The Winds of War
by Herman Wouk · first published 1971
71% recommend29% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Sweeping historical novel covering WWII from many viewpoints, praised for dramatic scenes and for packing a lot of history into an engaging narrative; suits readers who enjoy long, immersive historical fiction.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Follows the various members of the Henry family as they become involved in the events preceeding America's involvement in World War II. Like no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation. Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and tragedy of World War II, as it immerses us in the lives of a single American family drawn into the very center of the war's maelstrom. The Winds of War and its sequel War and Remembrance stand as
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Winds of War was an entertaining read but wow -- depressing in a way that stuck with me for a long time. As intended, I'm sure. Wouk wrote some very dramatic scenes.
on “Elon Musk's letter to all Twitter employees” ↗I, showing my lack of education, first learned of the conference from reading 'War and Remembrance', Herman Wouk. It's amazing how much legitimate history he crammed into it and its prequel, 'The Winds of War.'
on “70 years ago, an Anglo-US coup condemned Iran to decades of oppression” ↗"Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance" by Herman Wouk. Written in the 1970s, from the perspective of a Jewish-American family. He also earlier wrote Pulitzer-Prize-winning "The Caine Mutiny" in 1951, it was a good…
on “The Trap of Fairytale Victory Endings in Historical Fiction” ↗I recently read 'The Winds of War' and 'War and Remembrance', novels by WW2 US Navy officer Herman Wouk. It is amazing how much history he crams into the narrative, documenting, among many other things, German treatment of the Jews before…
on “One in five young Americans thinks the Holocaust is a myth” ↗…how good they are, then here is probably your best option by far: 1. Pay for an Audible account. (Or figure out how to get free access to audio books from your local library.) 2. Listen to the books “Winds of War” and then “War and Remembrance” by Herman Wouk. The drama and characterizations are just fine, and will pull you right in to caring for Pug Henry and wanting to know what happens to him and his family.…
on “Visualizing World War II” ↗Loved “The Winds of War” and “War and Remembrance” by Herman Wouk - middlebrow from the 70s but no less good for that. Re-read “The Art of Not Being Governed” by James C Scott which is really mind-expanding stuff.
on “Ask HN: What did you read in 2025?” ↗> US scrap metal companies were furiously selling scrap to Germany & Japan in 1939 In Herman Wouk's novel The Winds of War, an admiral, aboard an aircraft carrier near Pearl Harbor in 1940 or -41, groused to his officers that (paraphrasing from memory) "sooner or later the [Japanese] are going to come steaming over the horizon,…
on “300k airplanes in five years” ↗I need to read Wouk’s other books. I’ve read Caine Mutiny three times, Winds of War once, and that’s it. Which should I read next?
on “Elon Musk's letter to all Twitter employees” ↗Quite amazing journalism. There is a lot of value in such a thoughtful and traveled on-the-ground report. More than once I was reminded of a portion of Herman Wouk's novel The Winds of War that portrays a journey and escape from the Polish countryside to Warsaw ahead of the German invasion and siege in 1939.
on “Notes on Ukraine: I spent most of April and some of May traveling around Ukraine” ↗