The Usborne Book of War Stories

True Adventure Stories

by Paul Dowswell

The 20th century was ravaged by two of the most devastating conflicts in history: the First and Second World Wars. The slaughter and destruction was on such a massive scale it still haunts us today. From zeppelin raids, trench warfare, spies and secret plots, to epic encounters between colossal warships and duels between lone snipers facing almost certain death, this book contains a collection of dramatic and unforgettable tales from both these terrible wars.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, War

426 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1900

About the author

Paul Dowswell is a British writer of nonfiction and young adult novels who has written over 70 books for British publishers. He was a senior editor at Usborne Publishing, then went freelance in 1999.

Reviews

[Neil Lacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clearly targeted at a younger audience, simple and easy to read but even then learnt some elements I'd never heard before and stories that I wouldn't have known so still interesting read.

[Amber Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to read, but a great book for remembering some remarkable men and women who gave all they had for what they believed was right and good. True heroes.

[Chandler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book because it talks abouts wars that happend like as if the person writing this book was in the war right then. This book is good for kids that like reading about history. This book starts off with telling you about World War 1 and World War 2. I liked this book because I learned about wars and history I have never really learned about before. It took me a week to read this book.

[J.L. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book--a few pages at a time--to my fifth and third grade boys. I think it's possible we ended up skipping a few pages once in a while to keep up with the curriculum, but overall we covered it pretty well and this was a FANTASTIC school history reader. The information is broad-sweeping, but conveyed in an interesting way to keep a young kid's attention. I found it fascinating and engaging even for me personally.

This is not a deep-dive, but it still does a great job giving a lot of interesting and important details, and I learned a lot alongside my kids. One of the best features is the incredible photographs that serve as either the entire background or strong accent for each page. It brings to life everything you are reading about, and the photographs really are astonishing.

While reading this I would often pause to try and connect what we were reading to something my kids knew about ("did you know that the authors of The Hobbit and of the Chronicles of Narnia fought in WWI? This experience influenced them a lot.") but the book is strong enough on its own, and perfect for a 7-12 year old learning the history and the hardships of WWI and WWII.

[Marty Greenwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though sometimes horrendous and filled with gore, these stories of the First and Second World Wars had humanity mixed in. Told from both the American, British, French and yes, the German side, you read stories of regular people doing extraordinary things. Also of the human side of the more famous in the wars. Not a book that treats war as okay, it depicts the senseless virtue of young people dying for their leader's wacked out views. An Usborne book, to be read by young students.

[Rachana Vishwanathula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book :)
This book has some intriguing untold stories from World War One and Two. It has stories about what soldiers went through during these wars. Talks about aerial battles, Navy operations, battles, spies, beliefs of people, festivals and many more.
Loved the way the author presented the events that happened during these wars.
It’s a must read!!

[Tyson Ng · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was excellent because the author (Paul Dowswell) had added all sorts of stories from all sorts of perspectives allied or axis/central powers and from both world war. It's really worth a read.

[Holly Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

History, love it. Fairly informational and I just love learning about things so big plus.

[Javier A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about major battles that i had no knowledge about whatsoever. My favorite story that i read was about the Operation Valkyrie and The last and final voyage of the bismarck. The Bismarck I had never known about it because i liked to learn about the land battles. That story opened up my mind to the atlantic battles.

[Dawn Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Usborne! This book is so well written and edited. We loved reading aloud several famous and not-so-famous stories from the two World Wars. My history buff 8yo, who watches the Military Channel and History Channel was able to fill in lots of the missing details for mom. Especially liked the chapter on the sinking of the Bismarck, and the stories of women spies.

[Theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a pretty moving book. almost all war stories are. it is sad to hear of men losing their buddies to shrapnel and bullets. I recommend for the strong willed.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read for 3Rs II class. I love war stories. It had stories about a lot of amazing courageous people. Claus von Stauffenburg is now my hero.

[Denyse Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book on war for young people to read. You can just about imagine you are there. Last chapter was horrible when atomic bombs dropped on Japan.
Usborne books are so good.

[King FoXie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was the worst non-fiction book i have ever read

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about specific stories from the 2 world wars. I gave this book 5 stars because it tells you true stories in an interesting way. This book also teaches you about the wars and what happened after.