Book Review - the voice of War

[dieg777]

Book : The Voice of War
Author : James Owen and Guy Walters
Pages : 628
Photographs : none
Maps 3
Published:2004

This is a history of WW2 as told by the people who fought or were involved in it. The book is set out in chronological order, starting in summer 1939 and ending in autumn 1945. Each section covers a Season, within a year, and within this section is a selection from biographies covering the events that took place at that time.
These stories cover every aspect of the War, the soldiers, sailors, airmen who fought, the politicians who made the decisions and the civilians who were caught up in the conflict. It covers all theatres. While there are a few stories about airmen, due to the scope of the work, there are not many.
The authors have done a brilliant job of knitting together all these stories, of placing them in the sections and in making the book seem a whole instead of a patchwork. There are 3 or 4 main biographies revisited throughout the book which gives it a main highway, while the other chapters are fascinating side-roads that take you further into the country of that time and flesh out the experience.

If anyone is interested in the aural history and in the overall picture of WW2 then I would recommend you pick this up.