The Winds of War

By: Herman Wouk

Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau

Length: 45 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

A masterpiece of historical fiction, this is the Great Novel of America's "Greatest Generation".

Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II, which begins with The Winds of War and continues in War and Remembrance, stands as the crowning achievement of one of America's most celebrated storytellers. Like no other books about the war, Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events - and all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II - as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom.

Also listen to War and Remembrance.

©1971 Herman Wouk (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Wouk's real genius lies not just in the narrative power of his books, but in his empathy with the people and the times of which he writes…. The genius of The Winds of War and War and Remembrance is that they not only tell the story of the Holocaust, but tell it within the context of World War II, without which there is no understanding it." ( The Washington Post)

I assume there is a second half but great so far

I am enjoying this greatly I hope this is the first half I guess I will see

Fantastic

This a great book and I can’t wait to listen to the followup book by this author

Long road trip?

Any additional comments?

45 hrs makes this the ideal book for long road trips, you will definitely find yourself identifying with one of the characters, it is hard not too.

Long, but enjoyable story.

I loved listening to this story while on jogs or commuting in my car. i liked how the story came from many perspectives. The narrator spoke too slow for my taste so I listened at 1.6X speed. looking forward to listening to the sequel now.

Amayzing

Never wanted to stop listening it was so good pulled you can't wait for the next one

Great Sweeping Work covering WW2

What did you love best about The Winds of War?

I really love the mix of story telling and facts that makes this work come alive I can not wait for Audible to get their act together and fix the error in Volume 2

What about Kevin Pariseau’s performance did you like?

Clear strong voice

Insightful

I read Winds of War many years ago and remember enjoying this at its sequel. So, I thought I would listen to the audio version. It was good, not great. My reservations have nothing to do with the narration, which I thought well done though his female voices were not the greatest, nor with the different perspectives leading up to WWII. Nor with the main character, Pug Henry, who was a well developed and complex character. My reservations were with the soap opera aspect of the story which I found unnecessary and distracting at best. Still, I thought the insightful perspectives of the various leaders and countries were fascinating.

If you listen to this book, I highly recommend proceeding to the sequel, War and Remembrance.

Good history, middling characters

I listened to this very long book whilst making a quilt. I was half living in WW2 all this time. The atmosphere and informative nature of the book kept me involved. I learned heaps about events and the issues America faced regarding getting into the war. I also liked the military accounts cleverly written by a war criminal whilst serving his sentence after Nurenburg with translators comments attached.
I did not however care for most of the characters. There is a definite mysogynistic quality in the portrayal of the women whilst the men are (almost) all brave and resourceful. The book was written in the seventies which perhaps accounts for the use of terms like "yellow race" etc. as well as a distinctly moralistic attitude to sex.
For all that though I learned a lot from the book and got a lot of quilting done!

Great Great book

Herman Wouk is truly one of the best writers. He writes of war, tragedy and love in a way that bring a tear and smile at exactly the same moment. I finished listening to this book about 5 minutes ago and the sequel has already been purchased, downloaded and is ready for me to hit "play".

Excellent listen

Any additional comments?

This book had a lot of historical fact included in the reading. There were many points of WWII that escapes peoples learning. It really helps to draw a complete story line leading up to the United States entry into the war. The personal family touches have drama and keep the book exciting.