Rating: 
Summary: The foremost scholarly single-volume history of WWII
Review: Gerhard L. Weinberg has brought forth a thoughtful history of World War II, distinguished by its comprehensive scope and coherent organization. The broad sweep of the war is organized around the foreign policies of the combatants, which clarifies the causes of the war and its development within the strategic rationale of the contestants. This approach also reveals the tensions within each of the alliances. For the Allies, the reader sees the particular controversies that were subsumed to the greater goal of defeating the Axis, but which in some ways presaged the antagonisms of the Cold War. For the Axis, it was not so much the tensions, but rather the mutual disregard for each other's aims that was determinative, exemplified by Japan's blunder of attacking Pearl Harbor and Germany's unwillingness to reach an accord with the USSR as German military power waned. A history such as this is especially useful for reacquainting us with the challenges of multilateralism as the anomalous international system of the Cold War recedes. In this regard, I also favor Dean Acheson's memoirs, "Present at the Creation."Hitler's essential focus on gaining the agricultural and industrial resources of the Ukraine provides rationality to German actions, and explains why the USSR faced such a tremendous burden, with staggering human cost, holding the Eastern Front. Japan's own ambitions are similar in that it hoped to secure natural resources through dominance of the western Pacific. Distinctly irrational for both countries, however, was the systematic savagery that was integral to their operations. In Germany's case, these activities were an extension of its racial purity policies of the 1930s, culminating in the Holocaust, as well as its intent to cleanse ethnically the Soviet territory it occupied in preparation for relocating Germans into these areas. Weinberg starkly describes the utter darkness that fell across the world at the start of the war: Germany's ejection of British forces from Europe and Greece; the capitulation of France; the encirclement of Soviet forces by the hundreds of thousands; Japan's sweep throughout the western Pacific; and the near-total isolationism of the United States. As the war proceeded, strategic misjudgments by the Axis provided an opportunity for the Allies to rally. Britain passed the trial of the Battle of Britain, the United States was drawn in to the war by Pearl Harbor, and the USSR, if not without tragic waste, developed the highly effective force that was to be the bulwark and eventually the bludgeon against the Wehrmacht. At the same time, the Axis passed its high watermarks of the war with strategic defeats at Midway and Stalingrad. Weinberg's history appreciates these events not only with respect to their diplomatic and military ramifications, but also the technological, economic, and demographic forces at work. While key engagements are dealt with in their strategic and operational context, a history like this will probably not be of tremendous interest to students of particular battles, or of anecdotal combat experiences. Also, despite the current focus on combating terrorism, Weinberg's description of the reordering of global relations in the aftermath of the war remains relevant today. This book draws on historical source material that became available in the early 1990s. Graduate students in history take note: Weinberg offers numerous ideas for thesis research. Another contemporary history, "A War to be Won" by Williamson Murray and Allan R. Millett, would probably also be worth reading in conjunction with Weinberg. As much as I favor this book, I have to admit that it was a cumbersome read. Not that it was poorly written, but the scope of the subject demands much from the reader. Still, determination yields an edifying read, and this authoritative history, with its absence of axe-grinding and hobby-horsing, is worthy of one's serious attention. Afterwards, one major impression I was left with is that although the international system failed to thwart the ambitions of fascist nations, contributing to the causation of the war, during the war a combination of diverse forces permitted the Allies to rally from profound defeat and eventually renew the international system in victory. The maps, which are hidden between the bibliographic notes and index, are minimally useful, and I highly recommend "The Times Atlas of the Second World War" (out of print, unfortunately and inexplicably) in order to appreciate Weinberg's descriptions of the campaigns as they unfold.
