[BOOK REVIEW] The Second World War

[Josey Wales]

It's taken me a while to chew through this beast of a book and I've come out the other end with a better understanding of the chronology of events, the motivations of the people behind the epic endeavours and the horrors of war both on the large scale and down to the individual.

It's all in there from the well known to the obscure. There is a pretty good chunk of the book dedicated to the war in China which I personally knew absolutely nothing about until reading this. I've not read an Antony Beevor book before but after this epic I'm keen to look at his other work.

 

[HOA_KSOP]

It's taken me a while to chew through this beast of a book and I've come out the other end with a better understanding of the chronology of events, the motivations of the people behind the epic endeavours and the horrors of war both on the large scale and down to the individual.

It's all in there from the well known to the obscure. There is a pretty good chunk of the book dedicated to the war in China which I personally knew absolutely nothing about until reading this. I've not read an Antony Beevor book before but after this epic I'm keen to look at his other work.


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I just recently finished "The Rape of Nanking" by Iris Chang. My God, the atrocities committed by the Japanese on the Chinese was absolutely appalling and her book details just one incident. I believe the author states that there is evidence that the IJA outright killed upwards of 20 million and possibly more Chinese citizens. Yeah, it was that bad.

 

[mTk]

I knew it was bad, but not that bad!
Let me think about that a bit.

 

[Josey Wales]

I've heard that the atrocities in Nanking were unparalled in their inhumanity. One thing I've come to learn about the Japanese in WW2 is that after they'd killed you, they were just getting started.

 

[HOA_KSOP]

I knew it was bad, but not that bad!
Let me think about that a bit.

That is killing on the Nazi and Stalin scale. When I read her book I was stunned at that estimate. If that is an accurate estimate, plus you add up all the other countries, that is an ocean of blood on your hands. And dude, there are a few Japanese veteran accounts in her book where they admit doing the things described in the book.

 

[HOA_KSOP]

I've heard that the atrocities in Nanking were unparalled in their inhumanity. One thing I've come to learn about the Japanese in WW2 is that after they'd killed you, they were just getting started.

Read the book, it describes depravity at it’s worst. Just mind boggling stuff.