The Winds of War
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- For similar titles, see Winds of War.
 First edition cover |
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| Author | Herman Wouk |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Winds of War series |
| Genre(s) | War novel |
| Publisher | Little, Brown and Company |
| Released | 15 November 1971 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 885 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-00-221941-7 (first edition, hardback) |
| Preceded by | The Lomokome Papers |
| Followed by | War and Remembrance |
The Winds of War is Herman Wouk's second book about World War II, the first being The Caine Mutiny (1951). Published in 1971, it was followed up seven years later by War and Remembrance. Originally conceived as one volume, Wouk decided to break it in two when he realized it took nearly 1000 pages just to get to the attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1983, it became a successful mini-series on the ABC television network.
Contents |
[edit] Plot introduction
The story revolves around a mixture of real and fictional characters, all connected in some way to the extended family of Victor "Pug" Henry, a middle-aged Naval Officer and confidant of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The story begins six months before Germany's invasion of Poland, which begins the war, and ends shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when the United States, and therefore, by extension, the Henrys, enters the war as well.
[edit] Plot summary
As the story begins, Victor Henry is appointed naval attaché in Berlin. During the boat trip to Europe, Victor befriends a British radio personality, Alastair "Talky" Tudsbury, and his daughter, Pamela. While in Germany, Victor meets a German military general, Armin von Roon, who later becomes the viewpoint character for the German side of the war, and witnesses the worsening of the German government's discrimination against the Jews.
He also notices the intent of the Germans to invade Poland and realizing that this would mean war with the Soviet Union, he concludes the only way for Germany to safely invade is to agree not to go to war with the Soviets. Going over his supervisor's head, he submits a report predicting the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact before it takes place. The report draws President Roosevelt's attention on him, and persuades the President to ask Pug to be his unofficial eyes and ears in Europe. This assignment delays again his desired sea command, but later will give him the opportunity to travel to London, Rome and Moscow and meet historical figures like Winston Churchill, Mussolini and Stalin.
His wife Rhoda, meanwhile, is forced to spend time away from her husband, at first in Berlin and then in Washington, and begins a relationship with a government engineer named Palmer Kirby, who later will be involved in the first phase of the Manhattan Project. For his part, Pug begins a platonic but very close and borderline romantic relationship with Pamela, but can't decide to leave his wife Rhoda for her. After having finally obtained the command of a battleship, the USS California, he leaves for Pearl Harbor from Moscow were he has discussed lend-lease issues and observed a battle. He flies over Asia and spends time in Manila listening to the radio broadcast of the yearly game between Army and Navy. When his flying boat is flying towards Pearl Harbor they get the radio message that Pearl is under attack and when they approach the naval yard they see the burning ships.
Pug's three children have their own story lines. His older son, Warren, is a Naval Academy graduate who enrolls in the Navy Flight School in Florida. His daughter, Madeline, gets involved in American radio. The one who gets the most story time devoted to him is middle child and younger son Byron, named after the English poet. Though a Columbia University graduate and holding a naval reserve commission, Byron is at loose ends for finding a job. In 1939 he accepts a job as a research assistant for an expatriate Jewish American author, Aaron Jastrow, who is best known for his book, A Jew's Jesus and lives in Siena, Italy. He also meets Jastrow's niece, Natalie, and her former boyfriend, Leslie Slote, whom she still loves and who works for the Department of State. Reader will later discover that Natalie is also a good friend of Pamela Tudsbury.
As Byron and Natalie spend more time together - they're visiting her family's Polish native town, Oswiecim, (later infamously renamed Auschwitz) and Aaron's brother Berel tells them that the town had another name when the Austrians had it Auschwitz, when the war begins - they travel from Oswiecm to Warsaw. In Warsaw they are trapped in the siege and are evacuated along with other neutral citizens. She ends her romantic relationship with Slote after he proposes to her in 1940, but he stays good friends with both of them. Her father dies by a heartattack upon hearing the invasion of Norway and Denmark on April 9th, 1940. In 1941, she marries Byron, who displayed unsuspected leadership qualities during the siege of Warsaw, and devotes herself to getting her reluctant uncle out of Europe to escape the coming Holocaust, although she is now pregnant.
All the storylines are left at a cliffhanger as the war begins. Rhoda makes and then retracts a request for a divorce. With the California already out of action, Pug gets command of a cruiser, the USS Northampton. Byron has been called to active duty as a submarine officer; and his brother Warren has graduated from Pensacola, married a congressman's daughter, Janice Lacouture, and is assigned to USS Enterprise. Aaron, Natalie, and Natalie's infant son Louis are trapped in Europe as the war begins. These storylines continue through War and Remembrance.
