Understand the Second World War

by Alan Farmer

Full of fascinating details and anecdotes, this is an accessible introduction to one of the most important, tragic, and costly events in history  Charting the main military campaigns, this book examines the path to Allied victory and its impact on the countries involved. It explores such questions as Why did Hitler declare war on the U.S.? Why did the Allied powers out-produce the Axis powers? Who was the most effective leader? Should American and British strategy have been different? and Should the U.S. have dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? This engaging alternative to traditional textbooks includes discussion of the contemporary significance of the war.

Genres: History, Reference, World War II, Nonfiction, War, Politics

292 pages, Paperback

First published August 27, 2010

Reviews

[Opu Hossain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've always been immensely interested about what was going on in the 2nd world war, how it shaped the European life and how the dictators came in to being with full of courage to fight and invade each other territories. The central character in the second world was obviously Adlof Hitler
fascinated many of us about how and what made him so confident and brave enough to wage wars against vastly powerful Allied forces namely USA, Britain, France, Russia. What was more surprising is that Germany was able to fight eastern and western fronts simultaneously with super powers like Russia and Britain including Pacific regions. How Germany under Adlof Hitlar managed to show superiority over so many European powers during most part of the war but ultimately lost still thrill millions of minds. The writer Alan Farmer in his "Understand the Second World War" takes us in a journey to explore all of these incidents made the book a great one to read. Point to be noted that this is the first time in human history when atomic bombs were dropped in Japan made the world horrified. The world saw countries were divided, millions of casualties, economic collapse, destructions of modern weaponry systems and so on.

The second world war finally brings a question in front of us if in 1945 the world witnessed such big destructive event of the humanity then should the world allow to come into being a 3rd world war ever? Yet we can see the powerful countries are once again in a race to develop mass destructive weapons the world has ever seen.

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gives the reader a surprisingly good overview of the Second World War.

[Brian Connell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good quick high level overview of the second world war. For me, it pulled togethor many of the threads learned from various sources over time. Found the maps a bit frustrating at times as they didn't always seem to identify the places highlighted in the text, and sometimes were a bit busy.

[Art Vandelay · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a first book on the subject, it is a great choice. With a clean narrative and a good concern about almost every affecting matter, from needed raw material for making tanks and amo to diplomatic difficulties and conflicts between allied and axis powers. It is a good read.

[Stephen Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be a really good overview of the narrative of the war, bringing together the various threads I knew about but had not joined together. The analytical insights are helpful too and come across as well balanced.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic overview of the causes, major players, key events and consequences of the second world war. Written clearly and concisely for those of us without masters without pandering or editing any important points. The books length limits its depth in certain areas but there are 1,000,000 more focused texts to read after this incredibly enlightening introduction. I'd recommended it to anyone interested in the history of the worlds most important years and looking for a place to start.

[Bob Hanks · Rating 1 out of 5]

It seemed as if this guy who wrote this book , is a Hitlerite