Product Description

This major work is the first general history of World War II to be based both on the existing literature and on extensive work in British, American and German archives. It covers all the theatres of war, the weaponry used, and developments on the home front. Taking a global perspective, the work deals with all belligerents and relates events in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific to each other. The role of diplomacy and strategy, of intelligence and espionage, and the impact of war upon society are all dealt with, often on the basis of hitherto unknown material. New light is shed on the actions of great and small powers and on topics ranging from the beginning of the war to the dropping of the atomic bombs; the titanic battles on the Eastern Front are fitted into the war as a whole; the killing of six million Jews and millions of other civilians is placed into context; and the fighting at sea and in the air is included in a coherent view of the great conflict.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #562703 in Books
• Published on: 1995-07-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1198 pages

Review
‘Few historians could have taken on the daunting challenge of attempting a global history of the Second World War; but Gerhard Weinberg succeeds brilliantly. It is a masterly study which is unlikely to be surpassed.’ Ian Kershaw, University of Sheffield

‘Weinberg’s book is a clearly-written account of events, with enormous … reliable encyclopaedic summaries of anything about which you need to know.’ Norman Stone, The Times

‘… a remarkable achievement … It certainly deserves to be placed alongside the war histories of John Keegan, Martin Gilbert and A. J. P. Taylor. As a sheer work of reference it outclasses even them.’ Andrew Roberts, The Sunday Telegraph

‘This is a tour de force; classical diplomatic history at its best. Weinberg’s global view of the war pays dividends again and again … ’. David Reynolds, New York Times

‘This is an extraordinary book … an invaluable source for anyone needing in one place as many ideas as possible abut the Second World War … Moral and humane feelings underpin his copious scholarship at every point, giving admirable depth and dimension to this monumental intellectual performance.’ The Washington Post

‘… fully lives up to its subsidiary title and to the claims made by its publishers. This is a first class strategic history of the war.’ The British Army Review

‘… a coherent - in fact, hypnotic - narrative offered up in a single, handsome volume … surely the finest one-volume history we have of the most important event of the century.’ American Heritage

‘… a blockbuster of a survey, grounded, to a remarkable extent for so large a work, in primary sources and also in an evident mastery of the secondary literature. It is a joy to read: lively, vigorous, and...altogether a stylistic gem … [it] offers refreshingly forthright judgments on every major aspect of World War II strategy and policy.’ Naval War College Review

Customer Reviews

Political history 1939-1945 completely documented.
Gerhard Weinberg's A World at Arms is a must possession for every World War 2 buff. Even as a reference work never read continuously its beautifully complete index will page you in on every significant event in a conflict that Weinberg sees and treats as a storm that enveloped every country in the world; even Uruguay and Mexico are indexed.

After I had begun the book, some confusion that arose from viewing a documentary about the battle of Leyte Gulf was promptly cleared up by reading Weinberg's account with the relevant maps. I have been waiting for this book for a long time and recommend it highly for those readers whose sophistication about these events demands references when they read that Douglas McArthur received a great deal of money from Filipino President Manuel Quezon when they departed for safety on 11 March 1942. This is not a book for those who want a quickly readable survey of American involvement in the conflict.

Details is what this book is about--stupendously documented details, mainly to do with shifting alliances within the Axis and Allied responses; there are, for example, eight indexed references to Sir John Dill, the man who more than any other was responsible for smoothing out the prickles in the Anglo-American alliance. Details, however, do not always make for easy reading. An academic historian whose expertise stems from his intimate knowledge of the relevant documentary archives, Weinberg writes academic prose. Few of his sentences would pass the Fleischman criteria for readibility. Even a reader used to this kind of prose will find that one sentence in ten requires re-reading. And sometimes we wish that the author had chosen a different way of putting his point. And the publisher could have seen to it that the maps in the appendix of such an important book were of a quality equal to the thought behind this great work. Nonetheless, any complaints here are mere quibbles; @ 3 cents per page this book is a bargain by any one's accounting. Thank you Dr. Weinberg and Cambridge University Press!

Weinberg authors a historical masterpiece
"A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II," is a historical masterpiece. Hats off to Author Gerjard L. Weinberg for maintaining a high degree of objectivity and not waving any partisan flags. All serious students of World War II "must" study this comprehensive work. To this end, the preface, body, conclusion, notes, maps and index are outstanding.

This heavy-weight Cambridge Univeristy Press book (1,178 pages) belongs in every library. Moreover, the author must be commended for starting this book when his wife (who urged him to continue) was already fighting cancer. A battle she eventually lost. Weinberg brings a compelling focus to World War II that few historians can match (particularly with the German/Soviet Union confrontation)...I for one am grateful for his dedication.

I first read this book nearly ten years ago...and now realize just how great this man's vision extends. Weinberg is truly a remarkable historian. Highly recommended for those who want the truth about World War II.

Bert Ruiz

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.