THE STORY OF WORLD WAR II

By confining his attention to the conduct and course of the war, Graft has produced a concise, non-stop narrative history; by building up certain critical episodes--RAF resistance, the Russian winter--he has given it a modicum of drama; by using short sentences and simple, graphic language, he has made it as easily readable as a tabloid newspaper; otherwise, one gets only a sense of the magnitude and intensity of the fighting--which the well-chosen photographs also help to convey. Not an ambitious treatment, but effective within its own limits.