Year Zero

A History of 1945

By: Ian Buruma

Narrated by: Gildart Jackson

Year Zero is a landmark reckoning with the great drama that ensued after war came to an end in 1945. One world had ended and a new, uncertain one was beginning. Regime change had come across Asia and all of continental Europe. It was the greatest global power vacuum in history, and out of the often vicious power struggles that ensued emerged the modern world as we know it.

In human terms, the scale of transformation is almost impossible to imagine. Great cities around the world lay in ruins, their populations decimated, displaced, starving. Harsh revenge was meted out on a wide scale, and the ground was laid for much darkness to come. At the same time, in the wake of unspeakable loss, the euphoria of the liberated wasextraordinary, the revelry unprecedented. The postwar years gave rise to the Europeanwelfare state, the United Nations, American democracy, Japanese pacifism, and the European Union. Society-wide reeducation was imposed on the vanquished on a scale that had no historical precedent. Much that was done was ill-advised, but in hindsight these efforts were relatively enlightened, humane, and effective.

A poignant grace note throughout his history is Buruma's own father's story. Seized by the Nazis during the occupation of Holland, he spent much of the war in Berlin as a slave laborer and by war's end was literallyhiding in the rubble of a flattened city, having barely managed to survive starvation rations, Allied bombing, and Soviet shock troops when the end came. His journey home and attempted reentry into "normalcy" stand in, in many ways, for his generation's experience.

A work of enormous range and stirring human drama, conjuring both the Asian and European theaters with equal fluency, Year Zero is a book that Ian Buruma is perhaps uniquely positioned to write.

©2013 Ian Buruma

Like a 45rpm record playing on 33rpm

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend the book - the information is very interesting and well presented.The audiobook presentation is starting to make my ears bleed!

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Gildart Jackson?

Anybody else - Mr. Jackson reads as if he's dictating to a stone cutter

The war after the war

Excellent description of what 1945 was like for those still alive in Europe and Asia after the end of World War II. I highly recommend it.

Great historical overview

If you're interested in WW II this is a great book to add to your reading list. Since it only deals with 1945 it helps the reader understand the results, compromises, and fallout from the Allied win. One can see the makings of world events that came as a result of decisions made at the end of the war. Narration is excellent.

great book and vivid, wonderful audible

Would you consider the audio edition of Year Zero to be better than the print version?

I didn't read the print version, but I am sure print version is great too.

What did you like best about this story?

Interested to know how the world changed due to WW2? Listen to this captivating book. It helped me understood more about the current world.

What does Gildart Jackson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Jackson did such a wonderful job! Actually I will look for other Ian Buruma books and for books read by Jackson as well.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I told all my friends about it.

An interesting read

I've always been interested by what happened just after after WWII, WWI, and the Civil War ended. How do you go from wartime to peace, how is it to live day to day. I grab whatever books are available on Audible for the subject so this book interested me in that regard.

So how does the book do? Well it's hit and miss. This is by no means a serious historical read, while it covers a lot of ground it doesn't cover anything in-depth. Also it was funny to me that near the end of the book the author uses the phrase "American smugness" since from the beginning of the book I was thinking that this book heavily suffers from typical European smugness. NOTE - it's not anti-American by any means, it's just that smarmy European attitude. So if you can deal with that, and it's by no means the worst I've ever heard, there is a lot of interesting information to be found.

The reader does a good job, it's mostly a straight read but the reader has good pacing and timing, very professional. Also he'll throw in a few different voices to help you along - so if it's an American speaking he'll do his American accent, etc. This can help you keep track of who he's quoting so it's welcomed.

Overall you're getting what the description of the book claims, if that sounds interesting to you, you should enjoy the book.