Rating: 
Summary: Want a tour-de-force read on WWII? This is it!!!
Review: "A World At Arms" is quite frankly one of the best books on WWII I have ever read (I've read few). This is one packed book. Weinberg covers the events leading up to the war, as well as the events themselves. Although 1300ish pages in length it reads like a 250 page books that fills your soul with facts! You'll get the how's, who's, where's, and why's - even if you already know the when's and what's they're there also. Truly a "world" perspective, Weinberg includes it all. It really is hard to now imagine how much this book covered and how easily it does it. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Yet, block some time, even though it's an easy read it is more than half the length of "War and Peace" so it takes time - but time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Want a tour-de-force read on WWII? This is it!!!
Review: "A World At Arms" is quite frankly one of the best books on WWII I have ever read (I've read few). This is one packed book. Weinberg covers the events leading up to the war, as well as the events themselves. Although 1300ish pages in length it reads like a 250 page books that fills your soul with facts! You'll get the how's, who's, where's, and why's - even if you already know the when's and what's they're there also. Truly a "world" perspective, Weinberg includes it all. It really is hard to now imagine how much this book covered and how easily it does it. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Yet, block some time, even though it's an easy read it is more than half the length of "War and Peace" so it takes time - but time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Want a tour-de-force read on WWII? This is it!!!
Review: "A World At Arms" is quite frankly one of the best books on WWII I have ever read (I've read few). This is one packed book. Weinberg covers the events leading up to the war, as well as the events themselves. Although 1300ish pages in length it reads like a 250 page books that fills your soul with facts! You'll get the how's, who's, where's, and why's - even if you already know the when's and what's they're there also. Truly a "world" perspective, Weinberg includes it all. It really is hard to now imagine how much this book covered and how easily it does it. I can't recommend this book highly enough. Yet, block some time, even though it's an easy read it is more than half the length of "War and Peace" so it takes time - but time well spent.
Rating:
Summary: Weinberg authors a historical masterpiece
Review: "A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II," is a historical masterpiece. Hats off to Author Gerjard L. Weinberg for maintaining a high degree of objectivity and not waving any partisan flags. All serious students of World War II "must" study this comprehensive work. To this end, the preface, body, conclusion, notes, maps and index are outstanding. This heavy-weight Cambridge Univeristy Press book (1,178 pages) belongs in every library. Moreover, the author must be commended for starting this book when his wife (who urged him to continue) was already fighting cancer. A battle she eventually lost. Weinberg brings a compelling focus to World War II that few historians can match (particularly with the German/Soviet Union confrontation)...I for one am grateful for his dedication. I first read this book nearly ten years ago...and now realize just how great this man's vision extends. Weinberg is truly a remarkable historian. Highly recommended for those who want the truth about World War II. Bert Ruiz
Rating:
Summary: Global is right!
Review: (by E.M. Singer, author of "Mother Flies Hurricanes") Global is right, in both content and size (1178 page thick!). The main thrust of Weinberg's book is to tie the various theaters of WWII into an interrelated whole, so that you can see that what happened here, caused this to happen there, and that in turn caused that and that and that, and etcetera and so forth. Pretty deep for the novice reader; more for the serious researcher. If you haven't read anything about WWII yet, it would be better to start with an easier book (check out recommedations at the motherflieshurricanes.com website), then go on to this one.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Single Volumes on WWII
Review: A work of tremendous scholarship and penetrating insight. Mr. Weinberg weaves a broad tapestry, utilizing both diplomatic and archival sources and the vast body of literature on this subject. What truly sets this book apart is his dispassionate analysis of German and Japanesse motives and actions using each country's archives. He is particularily good at pointing out the German Army's complicity in the Holacaust and the fact that 2.9 Russian POWs died in the first nine months of Russo-German conflict. While he is does not dwell on the military aspect of the conflict, his analysis is remarkably clearheaded -- often much better than books focusing soley on this aspect. Mr. Weinberg gives an added bonus: his bibliographic essay. His essay is a primer on his sources for virtually every category of the war -- what's good, what's flawed and what is self-serving. A great book and a valuable research resource.
Rating: 
Summary: Strong on Strategy, Short on Drama
Review: A World at Arms is the best single-volume history of WWII I've read. The book's strengths are in analyzing the global strategy (or lack thereof) of the various participants and the interrelationship of various theaters. Weinberg does a great job of weaving developments on obscure fronts (Finland, Sub-Saharan Africa, India) and the behavior of neutrals (Sweden, Turkey, Portugal) into the general narrative. He is particularly good on Soviet-Japanese relations and his use of Japanese diplomatic sources commenting on the war in Europe is fascinating. In general the tone is dispassionate, although there are occasional flashes of well-deserved scorn for the Axis and their apologists. Once Weinberg has made such a point, however, he often can't resist making it again and again. For example, he repeatedly derides the supposed "success" of Germany's aerial rearmament in the 1930s, by pointing out that Germany was eventually bombed to bits--a marginal argument and not one that needs to be repeated in each summary of developments in the air war. The book sticks mostly to grand strategy and doesn't try to recreate the experience of the war, either on the battlefield or the home front. It also eschews biographical sketches of the major figures, perhaps assuming that they are already sufficiently familiar. Use of memorable quotations (such as Churchill's matchless oratory) would have lent more color and spark to the narrative. My biggest quibble with the book is maps. The publisher has generally produced a very handsome volume, but the maps are tucked into the back rather than interspersed with the text. Moreover, they are few in number, difficult to read, and lacking in detail. Nevertheless, the book is an excellent introduction to the subject as well as a valuable synthesis of recent research.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Single Volume History of WWII
Review: Because of his years in Columbia University's War Documentation Project and his work microfilming captured German documents for the American Historical Association, Gerhard Weinberg has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of World War II. This massive book is the apex of Weinberg's work on the war, and it summarizes the entire war in a single volume. At a recent lecture i was impressed by the author's derision at Nazi strategy, which he considers highly overrated. Weinberg writes simply and with great clarity, and while this book will seldom be read cover-to-cover, it will be memorable for the WWII enthusiast or the general reader.
Rating:
Summary: The best in its category
Review: Certainly the best book on WWII as a whole that I've ever read. Very good at connecting all the different events in different areas. The maps are almost useless, though. I kept a copy of the Times Atlas of WWII next to me while reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive but map-challenged
Review: Disclaimer: I'm but an amateur historian. I learned practically everything I know about WWII from this book. Very dense, tough to read more than a few pages a night--certainly not an Ambrose-type book. But I can't imagine a more sweeping or definitive history of WWII than Weinberg presents here. The maps, on the other hand...unless you are a geography wizard or have extensive knowledge of all WWII theatres, you'll need a historical atlas to help you through this. I certainly did.
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