Second edition essentially the same as the first

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	• A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II Gerhard L. Weinberg Cambridge University Press, 2005 - 1208 pages average customer review:based on 59 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The Best Single Book on the War

The first edition of this book was fantastic. In only one volume there was the complete story of what happened in World War II. In the decade that has passed since its publication there have been many new releases of previously secret files. More information has also become available from the publication of additional memoirs, additional translations from foreign books, and of course from the opening up of the archives of the Soviet Union.

Here in one book is not only the history of the second World War, but an analysis of why things happened, the faults, the successes. Many of the supposed truths of the war are dispelled by the history of what happened. For instance it is commonly accepted that man for man the Germans were better soldiers than anyone else. Yet here battle after battle is described where the American infantry, in inferior numbers, and lacking adequate armored support held and then defeated the German forces.

If you have one book in your library on World War II, this should be it.

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Second edition essentially the same as the first

For the past decade Gerhard Weinberg's "A World at Arms" has stood as the best single-volume history of the Second World War. Encyclopedic in its scope and sure in its many judgements, it is a breathtaking work that reflects the considerable erudition of its author, who has spent decades studying the conflict. Yet Weinberg's book was bound to suffer from the passage of time, especially in a field as heavily researched as that of World War II. When I discovered that a new edition was due to be published, I looked forward to reading it and seeing how the revelations of the past decade has altered a book for which I have developed such respect.

Having read the book, my reaction is one of disappointment. While Weinberg has included a new nine-page preface that examines the work that has been done since the publication of the first edition, no great changes have been made to the rest of the work itself. The bulk of the book is simply a page-for-page reprinting of the original edition, with no notable editions either to the text or the notes. Because of this, some statements that were sound in 1994 are now dated; his lamentation for a reliable edition of Field Marshal Alanbrooke's diaries, for example, fails to take into account the publication of Alex Danchev's superb edition in 1998. This is the only reason why I give the new edition four stars instead of five, and I hope that readers take this into account when deciding whether or not to pay the not-inconsiderable amount for the new edition, especially if they have what is essentially the same book in their collection already.

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Amazing in-depth overview of WWII

The book focuses on how and why things occurred - there is almost no analysis of tactics in individual battles, but rather cause and effect analysis of long-term leadership decisions and technological breakthroughs. I have read a lot on WWII, and am very interested in the "grand strategy" of the war. This is the single best text I know of on this area.

There are other excellent reviews listed here. The main thing I wanted to note, is that there is no "anti-German bias" or "hatred of the German nation". A few reviewers criticised Weinberg for that, but I have no idea why those reviewers concluded that.

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Dear Mr. Deeply Flawed

Your taking umbrage with an author for being "anti-German" in his or her work about WWII is a nice bit of sophistry. It's like finding fault with an author for being anti-Klan in a book about the U.S. civil rights movement.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, page 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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