The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945
by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
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Book Summary Information
Author: Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken BurnsEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-09-11
ISBN: 0307262839
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Knopf
Book Reviews of The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945
Book Review: Sobering
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife's grandfather passed away a couple weeks ago. He was 90 years old and served in the Navy during WWII, but until recently the family hadn't known anything about his service. When my son interviewed him for a school project he talked about driving landing craft boats loaded with Marines toward beaches under enemy fire. His goal was to get them as close to shore as possible so they didn't have to wade through more water than necessary giving them a better chance of reaching the beach alive, before rushing back for another load of men. He quietly mentioned the bullets that whizzed by and clanged against the metal of the boat, but said that he wasn't a hero - the men who didn't come home were the real heroes to him.
While listening to this audiobook it was hard to hear of the wartime experiences, whether in Europe or the Pacific. The parts where it described what it was like as those landing boats unloaded soldiers were enough to bring a lump to your throat. My own grandfather, who died before I was born, was a Marine who (I'm told) saw a lot of action in the Pacific, including the Iwo Jima invasion. I have since requested his service records online so I can learn a little more about his life during the war - something my grandmother says he suffered terrible nightmares from for the rest of his life. He never spoke of his experiences, either.
The introduction of this book says that many people today have a profound misunderstanding of WWII and speaks of the need for this kind of information to be remembered. I agree. And I think all those heroes - both those who died and those who lived to come home - need to be remembered and honored for their sacrifices. The book is from the perspective of the men in the trenches and mentions a lot of the mistakes that cost lives and the focus is particularly on the 'ugliness of war'; the obvious and not so obvious casualties. The information isn't always pleasant to hear (I thought I could hear the reader's voice almost cracking more than once), but it gives the reader or listener a greater appreciation for those who served. It helps to explain the patriotism my wife's grandfather and many others instilled in their families. It helps to remind us to be thankful.
Summary of The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945
The vivid voices that speak from these pages are not those of historians or scholars. They are the voices of ordinary men and women who experienced-and helped to win-the most devastating war in history, in which between 50 and 60 million lives were lost.
Focusing on the citizens of four towns- Luverne, Minnesota; Sacramento, California; Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama;-The War follows more than forty people from 1941 to 1945. Woven largely from their memories, the compelling, unflinching narrative unfolds month by bloody month, with the outcome always in doubt. All the iconic events are here, from Pearl Harbor to the liberation of the concentration camps-but we also move among prisoners of war and Japanese American internees, defense workers and schoolchildren, and families who struggled simply to stay together while their men were shipped off to Europe, the Pacific, and North Africa.
Enriched by maps and hundreds of photographs, including many never published before, this is an intimate, profoundly affecting chronicle of the war that shaped our world.
History buffs, Ken Burns fans, and anyone whose life has been touched by war will be awed by Burns's new book, The War: An Intimate History, 1941-1945, a stunning companion to his PBS series airing in September 2007. Focusing on the citizens of four towns, The War follows more than forty people from 1941 to 1945. Maps and hundreds of photographs enrich this compelling, unflinching narrative. Check out some of the photographs and read the first chapter below. --Daphne Durham
Exclusive Photographs from The War
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Read the First Chapter of The War
A Necessary WarI don't think there is such a thing as a good war. There are sometimes necessary wars. And I think one might say, "just" wars. I never questioned the necessity of that war. And I still do not question it. It was something that had to be done. --Samuel Hynes
Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, began as most days do in Honolulu: warm and sunny with blue skies punctuated here and there by high wisps of cloud. At a few minutes after eight o'clock, the Hyotara Inouye family was at home on Coyne Street, getting ready for church. The sugary whine of Hawaiian music drifted through the house. The oldest of the four Inouye children, seventeen-year-old Daniel, a senior at William McKinley High and a Red Cross volunteer, was listening to station KGMB as he dressed. There were other sounds, too, muffled far-off sounds to which no one paid much attention at first because they had grown so familiar over the past few months. The drone of airplanes and the rumble of distant explosions had been commonplace since spring of the previous year, when the U.S. Pacific Fleet had shifted from the California coast to Pearl Harbor, some seven miles northwest of the Inouye home. Air-raid drills were frequent occurrences; so was practice firing of the big coastal defense batteries near Waikiki Beach.
But this was different. Daniel was just buttoning his shirt, he remembered, when the voice of disk jockey Webley Edwards broke into the music. "All army, navy, and marine personnel to report to duty," it said. At almost the same moment, Daniel's father shouted for him to come outside. Something strange was going on. Daniel hurried out into the sunshine and stood with his father by the side of the house, peering toward Pearl Harbor. They were too far away to see the fleet itself, and hills further obscured their view, but the sky above the harbor was filled with puffs of smoke. During drills the blank antiaircraft bursts had always been white. These were jet-black. Then, as the Inouyes watched in disbelief, the crrrump of distant explosions grew louder and more frequent and so much oily black smoke began billowing up into the sky that the mountains all but vanished and the horizon itself seemed about to disappear.
Read more from Chapter 1...
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