The Strategists

Author Phillips Payson O'Brien
Narrator Mikhail Sen
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Publish Date 15 August 2024
Run Time 17 hours and 15 minutes
Format Audio
Genre First World War, History, Military and defence strategy, Military history, Second World War, Society and Social Sciences.

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What to expect

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Churchill. Hitler. Stalin. Mussolini. Roosevelt. Five of the most impactful leaders of WW2, each with their own individualistic and idiosyncratic approach to warfare. But if we want to understand their military strategy, we must first understand the strategist.

In THE STRATEGISTS, Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien shows how the views these five leaders forged in WW1 are crucial to understanding how they fought WW2. For example, Churchill's experiences of facing the German Army in France in 1916 made him unwilling to send masses of British soldiers back there in the 1940s, while Hitler's mistakes on the Eastern Front were influenced by his reluctance to accept that conditions had changed since his own time fighting. The implications of the power of leaders remain with us to this day: to truly understand what is happening in Ukraine, for example, requires us to know what has influenced the leaders involved.

This is a history in which leaders – and their choices – matter. For better or worse.

'Phillips Payson O'Brien is one of our finest historical thinkers' James Holland

© Phillips Payson O'Brien 2024 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

Critics Review

Phillips Payson Ou2019Brien is one of our finest historical thinkers. The Strategists shows him at the height of his powers: a book full of deep perception, convincingly challenging many entrenched views and examining these five leaders that so shaped the modern world in an entirely fresh, brilliantly insightful and utterly compelling way. Everyone with an interest in not just the Second World War, but the twentieth century and beyond, should read this without delay.

James Holland, author of Normandy '44

The Strategists matches a remarkably wide-ranging expertise with an eye for telling detail and a lucid style. It is full of fascinating insights about the use and misuse of power: global, national and individual.

Professor Daniel Todman, author of Britain's War

A worthy addition [to bookshelves] . . . compelling

Kirkus

Ou2019Brienu2019s fluid prose makes for enchanting reading; thereu2019s never a dull moment.... For military history buffs, this is a must-read.

Publishers Weekly

This booku2019s most important argument is that the western allies were proved decisively right in viewing the Second World War as an oceanic struggle...it is entirely right for each generation of historians u2014 and Ou2019Brien is two decades younger than me u2014 to think anew about everything.

Sunday Times

O'Brien is seeking to do something more useful than rehashing all the old stories. He is trying to set the Second World War in deeper historical context by drawing out connections with the First World War . . . The Strategists reminds us that humans matter too.

Literary Review

A colourful and compelling read . . . with anecdotes that help the protagonists spring to life.

Irish Independent

Thanks to the engaging nature of the subjectsu2014and Mr. Ou2019Brienu2019s care not to go too far down rabbit holes about weaponry, gulags, local politics and psychologyu2014the narrative moves briskly. By linking decisions to identifiable personality traits, u201cThe Strategistsu201d provides insight into the minds of titans who vied for Europeu2019s destiny.

Wall Street Journal

User Reviews

Book 5.0

Narration 5.0

5.0

Excellent and informative book

ring01 08/05/2025

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