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What They Didn't Teach You About World War II |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > World War Two > Item 468
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What They Didn't Teach You About World War II
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by Mike Wright
Sales Rank: 636021
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List Price: $16.95
$12.71
At Amazon
on 10-19-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 368 pages
Published by: Presidio PressEdition: 1st Edition October 24, 2000
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0891417230
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0891417231
Book Dimensions:
8.3 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
Weighs: 14.4 ounces
From Publishers Weekly
As he did in What They Didn't Teach You About the Civil War, Wright proposes here to tell the "human story" behind the conventional narrative of dates, names and battles that ostensibly destroyed general interest in history. His background as a TV writer and producer is reflected in a work that is the printed equivalent of sound bites. That Wright presents little original or unfamiliar material is not a crippling weakness. He describes this work as an "appetizer to the banquet of the war's history," and targets a general audience presumably unfamiliar with that history. Just such an audience, however, is likely to face bewilderment when confronted by two dozen chapters whose topics appear to have been selected virtually at random and that are presented in no discernible order. A chapter on submarines is followed by one on Pearl Harbor, which is in turn succeeded by a discussion of censorship. Two chapters consist entirely of capsule summaries of the wartime experiences of public figures ranging from George Bush to Marcel Marceau. Even the chapters with a stated theme as a rule consist of anecdotes that are juxtaposed rather than integrated. Some focus entirely on the American experience; others incorporate material from other Allied and Axis states, again with no explanation. The result is not the recovery of untaught history, so much as a literary equivalent of channel-surfing. photographs not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA-An interesting book with little-known facts. Each chapter is written around a theme and covers a variety of topics that include submarines, the home front, prisoners-of-war, espionage, rationing, and unusual weapons. One chapter is devoted to actors, comedians, and professional athletes who either enlisted or were drafted into the military and what they did; they include Mel Brooks, Ed McMahon, Howard Cossell, and Jackie Robinson. Wright closes the book on a personal note, telling what it was like to grow up during the war and how it affected his family. The book is fast paced and is designed for casual readers, but it has enough detail to hold the interest of more serious students. No topic, however, is covered in enough depth for students to research extensively.
Robert Burnham, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: What They Didn't Teach You About World War II (What They Didn't Teach You) (Hardcover)
If you are deeply concerned with what various second or third rate actors and television personalities of 5 to ten years ago did during the WWII, this is the book for you. Otherwise, this is a throw away. The most startling new information provided in this book are that Prescott Bush was a Senator from Maine and that Winston Churchill was prime minister of the United Kingdom during the 1939 German invasion of Poland. Of course, Prescott Bush was a senator from Connecticut, and Churchill became prime minister in the Spring of 1940 after the Anglo-French invasion of Norway was defeated by the simultaneous German invasion. France and England did not really come to the "rescue" of Norway from a German invasion. They had planned their own invasion of Norway at the same time as the German invasion. They were delayed by several hours due to weather and claimed to be helping Norway against Germany. Paradoxically, Chamberlain fell because of the fiasco in Norway, and Churchill who was the architect of this disaster became prime minister! Of course, this is the kind of fact you are never told about the war, that someone like Wright could never tell you. I expected to find such things in this book. Mike Wright's ignorance and the absence of any apparent fact checking by the publisher indicate that both are worthless as sources of serious information. With no special knowledge or interest in World War II, Wright compiles a bunch of humorous or trivia-related vignettes about the war as he appears to do about as many subjects as he can publish books. However,I feel sorry for someone like the author who believes people need to know how Swooze Kurtz--whatever she does???--got her name. I feel sorrier for someone who is bamboozled into thinking this is a book with new information about the greatest tragedy in human history. A war in which scores of millions of people died and many countries laid waste deserves more than drivel like that! With the opening of the archives of the old USSR and the GDR, all sorts of information that was not known before is available for a serious author who really wants to tell us things that we weren't told about WWII. I expected this kind of information when I purchased this book. Yet, Wright is oblivious to the fact the major segment of WWII in Europe was fought between the USSR and Germany and its allies. His goal is to provide quick, entertaining, light reading on a subject that is neither quick, entertaining, nor light. The copy editing and fact checking in this book is simply not professional. While a bibliography which is useful is provided, there is absolutely no regular sourcing in this book, which may, in fact, be a tribute to adequacy of his sources, compared to the inadequacy of his history. As somone who teaches college students to discern which books to use for research papers and which to avoid, I would advise people to avoid any book brought out by this publisher for serious research or reliable knowledge. This book does have its moments. He gives an interesting blow by blow picture of the draft process when it was launched in 1941. He also provides interesting information about the deportation of Japanese Americans and Canadians, and about German prisoners of war in the US. However, though he condemns Japanese brutality to Allied prisoners, Wright is completely silent the attrocities the US and UK perpetrated against Japanese soldiers who wished to surrender. Allied policy was usally not to take Japanese prisoners, but to massacre them. A grisly trade in Japanese sculls and gold teeth sent back to the USA grew up during the War. This is the kind of fact about World War II that "They Didn't Teach You" that is light years away from anything Mike Wright knows. For a better look check out "Why the Allies Won." For an even better set of information about the Pacific war that is NEVER TOLD consult War Without Mercy by John W. Dower which will tell you about Allied abuse of Japanese prisoners as well as Japanese crimes against other Asian peoples. I found this book OK to read while I was sick in bed. I did not want anything demanding, although I must say that one driving factor in getting me to finish it was to see how many ignorances and errors the book contained. Like the one Harliquin romance I read under similar circumstances, I thought it was appropriate to throw the book away when I finished it. It is unfortunate Amazon does not permit one to have 0 stars or negative quantites of stars.
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What They Didn't Teach You About World War II
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Updated on 10-19-2008.
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