The Winds of War

Title: The Winds of War

Author: Herman Wouk

Pages: 885

Genre: Historical Fiction

Grade: B+

Synopsis: Victor "Pug" Henry is a middle-aged naval officer recently assigned to be the Naval Attache for the US Embassy in Berlin just a few months before Germany attacked Poland at the start of World War II. The Henry's have one son in the Navy, one son that will soon join the Navy and a daughter back in the states who is looking into starting college in New York City. Throughout the course of the book, Pug has the chance to meet Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill and becomes a respected confidant of Roosevelt. This volume ends shortly after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. For a more complete synopsis, refer to this article from Wikipedia.

My Review: This is truly an epic account of World War II from a military family's perspective. I didn't realize until I had completed the book that there is actually a second volume in the series which is more than 1,000 pages long itself. I have always had a hard time piecing the chronology of World War II together in my mind, and this book helped that immensely. From everything that I have read, this book is known as one of the most correct historical fiction accounts of the Great War. When I finished the book, I wasn't quite sure if the book was fictional or not. In my opinion, that is the highest compliment that can be given to a work of historical fiction.

Disclaimer: As is often the case with 'true-to-life' military books, there is a bit of language in the book.