November 1942

An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II

By: Peter Englund, Peter Graves - translator

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

The New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • An intimate history of the most important month of World War II, completely based on the diaries, letters and memoirs of the people who lived through it

At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers could still win the Second World War; at the end of that month, it was obviously just a matter of time before they would lose. In between were el-Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. It may have been the most important thirty days of the twentieth century. In this hugely innovative and riveting history, Peter Englund has reduced an epoch-making event to its basic component: the individual experience.

Englund’s narrative is based solely on what he learned from the writings of soldiers and ordinary citizens alike. They comprise a remarkable, deeply personal resource. In thirty memorable days, among those we meet are: a Soviet infantryman at Stalingrad; an American pilot on Guadalcanal; an Italian truck driver in the North African desert; a partisan in the Belarussian forests; a machine gunner in a British bomber; a twelve-year-old girl in Shanghai; a university student in Paris; a housewife on Long Island; a shipwrecked Chinese sailor; a prisoner in Treblinka; a Korean “comfort woman” in Mandalay; Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman and Vera Brittain—forty characters in all. In addition, we experience the construction and launching of SS James Oglethorpe, a Liberty ship built in Savannah; the fate of U-604, a German submarine; the building of the first nuclear reactor in Chicago; and the making of Casablanca.

Not since the publication of the author’s last book, The Beauty and the Sorrow, which similarly looked at the First World War, have we had such a mesmerizing work of history.

Disappointing

This is all done in a thick, upper-class British accent, which I found difficult to follow as an American. The stories were not that compelling, and about half of them. I just did not follow at all.

Intriguing look at WWII

I really enjoyed all the different points of view from the people who actually lived during the war. Ordinary people, regular soldiers from the US, the UK, Russia, Japan, Australia, Italy and Germany, Holocaust victims, resistance fighters, housewives, comfort girls, refugees, they’re all here. Englund used their diaries, journals and memoirs to create the most complete first person account of the war that I have ever read. Focusing on one crucial month as lived by many people from all theaters of the war provides a totally unique, global perspective. Mark Bramhall is one of my favorite readers and he was terrific as usual. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has even a casual interest in the war.

A Window into a Remarkable Time

An extraordinary window into individual lives that represent microcosms of the war experience. I feel deeply connected to this book because it takes place in the month I was born.

Excellent book but not well suited for audio reading.

The book itself is excellent, but not well-suited for audio. Tracking 39 characters throughout the book was too difficult. The sections between character descriptions cannot be detected on audio; therefore it became confusing to follow. Also, the detailed footnotes in the book were essential to understand the context of the characters’ experiences, but footnotes are not included in audio. I highly recommend having the hard copy or e-copy.

interesting take of the war, narrator angered me

Working day by day through what is arguably the fulcrum month of the Second World War is an interesting approach and it works pretty well until the Narrator , Mark Bramhall, started slaging Vera Brittain, author of "Testament of Youth" and one of my personal heroes
I think it must be the writing about her, to start with, but Bramhill affects such a snotty, swarmy voice to read the passages that I almost threw my phone out the window.
Brittian was a pacifist and yes she was probably wrong about the second wold war but she had a valid point of view if you understand her experiences during the 1914-18 war. She was not wrong about Churchill who although a brilliant orator and a third class watercolorist really screwed the pooch with his actions in the Dardanelles, Ask any Anzac survivor how they feel about the man.
Too bad because it spoiled a reasonably good book and I will be asking for my money back.