World War II: The Definitive Visual History

My father and brother loved this book, it was a Chirstmas present for my brother who is a WWII history fanatic. I enjoyed seeing pictures that have not been seen before of the war. highly recommend to history teachers

Beautiful images, awesome quality, best written !!!!

Timelines, objective chapters that describes the main issues of the WWII brightly !!!

The very best visual book of WW II I've ever seen in my entire life !!!

This is a superbly written/informative & illustrated book on WWII.
I bought this for my son and he is thrilled with it.
I spent a lot of time looking for alternative books etc - don't waste your time.
Just buy it.

This is an excellent reference book on WW2. Having been raised in the military as well as serving in the military I have studied WW2 for over 40 years. This appears to be an accurate portrayal of that time in our history. I wanted an accurate reference book to give to my grandchildren in light of the attempts to rewrite our history. This is a great reference book for them.

We bought this for our 16 year old son for Christmas. It looks very nice and has so much information and pictures. The paper picture cover is the same as the hardback underneath. Being a DK book, I expected it to look more child-like, but it is not disappointing. Everyone would enjoy it.

Pretty trivial, but a good overview of the causes of the war and the major campaigns and battles in the European and Pacific theaters. Slickly presented and a great gift for anyone wanting a short history of WWII.

Depiction is accurate and compelling with pictures that show the struggle faced by our troops.
The book take you through the steps necessary to win the war and how it affected our nation as
well as the world at that time.

Yes! This book is a winner!

This family of history buffs loves World War II: The Definitive Visual History because it's incredibly thorough and wonderfully illustrated. Of course it's earned a spot on our history bookshelf, but it's become a valuable homeschooling resource as well.

For years, I've tried to find a really good textbook to teach World War II to my middle and high school students in a way that is factual, but not boring. That's a tall order apparently. Now, though, I have exactly what I've been waiting for! In 372 pages of chronological history, my children can read text, see full-color, museum quality images on every page, view timelines, and study maps. Everything from Blitzkrieg to the atom bomb is covered in detail.

While the book isn't an official school textbook, it's become THE textbook for our WWII studies. My children are able to use the book to create timelines and maps, use the information from the text to write papers, and find important people and events for research projects. I've even used the text to pull together some quizzes.

This book rocks whether you ever use it for teaching or not. It's even coffee table worthy!

I see I am alone in my rating of the book. I bought the book after seeing "The Pacific" series and was looking for more information on the war in the Pacific. I feel there was so little about the Pacific War the book should be should be titled The War in Europe. On that the book was excellent. Because the book only told half the story I cut the 5 stars to 2 1/2. I took one more 1/2 star off for the coverage of MacArthur. History shows he was insubordinate to his orders to prepare the defense of the Philippians. Had he done so the whole course of the War would have taken a different course perhaps saving thousands of American lives. Historians should start telling the story as it was, rather than just reprint the press clippings of the day. MacArthur should have been recalled and court-martialed. Why wasn't he? I agree the book is excellent on Europe.

As a history buff, I truly appreciate DK's new WWII book.

Unlike many history books,this collaborative effort combines a world view of the war. Utilizing newly released archival photographs and reports, the events are reported in a largely unbiassed perspective. The team of writers takes readers from 1914 (WWI) to 1950, and the aftermath of the many political events and agreements.

There are many features that make this book unique. The various time lines included detailed history month by month for the various camps during the war. The sheer number of remarkable photographs probably numbers in the 1000's. Rare German medals, personages, allied tool kits, and on-field documentation (German/Japanese/US/British/Italy) are sprinkled liberably over the 360 plus pages. Quotes are well chosen and the different campaigns are covered.

It is truly amazing that information of this quality is now available. Moreso, the different reports and original material must have been staggering.

No WWII history class should be without this book.

Tim Lasiuta

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"The treaties that ended World War I left many countries bitter and resentful and failed to establish a lasting peace. In the political and economic uncertainties of the time, right-wing Nationalist parties had a strong appeal, most ominously Hitler's Nazis in Germany."

The above is found on the cover-page entitled "The Seeds of War 1914-1938" of the first chapter of this amazing, comprehensive book that details World War II (WWII), "the largest and most destructive war in history." This book was assembled by DK Publishing.

This book consists of two intermingled parts:

(1) IMAGES. It is packed with images, even "rarely seen" color photographs as well as maps and graphics. Thus, they're not kidding when they say in this book's first subtitle that this is "the definitive visual history" of WWII.

(2) TEXT. All these images have to be organized and this book's text does it very effectively without overwhelming the reader with excessive detail. The text throughout this book is concerned with the following:

(i) Events: WWII began in 1939 and ended in 1945. Each chapter (that is, the middle chapters) is concerned with each year of the war. As well, there are two additional chapters. The first chapter (whose title and summary is given above) discusses the build up of hostility in the years (1914 to 1938) leading up to the war. The final chapter explains the aftermath of the war (years 1946 to 1950).

Each chapter is divided into subsections. Each subsection is composed of a double-page layout. For example, the chapter for the year 1939 (chapter 2) has nine subsections with two of these profiling people (see below) and one of these profiling weaponry (see below).

(ii) People: The most influential individuals of WWII are profiled, revealing their personality, etc. Most important, the critical roles they played in the war's outcome are explained. For example, Chapter 2 (the year 1939) profiles Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin in separate subsections.

(iii) Eyewitness Accounts: Dramatic episodes in the war are brought powerfully to life through first-person written accounts. What is sad is that some of these people who wrote these excellent accounts did not make it through the war.

