Rating: 
Summary: Unique In Satsifying the Blended Genre Reader
Review: I go from historical romance novels to historical fiction to non-fiction but easy-to-read history. Each of them has its own slant on perspective about that era, ranging from history-as- wallpaper to up-close rendering, as if you were there. This is one of the very few novels that manages to combine the elements of all 3 kinds of those books into a very gripping reading saga of WWII. So you are given well researched history in a very palatable form. It follows an interrelated cast of characters all over the map with WWII, taking us deeply into the critical locales. There is even a fascinating account given by a German general, interspersed throughout, of the war as seen through the opposite side's eyes. Wouk does an incredible job and his sequel, "War and Remembrance" is almost as goood.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good, just misses great.
Review: I just recently read Winds of War and its sequel, War and Remembrance. They were both excellent novels. Wouk strikes me as a talented writer, who employs all the technical tools of his trade-such as using letters, excerpts from a military analysis (fictional) to help lend depth to his characters and a framework for the events of the novel. Winds of War, in particular, grabbed me and by the end I was frantic to get to the sequel to find out what happens to the Henry clan. I agree with another reviewer who writes about the steady developement and changes to Byron and how believeable it is. A great read (both of them) I would also recommend for similar novels (albeit different periods) "A Soldier of the Great War" and "Killer Angels" One final note, you may want to pause b/w reading the two novels as I found towards the latter third of War and Remembrance that I was getting tired of the book, but I read the two back to back over the course of three weeks.
Rating:
Summary: Epic Storytelling
Review: Let's start off by being clear here: Winds of War is not a bang-em up war book. Although there are scenes of battles, they are told either (a) from the perspective of an observer (i.e. Pug Henry seeing the battle unfolding); (b) or as a historical overview of what happened during the battle. So, in answer to the negative review that this book contained no major military battles: it isn't that kind of book. Winds of War is essentially a story about the Henry family and Pug and Byron in particular against the backdrop of the rise of the Third Reich. Both Pug and Byron have vastly different love interests and the book interweaves their love stories with the events that lead up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of course, the book is so much more that a romance novel. Wouk takes his main characters from the German invasion of Poland, to England during the Battle of Britain, to Moscow during Operation Barbarossa, and finally to Pearl Harbor and Manilla Bay. (with lots of other ports of call in between). Interspersed in the book are excerpts from a fictional book written by a german general after the war (and after Neuremburg). These excerpts give a fascinating look into the "german side" of the war. Wouk also uses these excerpts to give historical context to many of the battles and events which occur behind the scenes. Winds of War doesn't merely tely a story, it attempts to describe why certain events occurred. For example, the characters in the book don't merely react to Hitler and call him every bad name in the book; certain of the characters actually discuss why they think Hitler rose to power. Wouk then takes the character's opinions on certain events to help explain their conduct and make it more believable (for instance, Aaron Jastrow seems to lack concern when faced with the prospect of Nazi rule in part because of his knowledge of history and what he believes history tells him about the German people.) Each of the main characters is wonderfully unique and Wouk does an amazing job of keeping all the characters distinct, to the point where I could anticipate certain reactions (like Slote's nervous giggle in times of high stress). This is the fastest 1000 page book you will ever read.
Rating: 
Summary: ATTENTION: LITTLE OR NO MILITARY ACTION!
Review: Don't expect this to be some great, action-packed book describing bombing runs, sub wars, infantry skirmishes, etc, like I did. Instead, this book tells the story about a family that is scattered all over the place. In that respect, you certainly get around the world in this book. But the sad part is, nothing happens. They go to parties, talk, get married, talk some more. You don't read about the sons trying to assassinate Hitler or anything like that. This book is fictitious, but a lot of it could have happened. I suppose people who lived during WWII, whether they were in it or not might find this book great, but I wasn't around during WWII so a lot of this is like . . . okay, whatever. If there was a little more action, this book would be a lot better. Instead, I recommend DAS BOOT, HOSTILE WATERS, and A FAREWELL TO ARMS. Those are much better war books, even though all of them don't deal with WWII.
Rating:
Summary: A brief addition to the many reviews...
Review: Despite the fictional characters, I believe this book to be among the best sources available to get a sense of the world of the 1940's. As a baby boomer, I grew up among many adults who were directly or indirectly involved in World War II. Herman Wouk has captured the values and views of that generation in a way that no future novelist (one who was not an eyewitness to those times) will ever be able to do. The Henry family whose lives are traced through this book typify the straightforward Americans of that day. This book ought to have won a Pulitzer. Oh and finally, in case none of the other 37 reviewers mentioned it, for inquiring minds: "Wouk" rhymes with "oak".
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, don't stop with this one though.
Review: I've just finished reading War and Remembrance, the sequel. Together, this story is probably my favorite out of all the other books I have read. I can't really think of them as seperate books so I'll talk of them as a whole. The characters are brought to life so vividly that I am quite down and out now that I've finished reading about them and won't know what "happens next". If you get into it (which I had NO problem doing) you'll be rewarded with an extensive view of World War II from many different viewpoints. I really enjoyed it and hope you all do too.
Rating:
Summary: Wouk has written a winner.
