In December 1936, the United Kingdom was rocked by the abdication of King Edward VIII.  Shortly thereafter, he married a twice divorced American woman, Wallis Simpson. For decades, the former King was viewed as a weak-willed man, dominated by a self-centered gold digger who thought she could marry the King and become Queen of England.  The story is much more complex, and Anna Pasternak takes a much different view of the entire episode; fortunately, she provides excellent support to her contention that Wallis Simpson was battled to keep the King, who was weak willed, on the throne.

It has been said that Henry Ford was a genius who expanded the horizons of the average American.  In “Slaughterhouse”, Dr. Pacyga tells the story of the Chicago stock yard and the world that it made.  In fact, the stock yards of Chicago did much more than industrialize the slaughter of cattle, sheep and hogs, they were responsible for increasing the diet of Americans and Europeans by providing meat products in a timely, cost effective manner.  They also were instrumental in the invention and improvements in rail transportation including refrigerated cars, smoother rides, etc. 

Richard Rhodes is a winner of the Pulitzer Prize and has written both fiction and non-fiction, on topics as diverse as the Donner Party, the invention of the Atom Bomb and the Audubon Society.  In this work, he traces how the Einsatzgruppen were organized, their scope of activity, their relationship with the Wehrmacht and the impact of mass killings on the individuals within the units.

Originally deployed in Poland at the start of the war, their primary directive was the murder of the leaders of Polish society; lawyers, doctors, educators, political leaders, etc. as the conqueror Poles were destined to be a source of ignorant slave laborers who did not need to count much above 100 in their future live.  The “special action groups” also targeted any Poles who offered any resistance either real or imagined.  At the same time, they went after suspected communists and finally, the Jews of Poland.  As the original plan was to move the Jews out of Europe, the concept of committing mass murder of the Jews was not in their primary list of objectives.  Yet once the killing began, and they were under the protection of SS-Reichsfuehrer Himmler, their murderous campaign quickly expanded.

This book provides case studies of some of the major minds which shaped the modern world. These individuals were driving forces in literature, politics, economics and morals, not by the force of their expertise, but rather by their self belief that they had found secrets about mankind that no one else had found in thousands of years. Their egos were sufficient that they never bothered to ask, like Nietzsche, “if no God, then what?” for their answer was that they had become god, capable of constructing laws and rules for others. Each of them created their own universe at which they were the steady light, and despite their lack of morals, ability to lie outrageously, often lie around in their own filth and not pay back borrowed money, they found followers who hung on their every utterance.

I normally find the author of interest; her book, Paris 1919, was an excellent work; tight, concise, and provided excellent portraits of many of the key players.  This work, however, would be better titled, War 101 for beginners. If you have a high schooler, purchase it for them (or save your money, get it from the library) so that they will have an overview of how strategies have changed due to weapon developments, the changing role of civilians and international law, the reasons, even the evolution of war.  For the individual who does not understand war, for the naïve, this is a good book. 

Grossman is best remembered for his novel, Life and Fate which has been described as the greatest Russian novel since War and Peace. When originally shown to the Soviet censors, they agreed that it was a great novel but that it could not be published for at least two hundred years; its descriptions of the men and women fighting in the Great Patriotic War were too real and did not pay any homage to Stalin.

Finland managed to fight two wars with the Soviet Union during the 20^th century; once it was attacked, and in the second, it was the attacker, an ally of Nazi Germany.  There was never any doubt that Finland could win either war; the best Finland could do was to ride on the coattails of a Germany victory.  In fact, the Finnish offensive action during the second war was limited and basically was aimed at regaining the territory lost during the first war.

Imagine there is a famine in part of your country; you are the Minister who control the rail system which can move food where needed when needed.  You are told that in the entire rail system there are too few cars to carry the good; being a diligent Minister, you find a car here, one there, four there and get them to the correct siding where the much-needed food is needed.  Finally, the train with its precious cargo is loaded and on its way; you wait by your telephone, calling and check on the progress of the train.  It must travel over a thousand miles, but you are determined that it arrives safely even though it must travel over a dangerous route and deal with a massive snow storm.  Finally, past the snowstorm you let yourself to relax only to receive a call that it was all mistaken, there was no train and no, the extra cars you found cannot now be found.  Welcome to the Soviet Union.

It has often been said that the Versailles Treaty imposed by the victors in 1919 ensured that there would be a Second World War.  Normally, this phrase is used to describe the harsh terms imposed on Germany who was partially occupied, saddled with a huge war indemnity, and assigned sole responsibility for the war.  This book, while not breaking any major new ground, does bring to one place, the other factors which lead to two decades of revolution, riots, murders and bloody political struggles in the lands formerly ruled by the Russian, German, Ottoman and Austrian empires as well as the unsatisfied demands of Italy.