Engineers of Victory: The Problem Solvers Who Turned the Tide in the Second World War by Paul Kennedy

Reviewed by William Wade

This is not your usual narrative history of World War II, which begins with the September 1939 attack of Germany on Poland and concludes a few hundred pages later with the final surrender of German and Japanese forces in 1945.  Kennedy’s book is highly analytical and selects a few crucial themes for a full evaluation.

He begins his study in early 1943: the United States has become fully engaged with Britain, the Soviet Union, and other nations known as the Allied powers in a truly world-wide conflict.  The Allies have the opportunity to win this war, but there are serious problems that stand in the way of an assurance of victory.

·         The U.S. has enormous military and industrial potential, but German submarines pose a great threat in the Atlantic.  Unless the submarine menace can be overcome, the ability to get American troops and military equipment to the various fronts will fatally diminish its contribution. 

·         U.S. and British bombers have struck at German cities and industries but it has become evident that bombers without fighter escorts are being destroyed at an unacceptable number.  Unless an answer can be found, the air attack upon Germany will be a failure.

·         German troops have been formidable in the use of the blitzkrieg; in the early stages of the war they seemed invincible.  Unless tactics and strategy can be found to thwart the blitzkrieg, Allied troops will be in trouble.

·         It is clear to Allied planners that their move toward victory will require many attacks upon enemy-held shores, both in Europe and in the Far East.  There has been very little study at the higher military ranks as to the necessities for assuring victory in such attacks.

These issues become the focus of Kennedy’s book, and chapter by chapter he shows how solutions are gradually found and put to use, often with intense trial and error efforts, but sometimes through serendipity.  He writes with great technical skill, and the reader is pulled into the narrative, eagerly awaiting a happy solution to a difficult problem.  I would rank this as one of the best books on World War II, though it presumes some prior knowledge of the general story of the conflict.

Nevermore: Zealot, RIddle of the Labyrinth, Engingeers of Victory

Zealot:  The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan is one of the highly anticipated books for the members of the Nevermore Book Club.  Aslan is an Iranian-American professor with degrees in Religion and Fine Arts.  He’s written numerous articles and several books, including No God But God:  The Originis, Evolution, and Future of Islam.  In this new book, he examines the story of Jesus from an historical perspective, putting his life and those of his followers in the context of the times.  Reviews for this book are sharply divided, so we are anticipating a lively discussion in Nevermore as members have a chance to read it.

While awaiting Zealot, some readers tried another book connected to antiquity, Riddle of the Labyrinth:  The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox.  Fox tells the fascinating story of how a single woman came close to deciphering the mysterious Linear B, the earliest known form of Greek script.  Alice Kober was a classics scholar who devoted years to solving the puzzle, using scraps of paper to compile her notes during the shortages of World War II.  Kober’s sudden death in 1950 at age 43 put an end to her research, leaving others to finish the job.  Fox had access to Kober’s papers at the University of Texas, including some 180,000 note cards, and argues that Kober should receive more recognition for her efforts in translating Linear B. This book has been recommended by several Nevermore readers.

Engineers of Victory by Paul Kennedy looks not at the troops on the ground nor the great leaders, but at those who took the strategies and made them work, who overcame technological difficulties and found solutions.  Even if you’re an avid reader of WWII books, you’ll find something fresh in this one.