Saturday, May 19, 2012
The Second World War Volume II
I recently read The Second World War Volume II by Winston Churchill and the Editors of Life. As it might sound, this book is a non-fiction book written about the second half of World War II. After the Second World War, Life magazine wanted to make a great tome about such an important event - but they wanted to make it even more important by having an important figure who was alive during that period write it (with their assistance). This figure turned out to be Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II. This book starts at Stalingrad and ends at the creation of the Iron Curtain in Europe, packed with quotes and wonderful photos and paintings along the way. I won't really mention the content of the book in any greater detail, because a) WWII is a massive event and writing about it even in great vagueness would take a long time and b) one can just Wikipedia it. Churchill writes about both major and minor battles, as well as about victories and defeats on all sides and nations - he doesn't write the book simply about Britain and America, which is a shortcoming in several books that I've read. Churchill has a way of making what would normally be just a dull history textbook into something palatable, something delectable. Possibly what adds to this could be the fact that he brings his own experiences into it, such as major conferences with the other leaders, which would not be present in an ordinary history book. However, this book is not for everyone. If you enjoy history and/or World War II, you'll love this book like nobody's business. Unfortunately, if you don't fit the above categories, you probably will find this book dull. All in all, I really enjoyed this book and hope to find the first volume as well.
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I really enjoy history a lot. I love to read especially about world war two also . This sounds like a great book to read and I like biographies too. This sounds like a good book for history facts, quotes and photos. It is cool that this book is about a person of who would be on the other side of world war two and not in a persons shoes who was on the allies side. I hope to have time to read this book this summer.
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds fun. I relish history a lot so I will probably read this book. This book is tempting because of the Chruchill's style of writing where he can enliven a dull situation. I was reading the Pentagon Papers and although the authors' writing style delivered information in a straightforward way, it was still boring as wall unable to retain my interest. However, if this book can reinvent dull situations into interesting ones, I will read it. Overall, great summary.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoy history, and this book sounds interesting to me. You gave a great summary of the content of the book, and it seems like this book would go into much greater depth than our history textbook did. I am especially interested in learning more about WW2, and obviously this book would give me a chance to do so. Most importantly, this book is written by someone who has experienced firsthand the events of this time period, and this would definitely make it an even better book. I will certainly consider reading this book.
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