A brilliant, mildly controversial interpretation of the history, conduct, and aftermath of WWII.
More than 1,000 pages on World War II might seem overkill, but not for one of the world’s leading military historians.
Overy disagrees with “the conventional view of the war,” which portrays “Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanese military as causes of crisis rather than its effects, which is what they were.” He emphasizes that historians describe World War I as the outcome of a 19th-century global imperial order dominated by the British and French and opposed by Germany, which considered itself a “have-not” nation whose survival depended on “conquering additional imperial zones of its own.” Few readers will quarrel with that assessment, but they may be surprised with the author’s startling yet persuasive argument that the same description applies to WWII. The 1920s featured three unhappy nations—Germany, Japan, and Italy—who felt that their national identities were in danger unless they could expand their influences. First off the mark was Japan, which invaded China in 1931. Meanwhile, viewing the eastern Mediterranean and North Africa as steppingstones to a new Roman Empire, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. Overy emphasizes that Hitler had no intention of conquering the world. His view was that Germany, “as a vigorous, progressive and cultured people, lacked sufficient territory to…nourish a growing population.” Annexing Austria, the Sudetenland, and Czechoslovakia were acts of an energetic imperial nation, and it was no secret that Poland was next. Still, Hitler expressed surprise when Britain and France declared war. A master of technical detail, Overy summarizes the campaigns but concentrates on the backgrounds and decisions of the leaders who, despite rhetoric about freedom, found themselves in a high-tech imperialistic war. Victory occurs halfway through, and the author devotes the remaining chapters to other relevant imperial issues: Britain’s, France’s, and Holland’s violent efforts to preserve their empires did not peter out until the 1960s; China suffered civil war; and Stalin brutally took control of Eastern Europe.
A brilliant, mildly controversial interpretation of the history, conduct, and aftermath of WWII.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-593-48943-7
Page Count: 1152
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Jan. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.
A popular novelist turns his hand to historical writing, focusing on what shipwrecks can tell us.
There’s something inherently romantic about shipwrecks: the mystery, the drama of disaster, the prospect of lost treasure. Gibbins, who’s found acclaim as an author of historical fiction, has long been fascinated with them, and his expertise in both archaeology and diving provides a tone of solid authority to his latest book. The author has personally dived on more than half the wrecks discussed in the book; for the other cases, he draws on historical records and accounts. “Wrecks offer special access to history at all…levels,” he writes. “Unlike many archaeological sites, a wreck represents a single event in which most of the objects were in use at that time and can often be closely dated. What might seem hazy in other evidence can be sharply defined, pointing the way to fresh insights.” Gibbins covers a wide variety of cases, including wrecks dating from classical times; a ship torpedoed during World War II; a Viking longship; a ship of Arab origin that foundered in Indonesian waters in the ninth century; the Mary Rose, the flagship of the navy of Henry VIII; and an Arctic exploring vessel, the Terror (for more on that ship, read Paul Watson’s Ice Ghost). Underwater excavation often produces valuable artifacts, but Gibbins is equally interested in the material that reveals the society of the time. He does an excellent job of placing each wreck within a broader context, as well as examining the human elements of the story. The result is a book that will appeal to readers with an interest in maritime history and who would enjoy a different, and enlightening, perspective.
Gibbins combines historical knowledge with a sense of adventure, making this book a highly enjoyable package.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781250325372
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist (1900–45) collected his work from WWII in two bestselling volumes, this second published in 1944, a year before Pyle was killed by a sniper’s bullet on Okinawa. In his fine introduction to this new edition, G. Kurt Piehler (History/Univ. of Tennessee at Knoxville) celebrates Pyle’s “dense, descriptive style” and his unusual feel for the quotidian GI experience—a personal and human side to war left out of reporting on generals and their strategies. Though Piehler’s reminder about wartime censorship seems beside the point, his biographical context—Pyle was escaping a troubled marriage—is valuable. Kirkus, at the time, noted the hoopla over Pyle (Pulitzer, hugely popular syndicated column, BOMC hype) and decided it was all worth it: “the book doesn’t let the reader down.” Pyle, of course, captures “the human qualities” of men in combat, but he also provides “an extraordinary sense of the scope of the European war fronts, the variety of services involved, the men and their officers.” Despite Piehler’s current argument that Pyle ignored much of the war (particularly the seamier stuff), Kirkus in 1944 marveled at how much he was able to cover. Back then, we thought, “here’s a book that needs no selling.” Nowadays, a firm push might be needed to renew interest in this classic of modern journalism.
Pub Date: April 26, 2001
ISBN: 0-8032-8768-2
Page Count: 513
Publisher: Univ. of Nebraska
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2001
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