War from the Top. German and British Decision-Making during World War II.

Alan F. Wilt, struck by the extent to which books about the Second World War deal with one side or the other rather than both, has written in War from the Top. German and British Decision-Making during World War II (London: I.B. Tauris, 1990; pp. ix + 390. [pounds]29.95) a comparative study of the German and British organizations for conducting the war and of the men who operated them. A chapter devoted to Hitler and Churchill is followed by others which describe the headquarters' machinery and the leading commanders and chiefs of staff, and a further three on the general conduct of the war. But over half the book consists of analyses of eleven main campaigns, primarily at …