National Geographic World War II: The Spies and Secret Missions That Won the War

by National Geographic Society

The story of World War II is brought to life as never before by taking you deep inside the secret lives of spies and spy masters; secret agents and secret armies; enigma machines and code breakers; psychological warfare and black propaganda; secret weapons and secret battle strategies. WORLD WAR II THE SECRET HISTORY tells the shocking story of the covert activity that shaped the outcome of the war and the destiny of millions of people.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War

115 pages, Single Issue Magazine

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world.
Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical conservation, and the study of world culture and history. The National Geographic Society's logo is a yellow portrait frame—rectangular in shape—which appears on the margins surrounding the front covers of its magazines and as its television channel logo. Through National Geographic Partners (a joint venture with The Walt Disney Company), the Society operates the magazine, TV channels, a website, worldwide events, and other media operations.

Reviews

[Tricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

They didn't put their best writers on this: I'm not just talking about quality of the prose, in addition, at times the story line jumped around and was hard to follow. But I did learn some new things, and it was interesting reading over all. It's fascinating to me how different books will emphasize different aspects. For example, this magazine has a couple paragraphs on Virginia Hall, and not even really enough to entice you to read A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II. The chapter titled Secret Warriors introduces you to Noor Inayat Khan, but doesn't tell you much about how she evaded capture multiple times, or even mention how she escaped a prison (for that, listen to the episode about her on the Spy Sisters podcast series).

(Obtained from a neighbor's Little Free Library.)

[juu!! ꩜ · Rating 3 out of 5]

World War II: The Spies and Secret Missions That Won the War ;
★★★

"Seldom, if ever, has a war ended with such a sense of uncertainty and fear, with duch a realization that the future is obscure and that survival is not assured." — Edward R. Murrow, page 109.

Well, this was an interesting piece of writing. Can't quite say it was the best I've ever read regarding WWII (and, trust me, I've consumed an unhealthy amount of content during the course of the last few months), but for a hundred-page long magazine it fulfilled its job decently.

Most of the stories presented were new to me, especially those regarding spies and radio operators who decrypted messages transmitted from the Axis members. They were, in all, well documented and detailed in a not so overwhelming way but still being deepened enough you managed to understand what was going on. I really enjoyed how the authors divided chapters and focused on certain details most average history books don't cover.

Makes me realize, once again, that things in World War II were a lot more complicated than you first expect. There were so many schemes and so many people involved in winning battles and planning propaganda — so many dubious organizations acting from both the Axis and the Allies... In the end, I came to a similar conclusion I always do whenever reading about this period of history: I'm so glad D-day happened and I can't imagine what out future would've looked like if Hitler had won.

Now, onto the negative aspects of this "book" (not sure whether I can call it a book): one of the main issues I had while reading this was the westernized narrative and views regarding the Soviet Union and even post-WWII Japan. While describing the process of building the first nuclear weapons in history, the authors constantly (yet subtly) placed the soviets as the guilty ones for the start of the Cold War, even though it was the USA who began such project without informing the other country. Not only that, but the cost of human lives lost in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was poorly mentioned, and all they mentioned regarding Japan's reaction to such attack was its imminent surrender.

Moreover, the writing annoyed me a bit at certain times. The overuse of complicated words and paragraphs that ran longer than they should annoyed me very profoundly. I figure it was all compensated by the amazing amount of photographs we got, introducing a visual aid to the read that helped us (the reader) properly visualize certain scenarios and understand the complexity of certain operations.

Very educational, and a great source to gather additional knowledge on a very interesting topic. Can't say I'd ever consider picking this magazine up again, though.

[Karl H · Rating 5 out of 5]

You are a World War II buff. It's a very easy read. You are not a World War II buff. It’s going be very hard to follow.

[Marjorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The mix of photos, details, and stories is very fascinating. These days we’ve seen many movies, and series covering these topics. So much uncertainty.

[James D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One needs to enjoy History to appreciate the magazine and the stories that are being reported on and how nations change throughout the years.