American Heritage History of World War II

The ability to destroy nations and societies continues to increase with time. Why should we NOT learn that living in peace with our neighbors should be an ultimate goal. Otherwise, we will eventually self-destroy the entire world inhabitants.

Thoroughly enjoyed the book. Excellent review of the things of which I was aware and much more information on subjects of which I was not aware. Recommended to anyone in search of history of that period of time.

This book is a general overview of the events leading up to World War II and the major battles which took place at that time. Also there was some coverage of the politics necessary to keep the Allies together as to general strategy. The difficulties of trying to deal with the Soviet Union was also covered. This book is a good overview of the events of World War II, however the reader would be encouraged to read other works for a more in depth understanding of what transpired in that period of time.

I purchased this volume hoping for some insight into this complex event. This book is big disappointment. There are many factual errors, and the analysis is very superficial. This book is a waste of time for anyone who is hoping to learn more about WW II.

A Kindle “bargain” on Memorial Day. I would have been happy had I paid the full price. There have been so many books about the second world war, and many by author Stephen Ambrose. Most would argue that Ambrose has written many of the most well received and well known. This book does its due diligence in that it doesn’t really focus on one, or a few, certain aspects of the particular conflict, it’s simply a somewhat condensed volume detailing just about everything related to the tragedy.

Due to the vast subject material here, this book could have been several volumes, since it deals with the entire war, but Ambrose and co-author C.L. Sulzberger give the reader just enough information to provide the uninformed enough details to understanding the who’s, when’s, where’s and why’s.

You could make the argument that this is a “Cliffs Notes” type book, but it’s not necessarily a brief read, although there are many other books that are definitely much more long and expanded. This would be a good book for a high school student that might be curious.
For someone such as myself who has read a large number of accounts already, there was much in this book that I already knew. Such a compact piece really can’t afford to go into too many deep revelations. What I found somewhat refreshing is the treatment of the war outside of the battle and the combat zone. That might seem a bit of an oxymoron, but there are, for example, a couple of chapters talking about what life was like “back home”. In America, for instance, there was definitely a sense of patriotism and pride, but also fear and trepidation. Apart from the attack on Pearl Harbor (and Hawaii wasn’t a U.S. state back then, remember) there is virtually no conflict on the continent. So in a sense, the Americans had it “good”. That seems a bit bold, and the authors ensure that it was no picnic, especially since everyone living in the United States, it seemed, was related to someone overseas, so the fear never dissipated. Yet compared to places such as London, Berlin, Shanghai and Sicily, those in the U.S.A. at least never had to worry about their houses being bombed, their possessions being looted, or the women being savaged. So it was nice to see a book about the war and how it affected those that weren’t literally fighting in it.

This was a relatively quick read, and it should also be pointed out that the Kindle version does not include the illustrations - which tended to leave many purchasers feeling a bit gypped. I suppose pictures would enhance (when do they not?), but I didn’t think they were necessary. I’ve never been disappointed by Stephen Ambrose, and this book is par for the course. Start your older kids with this one for a good overall primer.

I've been thinking about the 70th anniversary of D-Day and the stories my grandfather told me about being stationed in Japan (he was always grateful he never saw any action), so I decided it was time to learn more about World War II. I picked the perfect book. The writing is a pleasure, but it's the storytelling and analysis that really helped me understand so many momentous events and monumental characters. Highly recommended.

As many reviewers commented, the Kindle version suffers from lack of the pictures of the hardcover book. However the latter is large and weighs more than 3 lbs, making it difficult to read seriously. I first bought the hardcover book and thoroughly enjoy the pictures, most of which have very informative captions. But in order to understand the overall picture, the Kindle version is much easier to read-- well worth the few dollars.
Born days before Germany's surrender, I have been exposed to stories about the war all my life, studied about it in history classes, and read several books related to the events leading up to the war. This book gives a good overall picture of events leading up to the war and the war itself. Of course one has to wonder what is left out and what is misrepresented, but that is a concern with any account of any conflict.

This edition, updated by Stephen Ambrose from C. L. Sulzberger's original 1966 text, adds many new photographs and new information on several subjects: in particular, it treats the German extermination camps in more detail than Sulzberger's version did, and incorporates details of the Ultra code-breaking intelligence programme (not yet publicised in 1966) into much of the narrative. So far, so good.

Unfortunately, the update also mixes many of Ambrose's biases -- Eisenhower good! Russians bad! -- into the text, and the result is a more subjective and less-trustworthy text. It's a shame, really, but I would not give this edition to a reader looking for a good overview of the war; I'd start them with the Sulzberger version and then point them to other post-1966 books for details on Ultra and the like.

Basically I find the new edition valuable only as a supplement to the original version.

This book had just the right amount of battle detail so I didn't get bogged down reading it. It was a real eye-opener as to how much evil there is in this world. It's hard to comprehend man's inhumanity to man. I highly recommend this book

Ambrose's WW2 survey is a perfectly readable, superficial account of the war- for a 10 year old or anyone else who doesn't already know who Eisenhower and Churchill were. As a popular historian, Ambrose is an unabashed Allied (more specifically, US) cheerleader. His enthusiasm for both the cause and the bravery and leadership it revealed, is infectious but hardly objective. By throwing a spotlight on the 101st Airborne, 506 PIR, Easy company in Band of Brothers, Ambrose introduced a slice of the war and the incredibly brave, resourceful men who waged it- introducing those men to the public and the resulting admiration and gratitude they deserve.
This however created a profit mill monster that reduced Ambrose to a cut and paste master who then generated many more pulp offerings that neither provide greater insight nor shed any critical light on the Allied operations. This book is but another. Ambrose had serious flaws, amongst them a craving for popularity and the sad revelation that he furthered that ambition through plagiarism. His tome on Eisenhower, as official biographer for the General and President, was exposed as an exaggeration of access to and meetings with the General.
Whole passages in more than a few of his books were lifted in great chunks from works of others, without attribution and which established Ambrose as a lazy, unethical "scholar". Seminal works by proper and ethical historians such as Beevor, Atkinson, Hastings, De'Este, Hargreaves and others, are all exhaustively researched, highly incisive and most importantly, original. Ambrose became a fraud who sold his credentials to make obscenely easy money and garner for his ego the popularity amongst the ignorant, something serious students and intellectual peers would never, and in good conscience could never give him. As I've already alluded, if your son or daughter wants a good, quick beach read, this is the book.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2002/01/the_plagiarist.html