The Second World War

By: Antony Beevor

Narrated by: Sean Barrett

Length: 39 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Over the past two decades, Antony Beevor has established himself as one of the world's premier historians of World War II. His multi-award winning books have included Stalingrad and The Fall of Berlin 1945. Now, in his newest and most ambitious book, he turns his focus to one of the bloodiest and most tragic events of the 20th century, The Second World War.

In this searing narrative, which takes us from Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 to V-J day on August 14th, 1945, and the war's aftermath, Beevor describes the conflict and its global reach - one that included every major power. The result is a dramatic and breathtaking single-volume history that provides a remarkably intimate account of the war that, more than any other, still commands attention and an audience.

Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, Beevor's grand and provocative account is destined to become the definitive work on this complex, tragic, and endlessly fascinating period in world history. It confirms once more that he is a military historian of the first rank.

©2012 Antony Beevor (P)2012 Hachette Audio

It Fills in Gaps I Didn't Know Existed

I've been reading histories of WWII and watching the documentaries for forty years or so. (If I count the High School books about WWII fighter battles it's more like 50 years.) I'd recently gone back and listened to ???The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,??? a book I hadn't read since 1970. I thought that I had a pretty good handle on the major events. Yet, time and again Beevor was able to illuminate some aspect of the events that I had either never considered or had never heard about. His skillful blending of macro historical details with first-hand accounts from soldiers' letters home made listening to the book a riveting experience. If you are interested in the history of this global conflict, it is definitely worth the two credits.

So Difficult to Grasp the Tragedy

This book, more than most of the WWII books I've read, really explores the depth of the tragedy of the war. It still includes plenty of information about troop movements, politics, and sweeping geographical effects, but the author dwells heavily on the individual and group suffering. I don't recommend this book for the faint hearted or sensitive, but for those looking to understand what difficulties people all over the world endured, you won't find much better than this (perhaps Miller and Commager's 'The Story of World War II' competes). From the rape of Nanking to the Bataan death march, or the famines in Holland and Ukraine, little is spared to the imagination. As consumers, we experience the extreme tolls on cultures and civilizations from the rapes committed in their young women and the wants suffered by their soldiers and peasants alike. Anybody with so much as a passing understanding of WWII knows about the Holocaust - and this is explored in the present work - but the lesser known deprivations experienced all over the world are presented here, to my horrified appreciation.

I did have some problems, though:

* Several world leaders, especially Roosevelt, are unfairly painted with a very negative color.
* The writing, to an extent, is often dry and matter of fact, making it easy to disengage with the narrative. This might not represent a major drawback, but the narrator, while quite capable, is far too halting and choppy with his phrasing. These factors combined to require frequent rewinds as my mind wandered.
* Beevor has a strange combination of too dispassionate and too opinionated. While much of the book manages to walk the line that Cornelius Ryan treads so well, other sections put this bias front and center in a distracting way.

In the end, I was very fascinated to keep coming back to this long work, and I recommend it to those familiar with the subject, but it wouldn't be on my top 5 or even maybe top 10 for anyone else. If WWII is a new subject for you, I think you would do better to start with:

For an overview: To Hell and Back by Ian Kershaw (Exclusively covers Europe, and not limited to WWII), or The Story of World War II by Miller and Commager)
For approachable writing: Citizen Soldiers, The Supreme Commander, or D-Day by Stephen Ambrose.
For an understanding of the German perspective: The Last Battle by Cornelius Ryan, or Hitler by Ian Kershaw (probably my favorite WWII history book - so insightful and gripping!)
For dramatization: Anything by Herman Wouk, The Auschwitz Escape by Joel Rosenberg
For a different spin: No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin (politically biased, but rich with information), or Code Girls by Liza Mundy

The definitive history of WWII

If you're looking for one book to cover the Second World War, this is it.

Think you know history, think again.

Would you listen to The Second World War again? Why?

One day yes, but not for awhile. This book is very long. I will listen again, but in a few years, as it might take that long to digest everything. Don't get me wrong though, it is completely worth every minute you spend with it.

What other book might you compare The Second World War to and why?

I can't say what book, but I got the same feeling of excitement and awe that I had after watching Band of Brothers on HBO.