Rating:
Summary: As fine a one-volume history as we could hope to have
Review: Gerhard L. Weinberg's single-volume history of WW II is truly remarkable in that it presents not merely an account of the battles and major events of the war, but the politics and diplomacy that were truly as important and as essential as what happened on the battlefield. Too many histories of wars are written by historians who are fixated on battles, and the development of wartime technology, and bombing campaigns, and tactics on the field. Weinberg does not neglect these expects of the war, but he knows that these other aspects are in large part an outgrowth of other factors: industrial output, the cooperation between allies in sharing ideas, goals, and materials as well as coordinating battle plans, and the personalities driving each country. In short, this is a comprehensive history of World War Two, and not merely an account of its military campaigns. Not only this, but Weinberg successfully addresses the greatest fault of most Anglo-European histories of the war: to focus too much on the European Western front and the Pacific campaign, ignoring the fact that by far the greatest amount of fighting--both in terms of men deployed and in casualties suffered and inflicted--came on the long and decision Russian front. Although the Germans deployed far more of their military along their Eastern front, in the West we constantly tend to forgot this. Unquestionably, this is in part a function of the natural myopia all human beings are subject, as we tend to focus more closely on those aspects of an affair that more directly involve us. But in the West it is also a lingering offshoot of the Cold War, during which time Americans and Europeans unquestionably minimized and even ignored the massive Soviet contributions to the war. No nation gave more of its lifeblood in the winning of World War Two, and Weinberg is to be praised for writing accurately about it. Despite being only one volume, this is truly a massive book. Weinberg deals with every imaginable aspect of the war, some that I have already noted. It is a weighty, thick book, replete with extensive bibliography and footnotes. There are no illustrations, a decision that was probably made because there are thousands of other books that visualize the war in every imaginable fashion. My complaint concerns the paucity of maps. There are a group of maps contained at the end of the volume, but I think the text would have been far more useful with a series of additional and smaller maps that would have more precisely located geographically where major events were taking place. But this is a minor point. A more substantial criticism is that the book leaves out almost entirely the social aspect of the war and does not deal as extensively with what was happening on the homefront, on how the war was changing and altering the nations participating. For instance, the war exerted massive influence on the United States, having dramatic effects on politics, race, gender, and economic matters. These topics are almost completely left alone. In a one-volume history, one must make decisions about what to leave in and out, and Weinberg focuses on the fighting and the geopolitical aspects. There is a wealth of other one-volume histories of World War Two available, but this is, I believe, clearly the one for anyone wanting to learn more about the war in depth to read. I would, however, argue that any event the magnitude of WW II requires the serious student to approach it from several points of view. No single volume could ever do the trick.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best one-volume surve of the Second World War.
Review: Gerhard Weinberg combines massive archival research in three countries with exhaustive use of secondary sources and a steady supply of trenchant observations in order to create what simply has to be acknowledged as the single best one-volume history of World War II. Its flaws should be acknowledged--overemphasis on diplomatic history, underemphasis on the Pacific--but its flaws in no way denigrate from the incredible accomplishment. Even the endnotes are a pleasure to read. Although praise rarely falls so readily from my lips, I simply have to emphasize that this is a must-read for any student of World War II.
Rating:
Summary: The Best all around volume about WW II !!!
Review: Gerhard Weinberg did something I thought it was impossible to do: to give to anyone, even those who never read about WW II, a general picture of the conflict and all his different fronts. At the same time, he gave people who read a lot about it, a book that in only one voluem contain all the important facts. Very good!
Rating:
Summary: A breathtaking overview of the most important war
Review: Gerhard Weinberg has written a magnum opus on this, the most important and devastating event of history, at least of modern history. It is not an exaggeration to say that Weinberg has summed up practically all the relevant literature -at least the academic one- written on WWII. From the digestion of this enormous quantity of material, the author has produced a truly global history of the war. Weinberg emphasizes, at all times and above all, the extremely complex and intricate interrelationships of all the theaters of war; the way in which every nation and every leader had to have in mind, all the time and simultaneously, the different aspects of war. To us simple mortals, the task looks overwhelming: from internal politics, to weapon production, to logistics, to casualties, to inter-allied relationships, etc., managing the war seems to me to have been the most complex task that any group of human beings has ever faced. Of course, Weinberg's brush is wide: he is trying to give the reader a sense of the globality of the war itself, sterssing put the high politics and high diplomacy that led every effort.. And the way he does it is superb. Yes, it is a long reading, but it is never tiresome or hard. The author uses a very straightforward language, a narrative tone and even a sense of humor, by the way, a satirical, dry and subtle humor. There are no ideological theories here, no simple justification of any actions, no sentimentality: there are facts. Whenever a situation is obscure or speculative, the author lets you know. I would say more: without a novelistic language, the pace of the narrative makes you think of a long novel on a continuous climax: terrible and astonishing things are happening all the time at all places; these events influence one another, changing the situation in every theater on a continuous basis. You really get to think of this war, as I said, as the ultimate chess game in history. Each participant is carefully analyzed, some of the most important leaders receive acute and even unforgiving evaluations (e.g. Montgomery and MacArthur). Every chapter of the war, every theater, receives its measure of importance. Well-rounded, well written, clear and to the point, this book is indispensable for anybody trying to understand this most complex of human deeds. I had read a lot about WWII before, both for pure personal interest, and as assigned reading during my B.A. and M.A. studies, but this book set many things straight, especially a cronological and spatial understanding of how the war started, developed and ended. The final chapter is an excellent conclusion. It states the main consequences of the war, with a surprisingly optimistic assessment of what the war left for future generations, once the personal and direct suffering and cruel bitterness of the memories assumes its place in history proper. One last thing: all of us who were born after the war, and especially all of us who thank God had never had to go to war, should read this, lest some other fools in the future try to achieve as stupid a human plan as Hitler's (I thoroughly enjoyed the elegant and subtle, but devastating way in which the author emphasizes the folly of this man as the main single cause of the war. let's never forget that).
