Author: Howard J. Langer<br />File Type: pdf<br />An all-encompassing book with more than a thousand quotations, this work breathes life into an era unprecedented in world history. Covering all aspects of the war, the volume includes more than 300 individuals from the Allies, the Axis, and the neutrals. It quotes the major political leaders, including Churchill, Hitler, Roosevelt, and Stalin, and military officersnot just Eisenhower, Marshall, and King, but also Montgomery, Rommel, Zhukov, and Yamamoto. It covers historians Shirer, Sherwood, and A.J.P. Taylor, journalists Pyle, Murrow, and Hersey, and diplomats Ciano and Ribbentrop. It also includes little known peoplea Comfort Woman and an African American G.I. who watched German POWs eat in a restaurant that barred him. Also featured are a lexicon of slang terms, nicknames, and code words and sections on the movies and songs of the era.Quotations come from traditional sources, enemy documents seized after the war, and hitherto secret archives. They come from speeches, news accounts, memoirs, and interviews, from captured documents and from Ultra and Magicwhich broke the German and Japanese secrect codes. This volume is unlike any other book ever compiled on the war. It is for history buffs, World War II buffs, and all libraries.From Library JournalEditor Langer has included the usual suspects, among them Churchill, Roosevelt, and Hitler, but also included many other people involved in the warAincluding diplomats, civilians, and journalists. Most of the sections that deal with complex battles or issues cover basic background, so that the reader is not left wondering who is making the quotation and what the historical connection is. Langer has also included a lexicon of World War II terms and a section on songs and movies. He has written two other books on historical quotationsAHistory of the Holocaust (Jason Aronson, 1997) and American Indian Quotations (Greenwood, 1996). The book should be an important addition to any public or academic library, as well as specialized collections.AMark E. Ellis, Albany State Univ., GA 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From BooklistLanger has authored several other books on quotations, including American Indian Quotations [RBB N 15 96] and The History of the Holocaust A Chronology of Quotations (Aronson, 1997). His latest is an excellent collection of quotations dealing with World War II. International in scope, the work provides 1,554 quotations, drawn from a variety of sources. Appropriately placed throughout the text are approximately 17 photographs.The first 12 chapters are arranged by type of person quoted, from The War Leaders to Civilians, and then alphabetically by name. A typical entry has a short introductory paragraph providing biographical and historical information including birth and death years of persons. The remaining chapters cover other sources, including movies and songs. There are numerous cross-reference to other citations, designated by the symbol q.v. Quotations taken from monographs have their titles cited but no page numbers. There is a bibliography of approximately 214 titles cited in full bibliographic format. An appendix lists quotations by category. There are two indexes, one of individuals and the other arranged by subject. All quotations are numbered consecutively, thus enabling users of the indexes to quickly locate appropriate entries.A number of these quotations can be found in more general sources, such as The Oxford Dictionary of Twentieth Century Quotations (reviewed on this page). Although there are dozens of reference books on quotations, there are only a handful that deal with war. Dictionary of War Quotations (Free Press, 1989), Warriors Words (Sterling, 1992), and Words on War (Prentice Hall, 1990) include quotations from World War II and will probably be sufficient for smaller libraries that own them. World War II An Encyclopedia of Quotations is much more extensive in coverage for its time period. It is a unique resource that should be popular in academic, public, and high-school libraries.