No Simple Victory

World War II in Europe, 1939-1945

De: Norman Davies

Narrado por: Simon Vance

If history really belongs to the victor, what happens when there's more than one side declaring victory? That's the conundrum Norman Davies unravels in his groundbreaking book No Simple Victory. Far from being a revisionist history, No Simple Victory instead offers a clear-eyed reappraisal, untangling and setting right the disparate claims made by America, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union in order to get at the startling truth.

In detailing the clash of political philosophies that drove the war's savage engine, Davies also examines how factors as diverse as technology, economics, and morale played dynamic roles in shaping battles, along with the unsung yet vital help of Poland, Greece, and Ukraine (which suffered the highest number of casualties). And while the Allies resorted to bombing enemy civilians to sow terror, the most damning condemnation is saved for the Soviet Union, whose glossed-over war crimes against British soldiers and its own people prove that Communism and Nazism were two sides of the same brutal coin.

No Simple Victory is an unparalleled work that will fascinate not only history buffs but anyone who is interested in discovering the reality behind what Davies refers to as "the frozen perspective of the winners' history".

©2007 Norman Davies (P)2007 Tantor Media Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Enormously readable....This will explode all your ideas about the 'Good War.' " (Details)
"This is a self-consciously contrary book, cutting against the grain of much self-congratulatory Western writing since 1945." (London Sunday Telegraph)
"Davies' topical approach judiciously surveys the military, economic and political aspects of the war....His interpretations rest on solid scholarly work." (Publishers Weekly)

An Important History

Norman Davies is a historian of honesty, truth, and a willingness to look at all sides of the picture. This book gives you a complete view of World War II in Europe. It is an important listen/read for all of us—so that we can understand the past fully, and not just from a single narrative. Davies explores the conflict from beginning to end, from the events of militaries and civilians, West and East, criminals and the righteous, and victors and slaves. Truth is essential, whether or not we like it or whether or not it fits with our preconceived or well ingrained notions. Davies tells the truth of the war in Europe.

Facts and figures galore

This book is for anyone that wants to know the real facts and figures on WWII. Especially the figures.

What a masterpiece that is also extremely well read by the narrator.

Buy it. Unless you do not like (the real) details you will not be disappointed.........

No words can describe the inhumanity

My dad was in WW 2 and would NEVER talk about it, after listening to this book I know why. It is hard for me to wrap my brain around what took place. The numbers quoted in this book are staggering! The torture incomprehensible!
I keep thinking about the protesters complaining about the U.S. using water boarding!!

Balanced and well-crafted

Comprehensive coverage of WW2 in Europe. In addition to the standard fare, the author does a nice job comparing and contrasting the Soviet and Nazi repression and atrocities. He also discusses many interesting side issues..from wartime poetry to the experience of Poles who made it from the Gulags to India and then service with the British.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook.

Great overview of World War 2, but ...

In terms of books on World War 2 No Simple Victory is unique in that it is not just a description of the battles of the war but rather a look at how the war affected all aspects of society. The battles of the war are described, but occupy probably less than 10 percent of the book while the rest of the book describes the belligerent societies and examines how the war affected those people and societies. A complete list of the topics covered would be too extensive for this review, but subjects include politics, arts, documentaries, movies, books, military discipline, civilian police, prisons, POW camps, military intelligence, secret projects, partisan warfare, heroic and non-heroic actions and much, much more. It is the most complete look at how the war affected the period of World War 2 and beyond that I have ever read and, as such, it is unparalleled in its scope and completeness and no other book I have read approaches it. The writing conveys the importance of each of the subjects covered, the book never loses its central theme and I was never bored. It is simply a wonderful book about an important subject, but is not without its flaws.

The first is that it assumes that the reader has no knowledge of the character of the main political figures, or of their systems. A large part of beginning of the book is spent describing why Stalin was as big a monster as Hitler, and why the Soviet Union was as much a totalitarian system as that of Nazi Germany, but anyone who has spent any time reading about the period from the Russian Revolution to the Cold War should already know about the Soviet Gulags, The Terror of the 1930s, the random arrests and killings, the political purges and the baseless accusations that were part of normal life in the Soviet Union under Stalin. It seems a waste of space and time to repeat what is probably common knowledge at such great length for those who would read a book like this one.

The second is that Mr Davies, as a historian, seems almost obsessed with the idea that museums, monuments, and other displays concerning the war should address the war in its entirety rather than just the local interest in the war. While I understand why a historian would believe this, Mr Davies seems to take no notice of the fact that people are most interested in that part of the war that directly affected them, their family, those that they know, or the location where they are at the time. Americans are more interested in how the war affected America than how it affected Poland, the French are more interested in how the war affected France and so on. A visitor to St Petersburg in Russia can visit a war memorial which describes the long siege of the city during the war, but which does not describe any of the other battles in the then Soviet Union, and all of this is normal. While a museum dedicated to the war in its entirety is certainly a worthy endeavor, people are most concerned about things that directly or indirectly affect them, and that is only to be expected. Mr Davies spends far too much time berating people for behavior that is normal.

The third is that this book describes the war in Europe only, and does not even touch on the war in the Pacific except when it is absolutely essential. It is not the fact that the book is about the European theater of the war that is bothersome, but that Mr Davies’ concentration on Europe causes him to make statements that seem misleading. For example he discusses how the Soviet Union fielded many more troops than the US in proportion to the population, but discounts the entire US war effort int he Pacific which tied up enormous amounts of both men and materiel. One of the reasons that the US landing in Normandy only involved about 150,000 troops on D-Day is that both men and landing craft were also needed in the Pacific and they could not be in two places at the same time. Another is that the enormous amount of war materiel that the US was producing for the Allies required that a large number of people had to work in the armaments industry and thus were not soldiers, sailors or airmen.

This list is not complete - there are other ares that I found mildly annoying - but this book is the best overall view of the European Theater of the war that I have ever read and I would not want this review to imply otherwise. The narration is superb, the subject matter important and the overall conclusions of the book essential to understanding the war. Highly recommended, but with some noted caveats.