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Title: World War II: America at War 1941-1945 by Norman Polmar, Thomas B. Allen ISBN: 0-394-58530-5 Publisher: Random House Reference & Pub. Date: 12 October, 1991 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00

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Average Customer Rating: 5 (2 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: America at War is great reference book about WWII.....
Comment: The Second World War was the defining event that shaped the 20th century. Every major world power of the day participated, some siding with the Axis powers, most others taking up the Allied cause and a few even switched sides as the fortunes of war first favored one band, then the other. Over 50 million people, most of them civilians, died. Millions more were wounded, held captive, or rendered homeless by invasion and aerial bombardment. Nearly every European country became a battlefield, as well as North Africa, China, India, Southeast Asia and the vast reaches of the world's oceans. Its outcome -- Germany, Italy and Japan defeated, France and Britain relegated to second-rate powers as the United States and the Soviet Union gained superpower status, the beginning of the Cold War and the constant fear of a Third World War -- shaped the rest of the century and sowed some of the seeds of this new century's conflicts.

There are, of course, many reference books about World War II on the market, and Norman Polmar and Thomas B. Allen's World War II: America at War 1941-1945 is one of the best affordable volumes. With, as its cover blurb states, "more than 2,400 encyclopedic entries on battles, weapons, people, places, and events," this 1991 work is engrossing and informative.

America at War is divided into four main sections. First, the essay Prologue to War 1919-1941 sets the stage for history's worst conflict by explaining how the end of World War I, the various post-war revolutions all over Europe, the rise of ultra nationalist and dictatorial regimes in Germany, Italy, Japan and the Soviet Union, American isolationism, French and British pacifism, the Great Depression and other forces all contributed to the outbreak of war. The rise of Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and the Japanese militarists is charted, as are the various crises (the Spanish Civil War, Japan's incursions into China and Italy's invasion of Ethiopia) that culminated with the outbreak of what was first called the European War on Sept. 1, 1939, the day Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The essay briefly describes the war's first two years and concludes with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The second section is a 52-page long War Chronology that covers most of World War II, with an emphasis on American involvement. It is not a complete chronology (although there is a very rare and expensive day-by-day volume in existence); nevertheless, it's well written and informative.

The bulk of America at War is the War Guide A - Z. From "A: Japanese code name for the capture of Rabaul" to "Zyklon-B: Chemical used to produce lethal gas in Nazi death camps," over 2,400 entries on the personalities, weapons, political and strategic issues and, of course, battles of World War II in every theater (not just battles involving Americans, though the emphasis is on the war starting with American involvement. The entries are, on average, from one to three paragraphs in length, although a few items (such as the Pearl Harbor attack) take up two to four pages and often have maps or photographs.

In a book of such ambitious scope, errors will sometimes slip by. In one glaring case, the isolationist organization America First Committee is consistently mislabeled "American First." But on the whole the War Guide is impressively well researched and addictive; World War II buffs will find themselves going back and forth through the cross-referenced entries as they hunt for data on favorite aircraft, military commanders and specific battles or campaigns. There are even entries detailing the various levels of involvement in the war by Latin America and shedding light on the little-known and almost forgotten contributions of Brazil's Expeditionary Force in Italy and Mexico's Mexican Air Unit, a "squadron that flew P-47 Thunderbolt fighters and saw action in the Pacific."

The essay Epilogue to War 1946-1990 covers the period that the late President John F. Kennedy (whose war service is noted in the K section, as is his father's isolationist/defeatist stance as Ambassador to Great Britain from 1938 to 1940) called "a hard and bitter peace." The Cold War between East and West...the Arab-Israeli conflict...Vietnam... the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.... All of these were part of the legacy of World War II. It is a carefully crafted and revealing analysis of all the side effects the war left behind after the major powers ceased fire in 1945, and chronicles the rise and fall of the former Soviet Union and the emergence of the United States as the globe's remaining superpower, ending on a reflective yet carefully optimistic note.

This (unfortunately) out of print book is a fine and valuable reference work not just for historians or World War II buffs, but for anyone who has an interest in the deeds and misdeeds that helped shape the world as we know it today, and especially for anyone who has a family connection to the dwindling "Greatest Generation" of Americans who served their country and helped save the world from tyranny.

Rating: 5
Summary: What a Great Resource
Comment: It is a sin that this book is out of print. I am a history major specializing in 20th Century America, yet I learn something new every time I open this book. Over 2,000 entries in this encyclopedia, many of the articles are quite detailed. Authors come to reasoned judgments about the most controversial episodes of the war -- responsibility for Pearl Harbor, execution of Private Slovik, etc. Keep your eyes open for this one at used book sales.