Moral Combat

Good and Evil in World War II

By: Michael Burleigh

Narrated by: Michael Kramer

Length: 26 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

In this sweepingly ambitious overview of World War II, Michael Burleigh combines meticulous scholarship with a remarkable depth of knowledge and an astonishing scope. By exploring the moral sentiments of entire societies and their leaders and how such attitudes changed under the impact of total war, Burleigh presents listeners with a fresh and powerful perspective on a conflict that continues to shape world politics. Whereas previous histories of the war have tended to focus on grand strategy or major battles, Burleigh brings his painstaking scholarship and profound sensibility to bear on the factors that shaped choices that were life-and-death decisions. These choices were made in real time, without the benefit of a philosopher’s reflection, giving a moral content to the war that shaped it as decisively as any battle.

Although the Nazis and the Japanese had radically different moral universes from those of their Allied opponents, the Western Allies found themselves aligned with a no less cruel dictatorship after rejecting the option of appeasing aggression. The war was the sum of myriad choices made by governments, communities, and individuals, leading some to enthusiastically embrace evil and others to consciously reject it, with a range of more ambiguously human responses in between. Spanning both major theaters, Moral Combat sheds a revealing light on how entire nations changed under the shock of total war.

Emphasizing the role of the past in making sense of the present, Burleigh’s book offers essential insights into the choices we face today—in some circles it is always 1938 and every aggressor is a new Hitler. If we do go to war, we need to know what it will mean for the individuals who command and fight it. Original, perceptive, and astonishing in scholarship and scope, this is an unforgettable and hugely important work of Second World War history.

©2011 Michael Burleigh (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Respected British historian Burleigh delivers a long, riveting account of awful events and the perverted reasoning behind them.” ( Publishers Weekly)

Illuminating history

With so many histories of World War II on offer, students of that world-changing event have a wealth of options for study. There are books tightly focused on key individuals or specific battles, others offering a wider view by examining a specific country or demographic group, and still others try to take in the broad sweep of the entire event (though to be thorough multiple volumes would be needed or else would fall short by giving short shrift to certain theaters or groups). Here Burleigh approaches this watershed of 20th century history by attempting to take in the immensity of the war through the frame of morality during the war. The aforementioned students of World War II history would be well-served by picking up this book, which manages to be both familiar and surprising.

Burleigh spends some time discussing morality, giving a framework to the people, policies, heroism, and tragedies that he will recount. In a wonderful preface, he discusses his aim in the book, including what it isn't meant to do (specifically, this book does not cover the Nazi atrocities in depth but rather just some prime examples, as he has covered it in other books, as have other authors). The preface highlights that this is a book of history, not of philosophy or law or prescriptions for future wars.

As a history, Burleigh is able to move across the years and the countries, the combatants and the civilians, the honorable, the questionable, and the abhorrent. He is scrupulously careful in setting the stage and giving background, never offering the actions of the participants in a vacuum or pretending that war does not operate outside of the normal parameters of peacetime. That said, he works very hard at not giving a pass to actions that push bounds of both war and peacetime morality, and pointing out that just because the Germans and the Japanese may have done things that are still the stuff of nightmares, that does not mean that immoral acts of the Allies (though perhaps fewer in number or amplitude) are not so bad in comparison. Chapters on collaboration (and how it differed in different countries) and air raids, atomic weapons and fire bombings, treatment of prisoners of war and women, manage to broaden the reader's view of the war and what people are capable of. Not to be missed.

Opus magnum

Well balanced selection of facts with the moral punch at the end. Narration consistent with the text. Would recommend to any thinking grownup...

A study of society under the pressure of War

Any additional comments?

While billed as an overview of WWII it focuses mainly on Europe, particularly the Nazis. There is a discussion of Japan at the end. He examines the moral attitudes of the countries involved, not just the political and military leadership, but entire societies, and how these attitudes bent and broke (on both sides) under the weight of total war.Fascinating.

terror

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

this is a lesson that has to be learned. we must never be ignorant of the consequence of being vulnerable or the relative cheap consequence of being prepared to vanquish our enemies.if the bquestion is

What did you like best about this story?

the details make the unfathomable more fathomable,yet it still strains the immagination how humans could kill innocent men women and children and go to lunch. It also highlights the utter failure of european christianity not as failing to

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

this is a book that simply should be read by every citizen of every state who wants to protect themselves and other people from miscreants and potential miscreants ,who were in the Bloodllands and still exist in every city ,town and village.

The Moral Integrity of Combatants Examined

What made the experience of listening to Moral Combat the most enjoyable?

'Enjoyable' is not the appropriate word. Yet the depth of his study is necessary for a genuine understanding of this war from its earliest stages to the end.

What did you like best about this story?

Both Britain and the United States made things worse by compromising peace with military unpreparedness. Great Britain's naval food embargo to Germany after the 1918 armistice is indefensible. The peace after 1945 was insured by the West's (Christian) capacity to 'forgive and give' through the Marshall Plan.

What about Michael Kramer’s performance did you like?

Clear, articulate and Well paced. He pronounced nearly all the foreign words correctly. He said "Lidice" in Slovenian correctly. Only mistakes in Chinese (I lived in China for eight years.). Wish more audio readers would seek out the help of native speakers.

Any additional comments?

Essential item in any World War Two bibliography.

Textbook for a WWII class

A really nice departure from typical texts assigned in history classes. Bought both the ebook and the audio book to keep up when on longish drives (I was a commuter student). Didn't bore me to tears. Felt more narrative-like than a cold barrage of facts and dates. Good focus and breakdown of the personalities behind the war along with descriptions of events.

Very Well Written

Impressive depth of research. Burleigh’s command of the English language is remarkable. First time I’ve read one of his books, but certainly not the last.