The Biographical Dictionary of World War II

Profiles over one thousand major and minors players involved in World War II, including military officers, diplomats, spies, and politicians

Boatner is a West Point graduate, World War II veteran, and former professor of military history at West Point. He is also the author of five widely used reference books dealing with military history. For this book, he compiled a list of several thousand names connected to World War II by counting name citations in indexes. Culling out the most frequently cited names and choosing additional names after consultation with historical experts from several countries, Boatner selected more than 1,000 key personalities for inclusion in this book, including military personnel, civilian leaders, diplomats, scientists, spies, entertainers, and writers.

The alphabetically arranged entries range from 250 to 1,000 words in length. A typical entry provides the person's nationality, rank or position, and birth and death years, followed by a biography of the person's entire life noting education or training, positions held, accomplishments, failures, and publications. Within an entry, bold type designates a cross-reference to another entry, and small capital letters refer to the accompanying glossary. Short-form citations to the bibliography are in parentheses. The 70-page glossary describes events, issues, and terms too cumbersome to be included within entries (e.g., ATC [US] Air Traffic Command). The 18-page bibliography often has brief comments by the author. Foreign titles have English-language translations. There are no illustrations.

Despite the plethora of reference books on World War II, there are only a few comparable biographical works. A Biographical Dictionary of World War II by Tunney (St. Martin's, 1972) has approximately 540 entries; biographies only cover the war period. Who's Who in World War II by Mason (Little, Brown, 1978) has about 290 entries. Again, most information is limited to the war period. The book is well illustrated with more than 200 photographs and several pages of maps. Who Was Who in World War II by Keegan (Crescent Books, 1984) contains 527 entries; most information is limited to the war period. The book is illustrated with 250 photographs. This work was also published in paperback as Who's Who in World War II (Oxford, 1984) without illustrations. The Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers [RBB My 1 96] provides brief information on 2,400 American officers. In comparison, Boatner has 1,000 entries with citations to source material and a lengthy glossary, is more detailed, and reflects current scholarship. Academic, public, and high-school libraries should consider this excellent reference for their collections.