa ferite morali e materiali i cui segni sono visibili ancora oggi. La storia di questo tragico conflitto viene qui ricostruita analizzando ogni possibile aspetto: dalla cronaca all’analisi strategica, dalle grandi battaglie ai temi bellici. Il racconto dello sviluppo della guerra è articolato in periodi e aree omogenee: guerra in Occidente (1940-1943 e 1943-1945), in Oriente (1941-1943 e 1943-1945), nel Pacifico (1941-1943 e 1943-1945). Operazioni aeree, aviotrasportate e aeronavali, scontri tra forze corazzate, combattimenti nelle città, bombardamenti, linee del fronte, occupazione e resistenza, spionaggio: tutti gli episodi più importanti sono puntualmente descritti e analizzati. Ma in una guerra di dimensioni planetarie un ruolo fondamentale viene giocato dalla logistica, cui si dedica ampio spazio. Agli aspetti strategici e militari si unisce l’attenzione alle componenti umane e psicologiche, che culminano nei ritratti dei principali protagonisti: Hitler, Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt,Tojo, Patton, Montgomery, Rommel, Eisenhower, Yamamoto e altri ancora. ( ) MareMagnum | Mar 18, 2006 |
 John Keegan's "The Second World War" (1989) is the Apollonian counterpoint to Max Hastings "Inferno" (2011). Mr. Keegan purges much of the blood and guts from the story: The million who died in the siege of Leningrad are a dependent clause. But he delivers a narrative of such intelligence, clarity and grace that the reader leaves the book with an elevated understanding of what happened and why. Mr. Keegan, the author of "The Face of Battle" and other books in the military canon, is superb on the war lords. "Hitler's attitude towards Russia," he observes, ". . . was suffused by ideology drawn from many sources—racial, economic, historical—and fermented by his own rancours and ambitions into a self-intoxicating potency." Contrasting FDR with "the devious, double-dealing and treacherous" Stalin and Churchill, "transparently a patriot, a romantic and an imperialist," Mr. Keegan writes: "Roosevelt had dozens of attitudes and a few deeply held values, which were precisely those of Americans of his class and his time: He believed in human dignity and freedom, in economic opportunity and in political compromise; . . . he had few policies, either for peace or for war, while war itself he found utterly distasteful." An elegant, seamless account of the strategic, military and industrial dimensions of the war, with penetrating analysis of its leading figures.
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Wikipedia in English (24)
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