Significant Trivia and Original Banalities
Can trivia be significant? Can the banal be original? The World War 2 Trivia Book can and does reveal the significance of the little known details of World War II, and it caps it off with an analysis of the banality of evil. This was my first trivia book by Bill O’Neill, so I was surprised to find that it has a cohesiveness that ties the work into a unified whole. I’ve always loved reading trivia, for the reason that it not only gives you a stack of facts, but it allows you to make value judgements on events as a whole. I expected this book would be more of the facts, like in the Yes & Know invisible ink quiz books I played with as a kid, or the board game Trivia Pursuit, as a young adult. But, because of the presentation of the material, the book turned out to be so much more, allowing me to place the events of the War in context.
The book is more than just knowledge level material, providing an analysis of the impact of events on the world at large, and of the War in general on today’s media and culture. He covers the Disney references in cartoons, the scene in Lion King where Scar appears like Hitler, and early films and modern top grossing battle movies like Saving Private Ryan and Dunkirk.
O’Neill points out the prescience of Woodrow Wilson’s WWI speech that insisted that “Victory would mean peace forced upon the loser, a victor’s terms imposed upon the vanquished. It would be accepted in humiliation, under duress, at an intolerable sacrifice.” And, he discusses the ramifications of Harry Truman’s 1947 promise to support any country threatened by Soviet expansion.
Each chapter is divided into three main sections: the informational part that shares 15 stories within the framework of each chapter, a random facts section, & a Test Yourself Q&A section. This means the book has a total of 90 stories that are not well known about WWII. It covers topics which you may be familiar with (if you’ve read several books on WWII) such as the Night of the Long Knives and the events of the German Kristallnacht. It shares details and insights on events I should have known more about, like the September 1931 Japanese Invasion of Manchuria, the Sino-Japanese War and the Battle of Shang-hi. And, it includes events that will probably have me scrambling for more books to explore further things I never knew, like how the US provided planes through Canada before we ever entered the War, the construction of the Yamoto Battleship, and the psychological synthesis of political theorist Hannah Arendt’s book: A Report on the Banality of Evil.
Then there are the sections on Random facts at the end of each chapter; which cover such fascinating tidbits as Hitler’s self-portrait, the Fanta soft drink, Bushido, Valkyrie, Salon Kitty, and the last Japanese soldier in WWII. These sections are followed by Quiz sections where you have a chance to test your retention of a few of the facts given. The book can be read in three hours and is entertaining and informative. I requested and received the Audible version free for review purposes. And, I was very satisfied with the narration by Derek Newman. It was read fluently with expression and reminded me of the old Paul Harvey radio broadcasts, “The Rest of the Story.” I recommend the book for those interested in the details and ramifications of the war.