Superb and enthralling - highly recommended.

Where does The Second World War, Part One: The Phoney War to Stalingrad rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent Audible history - up there with the rude boys.

Have you listened to any of Sean Barrett’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

The narrator is excellent. This is a long listen, so the narration is especially important and Sean Barrett's clarity, diction and expression are first class.

Any additional comments?

The mix of grand strategic overview mixed with the words of soldiers and civilians make this brilliantly written history extremely engrossing. I'm eagerly looking forward to Part 2.

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This will become the seminal work on WWII

Truly global in its scope, any serious study of the war will necessarily include a careful reading of this work.

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good

very well written , the author's concluding observations are worth remembering . it was a great book.

A compact, yet satisfying, history of the war

A great listen for Causal history enthusiasts. The writer did a fantastic job of cramming so much complicated history in this book, and he did it in an engaging and easy to follow manor.

A good walkthrough of the war

Starting prewar and going through every major front to the postwar partition of Europe. Many forgotten bits are given a day in the spotlight. No individual bit gets the total work through and that's quite fine. This is an overview that let's one find bits of interest for further investigation.
The narrator has a comfortable voice for such a long listen and does a remarkable job of pronouncing the non-English codenames and places.

Good overview of the second world war

Mostly focused on Germany, US and USSR with very little time spent on the minor nations involved

Stunning and comprehensive

If you could sum up The Second World War in three words, what would they be?

Stunning, elaborate and comprehensive.

What other book might you compare The Second World War to and why?

It is definitely the best overall history of the Second World War I have read so far. It might be supplemented with a more analytical look at the war by reading Norman Davies "Europe at War 1939-1945. If one wants to explore the different campaigns further Beevor wrote great books on Berlin, D-Day and Stalingrad as well.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

The Great Tragedy

Difficult subject matter, great narration.

Any additional comments?

The narration by Sean Barrett is simply outstanding and sensitive to the subject matter at hand.

Expected more from Antony Beevor

Great run over the second world war. But nothing new for those who have studied it already. Best on the Western campaigns and less in-depth on the complex Japanese/Chinese conflict. Hoped that Antony Beevor with his detailed knowledge would have tried to maintain an analytical overview of the war. However, instead he leads us through battle to battle and campaign to campaign in his usual entertaining style with lots of specific stories to bring the scenes alive. Maybe I was expecting too much.

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Not that great narration.

Would you try another book from Antony Beevor and/or Sean Barrett?

Lacks the tautness of Stalingrad and Crete.
Not enough personal episodes.
Narration was bad. Not awful, but just bad.

Would you be willing to try another book from Antony Beevor? Why or why not?

Good writer.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Sean Barrett?

Ray Porter

Could you see The Second World War, Part One: The Phoney War to Stalingrad being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Governator as Hitler, Tom Hanks as Churchill.