(iv) Quotations: From political leaders, combatants, and civilians. Here's one of my favourites by Winston Churchill (October 1939): "I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

(v) Factoids: Interesting facts are peppered throughout the book.

(vi) Weapons and Technology: Weaponry, aircraft, tanks, submarines, etc. are showcased as well as code-breaking communication devices and medicine. For example, chapter 2 has a subsection devoted to rifles.

(vii) Key Moments: Critical moments in the war are highlighted.

Each chapter begins with a double-paged introduction and a double-paged timeline.

The introductions have a colour-coded world map for a month (usually December) in a particular year and superimposed on the map are explanations (with pictures) of key events that occurred in that year. For example, chapter 2 has an introductory map entitled "The World in December 1939." (At the bottom of the introduction is a brief summary of significant war events for that year.)

Finally, there is a timeline of significant events for a particular year. These timelines are divided into months so finding information is extremely easy. For example, for the 1939 timeline, when did Germany invade Poland (thus starting WWII)? Answer at a glance: September 1. When did Germany's Blitzkrieg (mentioned on the book's cover) begin? Answer: May 10, 1940. When was the first atomic bomb (again, mentioned on the book's cover) dropped (thus beginning the "nuclear age")? Answer: August 6, 1945. (Note that pictures are superimposed on these timelines.)

In conclusion, this book effectively organizes a vast amount of material into a slim volume. For those who want to know, understand, and SEE what happened during World War II, this is the book to get!! I leave you with the very last factoid found in this extraordinary book:

"559. The number of cemeteries that have been created by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to commemorate those who lost their lives fighting in World War II."

(first published 2009; forward; 9 chapters; main narrative with images 350 pages; index; acknowledgements)

<<Stephen Pletko. London, Ontario, Canada>>

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I have the 2004 version of DK's WWII volume but noticed this latest incarnation is 40 pages heavier. I had to see what changes were made and I'm glad I did for this new version is better (for the most part). This new book is not the old book with extra pages. Its been completely revamped style wise, adding new material but it carries much of what the old book has. Many of the pictures and maps are the same but there is new material, new photos as well as larger photos.

Part of the new pages is consumed by expanded timelines graphics, providing more info than earlier chronologies. New pages were added to post WWI era including the impact civilian populations of Europe had under Nazism. Coverage of countries like Italy, France, Poland, Australia, China, the Balkans etc have been enhanced. Key battles, the air war and other topics are expanded as well. Intelligence, communications, war on the home front, life in a U-boat, medical care on the battlefield, death camps, Warsaw Uprising, the lend-lease program, exiled governments, assassination attempt on Hitler and much more. The photos of Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, Mussolini, Patton, Montgomery, Zhukov, Rommel, Mao and others are larger, more impressive.

But even with the added pages, some articles have been scaled back or eliminated. Guadalcanal and Malta have less material to name just a couple instances. Manstein's relief attempt of Stalingrad, Operation Winter Storm, has been eliminated.
This book is very well done and if you're looking for a visual representation of WWII (with a little less battle coverage and more world view) with a concise summary then this volume is worthy of your consideration.

I have been reading about World War Two history over forty-four years and this one tops the list, as far as comprehensive histories are concerned. This is a book however, that has no age restrictions. I would be as fascinated with this book at age 5 as I would be at 45. What makes this book so special is how the authors treat each event of the war, both individually and also as part of the whole, as elements in time combining to form the narrative of the Second World War. In other words, the causes, effects, and consequences of the point in question are analyzed and referenced to throughout the book, and I always know where I am, where I came from, and where I am going to, in the narration. This simple yet effective technique is truly profound in its impact.The interaction between the illustrations and the text is unparalleled and produce an immediate, resonating effect. The text describes what the pictures leave off, and vice-versa. To help improve my German language skills, I went to the store.de and bought the German language edition of this book. It was worth every penny!!!!

For the first time in my 38 years, I better understand the time-line of events throughout WWII. The book goes just far enough into the details to give an understanding of the what and why things played out. The calendar timelines for each year helped me to understand when events played out.

I did find it interesting that it seems that most photos in the book are used twice... Once as a small image somewhere in descriptive before/after panel, then later as a bigger image elsewhere in the book. This did not negatively affect the overall impression of the book but was just something that I noticed.

I borrowed this book from my local library, but I'm thinking I may purchase my own copy to keep on my shelf.

It looks as a wonderful book about WW2. Buy my book arrived with glued pages. In order to read the book I must broke the pages apart. Maybe the book got wet in the shipping, or maybe its a bad printing issue.

Absolutely stunning, beautiful book. I received it in the mail, and the first thing my boyfriend said when he opened it up, was, "wow, this must have been a really expensive book." Gorgeous pictures, and well-written accounts.

Bought both the WW1 and WW2 books together for a Christmas present for my 13 yr old son. These books have a perfect mix of pictures and text. If you like American history, you'll love this book no matte what your age is.

This book puts together the whole war history. Fantastic coverage, pictures, facts in chronological order. Also little know facts... like did you know women working in ammunition factories in USA during the war had 210,000 permanently disabled and 37,000 deaths?

Visually stunning! Full of interesting information. My son, for whom I purchased this gift, is a WWII history buff. He has quite a few books on the subject. This is the one that stays out on the coffee table!

I read a review of this book in WWII Magazine then decided I should have it for my collection. I was not disappointed. It is beautifully designed and the history is chronicled in great detail with infographics and photo support! A terrific historical reference for any WWII buff.