The Best 'Overall' Written Histories of WW2?

Not sure this really counts but I'm still reading Kershaw's Hitler - Nemesis and it's excellent from the German point of view.

 

Jeff
I have to agree with Von Poop regarding Alanbrooke's grasp of the Total strategy of WW2 - and his forcefulness to ensure that errors were kept to a minimum - which didn't make him too popular with many and his stubbornness in forcing his strategy on all the allies - PLUS the little known fact that he was the ONLY one of the Combined Chiefs of Staff to visit Mac Arthur whom he thought was your best strategic commander.

Apart from his diaries - his Biography by Gen.David Fraser is a worth while read for his grasp on all theatres...
Cheers

 

Adam

With ref to Alanbrooke's diary, you have reminded me what a super book it is and so I have decided to take my paperback copy with me to re-read while I am away in the near future.

It's always felt heavy, so, out of interest, I weighed it and was shocked to find that it weighs a massive 2lbs. Never mind..... it will make better reading than two novels !

I confess that I have never previously read it cover to cover, preferring to look up specific dates, but this time I intend to have a good go at its 700 odd pages

Ron

ps
I love the entry for May 8th '45
"A day disorganised by victory!

 

John Keegan said 'no history of the Second World War has been written'. Furthermore it'd be well into this century before someone did so.

I still feel that to a greater degree that stands.
When did he say that? In fact, John Keegan wrote one of the best overall histories of the conflict "The Second World War", a huge illustrated tome published in 1989.

What he says of WW2 in his Preface is this... No attempt to relate its causes, course and consequences in the space of a single volume can fully succeed.
but he continuesRather than narrate it as a continuous sequence of events, therefore, I decided from the outset to divide the story of the war into four topics - narrative, strategic analysis, battle piece and 'theme of war' - and to use these four topics to carry forward the history of the six main sections into which the war falls: the War in the West, 1939-43; the War in the East, 1941-3; the War in the Pacific, 1941-3; the War in the West, 1943-5; the War in the East, 1943-5; and the War in the Pacific, 1943-5. Each section is introduced by a piece of strategic analysis, centring on the figure to whom the initiative most closely belonged at that time - in order, Hitler, Tojo, Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt - and then continues, besides the appropriate passages of narrative, both a relevant 'theme of war' and a battle piece. Each of the battle pieces has been chosen to illustrate the nature of a particular form of warfare characteristic of the conflict. They are air warfare (the Battle of Britain), airborne warfare (the Battle of Crete), carrier warfare (Midway), armoured warfare (Falaise), city warfare (Berlin), and amphibious warfare (Okinawa). The 'themes of war' include war supply, war production, occupation and repression, strategic bombing, resistance and espionage, and secret weapons.
It is my hope that this scheme of treatment imposes a little order for the reader on the chaos and tragedy of the events I relate.
For me, his hopes are realised brilliantly.

I would also recommend Gerhard L. Weinberg's A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II, published in 1994 by the Cambridge University Press. As the review in The Economist said: "Splendid and truly encyclopedic".

Another huge tome (11 x 9 inches of 765 pages of 700,000 words) is The Simon Schuster Encyclopedia of Wold War II, published in 1978. Although an American production it is well balanced. The nine member editorial board included Masataka Chihaya, former commander of the Japanese Navy; Toshikazu Ohmae, former captain, Imperial Japanese Navy and former Chief Research Officer, Military History \section, Japanese Demobilization Bureau; Hasso von Manteuffel, General der Panzertruppen; Vladimir Petrov, Consultant Editor, Soviet Union, and Barrie Pitt, Consultant Editor, Great Britain. The book is worth it for the maps alone, all drawn by Richard Natkiel who was the Chief Cartographer of The Economist.

 

I see only one mention in this thread of Hart's history of the second world war. I read it many years ago, still have and dip into it and found it, for my uninformed mind, readable and informative.

However reading this thread I probably should now read a more modern work.

An Older XXXXXX to the forum.

 

Adam,

I take it Hastings is Max Hastings?

All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939-1945: Amazon.co.uk: Max Hastings: Books

Peter

 

I have not read Alanbrook, so my comments are based only on my assumption that his direct involvement in the PTO was limited. Given the antipathies that King had toward the British in general, I do not doubt that was so, where the Central Pacific Campaign is concerned.

Given Von Poop's marked accreditation of the works, perhaps I should try to find a copy.

 

Well, waddya know. You wait 20 minutes for a bus and then ....

The Second World War: Amazon.co.uk: Antony Beevor: Books

Found this nice sentence in the ST review "Publishers churn out titles on the conflict at a Stakkhanovite rate, yet few have anything new or surprising to say." Apparently Beevor's falls into that category.

 

...

 

Looks like Beevor's attempting one:
Yes Adam, look at my post above: #30

 

Looks like Beevor's attempting one:
Amazon.co.uk: Antony Beevor: Books, Biogs, Audiobooks, Discussions
That'll be dull...

If you think that's bad, just wait for the avalanche of First World War histories in the summer of 2014.

Best, Alan

 

That's a relief Adam I thought it was confirmation that no-one reads my posts.

 

A view from the top:



British Foreign Policy in the Second World War

 

If you think that's bad, just wait for the avalanche of First World War histories in the summer of 2014.

Best, Alan

are you writing one ALAN ??

 

it is well over 50 years since I read WINSTON CHURCHILLS volumes on W.W,2
thanks to the BRADFORD LIBRARY ,one must not forget CHESTER WILMOTS
CRUSADE IN EUROPE , and so many others ,over the years I find that personal experiences
of campaigns and such are more to my liking .I had a spell over a few years reading all the
books of P,O.W especially those under the japanese ,,I was also ,and still am really
obsessed with W,W,1 ,,I had better stop im beginning to wonder a bit ,,mind you i am
79 next month , so no doubt you will forgive me ...