Herman Wouk’s “War and Remembrance” – Opening Sequence and titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSa08GS9yKE
On this holocaust memorial day, I would like to recommend my father;s books The Winds of War and War and Remembrance. They place the destruction of the European Jews in the proper context of World War II.
My father worked on these books for 18 years and any historian will tell you they are the most accurate in history of any and all books written on the subject.
For those who prefer to watch the mini-series based on the books they can both be seen in their entirety on YouTube at the following address:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQOTg1-qdx_-SmLxlg-RERQ
– JW
Explore posts in the same categories: Uncategorized
WarSclerotic 
May 2, 2019 at 4:18 PM
Thank you for this information. Incidentally, I believe your father and I attended the same High School, Townsend Harris, when it was located at Lexington Ave and 23rd Street.
May 2, 2019 at 6:08 PM
Well, I had often wondered if you were related. Your father was one of my favorite authors, from the time at 9 or 10 years old when I read my dad’s book club edition of The Caine Mutiny, and gained my first organized thought of how to lead an organization. Phrases from that still show up in my thinking and writing.
The Romances of World War II, as I believe he called them, gave me my foundational understanding of the United States’ role in the world, still operative all these years later. And yes, I’ve never read a better history of the war, and that too encompasses The Caine as well.
So, I guess if my witterings over the years have any value, some of the credit goes to him, although none of the blame – that’s on me, along with a few other authors who grounded my views, Thomas B. Costain, Kenneth Roberts, Winston Churchill, Alfred Thayer Mahan, US Grant, Clausewitz, Jomini. All are part of my worldview, but your father laid the foundation.
I will again watch the miniseries with pleasure and again read the books as well. Thanks for the reminder, as we remember those lost in the Holocaust.
May 2, 2019 at 7:11 PM
What a heat warming comment, Neo. Of course he did the same for me. He will be 104 on May 27…
May 2, 2019 at 7:20 PM
We lose track, sometimes, even if those we admire are still with us. Happy Birthday to him, and many more. I suspect many will think the same as me.
May 2, 2019 at 8:36 PM
There has been no greater telling of the Holocaust, and never will be. I would personally recommend watching Winds of War first, (I believe there are some better transfers on youtube) and then going back to the book (concentrating on the von Roon narratives). Then reverse the order for War and Remembrance.
Herman Wouk describes these works as his main task in life. They should be treated as his gift to future generations.
In watching Winds of War, you will see how FDR turned a lost and divisive nation into the Arsenal of Democracy, and Winston Churchill sacrificed an Empire to save the world from enslavement.
There has been no better depiction of pre-war and Poland being invaded than you see in “The Winds Rise” and “The Storm Breaks”. The scenes of the neutrals being moved out of a falling Poland are chilling. Wouk and Dan Curtis do not show you these events, they insert you into them like a time capsule. In “Defiance” you experience the Battle of Britain as it was directed from Uxbridge, and witness the first bombing of Berlin in a fabric covered Wellington. Chills run run through your spine as FDR secretly meets Churchill in “Changing of the Guard” in the North Atlantic on the Prince of Wales preparing for the US entry into WWII. The Kremlin scene in “Into the Maelstrom” is beyond description. Finally, at 39.40 of that episode, witness how the newspaper of record buries the babi yar massacre.
I prefer to suggest to people, that they read “War and Remembrance” first, because it is a much more personal story, that is better read, before the visualizations of the series. It also better shows that the real heroes of the Pacific were Spruance of Midway and Kinkaid of Leyte Gulf, not Halsey and Nimitz. I also think the Holocaust depictions work better after having read “Natalie’s Story.”
I cannot imagine what sacrifices Herman Wouk made during those 18 years, and what the toll must have been on his family. The world is indebted to him and his family forever.
May 3, 2019 at 7:26 AM
Right you are, Peter. I remember seeing my father emerge from his office while writing the holocaust scenes. He was so ashen faced that he literally looked like a ghost.
As for myself, I was working in Hollywood when War and Remembrance was being filmed. After watching the hours and hours of dailies from Babi Yar and Auschwitz I gave been unable to watch any more holocaust related material, including in the mini series itself. I simply can’t take it.