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Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941
- War in the Far East Series, Book 1
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
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Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941
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Publisher's Summary
War in the Far East is a trilogy of books offering the most complete narrative yet written about the Pacific Theater of World War II, and the first truly international treatment of the epic conflict. Historian Peter Harmsen weaves together a complex and revealing narrative, including facets of the war that are often overlooked in historic narratives. He explores the war in subarctic conditions on the Aleutians; details the mass starvations in China, Indochina, and India; and offers a range of perspectives on the war experience, from the Oval Office to the blistering sands of Peleliu.
Storm Clouds over the Pacific begins the story long before Pearl Harbor, showing how the war can only be understood if ancient hatreds and long-standing geopolitics are taken into account. Harmsen demonstrates how Japan and China's ancient enmity led to increased tensions in the 1930s, which, in turn, exploded into conflict in 1937.
The battles of Shanghai and Nanjing were followed by the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938, China's only major victory. A war of attrition continued up to 1941, the year when Japan made the momentous decision to pursue all-out war. The infamous attack on Pearl Harbor catapulted the United States into the war, as the Japanese also overran British and Dutch territories throughout the western Pacific.
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What listeners say about Storm Clouds over the Pacific, 1931-1941
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Philo
- 09-13-21
Solid history, good level of focus
I had followed European 20th century history much more closely. This Asia-Pacific refocusing is overdue for me, and I am pleased with this book as an entry point, pivoting from my familiarity with World War 2 generally. I can see there are countless more dimensions and threads to follow! This book does a workmanlike, not flashy, but well-detailed job of telling the story, very consistently. The one thing I would change is choice of narrator. Walter Dixon is highly skilled, and his calm, smooth style was perfect for the lengthy Essentials of Risk Management, Second Edition. His performance here is up to his high level of competence, but style-wise, I think a bit more edge, sparkle and punch in the delivery would be better.
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- Length: 25 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 21
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 17
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 17
In 1941 and 1942, the British and Indian armies were brutally defeated and Japan reigned supreme in its newly conquered territories throughout Asia. But change was coming. New commanders were appointed, significant training together with restructuring took place and new tactics were developed. A War of Empires by acclaimed historian Robert Lyman expertly retells these coordinated efforts and describes how a new volunteer Indian Army, rising from the ashes of defeat, would ferociously fight to turn the tide of war.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fills In a Great Gap
- By Jeff G on 05-30-22
By: Robert Lyman
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Pacific Thunder
- The US Navy's Central Pacific Campaign, August 1943–October 1944
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 194
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 169
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 169
On 27 October 1942, four "Long Lance" torpedoes fired by the Japanese destroyers Makigumo and Akigumo exploded in the hull of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8). Minutes later, the ship that had launched the Doolitte Raid six months earlier slipped beneath the waves of the Coral Sea 100 miles northeast of the island of Guadalcanal and just north of the Santa Cruz Islands, taking with her 140 of her sailors. With the loss of Hornet, the United States Navy now had one aircraft carrier left in the South Pacific.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Good for what it is, but not what it claims to be
- By David Maher on 12-18-17
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Shanghai 1937
- Stalingrad on the Yangtze
- By: Peter Harmsen
- Narrated by: George Backman
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 108
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Story4 out of 5 stars 89
This deeply researched book describes one of the great forgotten battles of the 20th century. At its height it involved nearly a million Chinese and Japanese soldiers, while sucking in three million civilians as unwilling spectators and, often, victims. It turned what had been a Japanese adventure in China into a general war between the two oldest and proudest civilizations of the Far East. Ultimately, it led to Pearl Harbor and to seven decades of tumultuous history in Asia. The Battle of Shanghai was a pivotal event that helped define and shape the modern world.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Curtain to World War Two
- By Michael on 03-01-16
By: Peter Harmsen
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Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
- By: Herbert P. Bix
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 29 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 114
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 102
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Story4 out of 5 stars 103
In this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose 63-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix describes what it was like to be trained from birth for a lone position at the apex of the nation's political hierarchy and as a revered symbol of divine status.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Not what I bargained for
- By Alexander Crowell on 08-21-20
By: Herbert P. Bix
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Tower of Skulls
- A History of the Asia-Pacific War, Vol. 1 (July 1937 - May 1942)
- By: Richard B. Frank
- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 26 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 244
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 213
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Story5 out of 5 stars 209
This story casts penetrating light on how struggles in Europe and Asia merged into a tightly entwined global war. It features not just battles, but also the sweeping political, economic, and social effects of the war, and are graced with a rich tapestry of individual characters from top-tier political and military figures down to ordinary servicemen, as well as the accounts of civilians of all races and ages.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding
- By Patrick on 03-16-20
By: Richard B. Frank
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China and Japan
- Facing History
- By: Ezra F. Vogel
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 60
China and Japan have cultural and political connections that stretch back 1,500 years. But today, their relationship is strained. China's military buildup deeply worries Japan, while Japan's brutal occupation of China in World War II remains an open wound. In recent years, less than 10 percent of each population had positive feelings toward the other, and both countries insist that the other side must deal openly with its history before relations can improve. Ezra Vogel's China and Japan examines key turning points in Sino-Japanese history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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China & Japan is first rate by a top scholar
- By Louise Stone on 06-17-20
By: Ezra F. Vogel
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The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 2,687
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 2,394
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 2,390
This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
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5 out of 5 stars
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A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
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Rising Sun, Falling Skies
- The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II
- By: Jeffrey Cox
- Narrated by: Theodore O'Brien
- Length: 22 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 72
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 67
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Story5 out of 5 stars 67
Few events have ever shaken a country in the way that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor affected the United States. After the devastating attack, Japanese forces continued to overwhelm the Allies, attacking Malaya with its fortress of Singapore, and taking resource-rich islands in the Pacific - Borneo, Sumatra, and Java - in their own blitzkrieg offensive. Allied losses in these early months after America's entry into the war were great, and among the most devastating were those suffered during the Java Sea Campaign.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The first months of the war were frightening.
