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The War in
the West, Volume 1
James Holland
Atlantic Monthly
Press
October 6, 2015 / ISBN 978-0802123978
History \ Military \ World War II
Reviewed
by Richard Morelli
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James
Holland's latest opus, 1939 - 1941 The War in the West (The
Rise of Germany), is the latest of a new generation of
historians writing "revisionist" views of WWII.
An established military historian, James Holland provides
yet new insights into the circumstances leading to the outbreak
of WWII in Europe. What makes this narrative informative and
revealing, is the way that Holland weaves into the narrative
the multifaceted aspects of nations at war. Breaking away
from the usual, but narrow military and political view of
why WWII occurred, Holland presents a complex picture from
all sides of the impact of decision makers, personal accounts
by combatants and citizens, economic drivers, the role of
technology, the Battle of the Atlantic, key political decisions
and the various military campaigns that in sum was the War
in the West 1939 - 1941.
What I liked about this narrative is the way Holland describes
the complexity that was the War in the West from not just
the perspective of Great Britain, Germany, France, Norway,
Belgium, Poland, and the Netherlands, but also the United
States and Italy. Italy is rarely treated with the attention
and role it played during this phase of WWII. Holland also
provides some myth breaking views, such as Great Britain arming
itself well before Germany's invasion of Poland and that,
in many respects, Great Britain was more economically powerful
than Nazi Germany when the war broke out.
As one reads this narrative with its contemporaneous accounts
by ordinary citizens and combatants from all sides, an intense
personal view of the war comes out. Layered with the decisions
made by the leaders, one comes away with a chaotic picture
of war with its heroes and opportunists that provide an inconvenient
truth of the messiness, horrors, missteps, and humanity that
is war.
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