A World in Flames: A Concise Military History of World War II

by Martha Byrd Hoyle

Who did what in World War II, and where and when did it take place?

Genres: History, World War II

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1992

Reviews

[Hank Hoeft · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has been interested in World War II since fifth grade or so, I have read many histories of the greatest conflict in human history. When I started reading A World in Flames: A Concise History of World War II, I frankly didn't have very high expectations for yet another overall history, especially one which contained scarcely 320 pages of text. (I started reading it at all because when I first picked it up, I didn't have any other book that I'm currently reading, with me at the time.) So I was very pleasantly surprised by Martha Boyd's account. It is indeed concise, but is nonetheless complete, comprehensive, and eminently readable. Also, as someone who has indeed read many, many accounts of World War II, I noticed no factual errors, and in fact learned several facts which I had not known before. The reading level seems to be about junior high level, which I do not mention as a criticism; A World in Flames is a book that well balances its complexity and thoroughness with clarity of expression. This would make an excellent first book for anyone--youth or adult alike--unfamiliar with the history of World War II who is looking for a clear but complete chronicle of the War.

[Harry · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good review of all the WWII battles in the European and Asian theaters. Good for scholars and WWII aficionados, but for the average reader, the carnage gets tedious after a while. Less than a page was devoted to the Holocaust, where Hoyle disputes the 6 million deaths.