- By michael s on 10-07-22
By: Jeffrey Cox
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I Will Run Wild
- The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: Lance C Fuller
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 79
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
In many popular histories of the Pacific War, the period from the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor to the US victory at Midway is often passed over because it is seen as a period of darkness. Indeed, it is easy to see the period as one of unmitigated disaster for the Allies, with the fall of the Philippines, Malaya, Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the wholesale retreat and humiliation at the hands of Japan throughout Southeast Asia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very informative
- By dexter on 09-20-20
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The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War
- By: Mark E. Stille
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 11 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 70
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 67
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Story4 out of 5 stars 66
The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was the third most powerful navy in the world at the start of World War II and came to dominate the Pacific in the early months of the war. This was a remarkable turnaround for a navy that only began to modernize in 1868. The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War details the Japanese ships which fought in the Pacific and examines the principles on which they were designed, how they were armed, when and where they were deployed, and how effective they were in battle.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Technical Reference
- By Dale H. Reeck on 06-09-18
By: Mark E. Stille
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To Rule the Waves
- How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World
- By: Arthur Herman
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 29 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,045
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 950
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 945
To Rule the Waves tells the extraordinary story of how the British Royal Navy allowed one nation to rise to a level of power unprecedented in history. From the navy's beginnings under Henry VIII to the age of computer warfare and special ops, historian Arthur Herman tells the spellbinding tale of great battles at sea, heroic sailors, violent conflict, and personal tragedy - of the way one mighty institution forged a nation, an empire, and a new world.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Superb and easy to listen to.
- By Mrs. on 02-16-17
By: Arthur Herman
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Neptune's Inferno
- The U.S. Navy at Guadalcanal
- By: James D. Hornfischer
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 18 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2,209
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1,917
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1,914
With The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Ship of Ghosts, James D. Hornfischer created essential and enduring narratives about America’s World War II Navy, works of unique immediacy distinguished by rich portraits of ordinary men in extremis and exclusive new information. Now he does the same for the deadliest, most pivotal naval campaign of the Pacific war: Guadalcanal. Neptune’s Inferno is at once the most epic and the most intimate account ever written of the contest for control of the seaways of the Solomon Islands.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The WWII Pacific Theater Explodes In My Lazy Chair
- By Bee Keeper on 03-01-11
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World War 2 in the Pacific Collection: Across Wake Island, Bataan, Guadalcanal, Corregidor, and Iwo Jima
- Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, The Saga of Pappy Gunn, On Valor's Side, The Coastwatchers, They Call it Pacific, Joe Foss Flying Marine, South from Corregidor, The Story of Wake Island, & Mission Beyond Darkness
- By: Robert Lackie, General George C. Kenney, T. Grady Gallant, and others
- Narrated by: Museum Audiobooks Cast
- Length: 66 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 58
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 51
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 51
This is a nine-book bundle on the Pacific War, the theatre of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean and Oceania. The Pacific War saw the Allies pitted against Japan, aided by Thailand and its Axis allies, Germany and Italy. Fighting included some of the largest naval battles in history, and the war culminated in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Good collection, great bargain well worth a credit
- By R. Denton on 08-13-21
By: Robert Lackie, and others
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Shattered Sword
- The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
- By: Jonathan Parshall, Anthony Tully
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 24 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,824
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,582
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,570
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange's best-selling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida's Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Shattered Myths - These authors got it right?
- By Ol'BlueEyes on 05-13-19
By: Jonathan Parshall, and others
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Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918
- Modern War Studies
- By: Daniel J. Hughes, Richard L. DiNardo
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 21 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 147
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 127
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 127
Written by two of the world's leading authorities on the subject, Imperial Germany and War, 1871-1918 examines the most essential components of the imperial German military system, with an emphasis on such foundational areas as theory, doctrine, institutional structures, training, and the officer corps. In the period between 1871 and 1918, rapid technological development demanded considerable adaptation and change in military doctrine and planning.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very well researched
- By Jeff Wise on 04-27-20
By: Daniel J. Hughes, and others
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Why the Allies Won
- By: Richard Overy
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 110
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 100
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 99
In this fascinating consideration of the Allied war effort, historian Richard Overy answers one of the great questions of the 20th century: What led to the unmistakable Allied victory when in the early stages of World War II, the balance of power so strongly favored the Axis?
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1 out of 5 stars
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Nothing cited, mostly personal opinion
- By rbergen on 05-17-19
By: Richard Overy
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Tower of Skulls
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- By: Richard B. Frank
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This story casts penetrating light on how struggles in Europe and Asia merged into a tightly entwined global war. It features not just battles, but also the sweeping political, economic, and social effects of the war, and are graced with a rich tapestry of individual characters from top-tier political and military figures down to ordinary servicemen, as well as the accounts of civilians of all races and ages.
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Outstanding
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