[edit] Miniseries
Author Herman Wouk was very negative and skeptical about a motion picture adaptation of his beloved and scrupulously researched novel, since he was most displeased with several earlier adaptations of his novels. But in 1983, Winds of War eventually became a successful mini-series on the ABC television network directed by Dan Curtis. Herman Wouk himself wrote the teleplay for the series and had considerable influence on the production itself, and gave detailed instructions on what and how many commercials would be allowed. Wouk also has a cameo as the archbishop of Siena.The music with its famous main theme was composed by Bob Cobert, a composer often associated with Curtis. Nazi Concentration camp-survivor Branko Lustig was an associate producer in the miniseries, and also on Schindler's List.
The miniseries follows the book closely and depicts events from March 1939 until the entry of the United States into World War II in December 1941. Just as in the book, in addition to the lives of the Henry and Jastrow-families, much time in the miniseries is devoted to the major global events of this period. Adolf Hitler and the German military staff with the fictitious general von Roon as a major character is a prominent subplot of the miniseries. Winds of War also includes segments of documentary WW2-footage narrated by William Woodson to explain major events and important characters.
This miniseries was followed by the sequel War and Remembrance in 1988.
[edit] Major historical events covered
- Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
- Case White - German invasion of Poland
- Peace proposals by Sumner Welles
- Fall of France
- Battle of Britain
- Lend Lease
- Operation Barbarossa
- Einsatzgruppen in the east
- Pearl Harbor
- Battle of Moscow
- United States entry into World War II
- Japanese attack on the Philippines
[edit] Major cast of characters
Robert Mitchum - Victor Henry ("Pug")
Curtis originally envisioned a man in his late 40s, early 50s in this part, but said that he couldn't find anyone with the suitable authority and WW2-era quality until they found Mitchum.
Ali MacGraw - Natalie Jastrow
Curtis first thought Ali was too old for the part, but changed his mind after meeting MacGraw herself. Associate producer Barbara Steele described her as having the right independence for Natalie. She was however not rehired for the sequel "War and Remembrance"
Jan-Michael Vincent - Byron Henry ("Briny")
Vincent had according to Curtis a rumour of being a bit troublesome, and partied hard during the production and often came up unprepared, but Curtis said after some rehearsals he put up a great, natural performance. As with MacGraw, Vincent was also not rehired for the sequel.
John Houseman - Aaron Jastrow
Polly Bergen - Rhoda Henry
Lisa Eilbacher - Madeline Henry
David Dukes - Leslie Slote
Topol - Berel Jastrow
Chaim Topol is acting as the old man Berel Jastrow in the series, but was in his 40s during the production.
Ben Murphy - Warren Henry
Peter Graves - Palmer Kirby ("Fred")
Jeremy Kemp - Brig. Gen. Armin von Roon
Ralph Bellamy - President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Victoria Tennant - Pamela Tudsbury
This was one of the producers toughest casting choices, until they finally found Tennant. Curtis said after he saw her physical suitability for the role "God, let her be able to act!"
Howard Lang - Winston Churchill
Michael Logan - Alistair Tudsbury
Barry Morse - Wolf Stoller
[edit] Reception
According to the DVD-featurette "From Novel to Television" The Winds of War became a smashing television success, and a US national television event like never seen before.
[edit] Trivia
The series consists of 7 episodes, has a runtime of about 14 hours, and the script was almost a 1000 pages. The estimated budget was very large for its time, about $35 million.
The series was shot in all over the world, but main shooting locations were Germany, USA, Italy, Croatia, UK, Yugoslavia and Austria. For example the opening scene sub-titled "Berlin" was actually filmed in and around the Hofburg in Vienna.
The Paramount production made use of battle scenes from other films during the attack scene on Pearl Harbor, including scenes from Tora! Tora! Tora!
The footage of the attack on Pearl Harbor was shot on December 7th.
The OpsRoom at RAF Uxbridge from which the Battle of Britain fighter defences were commanded, is only rarely made available to the public. Producers managed to get permission to film there.
[edit] DVD-release
Winds of War was finally released on DVD by Paramount on 25 May 2004. However, it is yet only available as Region 1.
Disc 1: Part 1 The Winds Rise
Disc 2: Part 2 The Storm Breaks
Disc 3: Part 3 Cataclysm
Part 4 Defiance
Disc 4: Part 5 Of Love and War
Bonus Materials
Disc 5: Part 6 Changing of the Guard
Disc 6: Part 7 Into the Maelstrom
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- DVD-featurettes on "The Winds of War"-DVD
- Morse, Barry - Remember With Advantages (2006), ISBN 0-7864-2771-X
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