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A Short History of World War II

james l. stokesbury

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Despite the numerous books on World War II, until now there has been no one-volume survey that was both objective and comprehensive. Previous volumes have usually been written from an exclusively British or American point of view, or have ignored the important causes and consequences of the War.

A Short History of World War II is essentially a military history, but it reaches from the peace settlements of World War I to the drastically altered postwar world of the late 1940's. Lucidly written and eminently readable, it is factual and accurate enough to satisfy professional historians. A Short History of World War II will appeal equally to the general reader, the veteran who fought in the War, and the student interested in understanding the contemporary political world.

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1980

This edition

Format
416 pages, Paperback
Published
January 1, 1980 by William Morrow
ISBN
9780688085872
ASIN
0688085873
Language
English

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About the author

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james l. stokesbury

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Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 57 votes)
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57 reviews All reviews
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Dangerous_Boy
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Not an academic work imo. A fair amount of inaccuracies exists, e.g, the part where the German military doctrine were influenced by B.H.L.Hart has been debunked a while back, but overall actually decent story telling.
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DuracellIce
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This military history is a very informative overview of World War II. My knowledge of World War II has greatly increased after reading this book.
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juiceboxis
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Succinct, easy to understand, and fascinating, but sometimes gets too caught up in details that I glaze over for a few pages at a time.
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Idlehands
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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“If it is part of the sadness of the human condition that [the men and women of the free nations who fought WWII] could not solve the problems of their children’s generation, it is part of the glory of it that they so resolutely faced their own.”

My high school history teacher recommended this book during my senior year; I got it as a Christmas present during my freshman year of college, and I finally got around to reading it as a senior in college.

This was an even-keeled, comprehensive, as close as you can come to an unbiased telling of the events before, during, and immediately following WWII. The writing is sharp, never lacking crucial details of battles, strategies, or statistics, but never getting lost in those details either. It moves at a perfect pace: fast enough to cover the entire war in a reasonable page count, but slow enough to take in and learn about some of the lesser known (at least to me), yet equally important, stages of the war, such as the Norway invasions, the North African and Italian campaigns, and the retaking of the Philippines. A great overview of the defining moment of an entire generation, that points to and leaves room for even more research and stories to be told from the war that I can’t wait to find. If you are at all interested in learning about WWII, whether you know some, nothing, or a lot about it going in, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. This is a hidden gem.
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LBi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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One word, amazing. I loved every part of this book. I don't know why this isn't required reading for high school students. There was way more World history in this book than my entire college World History class.

I am still impressed with the lasting nature of the war on modern international relations. Maybe that's because I am naive, or just plain ignorant. Either way, amazing is still the word I would pick.
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Thomask_01
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Great overview of the causes of the war, the war itself, and the aftermath. Covers various war topics (such as the Resistance, or submarine battles in the Atlantic) in their own chapters while also moving chronologically through the war itself.
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DevilKirito
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This is a good, concise history of WWII. Stokesbury talks about some of the 'what ifs' of WWII, but not nearly as much as I expected after reading the back. This is a good book to give an overall picture of the war. I listened to the Audio version, but I am looking forward to listening to Stokesbury's WWI book of similar title.
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