History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Including its Early Settlement and Progress to th... Book

Unusual book, but had to read it due to the author's excellence in writing and thought. Ultimately this book focused on what are the key books of interest in a study of WWII in terms of biographies, campaigns, occupation, etc. Next time I need a WWII book to read, I'll read to Keegan's notes. While primarily a review of the written literature, Keegan provided numerous great insights into the conflict.

- Churchill sent troops to Greece because the Greeks, with the Yugoslavs, were the only unconquered peoples on the European Continent who were prepared to make common cause with the British in standing up to Hitler.... Churchill seemed to have taken the view that, however dubious the prospect of success, British credibility as an enemy of Nazism depended on supporting friends whenever they could be reached. PJK: Few politicians would take this risk. Deploy troops to a tough mission only to strategically gain long term good will
- The United States, traditionally committed to direct rather than indirect strategy as a means of winning wars,..... PJK: So true.
- Germany may well have been less ready to withstand an Allied cross-Channel invasion of 1943 than it proved to be in 1944; but Britain and America were less ready to mount it.
- ... why did the Allies not destroy the Nazi means of human destruction?
- Bombing Auschwitz would simply have assisted the Nazi work of massacre. Why then, the more sophisticated argument runs, did the Allies not bomb the railways that fed Auschwitz?
- The first World War was, in some sense, a leaderless war..... In the Second World War, exactly the opposite analysis holds true. Among Hitler's enemies, it was the will of the leaders which inspired...
- War, though ultimately about fighting, is also about planning where and when to fight, and disguising one's intentions from the enemy while seeking to penetrate his.
- The war made the United States rich again.
- Germany, once the most populous and powerful state in Central Europe, was divided, occupied, bankrupt, and inert. It was to be rescued from hunger and desolation only by the generosity of its enemies. PJK: Interesting display of sympathy for one's enemy. Maybe because of the German immigration pattern to America in the mid to late 1800's? Probably wouldn't happen in the Middle East today.