The Story of World War II

Landmark Giant #7

by Robert Leckie

Good overview of the war from the end of WWI and it's causes. Robert Leckie was in the Pacific during WWII. His book reads almost like a novel.

Genres: History

193 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 1964

About the author

Leckie was born on December 18, 1920, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey. He began his career as a writer in high school, as a sports writer for ''The Bergen Evening Record'' in Hackensack, New Jersey.

On January 18, 1942, Leckie enlisted in the United States Marine Corps.He served in combat in the Pacific theater, as a scout and a machine gunner in H Company, 2nd Battalion 1st Marines Regiment 1st Marine Division (United States). Leckie saw combat in the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Battle of Cape Gloucester, and had been wounded by blast concussion in the Battle of Peleliu. He returned to the United States in March 1945 and was honorably discharged shortly thereafter.

Following World War II, Leckie worked as a reporter for the Associated Press, the ''Buffalo Courier-Express'', the ''New York Journal American'', the ''New York Daily News'' and ''The Star-Ledger''. He married Vera Keller, a childhood neighbor, and they had three children: David, Geoff and Joan According to Vera, in 1951 he was inspired to write a memoir after seeing ''South Pacific '' on Broadway and walking out halfway through. He said "I have to tell the story of how it really was. I have to let people know the war wasn't a musical His first and best-selling book, ''Helmet for My Pillow'', a war memoir, was published in 1957. Leckie subsequently wrote more than 40 books on American war history, spanning from the French and Indian War (1754–1763) to Operation Desert Storm (1991). Robert Leckie died on December 24, 2001, after fighting a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease.

Reviews

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I am interested in learning about a subject hitherto unfamiliar to me, I will oftentimes go to the children’s section of the library for my first exposure to a new field of study. The best nonfiction books aimed at middle-school or junior high school readers are easier to comprehend, but still present substantial content. The Story of World War II, by Robert Leckie, is one such book. I have read I-don’t-know-how-many books on World War II in my lifetime, so it is a subject with which I am very familiar, but I recently chanced to pick up an old Landmark Giant edition of Leckie’s history of the war written for “younger readers,” and enjoyed reading it. There is nothing controversial here—in less than 200 pages, Leckie hits all the major events, and his account is totally conventional in its interpretation. As such, it is an excellent introduction for someone who doesn’t know a lot about the greatest war ever fought. I am a big fan of Oxford University Press’ Very Short Introduction series, and this book reminds me a little bit of them, with the biggest differences between World War II: A Very Short Introduction and Leckie’s book being the lower reading level, and the plethora of illustrations. I pondered for awhile how many stars I would rate this book, and I finally settled on 4 stars, because even though the book is not a great history of World War II, it is very good at what it is supposed to be--a history of World War II for younger readers.

[Jeanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first real book about WWII. I used this book to get an overview of the entire war, including causes, etc., and then I read it again to make sure I had pulled all the important key points for writing our curriculum this year. It is good and reads like a novel.
Robert Leckie was in the Pacific during the war. The book is out of print, but sells on Amazon.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This offered a great overview of WW2. There were so many names of various military leaders and battle locations, but we didn’t let that overwhelm us. The maps and photos were helpful, as was the timeline chart.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

Admiral Shibazaki on Tarawa did not order a counterattack due to a breakdown in communications, the Admiral, along with much of his staff, was killed by an air bursting artillery shell on the afternoon of the first day of the assault when caught out in the opening and walking to a secondary command post. He was certainly not around to see the dawn of the second day of fighting.

[Isaac F · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a good story to start a WWII entourage off with. It doesn't just talk about all the big battles it also covers quite a few small ones too which I really like. It catches my attention because it was the first WWII book i read.