Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103434 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 896 pages

Customer Reviews

Forget the TV series, read the book...
Herman Wouk seems to have fallen out of favour lately, but earlier in his writing career, he produced some stunning novels. As in his Pulitzer Prize winning "Caine Mutiny", Wouk works best when he takes small characters and sweeps them up into massive situations. The Henrys, an all-American naval family, and the Jastrows, Jewish intellectuals, find themselves caught up in the spectre of Hitler's relentless advance across Europe, and the apathy of the American nation to act. "The Winds of War" breaks off with the attack on Pearl Harbour, with "War and Remembrance" concluding the horrifying story of WWII, taking in the concentration camps, war in the Pacific and the nuclear attacks on Japan.
An incredible, heart rending achievement that could never have been adequately recreated on the small screen.

WW2 epic which informs
Ploughed through this because fascinated by and have read lots about WW2; and because Anthony Burgess rated it one of the best novels to have appeared since the war.
I found the writing slightly pedestrian and one or two of the plotlines (the Jewish Prof. who just won't get a move on and quit Europe...) a bit slow and predictable. Yet overall I liked the human drama described by Wouk, and loved his light touch when it comes to informing you of so much history. Pen portraits of Stalin and Roosevelt were a particular delight... I felt I was in the presidential train with FDR as the old rogue plotted away...
Any serious student of WW2 must surely dip into this and read at least the fictional German General's review of WW2 which intersperses the chapters. You learn a helluva a lot you won't from standard history books.
It says something about the calibre of this book that I have had no option other than to now pick up its 1000 page sequel, War and Remembrance, which I am enjoying.
I guess I'll have then read all the "big" WW2 novels.
How does this rate?
Not in the same league as the 3 that are hailed as classics(Naked and the Dead, Slaughterhouse 5, Catch 22), better than Waugh's Sword of Honour trilogy, definitely deserving to be better known and appreciated than it seems to be.

this two book experience is a 'must read'
The Winds of War
This book along with the sequel (War and Remembrance)is a 'must read' experience for anyone who likes to get caught up in a book and is interested in this period of world history. Herman Wouk is an expert at intertwining factual events with the fictional characters who move through the story... he never puts a foot wrong with historical or technical accuracy and displays one of the most conscientious approaches to his work that I have ever had the priviledge to read. Rather than even attempt to precis the tale I will just say do read War and Remembrance after this one as so much more is offered... both novels apparently took 16 years to write and the result is a masterpiece