The Greatest War - Volume I: From Pearl Harbor to the Kasserine Pass

by Gerald Astor

One of the nation's most acclaimed military historians presents an authoritative and dramatic three-volume oral history of World War II.

Genres: History

576 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Gerald Morton Astor, a native of New Haven, grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y. After his Army service in the Second World War, he received a bachelor’s degree from Princeton. He was the picture editor of Sports Illustrated in its early years and worked as an editor for Sport magazine, Look, The Saturday Evening Post and Time.

Besides his accounts of the Battle of the Bulge and the air war in Europe, Mr. Astor wrote of World War II in books including “The Greatest War: Americans in Combat, 1941-1945,” “June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day,” “Operation Iceberg: The Invasion and Conquest of Okinawa in World War II” and biographies of Maj. Gen. Terry Allen, a leading combat commander in both North Africa and Europe, and the Nazi medical experimenter Dr. Josef Mengele.

He also wrote “The Right to Fight: A History of African Americans in the Military” and “Presidents at War,” an account of presidents’ evolving assertion of authority to take military action in the absence of a Congressional declaration of war.

Mr. Astor edited “The Baseball Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary Book” and wrote a biography of the heavyweight champion Joe Louis, “And a Credit to His Race.” He collaborated with Anthony Villano, a former F.B.I. agent who recruited informants from the Mafia, in “Brick Agent.”

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gerald Astor was one of the country's best military historians. This particular book, replete with the oral histories of several veterans who had served in the earliest campaigns waged by the U.S. in the Second World War, brings alive the sense of shock, despair, defeat, and hope that typified those challenging times. It was very sobering to read the eyewitness accounts of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and one Army nurse who took part in the Battle of the Philippines, which resulted in one of the most grievous defeats in U.S. military history. There are also accounts of the first efforts made by the U.S. Army Air Force (USAAF) in the air war over Europe against Germany, and the Battles of the Java Sea, Coral Sea, Midway, Port Moresby (New Guinea), and Guadalcanal.

The book ends with accounts of Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa (November 1942), where U.S. forces fought the Germans for the first time in ground combat. Indeed, the U.S. went through considerable growing pains there, learning from its mistakes, as it began the slow process of building an efficient and effective fighting force. This is a book which will give the reader a deep appreciation for the sacrifices those veterans made on our behalf 70 years ago. Their stories bring an immediacy to the history that makes it vividly alive once more.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it. First-hand accounts of WWII battles? What's not to love. I just felt that it wasn't organized in any kind of cohesive narrative. It bounced between the Pacific Theater to the Atlantic with no apparent logic. I got about 2/3s through and I finally had to throw in the towel after realizing I was getting the geography, planes, weapons, and people mixed up and I honestly didn't care enough to stick with it (and I have read multiple books on both World Wars, so it's not me). There are far better books on the war out there (dozens if not hundreds). Read those.

[Daniel Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting read. Some of the accounts were striking. However, the author's flow putting the accounts into a whole was lacking. Sometimes hard to follow. Sometimes strange pacing; nearly 5 chapters on the Philippines but only 10 pages on Midway? Coral Sea less than 5 pages? That's why despite my interest in the subject and the very good personal accounts I can't go over three stars.

[Mark Braun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good information, some rather abrupt shifts from one Theater to another but a good read over all.