Mr Robert Oulds' new book, World War II: The First Culture War has received praise and plaudits from all quarters. War strategists, academics, and politicians alike have praised his book as detailed, illuminating, and comprehensive.
It's a book that goes deeper than merely the events, the politics, or the history many of us understand - it's about the clash of cultures, ideologies, and ways of life at the heart of the Second World War. Military strategies and tactics may have proved decisive in changing the course of one of history's bloodiest conflicts, but it is the battle of ideas that underlies the events of the Second World War, that cultural turning point in the axiom of our history.
"I thought I had a good knowledge of the origins and actions in both World One and Two, but I have been astonished that the detail and argument in this book has opened my eyes to much more than I expected.
The contents are all consuming and cover so much of the rationale and consequences of every part of these two extraordinary conflicts. From whichever standpoint you start, real reasons – politically, militarily, and culturally – emerge from every page. And what is clear is how the exceptional characteristics of the people of the United Kingdom and the leadership at every level, had a major impact on the success of the Allies.
There is so much in every section to absorb that I found that taking it in stages helped me understand the reality of every aspect and in every arena.
"This is the ultimate history of the World War and while it has taken a while to read it completely it was certainly worth it and you will become enriched in the stoic, determined nature of our predecessors and what they achieved and underlines the unique traits as well as our national independence, sovereignty, freedom, and culture which we must ensure the younger generations understand and follow."
Rear Admiral Roger Lane-Nott CB
Former Flag Officer Submarines and Submarine Commander
"The UK fought alone for the values we hold dear in the opening months of the war. She was joined by the USA after the attack on Pearl Harbour. Together the English-speaking allies stood for the self determination of peoples, for the liberty of the individual, for freer trade and free enterprise and the rights of small countries to govern themselves. Ranged against us were the Axis powers proposing might is right, enforced union of countries under an autocracy, cultural uniformity and the mass murder of peoples they disliked or opposed.
"Liberty won. It won because people nurtured in liberty fight hard to defend this precious gift. It won because out of liberty comes innovation, initiative, and adaptation. They led to a surge of technology and war time production that outclassed the autocrats relying on hostile and sullen slave labour."
"Robert Oulds is right to centre his history on the English. When Churchill wrote his four-volume history he wrote of the English-speaking peoples, fashioning a global story out of the enterprise, ambition and venturing of the English around the world. It was that same spirit, that same love of freedom, which brought the USA into the second world war alongside the UK, fashioning what proved to be an invincible alliance against the tyrannies of Germany and Japan. The Anglo-Saxon freedom and free enterprise model out invented, out produced and out fought the autocracies of the Axis powers. The peace settlement they created allowed the self determination of peoples, urged more to adopt the democratic model, and pioneered the UN. Robert Oulds has shown an important light on the epoch-making events of the second world war and its aftermath."
Rt Hon. Sir John Redwood MP, D.Phil, FCSI
"With the subject of World War II, it is difficult to think of much new to say, but this book offers a unique and stimulating perspective, illuminating in particular the crucial role of ideas – moral and intellectual – in the outcome of the conflict."
Professor Michael Rainsborough
Academic Principal, Australian War College
"Astonishingly revelatory, this comprehensive reappraisal of the Second World War shatters many illusions of the prevailing narrative. A provocative cultural contextualisation links to the current problems of woke ideology, the European Union and global corporatism."
Dr Niall McCrae
