the second world wars by victor davis hanson

the second world wars by victor davis hanson is an excellent resource for a complete review and analysis of what we now call world war two.  having been born over 30 years after the end of world war two and having heard my own father (who is 90 years old at this writing) speak of his experiences as well has his older brother's experience, i've always been fascinated with what life must have been like living in the 1930s and 1940s.  i love world war two movies from where eagles dare to patton to saving private ryan and band of brothers (book as well as hbo mini series).  my boyhood fascination with the war has largely been focused on the bombing of pearl harbor and the american efforts on the european western front of the war.  over the years, that fascination has turned to a chilling effect as i realized and comprehended the atrocities of both war in general as well as those specific to world war two.

the reason for the change from boyhood fascination to a chilling effect started in 1993 when schindler's list was released.  i quickly realized how frightening humans can act toward other humans.  other movies that portrayed the holocaust have had a similar terrifying effect.  six million souls lost to extermination!  it is shocking.

then in 2016, i stumbled across a website dedicated to visually showing, by the numbers, the human cost of world war two.  the website is called the fallen of world war ii.  if you have not had the chance, spend some time and even donate to the site.  victor davis hanson, in chapter 19 entitled the dead, cites some stats on the number.  low end estimates are around 50 million, with high end around 80 million.  his personal opinion is around 60-65 million dead.  what is really insightful of the fallen dead website is it shows where and how those millions of people died.  the numbers are mind-boggling when you look at the western front.  but what is haunting are the numbers on the eastern front where there germans and russians fought.  hanson goes into the why of this a bit in his book, in that, when two extreme ideologies meet in war (nazism vs communism) and both styles of leadership are of the mindset of win or die, then deaths add up very quickly.

the hatred between the germans and russians explodes on the battlefield and sieges.  in his sieges chapter, hanson says, "totalitarian ideologies framed the struggle in manichean terms unlike anything seen in the rivalries of the past.  hitler planned a war of nazi extermination to either kill off or enslave the supposedly inferior race of slavic untermenschen of russia and liquidate millions of jews in his eastward path" (p. 309).  and just to provide a bit of context of scale, the number of dead russians from just the leningrad siege were four times greater than all the american dead of the entire war! (p. 313).

between the fallen of world war ii website and hanson's the second world wars, i have gained a much greater appreciation of the epic scale of world war two.  my myopic american view of the war has been greatly disabused and i have a much greater appreciation for the exceptionally dire circumstances the french, british and americans were in by accepting an alliance with a communist state (russia).

the second really important point i learned about world war two, is tied directly with hanson's premise and title of the book.  world war one, as we know it today, was called "the great war" in the 1920s, 30s and 40s.  it really wasn't until around 1942 after japan attacked the united states and germany invaded russia that it turned into a global war.  up to that point, all during the 1930s and up to september 1939, it was largely viewed as a series of border conflicts between hitler and his neighbors.  once japan bombed pearl harbor and germany betrayed their former ally (russia), the war greatly escalated and exploded globally.  existential crises popped up across the world.  only years after, did the great war change names to world war one and the first truly global conflict was dubbed world war two.  which leads to the next point i learned from the book: hitler was equipped very well to win border wars, but he and his staff truly failed to appreciate the massive resources the americans and russians had at their disposal - hitler was absolutely not prepared to fight a global war.

in essence, the allies won due to innovation and production power.  the nazis and imperial japanese were technologically advanced in the late 1930s, but their failure to adapt and establish consistent, reliable production methods (food and war equipment), failed them.  the americans, british and russians, on the other hand, collaborated, innovated, adapted and consistently produced far more than the axis powers were able to.  russian production was moved far to the other side of russia in the ural mountains - far from hitlers bombers (who also never was able to develop a long-range bomber like the lancaster, b-17 or b-29).  american continental soil was never in danger and americans were able to produce and supply not only their army, air force and navy, but also they were able to supply russia with thousands of trucks and transports.  hitler may have thought he could attack quickly and overwhelm europe and russia, but when he was not successful against britain, he blundered big time by moving east to russia, where his armies were met by hoards of russian soldiers and t-34 tanks.  of course, by 1944 and the establishment of the western front, all those resources were spent and hitler could not sustain both fronts.

