The Storm of War

A New History of the Second World War

By: Andrew Roberts

Narrated by: Christian Rodska

Length: 28 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

The Second World War lasted for 2,174 days, cost $1.5 trillion, and claimed the lives of more than 50 million people. What were the factors that affected the war's outcome? Why did the Axis lose? And could they, with a different strategy, have won?

Andrew Roberts' acclaimed new history has been hailed as the finest single-volume account of this epic conflict. From the western front to North Africa, from the Baltic to the Far East, he tells the story of the war - the grand strategy and the individual experience, the cruelty and the heroism - as never before.

In researching this magnificently vivid history, Roberts walked many of the key battlefields and wartimes sites in Russia, France, Italy, Germany, and the Far East, and drew on a number of never-before-published documents, such as a letter from Hitler's director of military operations explaining the reasoning behind the Fuhrer's order to halt the Panzers outside Dunkirk - a delay that enabled British forces to evacuate. Roberts illuminates the principal actors on both sides and analyzes how they reached critical decisions. He also presents the tales of many little-known individuals whose experiences form a panoply of the extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice, as well as the terrible depravity and cruelty, of the Second World War.

Meticulously researched and masterfully written, The Storm of War gives a dramatic account of this momentous event and shows in remarkable detail why the war took the course it did.

©2011 Andrew Roberts (P)2011 Tantor

concise, comprehensive, focused mainly on Euro war

Well researched, well written history of World War 2. Focused mainly on the war against Germany. The performance by Christian Rodska was the best I have ever experienced.

Great Insights on WWII Seeming Inevitability

If you could sum up The Storm of War in three words, what would they be?

Orderly, thorough summary.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Storm of War?

The newly classified additions like Great Britain's clever set-ups for getting Nazi brass confessions to Stalin's blunders which were kept hidden by Soviet propaganda.

What about Christian Rodska’s performance did you like?

His inflections and accents had the right amount of charm as some other actors make such well-known figures like Churchill, FDR, Patton and Hitler into cartoon characters by comparison.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light.

Any additional comments?

It's non-fiction but I felt moved by most of the chapters' emphasis on the magnitude, the countless unspeakable atrocities, and the unflinching examination at the cost. Andrew Roberts is a great writer first, historian second.

one of the best WWII books

Fantastic! Lots of new information. I have listened to dozens of WWII books and this is one of the best. Very much worth the listen. I will likely listen to it a second time.

Superb History

One of the best narrated Audible books of the scores to which I have listened.

Very interesting new history

Would you consider the audio edition of The Storm of War to be better than the print version?

My eyesight is not good enough to read long books, but I did check out this title and it's good in the print version also. It has at least 10 pages of black and white photographs, the type is a decent size, and it's altogether a nice book. The audio version adds the "actiing"--the reader gives us Churchill's accent, Stalin's accent, Hitler's accent, Patton's accent--he is very good at differentiating between British English and American English when anyone's words are quoted. There are many direct quotes taken from diaries, published memoirs, interviews, and these add excitement and realism to the plot line.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Storm of War?

I haven't finished listening to it yet, but the most memorable part so far seems to be the author's thesis that Hitler's war was the first ever fought for ideological reasons over everything else, including economic reasons. Although Hitler wanted "Lebensraum" (living space) for an expanded Germany, he also made military decision that were militarily stupid because of his racial ideologies. For example, when he invaded Poland, he had to stop to kill as many Jews as possible by putting them in ghettos as well as mass executions, and he even arrested the farmers even though he needed food for his army. When he invaded Russia, he first took over the Baltics, Ukraine, and other parts of western Russia where separate nationalities had retained their culture, which hated Soviet Russia because of forced collectivization, mass murder, forced starvation, and many other atrocities committed by the Russians, and would have gladly collaborated with Hitler's armies to help him defeat Soviet Russia. But instead of pretending to be friendly with these newly invaded nationalities, he insisted that his troops remember their primary objective of mass extermination of the Western Russians to provide lebensraum. They were to kill as many people as possible, especially the Jews and Slavs, and to not form any army divisions out of foreigners who would have gladly fought with him if his forces had treated his newly occupied peoples as liberators instead of conquerors.