Review: "The Winds of War" has almost everything in it: action, love , adventure, espionage, intrigue, and it manages to tell a story within a historical context that will, hopefully, lead readers to the appreciation of history itself. The greatest strength of the book is in Wouk's style and in his magnificent main character, Victor "Pug" Henry, who gets to be in the right place and at the right time to provide us with the best parts of this novel. Anothe strong, important character is Nathalie Jastrow, the Jewish girl who finds herself trapped in Europe when the war erupts. I did not care much for the extremely benign portrayal of President Roosevelt: the White House's policy toward the Jews remained unchanged throughout his mandate, so I cannot see him as some sort of closet-champion of the Jews. Another character who got in my nerves was Aaron Jastrow. This one was stupid, obstinate, blind to the danger looming over him and his family, and too convinced of his own scholarly achievements to see past his arrogance. True, many Jews were like that, didn't leave Europe in time, and paid dearly when the nazis got to them, but Jastrow's character felt like nails on a blackboard: not at all pleasant. As a counterpoint, authors do not have to write only about pleasant characters. Still, this book moves fast, entertains, and informs. Wouk seems to have a far-too-rosy idea of the US Navy and of the US at war, but that is understandable and, who knows: he may be right and I am probably wrong. His book, though, will leave you wanting more and, for that, stay tuned because "War and Remembrance" is on the horizon.
Rating: 
Summary: What you expect, probably
Review: The Winds of War is a decent, straightforward historical novel. It reminded me of similar books by authors like John Toland: the characters witness essentially all events of historical moment so that the author can do "the whole story," and that evaporates most possible suspense about where the book's going. It's hard to work up tension over whether lend lease will pass in those circumstances; you take the big events for granted. In many ways I find real history to be more surprising and suspenseful than novelizations of it. That being said, Wouk's choice to bring the novel only up to the American entry into the war was an adroit one. He orbits around his extended Henry family, touching on its friends and acquaintances as is convenient for the outline of the war/plot; the personal stories have a flavor to them that makes sense in the context of America's ambivalence about entering the fighting. For a historical epic sort of a novel, that was a good decision. The other fun side of the book is the framing faux-history of the war from the perspective of a German army officer. Wouk makes "van Roon" a figure roughly comparable to Victor "Pug" Henry, his America protagonist - a staff officer at the planning level. Partly this lets the author present the German side of things, but you wouldn't describe the effort as unbiased. Pug has translated van Roon's post war recapitulation of events, is the idea, and some sly little asides sneak in along the way. Again, there's nothing really surprising about the stuff, it's just pleasantly well done by Mr. Wouk. If you enjoyed Winds of War, or if you want to read books like it and can't decide which ones, I would recommend two very readable history titles: * John Toland's nonfiction titles, with the glaring exception of Day of Infamy. The Rising Sun is probably Toland's best general history, though it's only the Pacific theater. * The War, 1939-1945, edited by Desmond Flower. An amazing collection of first person accounts that span the war. No fictional contrivance can compare with the voices in this book, not meaning any offense to the capable Mr. Wouk. This will keep you up very late at night.
Rating:
Summary: History with a personal perspective...
Review: I read Winds of War (and then its sequel, War and Remembrance) a few years ago and enjoyed it thoroughly. Herman Wouk weaves in the story of the Henry family through the ordeal of Second World War. The reader gets a very personal look at World War II (on all fronts, including the Holocaust) through the eyes of this tight knit American family. Although it's a pretty big book, the pages fly by...!
Rating: 
Summary: This is how history should be taught!
Review: This is the epic (850-page) story of the first years of World War II, from just before the beginning of the war until just after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and the United States reluctantly joined the war. The story is told through the experiences of the Henry family, which includes a naval capitain and his traditional navy wife; their two sons, a young naval fighter pilot and a submarine soldier who gets involved with a woman Jewish scholar; and their daughter, who works for a popular talk television show. The cast of characters extends beyond just the family to include a wide range of interesting characters on both sides of the war. Wouk does a neat job of placing the characters in situations that provide a multi-faceted view of what was going on during the days when Hitler marched through Poland, occupied France, took on the English and then marched east to fight the Soviets. He even manages to situate Captain Victor "Pug" Henry so that he can give a first-hand view of what Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini were up to. Wouk does an excellent job of portraying rich, multi-faceted, interesting characters whom you come to know and care about. Some of them you like, some you don't, but they're all fully drawn and very believable. I especially like that he has several (but not all) strong women characters. Through these characters, he tells the fascinating story of the early days of the war. Since I slept through history class in high school (why don't they teach it through historical fiction, I wonder?), most of the details were new to me, but I suspect even those with a better background would find this book full of interesting information. After reading this book, I discovered from an English friend that English school kids are taught that the English won the war, and I suspect the Soviets teach their kids the same thing. This book clearly has a US point of view and indicates that the Allies looked to the US to win the war. However, Wouk left me with a lot of respect for the English and the Soviets for digging in and resisting for so long with insufficient supplies. (Though I suspect that supplies are always insufficient in wartime.) He also uses several devices to convey how the Germans interpreted the war, which was useful. Overall, I was left with a clearer sense of how difficult it is to interpret events as they are happening and to know how to act, even if history makes it all seem so obvious in hindsight. There were times when I found it difficult to keep track of when things were happening, and I sometimes had trouble following some of the fairly technical military situations, despite wanting to understand. But I did learn a lot about military culture and the war, and very much enjoyed learning it. I've started reading the sequel, the even longer "War and Remembrance," so I obviously think it's worth another 1300+ pages. I want to find out what happens to the characters and how the details of the rest of the war played out.
|
