Daily Mail (London), Book of the Week
“Of all the books about World War II, this must be one of the most unexpected. Norman Stone, a master historian, has elected to tell the whole story in just 200 pages. Reading it is like being taken up in an all-seeing satellite to observe massive movements on the ground, or the woods without any trees to get in the way. It is illuminating, concentrating on what mattered most psychologically, ignoring confusing detail.”
Richard J. Evans, New Statesman
“[Norman Stone] has a real gift for saying a lot in a small space and many sections of this book are masterpieces of compression.”
The Telegraph (London)
“[Stone's] history is a gripping introduction to one of the most tragic conflicts ever seen.”
Sunday Express (London)
“Love or loathe him, Stone can pull off tricks beyond the reach of most of his detractors. Take his World War II: A Short History; do we really need yet another mini survey of the 1939-45 conflict? Of course not. Except if it is written by Norman Stone. Pithy, opinionated, preposterously readable, an afternoon on the sofa should see you through from cover to cover and Stone's book fires off illuminating facts as a Catherine wheel showers sparks.... [An] excellent, engaged and engaging primer, which contains everything and misses nothing in its brief span.”
Daily Telegraph (London)
“Stone always avoids the obvious, and his talent for seeing unexpected routes of cause and effect define his brilliant histories, of which his latest, World War Two: A Short History, is the fifth. Such lines of inquiry not only revivify the subjects they cover, they throw up all sorts of interesting nuggets.... Stone tells the story of the war succinctly and fluently, looking at areas often ignored in English histories.”
San Antonio Express-News
“An amazingly concise but seam-busting account of a war that defined America's greatest generation, [World War Two] will fascinate the novice historian and satisfy the WWII scholar. Stone...solidifies his reputation as a British academic, author and celebrated chronicler of military history with this succinct work.... Stone masterfully dissects his subject and puts it back together in a concise and straightforward approach that will give readers a firm foundation.”
Roanoke Times
“Only a person with extensive knowledge can tell such a complex story in so few pages and still have it be comprehensive. This is an ideal book for someone who seeks to understand the nature of World War II. It is also appropriate reading for someone who has studied the war in fragments...and wants to be reminded of the grand scale of this massive conflagration that defined the 20th century.”
Kirkus Reviews
“[An] entertaining history…. Novices will receive a painless introduction, but educated readers should not pass up the highly opinionated prologue and epilogue and the author's trademark acerbic commentary throughout…. Readers of all stripes…will find plenty to ponder.”
Ian Thomson, The Spectator
“Written in a precise, carefully modulated prose, World War Two is illuminating as well as often amusing.... This absorbing micro-history serves as a tonic to outsize histories, and is pleasingly digressive as well as wonderfully well written. Professor Stone is a one-off and we are fortunate to have him.”
Andrew Roberts, Standpoint
"Norman Stone has achieved the impossible; he has somehow written a comprehensive history of the Second World War in just under 200 pages, summarising the entire conflict while leaving out nothing of importance and bringing his lifetime of study of the subject to bear in a witty, incisive and immensely readable way…. Not everyone will agree with all the conclusions...but none will doubt that Norman Stone has proved yet again that he is one of the most original, witty and powerful British historians writing today."
Mail on Sunday (London)
“Stone's book is an entertaining read, full of quirky detail.... For the well-informed, this will be a book to enjoy, then argue over.
Having written a long, quirky, often astute history of the post–World War era in The Atlantic and Its Enemies (2010), British historian Stone moves back in time to deliver a much shorter, entertaining history of the war itself. The Allies may have won World War I, but they made a mess of the peace, humiliating Germany and, almost without thinking, Japan, a former ally. The Depression unsettled everyone, and while the democracies turned inward, belligerent militarists took power in Germany and Japan, prepared for war and then attacked. Both won dazzling victories at first, behaved barbarically throughout, foolishly overextended themselves and lost. Stone does not quarrel with the traditional allotment of credit for Allied victory (British stubbornness, American production, Russian blood), and he makes the usual point that Germany and Japan possessed superior soldiers but incompetent governments. Their industries were poorly organized compared to America's and Britain's, and neither understood modern, technological war. Allied navies and air forces had demolished their counterparts years before the 1945 surrender. First-rate writers (Keegan, Hastings and Beevor, among others) have covered World War II at length, so there seems little need for a book that describes a complex series of worldwide campaigns in 160 pages, but Stone does a fine job. Novices will receive a painless introduction, but educated readers should not pass up the highly opinionated prologue and epilogue and the author's trademark acerbic commentary throughout. Stone's well-known conservatism is on display mostly in his greater praise of America and contempt for the Soviet Union, so readers of all stripes may roll their eyes, but they will find plenty to ponder.