japan and britain had the largest navies in the world in 1939.  the americans had a sizable navy and adequate air navel power, but no where near the japanese strength.  but when american production power ramped up and japanese production faltered, the tide shifted to the americans.  also, the types of warships the japanese and americans decided to build largely shaped the war.  shipbuilding, coupled with slight changes in strategy in aerial bombing over japan and then eventually the technological innovation of the nuclear bomb forced the japanese to surrender.

hanson also does a great job segueing from end-of-war descriptions to post-war new world order descriptions.  understanding world war two and the end results, enables the student of history to understand world history for the next 70 years.  even today, the world is still reeling from the effects of the first global conflict.  hanson also addresses the historical question of: are 65 million deaths worth a 70 year "peace"?  did we truly get peace for the price of all those dead?  or would the world have been a bloodier place (or not) had hitler not invaded russia and held the gains made up to 1941?

one other thought (they keep coming to me) - churchill entered the world stage at just the right time.  britain was the only country to fight nazi germany from the day they invaded poland to their defeat.  churchill was largely responsible for keeping up the fight when more calls of appeasement and conciliation with hitler.  after having watched darkest hour last month during christmas as well as dinkirk last may, i've grown a desire to find a good churchill biography and read it.

overall - a phenomenal book, one that captures the breadth as well as complexity and detail of the first global war.  he cites lots of statistics and arrives at sound conclusions.  for someone wanting to grasp an appreciation and good perspective of the whole war, pick up this book, read it and refer to it often.

the caine mutiny by herman wouk

queeg playing with his balls while testifying in the trial

i read the caine mutiny by herman wouk over my vacation last week.

good book - held my interest the entire time.  i don't know if the experience of willie keith or any of the other characters, was typical of the wwii sailor or not.  the book was quite popular when it came out in 1951, just a few years after the war ended.  shortly after the book came out, it was made into a movie with humphrey bogart.  with this in mind, it must have hit a collective nerve with the nation.

the movie has a 92% freshness along with an 87% liked rating.  i watched the movie from amazon after i finished the book.  similarly to the book, the movie held my attention, but i don't think bogart did a great job of portraying queeg.

the plot does a pretty good job of making the reader guess what is going to happen.  i could feel the 'set-up' when keith didn't like captain de vries (the first captain of the caine).  so it wasn't too surprising when keith seemingly wished de vries was the captain instead of queeg.  naturally, i felt that queeg was crazy - not clinically, but rather he was just a crazy captain in the sense that he was incompetent.  i would imagine that many people have seen other people similar to queeg.  queeg was "never wrong" and made any excuse possible to demonstrate he was right.

i was cheering when mayrk finally commandeered the caine and relieved queeg.  i felt confident mayrk would be acquitted ... until greenwald explained the nature of the situation.  the trial was the best part of the book.  i often wondered if "a few good men" received its inspiration from the caine mutiny.

the most shocking part of the book was when greenwald excoriated keefe.  i didn't see that coming.  i imagine that was put into the book to satisfy military meat-heads.  from a civilian perspective, mayrk did what any normal person would do.  but from a military perspective, respect for command is supreme.

after the trial, the book seemed to drag on too long.  the wrap up of the keith - may wynn relationship was kind of dumb.  they don't even get together at the end of the book.  in the movie, they seem end up together.

one other note - keith's dad was not in the movie.  but in the book, he seemed to play a quasi big role in persuading keith to stick it out with may wynn.  i particularly liked the letter his father wrote to him.

in summary - good book!  i'd give it 7 out of 10.

