Book Recommendation: The Second World Wars: How the First Global
Conflict Was Fought and Won by Victor Davis
Hanson
This
terrific book was lent to me by a friend. I have read hundreds of books about
WWII or various aspects of it. This was by far the best. There are a thousand
books that will tell you what happened. “The
Second World Wars” tells also tells you why things happened as they did. As
he did for the Peloponnesian War in “A
War Like No Other,” Hanson does not write in chronological order, but
breaks the various wars (he says that many wars joined into one) down into
parts like Airpower, Sea Power, Land Power, Industrial and Economic Power, Sieges,
Invasions, the leaders, and at the end, who gained what. Perhaps the most
powerful section is entitled “The Dead,” which gives casualty estimates by
country. WWII killed over 60 million people, about as many as died during Mao’s
various purges, revolutions and famines in China after he came to power. You
will be both overwhelmed and surprised. He says that about 23,000 civilians
died every day of World War II, about four times the dead at Gettysburg. This
is a must-read for military history and WWII buffs. It should be read by every
college student, but of course few could read a book of this length (over 500
pages). Get it.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment