The Complete Idiot’s Guide to World War II

by Mitchell G. Bard

The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II features coverage of the fateful D-Day invasion, a critical timeline of major WW II events and a WW II timeline highlighting the crucial and most important events of the war.

It also includes details about major battles on land, in the air and on the sea; starting with Hitler's rise to power and his goal of European conquest; to Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor; to the decisive battles such as D-Day and the Battle of the Midway, which turned they tides of the war towards the Allies.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, World War II

Audible Audio

First published April 6, 2010

About the author

Mitchell Bard is the Executive Director of the nonprofit American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE) and one of the leading authorities on U.S.-Middle East policy. Dr. Bard is also the director of the Jewish Virtual Library (www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org). Bard holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA. He has appeared on local, national, and international media outlets and written and edited 23 books, including After Anatevka - Tevye Goes to Palestine, Will Israel Survive? 48 Hours of Kristallnacht and The Arab Lobby.

Reviews

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is exactly what it says on the tin. It's designed to be an overview of an historical event (more like colossal amount of events all related to one another). Considering the sheer amount of information to be had on the subject of World War II alone, leaving out all the side books on the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, it does its job surprisingly well. While there were always going to be side points and bits that the reader wants to know more about, this book can't afford to go into that much detail, and it does its best to satisfy your curiosity as best it can given space limitations, while staying on point.

For those whose curiosity is not completely satisfied, and those whose interest is piqued and wish to read more (like me), there is a sizable 'recommended reading' portion at the back of the book.

Students today are taught little about the war, and what they find in textbooks is usually so cursory as to be useless.

This, hard . This is why I picked up the book in the first place--my education on the subject is further proof of the miserable and utter failure that is the United States education system--and I learned so much. I was also made well aware of how much more I have to learn, and these two things illustrate this volume's value. I very much believe that this book is extremely useful to those, like me, who are finished with school but still desire to learn about the war, and those students who are still in school but have become aware of how lacking their studies are in this area. It is an excellent place to start, and even a complete novice like myself did not feel overwhelmed at any point in the reading.

My only qualm was that there were only two or three maps in the whole thing, and visuals are very helpful when reading about military movements, but I suppose they were limited by the amount of space they had available.

Next sentence of the quote:

The previous chapter noted how Holocaust revisionism has become a growing problem as the witnesses to that tragedy pass away.

I was already aware of this issue, and while Holocaust deniers are extremely frustrating, the really sad part is that there's really nothing anyone can do, besides what they're already doing. You can educate, and you can believe, but you can't force anyone to believe the truth, as much as you'd like to. If they can continue to deny the Holocaust in the face of overwhelming evidence such as the many, many, many photographs and eyewitness accounts from people on both sides and the victims themselves who managed to survive it, then nothing you can say or do will change their minds.

It is extremely frustrating to know that there are people out there who can refuse to believe the truth so thoroughly, who are so delusional that they try to convince others that it's merely poison, a conspiracy, or other such rot. But I believe that such people are to be pitied, not hated or argued with. Pity them and then ignore them, because it is a very sad thing that there are people like these who simply cannot deal with such unpleasant truths. The Holocaust was the most horrible thing on such a large scale to happen in human history, and that is difficult to face. Pity the ones who find it so difficult that they refuse to face it at all; it is people like these who were the bystanders in Nazi Germany--the ones who watched as their neighbors and friends were taken away and did nothing, out of fear and disbelief in the rumors about what happened to those neighbors and friends. Those people deserve only pity, cowards that they are.

I'm not sure that's exactly what I mean, but I can't think of a better way to phrase it to get my meaning across, so I suppose that will do for now.

Anyway, if you're not already an expert on World War II, then I highly recommend diving into this book for a place to start!

[Susan Liston · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good, for the amount of ground it had to cover I feel it did quite a good job. (I read the Dummies Guide to WW2 ages ago, now...is idiot a promotion?) Actually, I find with myself if I want to really learn about a complicated subject, I have to just keep reading and watching the same information. I think of it like making a candle, every time I dip my brain into the melted wax hopefully another layer will stick.....

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did a great job of filling in all the blanks that were left by my schools' poor history programs.

My only complaint was a lack of sufficient maps, which would have helped my understanding a lot.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative! I am a big fan of the Idiot Guide books

[Chris D]

so far this book is very easy to understand

[Chad Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good informative book

I like this book. It was very easy to read and follow and did a very good job of giving some details while making sure the major points of each chapter, and piece of the war, was easy to recognize.
As the name indicates, this is not a deep dive World War 2 but rather the 10,000 foot view of the lead up, conflict itself and the after effects. It is done very well and would be a great introduction into World War 2 history.
Having read a lot of WW2 books, nothing in this book was surprising or Earth shattering. The whole book was put together in such a way as to make it inviting and interesting to both newbie history buffs and those more experienced.
I would definitely recommend it for someone wanting to get a solid basis on WW2 history. For those experienced WW2 buffs, it is a nice read to relearn the basics of why we are fascinated by WW2.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like with the Idiots Guide to World War 1 this is a basic overview of the war, the battles, the leaders, and other important events involved within this massive war. It's all basic information and need to know information that's good for beginner enthusiasts but lacks substance for more advanced history buffs. This war is so huge and had so much going on that it's impossible to go into major detail on most things or even mention some of the other people and events that aren't as important or crucial. A big shout-out to the end of the book though by telling you that most information given nowadays is from biased American propaganda movie's/shows that don't relay an honest depiction of all sides who fought. This is a good beginner guide for history buffs of WW2 but otherwise it's most general info of things you'll already know if you have any invested interest in this subject

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Upon returning from my first trip to Europe, I grabbed this as an introduction/overview of WWII. I found that I had a gap in my knowledge and I wanted to fill it. Overall, this book contains an excellent overview, albeit shallow. There's a lot to cover in a tome on WWII, and this skims the surface. It was interesting to find there were some factual errors that one previous reader had helpfully corrected in pencil in the copy I borrowed from the library :-(

The book accomplished it's task...I got an overview of the war and it has spurred me to read more about it. Recommended if this is your goal.

[Heather Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this book does not fit the mold of my usual leisure reading, I enjoyed it immensely. I found myself frankly astonished at how many basic facts about WWII, its causes and aftermath I did not know. This book broke everything down and made it easy to understand. I found the war stories to be both riveting and shockingly horrific. I suggest this to anyone who wants to know a little more about the war that changed the world and how it may impact the future when history will hopefully not repeat itself.

[Cliff · Rating 5 out of 5]

For someone who needed an overview of the war this book was perfect. It's only one book so it can't cover everything in detail, but neither is it superficial. It achieves a decent middle ground to tie the events together, give you some side information and giving you an excellent well rounded view of the war, with a number of jumping off points to investigate individual events.

It's well written, engaging, and worth every minute.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book was a great way to read a concise history of the events during the War. It also provided quick notes and quotes from leaders made during the war years. The book seemed to be well researched.

[Nicholas Lai · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to World War II" is extremely informational, and unlike what the title suggests, can even provide numerous facts to those who know the gist of World War II. It provides an extensive overview of World War II and can provide small details for each event that occurs, and how that affects the war as a whole. All in all, it is a very interesting book, as the language it writes in is not too formal and does not use too difficult word choice.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this book has been helpful to me as I don't want to get bogged down in military manuevers, but ww2 is so complex, I want to understand it better. Sometimes, I research seperately certain aspects, but it is good overall.

[Deven]

Good overview of WWII

This book covers WWII from the onset through the aftermath, and summarizes the cost of war. Good book to start with if one is interest in the war. WWII's chronology can be confusing, this book cleared up the sequence of events nicely.

[Regina Hunter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Veryyyyy simple book, so childish. I hoped to catch few things on Lucitania, but noffing of a kind in this one.

[7703arlet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very informational but it was also kind of boring in specific parts of the book.

[Eugenia Tong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only did it give me a revision of what I already knew, they also put in some new facts and trivia. Cool! You don't have to be an idiot to read this though...