The Winds of War
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 the crowning achievement of one of America's most celebrated storytellers.
Themes & atmosphere
What you might want to know about The Winds of War
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
In the spring of 1939, US Navy commander Victor Henry gets posted as naval attache to Berlin with his wife Rhoda, and the German invasion of Poland that September pulls the Henrys onto every front of the coming war.
The Winds of War was written by Herman Wouk and published in 1971. Wouk is also the author of The Caine Mutiny (Pulitzer Prize, 1952) and Marjorie Morningstar.
Yes. ABC produced an 18-hour Winds of War miniseries in 1983 starring Robert Mitchum. A sequel miniseries, War and Remembrance, followed in 1988 and 1989. Both were major TV productions of their era.
The Winds of War is 960 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, The Winds of War takes most readers 14 to 21 hours to finish.
The Winds of War is a standalone novel by Herman Wouk, not part of a series.
The Winds of War is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.