Have you listened to any of Christian Rodska’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't think so. This one is very good.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. It is four parts long, and since I'm always doing something else (gardening, exercising) while listening, I decided to listen to Part II again before proceeding to Part III, in case I missed anything.

Any additional comments?

Great book and a great performance. The dialogue and details make even the parts of the war I don't much care about, like Rommel's desert campaign, very interesting.

So Much Better than History Class!!!

A full, compelling treatment of the entire war. A very well-told story that hung together, even over the 32 hours of reading.

I understand so much more about WWII now and appreciate the horrors of war and the courage of so many, from leaders to privates. The criticality of intelligence, the blindness of racial superiority, the pure hell of war.

The narrator was awesome as well and added much to the story.

A great book, flawed perfomace.

Totally agree with all the high praise for the content of the book. Robert's non-linear, thematic approach gives an excellent sense of the tensions, emotions... all that people at various levels of responsibility for conducting the war (and also just individuals impacted by events) experienced. In other words, the book provides "color" (to a very high level).

Now to the problem: the reader, who is capable of speaking clearly and understandably (and does so), has the unfortunate tendency to ham it up when quoting German (and other) foreign actors. The result is a ridiculous caricature, all of the sudden, it sounds like sergeant Schultz has been reincarnated as Hitler, Himmler, Rommel, and other Nazi beasts. The comical undermines the seriousness of the subject. Mass murderers are not funny!! Rodska's impersonation of Russians is also really stupid. For me this undermines the experience of listening to this great book!

Somebody should have told this guy to knock it off, and just read.
Bottom line: great book, spoiled by the reader hamming it up!

Notably fine narration from Christian Rodska...

... who also narrated the audio version of Churchill's Second World War memoirs. Rodska can sound just enough like Churchill, in quoting him, that he gives the flavor of the man but doesn't break the general flow of the narration (like too many readers do, to my annoyance). Ditto his rendition of other figures: Germans have one accent, Russians have another, Americans are given a sort of all-purpose accent, but nothing amounts to showing off. Rodska also sounds as if he actually understands what it is he's reading -- and that's surprisingly rare.

This book, by the accomplished and highly productive British historian Andrew Roberts, displays an unashamed patriotic tilt toward Britain; There's more than I wanted to hear about General Slim, Orde Wingate, and the war in Burma, more detail than I needed about El-Alamein, maybe a bit too many statistics about various tanks and weaponry, and comparatively little about America's war against the Japanese. (For that, you should read, or listen to, Ian Toll's brilliant trilogy on the Pacific theater.) Roberts also does not hold back when it comes to offering what-ifs, counterfactuals, and provocative opinions about strategy, blunders by both sides, etc. But those are illuminating, and his analysis is always thoughtful and persuasive.

Great book

Excellent book, very good overview, lots of interesting statistics, slightly biased towards the British contribution in some respects, specifically in regard to over-stating the British/Allied contribution to the atomic bomb, which was in fact very negligible (1%) and in regards to referencing completely debased accusations of American soldiers committing assault on women in Europe, but other than these British biases from a British author, a great book.

History - new and interesting

I purchased THE STORM OF WAR after reading a review of the book in the N.Y. Times. Author Andrew Roberts does provide some excellent new insights into the history of the epic struggle of the Second World War. The book is very well organized and follows the actual timeline of the war. Mr. Roberts' final conclusions are centered around the causes and consequences of the pivotal events of the war. They reflect much of the new scholarship on the most important event of the Twentieth Century. For the most part, Christian Rodska offers a clear and supportive narration. Unfortunately, as in a number of recent history audiobooks, Mr. Roberts seems compelled to enhance his narrative with 'characterizations' of the central players of the conflict - Churchill, Hitler, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Montgomery and actor George C. Scott - with an irritating frequency so the overall effect is somewhat like a Monty Python sketch. I remain baffled by this device. The drama of history is sufficiently present in the events and historical figures. Why not trust the power of good storytelling and the listener's imagination and leave the funny voices out of the process. Regardless, THE STORM OF WAR is a penetrating and knowlegeable listen for any student of World War II.