Rating: 
Summary: Simply Excellent!
Review: Simply a superbly written broad history of World War II. I loved this book because it reads much like a novel and has the proper amount of detail without becoming mired in it. Pre-war causes and crisis were given a great amount of emphasis, and focuses on all aspects of the War. Interesting focus on Axis mistakes which cost them the War. Proper emphasis on the Eastern front is given as well as the falicy of French defensive tactics and frankly, this is the best easy reading, broad topic, book on World War II that I have found so far, suitable for beginners and people with extensive WWII knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent World War Two Summary
Review: The reviewer who said WW2 is impossibly complex was right, but this book is an outstanding overview of the subject. Objective, clear, concise, and interesting. Some hisotrical books are so dull all they are good for is curing insomnia but not this one. It moves right along and is never boring. From here you could easily decide how to focus your further readings according to the chapters or section you found most interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview of impossibly complex subject
Review: This book sets an impossible task...and very nearly succeeds. The rub is in the phrase "short history." If there's one central lesson to be drawn from this book it's that World War II was immensely complex, with ramifications so vast that it's impossible to discuss them all at any depth in a "short" book. At 150,000 or so words, this book is a lot more than an outline, but it's still forced to abbreviate. If you're interested in details about any given campaign, or any given individual, you're going to be disappointed; if you have a favorite World War II topic or personality, you're bound to feel that it's been given short shrift. Even the most famous battles rarely rate more than a page or two. Where this book triumphs is in putting presenting the big picture--military, political, and to some extent cultural--and in drawing interconnections such as why the North Africa campaigns sucked the Allies into a nightmare slog down the Italian peninsula, or how Germany's conquest of Norway helped tip the scales in the Battle of Britain.Overall, this is a masterful achievement. Is it flag-waving, as some would say? Perhaps--but remember, the author's writing from Nova Scotia, which gives him a Canadian-eye view that allows some detachment in his references to "the British" or "the Americans." (Given the fact he was writing in 1980, that might also explain why he takes a dim view of De Gaule, whose post-war association with French Canada stirred many resentments.) Stokesbury clearly views this war as the crowning achievement of "The Greatest Generation," even if the book pre-dates that phrase. And maybe he's right. Highly recommended, especially to those wanting to put recent World War II movies into context.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview of impossibly complex subject
Review: This book sets an impossible task...and very nearly succeeds. The rub is in the phrase "short history." If there's one central lesson to be drawn from this book it's that World War II was immensely complex, with ramifications so vast that it's impossible to discuss them all at any depth in a "short" book. At 150,000 or so words, this book is a lot more than an outline, but it's still forced to abbreviate. If you're interested in details about any given campaign, or any given individual, you're going to be disappointed; if you have a favorite World War II topic or personality, you're bound to feel that it's been given short shrift. Even the most famous battles rarely rate more than a page or two. Where this book triumphs is in putting presenting the big picture--military, political, and to some extent cultural--and in drawing interconnections such as why the North Africa campaigns sucked the Allies into a nightmare slog down the Italian peninsula, or how Germany's conquest of Norway helped tip the scales in the Battle of Britain. Overall, this is a masterful achievement. Is it flag-waving, as some would say? Perhaps--but remember, the author's writing from Nova Scotia, which gives him a Canadian-eye view that allows some detachment in his references to "the British" or "the Americans." (Given the fact he was writing in 1980, that might also explain why he takes a dim view of De Gaule, whose post-war association with French Canada stirred many resentments.) Stokesbury clearly views this war as the crowning achievement of "The Greatest Generation," even if the book pre-dates that phrase. And maybe he's right. Highly recommended, especially to those wanting to put recent World War II movies into context.
Rating: 
Summary: History
Review: This is a good, short, compact history of all the major events that happened in the war. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a basic idea of what went on during WWII.
Rating:
Summary: A Very Good Book For Beginners
Review: This is a very good overview of WWII. Excellent development of the time period leading up to Sept. 1939. It is very easy to read and hard to put down.
Rating:
Summary: Very good overview of World War II
Review: This is a very good overview of WWII. Excellent development of the time period leading up to Sept. 1939. It is very easy to read and hard to put down.
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