The Second World War: A Complete History

By: Martin Gilbert

Narrated by: Bernard Mayes

Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill, offers a complete history of World War II.

It began with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. By the time it came to an end on V-Day - August 14, 1945 - it had involved every major power, and had become global in its reach. In the final accounting, it would turn out to be - in both human terms and material resources - the costliest war in history, taking the lives of forty-six million people.

With unparalleled scholarship and breadth of vision, Gilbert weaves together all of the war’s aspects - the political, the military, the diplomatic, and, not least, the civilian - charting an almost day-by-day account of the terrible progress of the war’s juggernaut of death and destruction. Through it all, his aim is to show what happened, not from the point of view of any one of the warring nations but from a global perspective. The result is the first total history of this global war, a work that is both a treasure trove of information and a gripping dramatic narrative.

©1989 Martin Gilbert (P)2000 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Brings the losses and the horrors of the war home to us more urgently than a more accented account might do.” ( New York Times Book Review)

“Mr. Gilbert brings the strongest possible credentials to his history of World War II, and the result is a magisterial work that shows how the greatest war ever fought reached into every corner of the globe.” ( New York Times)

“In his transmission of the horror of the war, Martin Gilbert has achieved something no historian but he could. There is indeed a relentless force about chronology when it is used as a tool by a historian of the status of Martin Gilbert.” ( Sunday Telegraph)

occasional detailed information

the book itself isn't inherently bad. it's not nearly as well written as the WW1 history by the same author. the narrator did a great job but it sounds like absolute trash like it's being read through a tin can in a bathroom. there is also a small voice that can be heard in the background constantly that is driving me nuts.

Very Detailed

I enjoyed the book immensely and learned quite a bit. I thought it would be more about battles and such. The focus was more detailed on deaths and numbers.

Good story horrible audio

The audio made this very hard to listen to. It’s obviously about WW2 and the audio sounds like it is too. I enjoyed his WW1 book so this one is just as good, but fair warning, it’s hard on the ears

Excellent book, a little dry performance

Loved the book. Audio quality isn't up to snuff, which gives the dry performance no help.

Very detailed

The statistics and details are incredible they are woven into the story so they fit very well and don’t get in the way of the story