WW II Epic
For those who experience today the past is kept alive by museums, books, films, not least by parents and grandparents who lived through part of it and talk about it. Not ancient or medieval times, of course, but a chunk of the 20th century. World War I is too far back, but not World War II.
In this day and age, Mussolini’s Italy is gone, as is Hitler’s Germany, Stalin’s Russia and Eastern Europe. Tojo’s Japan, too, for that matter. To be sure it cost tens of millions of lives, but it was accomplished. Still, there was something curiously fascinating about them while they existed — their global ambitions and determination to achieve them regardless of the numbers of bodies they climbed over. And they almost made it. However, ‘‘almost’’ doesn’t cut it. Perhaps if they’d done this but not that, or done that but not this they could have made it. For a while, it was a close thing.
British novelist Ken Follett, noted for historical fiction epics, has gone farther than fellow writers interested in the period by penning a trilogy — each time nearly 1,000 pages — about the 20th century. His characters combine the real and imaginary. Winter Of The World under review is the second in the series.
Covering 1933-1949, the story sidesteps on families and individuals in the US, UK, Russia and most of all Germany. The Fuhrer (‘‘Is he serious?’’) is like a master. He manipulates, the puppets move. Each chapter is a succeeding year. As dictators go, Stalin is on par with Hitler. But he’s clever enough to draw foreign liberals to his side.
There are marriages and adultery, brothers and halfbrothers, old lovers and new, spies and counter-spies, the Gestapo and FBI, British and Soviet intelligence. Hitler’s leash shortens. The Spanish Civil War Loyalists (the Government) vs Nationalists (France). ‘‘Shall I join you?’’.
WW II. Hitler and Stalin friends, then enemies. Churchill and FDR. Victory. The Cold War. Stalin vs Truman. The Marshall Plan to rebuild the continent. The Berlin Airlift. Russia steals the nuclear bomb. Is war imminent? Book three will begin in 1950. The quality of Follett’s book gives the reader eye-strain.
The major concerns of that time have been replaced by the 21st century threats of global warming and Arab terrorists. Whether they can be overcome by peaceful means remains to be seen. Then what will 22nd century mankind contend with, I wonder?