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Summary: Political history 1939-1945 completely documented.
Review: Gerhard Weinberg's A World at Arms is a must possession for every World War 2 buff. Even as a reference work never read continuously its beautifully complete index will page you in on every significant event in a conflict that Weinberg sees and treats as a storm that enveloped every country in the world; even Uruguay and Mexico are indexed. After I had begun the book, some confusion that arose from viewing a documentary about the battle of Leyte Gulf was promptly cleared up by reading Weinberg's account with the relevant maps. I have been waiting for this book for a long time and recommend it highly for those readers whose sophistication about these events demands references when they read that Douglas McArthur received a great deal of money from Filipino President Manuel Quezon when they departed for safety on 11 March 1942. This is not a book for those who want a quickly readable survey of American involvement in the conflict. Details is what this book is about--stupendously documented details, mainly to do with shifting alliances within the Axis and Allied responses; there are, for example, eight indexed references to Sir John Dill, the man who more than any other was responsible for smoothing out the prickles in the Anglo-American alliance. Details, however, do not always make for easy reading. An academic historian whose expertise stems from his intimate knowledge of the relevant documentary archives, Weinberg writes academic prose. Few of his sentences would pass the Fleischman criteria for readibility. Even a reader used to this kind of prose will find that one sentence in ten requires re-reading. And sometimes we wish that the author had chosen a different way of putting his point. And the publisher could have seen to it that the maps in the appendix of such an important book were of a quality equal to the thought behind this great work. Nonetheless, any complaints here are mere quibbles; @ 3 cents per page this book is a bargain by any one's accounting. Thank you Dr. Weinberg and Cambridge University Press!
Rating:
Summary: Legacy
Review: Has there ever been a more comprehensive overview of WWII? I would say not likely. Gerhard starts off with major points from WWI, and that WWII was not an extension of the earlier conflict. It was its own; the roots of the war can be laid at different feet. The author I'd noticed tends to repeat himself on different topics of the war, and I think illustrations complementing passages about the course of the battles would work nicely, but still gripping all the same. His thouroughness is quite evident: His bibliography is huge. He'd obviously taken great time an effort for this work. I would recommend this for someone looking to learn about the WHOLE war. The information can be overwhelming and slow in some passages, but is worth the read. A qualified 5 stars.
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Summary: This is THE book
Review: I have been reading about the second war for some
20 years, books written both in the East and West.
This is the first book that I am really completely
satisfied with. It gives you a global overview
of the conflict and it also often gives you a local view. The scope ranges from international diplomats and opinions of presidents/dictators through officers to cilivians caught up in the conflict. It very carefully supports its claims with primary documents (about one quarter of the book is references!) and doesn't neglect a single facet of the global conflict, trying to judge their importance. Even though on ocassions you may not agree with the author's conclusions, he will always at least give you the relevant data and interesting food for thoughts.
In short, it is the ideal one-volume introduction to the crucial conflict of our modern history. Considering the scope of its material, the book is suprisingly well readable. The only fault I can think of is its too small and crowded maps. Another fault is that it is too large to be carried in a pocket so that you could have it on you all the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Political, rather than military history
Review: I just finished with this epic work. After reading this history, one acquires a sense of what was going on in the minds of the leaders, and a taste of the combat. There are obviously a number of works detailing specifics of different theatres of the war and battles and fighting men and women. This book is not for you if you want details of the fighting. Rather, it elaborates the thinking behind the strategies employed, and you go away with a sense of the whole picture from a political view, and it helps explain the times before, during, and after the war that took 60 million lives. Sometimes it seems a bit callous to merely mention the toll in suffering as a statistic of the number dead in each operation, but that is not what this book centers on. It is a good account of the leaders of ALL the countries affected, and a good education. A bit dry at times, one is rewarded by insights not previously available. It might have been improved by some photographs, since it IS over 900 pages not counting the notes.
Ron Giuntini
San Francisco.
Rating:
Summary: Essential Reading on WWII
Review: I just wish to note that this is not a military history of the war. It is a politial/social/economic history. But if you want to understand the second world war it is absolutely essential reading. I think it would take years to learn from other sources the wealth of material that Weinberg has distilled into his magnum opus.
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