Amazon.com video review:
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is highly deserving of the numerous awards for
documentaries he has received: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis
Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen
Elizabeth II. His epic, 26-volume The World at War remains
unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II. So
well known is this series that almost all baby boomers, and even most
Gen-Xers, recognize the opening credits set over burning
text and the somber black-and-white images of this war's particular
horror.
World War II was unique in thousands of ways, one of which was the
unparalleled scope of the Axis and Allies' visual documentation of
their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through
written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were
remarkably thorough in recording even their most abhorrent
atrocities--in an impressive amount of color footage. The World at
War was one of the first television documentaries to exploit these
resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide
to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of
the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights include early
German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the
impending attack on Poland in volume 1; the early British losses in
the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa in volume 12;
the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat in volume 13;
one of the most fascinating documentaries of life inside Nazi Germany,
from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth, in volume 16; an
unromanticized view of the Normandy invasion (unprecedented until
Saving Private Ryan) in volume 17; one of the most widely
shown introductions to the Holocaust in volume 18; an important look
into wartime Japan and its expansion (although early 20th-century
history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial)
volume 22; and another widely seen documentary of the Manhattan
Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in volume 24.
The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of
World War II, analogous to Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire. No serious historian should exclude The
World at War from their collection, and no student should leave
school without having seen at least some of its salient
episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki
Amazon.com video review:
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is highly deserving of the numerous awards for
documentaries he has received: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis
Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen
Elizabeth II. His epic, 26-volume The World at War remains
unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II. So
well known is this series that almost all baby boomers, and even most
Gen-Xers, recognize the opening credits set over burning
text and the somber black-and-white images of this war's particular
horror.
World War II was unique in thousands of ways, one of which was the
unparalleled scope of the Axis and Allies' visual documentation of
their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much through
written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis were
remarkably thorough in recording even their most abhorrent
atrocities--in an impressive amount of color footage. The World at
War was one of the first television documentaries to exploit these
resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable visual guide
to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say nothing of
the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights include early
German and Nazi documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the
impending attack on Poland in volume 1; the early British losses in
the blitz in the skies over Britain and in North Africa in volume 12;
the turning point of the war and Germany's first defeat in volume 13;
one of the most fascinating documentaries of life inside Nazi Germany,
from Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth, in volume 16; an
unromanticized view of the Normandy invasion (unprecedented until
Saving Private Ryan) in volume 17; one of the most widely
shown introductions to the Holocaust in volume 18; an important look
into wartime Japan and its expansion (although early 20th-century
history that lead to Japan's role in World War II is superficial) in
volume 22; and another widely seen documentary of the Manhattan
Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki in volume 24.
The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of
World War II, analogous to Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of
the Roman Empire. No serious historian should exclude The
World at War from their collection, and no student should leave
school without having seen at least some of its salient
episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J. Macki
Amazon.com Essentials:
Sir Jeremy Isaacs highly deserves the numerous awards for
documentaries he has earned: the Royal Television Society's Desmond Davis
Award, l'Ordre National du Mérit, an Emmy, and a knighthood from Queen
Elizabeth II. His epic The World at War remains
unsurpassed as the definitive visual history of World War II.
The Second World War was different from other wars in thousands of ways,
one of which was the unparalleled scope of visual documents kept by the Axis and Allies of all their activities. As a result, this war is understood as much
through written histories as it is through its powerful images. The Nazis
were particularly thorough in documenting even the most abhorrent of the
atrocities they were committing--in a surprising amount of color footage.
The World at War was one of the first television documentaries that
exploited these resources so completely, giving viewers an unbelievable
visual guide to the greatest event in the 20th century. This is to say
nothing of the excellent, comprehensible narrative. Some highlights:
- A New Germany 1933-39: early German and Nazi
documentation of Hitler's rise to power through the impending attack on
Poland
- Whirlwind: the early British losses in the blitz in
the skies over Britain and in North Africa
- Stalingrad: the turning point of the war and
Germany's first defeat
- Inside the Reich--Germany 1940-44: one of the most
fascinating documentaries that exists on life inside Nazi Germany, from
Lebensborn to the Hitler Youth
- Morning: prior to Saving Private Ryan, one of
the only unromanticized views of the Normandy invasion
- Genocide: this film is one of the most
widely shown introductions to the Holocaust
- Japan 1941-45: although The World at War is
decidedly focused more on the European theater, this is an important look
into wartime Japan and its expansion--early 20th-century history that lead
to Japan's role in World War II is superficial
- The bomb: another widely shown documentary
of the Manhattan Project, the Enola Gay, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki
The World at War will remain the definitive visual history of World
War II, analogous to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
No serious historian should be missing The World at War in a
collection, and no student should leave school without having seen at least
some of its salient episodes. Rarely is film so essential. --Erik J.
Macki