* exodus by leon uris

* i found a stash of my high school and college book reviews. any askterisked titles denotes a book review from this period.

february 21, 1994

exodus, by leon uris, is an exciting book about how the jews gained their freedom after hundreds of years of persecution by the russians, germans and many other countries, that tried to exterminate the jewish race.  anyone who reads this book will gain an understanding of the jews and see why is was so important that they should fight for a homeland of their own.

the novel starts out on cyprus with a reporter meeting up with a nurse and old friend - kitty fremont.  kitty was on vacation in cyprus, but later went to work in a british detained persons camp for exiled jews after world war two.  she later meets a man by the name of ari ben canaan, who is a leader of a jewish organization.  together with the report, mark parker, they get an old ship, the exodus, and train children and prepare them to go to israel.  mark writes a story about how the jews are treated by the british and sends it back to london in order to get the world on the side of the jews.  finally the british let the boat go to israel.  when they get there, the organization gets the children into camps and cities called kibbutzes.  kitty also goes with the children, but mainly for the reason of a girl named karen clement.  karen went mainly for a boy named dov landau, who was an excellent forger.  when karen and dov arrive there, karen stays with kitty and dov goes and joins the maccabees, a terrorist group fighting for the freedom of the jews.  later on, dov and a man by the name of akiva, who was ari's uncle, are captured by the british.  ari goes to the maccabees and helps them get akiva and dov out of th British jail.  their plan succeeds, but akiva dies and ari is shot in the leg.  at about the same time, kitty and karen were preparing to leave to the united states.  when kitty hears that ari is injured, she goes to him and nurses him back to health.  after all this time, the united nations votes on the issue of the jews obtaining a homeland or not.  the jews get their homeland.  the arabs did all that they could do to keep israel from becoming a state and they end up fighting the jews to do so.  the jews put up a miraculous fight to keep their homeland.  they end up keeping all their homeland at the end.

the theme of the book is nothing byt to show the world what the jews went through to get their state.  leon uris, just as his other books, puts fiction with reality.  in this book, he uses flash-back to tell the story of the jews before, during and after world war two.  the graphic disgust of what the germans did to the jews is also portrayed in this novel.  if there were any lesson to be learned from the book, it would be the reminder of what the jews went through and how no one should ever go through what they experienced.

exodus is an excellent book to read if one wants to lean the story of the jews.  leon uris is probably one of the best sources for this subject.  he spent many years researching, reporting and travelling through the countryside of israel.  exodus might also perhaps be one of the best books about the jewish story.

mr. puckett gave me a 46/50; with the comments, "don't tell so much of the story and devote more time to response and reaction"  reading this again, i vigorously agree with his assessment!

Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean

What a great way to kick off this blog with a heart-pounding read!

The history behind me reading this book goes back to my high school days. In the dead of winter, Dad and I got home from playing basketball at the old church gym one evening. After showering and eating a delicious corned beef and hash with hashed browned potatoes dinner, I settled into our big brown couch to watch some TV. After some flipping of the channels, I landed on TBS. The movie started off with a the rumbling of WWII airplane above the Alps. The music was determined and bombastic. I was hooked.

The movie "Where Eagles Dare" with Tim Burton and Clint Eastwood is one of my all-time favorite. I enjoy watching it in the winter. Last year, after doing some googling, I found the soundtrack to the movie. Then a few months ago while visting Half-Priced books, I came across the book. I grabbed it and started reading. I got half way through the book and then life got a little busy. But I finally picked it back and up and finished it in a couple of days.

The Summary

A team of British Special Forces along with an American Ranger infiltrate the HQ of Nazi intelligence high above in the Alps. The purpose of their mission is to extract an American general. But we soon find out that the real reason for the mission is to reveal double-agents who have penetrated MI6.

Opinion

The book and movie stay pretty close to each other in the plot. The biggest thing I noticed was the lack of killing in the book. In fact, Major Smith goes out of his way several times to not kill a German. At one point he puts his own life in peril to rescue an unconcious German. In the movie, Smith and Schaffer mow down Germans left and right. They are killing machines.

In the book, Schaffer is much more light-hearted. He is a rancher from Montana and he has a cowboy quality about himself. Clint Eastwood plays a morbid and tough-guy in the movie. Schaffer and Heidi also develop a love interest in the book while the two don't even look at each on other in the movie.

Overall, I think I enjoy reading how MacLean describes things in the book. The action begs for more in the book, but the unraveling of the true plot is better spelled out in the book than in the movie. It took me a few times watching the movie to figure out what was really going on. But the book made it much clearer what Smith's intentions were.

If you like war books, this would be a good read. It was easy and light reading for the most part.