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The Story of World War II cover art

The Story of World War II

Written by: Donald L. Miller, Henry Steele Commager
Narrated by: Michael Kramer
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Publisher's Summary

Drawing on previously unpublished eyewitness accounts, prizewinning historian Donald L. Miller has written what critics are calling one of the most powerful accounts of warfare ever published. Here are the horror and heroism of World War II in the words of the men who fought it, the journalists who covered it, and the civilians who were caught in its fury. Miller gives us an up-close, deeply personal view of a war that was more savagely fought - and whose outcome was in greater doubt - than one might imagine. This is the war that Americans on the home front would have read about had they had access to the previously censored testimony of the soldiers on which Miller builds his gripping narrative.

Miller covers the entire war - on land, at sea, and in the air - and provides new coverage of the brutal island fighting in the Pacific, the bomber war over Europe, the liberation of the death camps, and the contributions of African Americans and other minorities. He concludes with a suspenseful, never-before-told story of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, based on interviews with the men who flew the mission that ended the war.

Donald L. Miller is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College. He is a creator and associate producer of the HBO documentary He Has Seen War and has been chief consultant for numerous award-winning PBS productions. He is author of the prizewinning City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America.

©1945 Henry Steele Commager; renewed by Lou Reda Productions and Mary Steele Commager. Revisions; and introduction 2001 by Donald L. Miller (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic Reviews

"This is the book that deserves to be titled  The Story of World War II...." (James Bradley,  New York Times best-selling author)
"A major publishing event. Donald Miller’s additions to the original account are outstanding, and the total effect is one few readers will ever forget." (David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author)
"Whenever you do a film, there’s always a book that you want in your hip pocket to settle all questions.  The Story of World War II was that book." (Ken Burns, creator of the seven-part documentary  The War)

What listeners say about The Story of World War II

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a must hear

I have always heard books from the higher ups Pov but this is from the ground level. beautifully peaced and narrated. War is always glorified but only those who have suffered it know what a disaster it is

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Excellent, well researched but from US perspective

excellent story telling. well researched and includes accounts of frontline soldiers and war correspondents. Narration is first rate.
Only drawback is that the whole story is written from an Americal perspective. Level of details vary depending on involvement of US in that theater. Details of Japanese and German side is sketchy.

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The Best World War 2 Book You'll Ever Read

It's an exceptionally well detailed book about World War 2. The narration is excellent too. Hundreds of little stories about soldiers on the front lines, their trials and tribulations. These stories show the human side of the war, better than any documentary or movie would ever. A must read/listen for all history and WW lovers

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War is Evil.

When I was young, I used to idolize the concept of war, it always seemed as a straightforward victory for the more powerful of the competing armies.

As I grew older, I began to understand that war isn't so straightforward and there are many side effects to the nations fighting the war and as well as the armies and the men fighting the war.

This book has been very well researched, and once again reinforces the fact that there are no winners in any war.

WW 2, Was a terrible catastrophe to befall humanity, a time when humans weren't so human at all.

Most of the men fighting wanted nothing to do with the war, yet had to fight to stave off a Larger evil like the Nazis and the Racist/expansionist Japanese empire.

The book leans heavily towards the American account of war, there are not many instances of what the German, Japanese, Russian, French armies / civilians felt in the war.

But that doesn't take anything away from the riveting account of American soldiers, POWS, citizens and support staff felt during the war.

The performance is masterful and consistent.

War is Evil and every inch must be fought for with blood tears and immense personal suffering.

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2 people found this helpful