Have you listened to any of Sean Barrett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This was so beautifully and expertly delivered. I cannot imagine another person who could have done such an amazing and perfect job.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The book is full of many moments that will make you pause, shutter, and shake your head in the absolute madness that the two world wars were made of.

Any additional comments?

This book is full of information and is so in-depth you will be amazed. The author clearly has spent a vast portion of their life researching and vetting the information. I especially appreciate the authors ability to present both sides of a story and then provide a level headed analysis to try and remove much of the attempts both sides make to either exaggerate or cloud an issue.

Excellent overview of the Second World War

Antony Beevor has greatly organized such a great event into this book. The military actions are given enough detail while being peppered heavily and justly with the humanity involved. A tragedy in every sense of the word after reading. Highly recommended

Good book

Very good overall of ww2. Read well and very entertaining contained some details I hadn’t heard on other books and isn’t too deep to be boring.

This should be a warning to those on the Left.

The byproducts of communism and socialism are the destruction of innocence, personal liberty, individual safety and human lives.

No doubt this subject matter is not truly taught in modern universities, colleges or high schools. Instead, leftist controlled school priase Stalinism, Communism and Socialism as good things, while brain-washing our future generations into hating America and all freedom loving peoples and forms of government.

Excellent book.

Wide ranging history of World War II

I bought this history of the Second World War because I had previously read Mr. Beevor’s book on D-Day and thought it was both well written and thorough and this book is no different. It covers all of World War II including those theaters like Burma and China which are often ignored because they do not seem to have played a central role in the conflict. He logically follows the events of the war in chronological order and this often has chapters switching around the globe to follow what is happening. Some, like me, will need a map to follow events in places where their knowledge of the geography is skimpy.

Mr. Beevor covers events thoroughly with descriptions of the battles often describing attempts to take little known but important hill positions or road junctions. While the descriptions are clear they sometimes seem a little too detailed for those wanting an overview of the battles. The book is full of little vignettes which are often informative enough to clarify the political as well as military events. One example would be Georgy Zhukov’s assumption, when summoned by Stalin in 1938 to take charge of the First Soviet Mongolian Army Group, that he needed to bring his personal belonging because he was probably being sent to the Gulag. No description of the political atmosphere in The Soviet Union could more clearly show the climate of fear and repression than that simple story. Similar little stories, often taken from letters or diary entries, from politicians, soldiers, husbands, wives and others are sprinkled throughout the book and they help to explain the true situation in ways that simple narrative could not.

There is an oddity in this book. Mr. Beevor lists the date of Pearl Harbor as Dec 8. When I first heard this I assumed that perhaps he was talking about the date in Tokyo, but the book specifically states that planes left the carrier at 6:05 on December 8th. An odd thing since everyone knows it was december 7th.

Another thing that I feel should be mentioned is Mr. Beevor’s distain for many of those in either political or military positions of importance. Erwin Rommel, generally thought of as one of the more moral and insightful generals of the German army, is described as careless, unwilling to face facts, ignorant of logistics and unwilling to listen to his superiors (a trait that I always thought was one of his best). General Eisenhower is spoken of as “politically naïve” while current biographies speak of him as a brilliant politician (see Jean Edward Smith’s biography or Evan Thomas’ book “Ike’s Bluff”). Churchill, the man recently voted the greatest figure in UK history, is treated poorly by Mr. Beevor, Franklin Roosevelt is presented as short sighted, the picture of general Stillwell in this book is a very different pricture than that presented in "Stillwell And The American Experience In China", and the list goes on. I am so much not taking issue with Mr. Beevor’s opinions – one of the reasons I buy books like this one is to see and hear differing opinions – as to point them out to the potential reader.

Sean Barrett’s reading of this book is adequate although not inspired. Perhaps inspiration is too much to ask for a narrator who has to read a 39 hour plus book and I should mention that his narration never really gets tiring. I have given this book 4 stars party because of the narration (which is good but not great), partly because this book requires 2 credits but mostly because I personally find much of what Mr. Beevor writes too much at odds with many of the other books I have read on this and related topics. It is, I think, worth reading but if the listener wants to read only one book on World War II I might suggest Inferno by Max Hastings

Great book

Very informative and heart wrenching. Every person should listen to this book at least once.

Incredibly eye opening! War is worse than hell!

I thought I knew about war. I also thought I knew World War II... My god but I didn't! This is a must read.