The Second World War: A People's History

by Joanna Bourke

The Second World War saw an unprecedented expansion of suffering beyond the frontlines. Of the 1,355,000 tons of bombs dropped on Germany, for instance, most fell on non-military targets, and of the 55 million people killed worldwide, two-thirds were civilians. In The Second World A People's History, Joanna Bourke uncovers the grim stories of death and destruction lost behind those statistics.Using diary entries, oral histories, poetry and letters home, Bourke allows the people that lived and died in the global bloodletting to tell their own stories. Soldiers who fought for all sides and in all of the major theatres tell of the fear and horror of combat. Partisan fighters recount the daring risks they took and the torments of captivity. Civilians describe the anxiety of approaching war, their struggle for survival, and their despair and helplessness as the war consumed their world. Bourke chillingly demonstrates that all of this sorrow and woe was the direct result of political and military decisions on both sides. A brief, objective synopsis of each campaign in the war clarifies the link between strategic, military decisions and the massacre and inhumane treatment of non-combatants--events now known only by names like Nanking, Sobibor, Dresden, and Nagasaki--that was all too common in this brutal war.This short, engaging history is a poignant testimony to the memory of the innocents lost and a stark reminder that their demise was not inevitable--indeed it was often strategically planned and methodically executed.

Genres: History, World War II, American, Military Fiction, War, Reference

Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2001

About the author

Joanna Bourke (born 1963 in New Zealand) is an historian and professor of history at Birkbeck, University of London.

Reviews

[Ali Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have just completed this phenomenal work of Joanna Bourke. I was looking for a book that could tell me the whole story of the Second World War for a long time, and now I am amused to have this book, enjoyed it altogether.
This book explores all events of the WW-II in a very succinct manner. How the war was started, what were the causes behind such a devastating war like that the world had already seen almost two decades ago in the wake of WW-I, what were the concerns of allies and the axis, and above all, what were or are the consequences of the WW-II? These all and much more have been discussed in this book with the help of some real witnesses of the war including Anne Frank who has written a diary on the events of the war which she experienced in person.

For me the most interesting point discussed in the book is how JAPAN, a country little than California, a state of the US, was able to wage war across the world and had been a hard nut to crack for the big powers for almost two decades. And Finally, what were the causes behind her downfall? How the allied forces stifle her with economic sanctions and what lessons Japan got from those economic embargoes? It was a very interesting story, full of knowledge and motivations.

Furthermore, the events of Holocaust and the fate of the Jewish community of Europe has been discussed in a great length. The nexus of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo, on one side; while, Franklin Roosevelt, and Churchill, on the other side, are also very intriguing to read the book. Another character which is necessary to mention here was Stalin who remained on the side of Hitler till 1941 and changed his side when Hitler decided to invade the Soviet Union.
The book as a whole is a complete package of events and military strategies of that era as well as knowing the international relations of the mid-twentieth century.

[Rubén · Rating 5 out of 5]

En este libro se hace un repaso general de lo que ocurrió a lo largo de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, así que sí eres ese tipo de personas que pasó el peor día de su vida cuando se enteró de que la historia no solo consistía en memorizar modelos de aviones y tanques (como yo), hay muchas cosas que no resultan una novedad.

Lo mejor, o podría decir también la clave, de esta obra es cómo se pone el foco precisamente en lo que dice el título, en las víctimas. Me ha gustado mucho (por decirlo de alguna manera, no solían ser agradables) cómo se van insertando testimonios reales de personas que vivieron lo que se cuenta, es un libro durillo.

Para concluir, la autora tiene un libro sobre arte y guerra pero no está editado en español y es un poco caro, lo dejo como un apunte cuando mis amigos piensen en regalos para mi cumple.

[Cristian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es una recopilación de textos, un resumen de acontecimientos y una contextualización de estadísticas. Pero es un libro duro de leer, aquí no hay ficción, aquí hay realidades, y ha sido una lectura muy cruda. La verdad, no sé ni cómo puntuarlo.

[Sami Eerola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good narrative of the horrors of the Second World War from the perspective of civilians and ordinary soldiers.
I was misled (by the tittle) to think this would be a kind of leftist history written from some kind of proletarian Marxist perspective. What i get is a neutral history of the war, depicting atrocities from all sides of the war, but with a more global perspective. For example the Second War in Asia is explored here as much as Europe and the Pacific. But except the Asian part, this book does not give much new insight to the was.

This is a great book if you have newer read anything about civilian suffering during the WW2, but for a person that has read both of Timothy Snider's book on the holocaust, this is pretty standard.

[Jagoba · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me llamó la atención por el título de "una historia de las víctimas". Pensaba que daría una perspectiva diferente, pero se queda a medias. Hay testimonios personales, pero básicamente es el típico libro que relata por encima los hechos principales de la SGM. Como no podía ser de otra forma, la barbarie del Holocausto es un capítulo bastante extenso, pero hecho de menos que ni se cite la hambruna holandesa del 44 o que no se trate más en detalle el frente chino, país que sufrió tanto o más que la URSS.

[Hasaru · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The choice between forgetting and remembering is ours."

[NG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro muy ameno y muy interesante con citas de personas que vivieron en aquella época.

[Alberto Tebaldi · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book about how people lived the great war II

[Damián · Rating 3 out of 5]

La segunda guerra mundial superó a todas las guerras anteriores en pérdidas de vidas humanas. Murieron 55 millones de personas, casi 25.000 personas por día, la mayoría de ellas civiles, y lo que quedó fue un mundo devastado por la destrucción material y espiritual. En este libro, breve y objetivo, se analiza los acontecimientos y sus consecuencias allí donde se libró la guerra: en toda la Europa central y occidental, en el frente oriental de la Unión Soviética, en el Pacífico, en África y en Asia. La autora muestra con claridad al lector el origen de las decisiones estratégicas militares, y sobre todo, su coste humano e individual. Recopilando entradas de diarios, historias orales, y testimonios personales, comprendemos los sentimientos del ciudadano de a pie ante los terribles acontecimiento que se desencadenaban a su alrededor.
En la WWII se dice que los aliados eran los buenos y el eje los malos y eso no es así, había tantas personas buenas como malas en ambos lados del conflicto. Todos cometieron robos, torturas y violaciones, todos tenían prejuicios raciales y todos se fueron bestializando hasta niveles atroces a medida que avanzaba la guerra y prosiguió, aunque de manera más solapada, en la posguerra donde todos se veían a si mismos como victimas, parecía que no existían los victimarios y eso confabulo contra el perdón. En toda guerra no hay vencidos ni vencedores, todos pierden y el ser humano se degrada a su nivel más bajo. El infierno se desata en la tierra.