Forgotten Voices of World War II: A New History of World War II in the Words of the Men and Women Who Were There

by Max Arthur

Book Overview

The Imperial War Museum holds a vast archive of interviews with soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians of most nationalities who saw action during WW2. As in the highly-acclaimed Forgotten Voices of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1592285864
• ISBN13: 9781592285860
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Lyons Press
• Length: 480 Pages
• Weight: 2.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.4" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

The British experience in World War II

I hadn't realized how much my previous reading about World War II had been skewed towards the American experience, but this book certain made me aware of that bias in my understanding of this period of history. Compiled from the archives of The Imperial War Museum, this collection of personal narratives provides an intimate, eyewitness glimpse at various aspects of the war, with a particular focus on the British war experience. Much of the material from the war in Europe was familiar to me, particularly from 1942 on, when the US entered the war. However, this book provided a vivid reminder that the British experience during WWII was significantly different than the American one. They had been involved in intense combat for more than two years before the Americans joined the fray, and the war came home to the general population of the United Kingdom in a dangerous and violent fashion that we were fortunate to avoid. The stories of the Battle of Britain and the Blitz are vivid reminders of Hitler's ambitions to invade and conquer the British Isles. The book also fills in gaps in my knowledge of the war in the Mediterranean/North Africa as well as Southern Asia. This book is a valuable record of the expriences of the men and women who experienced the war, and help provide an understanding of the history of the war.

Real People

There is always so much imfo. in these war books that whenever one reads them it's impossible to take it all in. I read the first Forgotten Voices book (WW1) and most of it was about the Trench Experience. WW2 however was just so huge that you feel the author struggles admirably to get it all in and at the same time maintain the entertainment factor of the first book. Practically everything in the book is an account of something told by a survivor. Max Arthur obviously has to try and use accounts which are funny perhaps, or sad, or imformative or all three. The book just can't go into depth about certain things. There is a D-Day section, a concentration camp section, Market garden, Africa, Japanese etc. and there are books out there about these things in their own right. For instance I just read Armageddon by Max Hastings which is about the battle for Germany in '44/'45. But this book, Forgotten Voices, is not really about the war. It is about the ordinary people/children and soldiers fighting/existing in it so there's a big difference between this and all the others. On several occasions while reading it I've had to put the book down when reading of a situation someone had found themselves in- I've just put the book down and thought 'Oh my God!' and have needed time to think about it before continueing. It is a mainly British perspective with the occasional American/German/Dutch input etc. I would strongly recommend it and if you like these Forgotten Voices books then you would also like All Quiet on the Home Front. A similarly told book of mainland Britain during the first world war. Good reading!

Stories from the Common Soldier

There are any number of books written by people involved in World War II, most of them of course by Generals. This book is different. Like Steven Ambrose's collection of recordings from vetrans in this country, the Imperial War Museum has taped the accounts of thousands of ordinary participants from World War II. Here is the report from the young British sailor. He got a pass and with his friend picked up two girls to go to the movies. Suddenly the movie was interupted with a message for all sailors to return to their ships. They went to Dunkirk. Some of the recordings are from the Axis. A Japanese naval officer reports: "Our forces were ambushed by the American forces... My ship was hit by more than a hundred shells in, I think, about a two hour engagement. At that time I was quite high on the deck, and I was holding the binoculars with both hands. A splinter came up and cut off both my arms in the middle.