Engineers of Victory

The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War

De: Paul Kennedy

Narrado por: Stephen Hoye

New York Times Bestseller

Paul Kennedy, award-winning author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and one of today’s most renowned historians, now provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won.

Engineers of Victory is a fascinating nuts-and-bolts account of the strategic factors that led to Allied victory. Kennedy reveals how the leaders’ grand strategy was carried out by the ordinary soldiers, scientists, engineers, and businessmen responsible for realizing their commanders’ visions of success.

In January 1943, FDR and Churchill convened in Casablanca and established the Allied objectives for the war: To defeat the Nazi blitzkrieg; to control the Atlantic sea lanes and the air over western and central Europe; to take the fight to the European mainland; and to end Japan’s imperialism. Astonishingly, a little over a year later, these ambitious goals had nearly all been accomplished. With riveting, tactical detail, Engineers of Victory reveals how.

Kennedy takes readers behind the scenes, unveiling exactly how thousands of individual Allied planes and fighting ships were choreographed to collectively pull off the invasion of Normandy, and illuminating how crew chiefs perfected the high-flying and inaccessible B-29 Super fortress that would drop the atomic bombs on Japan.

The story of World War II is often told as a grand narrative, as if it were fought by supermen or decided by fate. Here Kennedy uncovers the real heroes of the war, highlighting for the first time the creative strategies, tactics, and organizational decisions that made the lofty Allied objectives into a successful reality. In an even more significant way, Engineers of Victory has another claim to our attention, for it restores “the middle level of war” to its rightful place in history.

©2013 Paul Kennedy (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Less of a Gadget book, more a top level strategy

The title implies it focuses on individual inventions but the actual narrative is focused on the problems planners of the war faced and what innovations were created to overcome those problems as well as small asides to the gadget when there was an interesting story or something important to the overall theme of middle management working in tandem with overall command

Professor level understanding.

The author is not afraid to point out the mistakes of both sides of the war and gives a great picture of what went on in World War 2 with facts that give a sense of weight. i first found him as a podcast guest and read his other work "Victory at Sea" where he collaborated with a military water color artist. I love the multiple angles given, its like I am in a college course with a professor that gives a damn. Consuming multiple accounts of history helps me understand what happened snd how it happened. Now im keen to uncover more of the strategic blunders and covered up mistakes of both sides. Economy, science, experience, leadership, engineers and geography are key for war.

Logistics, Not Strategy, Tactics, or Technology

A good overview of five major actions in the Second World War--but from the view of the logistical "problem solvers", not the big name generals. I expected, though, that Kennedy would be writing more on the technical problems, and the stories of how they were solved. Instead, Kennedy mentions the technical and strategic innovations and the problems they solved, without saying much about how those solutions were developed, or the technical details of how they worked. I will say that I feel better equipped to learn more about the War.

Blessed are the problem solvers

This is a wonderful review of the importance of organization, defined processes and a culture of encouragement in tackling big problems... well researched and organized for consumption, I enjoyed this book and highly recommend... cheers

a concise evaluation of different advancements in the war

distribute did an excellent job of highlighting several technology advancements and how they intertwined to change the balance of the war. I admired how it didn't tend to focus on one, but pointed out several that were of high importance and how they worked well with other smaller advancements. It gives a greater understanding of how an overall Enterprise is greater than the sum of its parts