In your article you write: "There are controversies about the war (Burns, in a rare but nevertheless huge lapse, fails to address one of the biggest: whether we were justified in dropping atomic bombs on Japan)."

I was 8 years old in 1945 and living with my family in Japanese occupied Hong Kong. The Japanese military made it very clear to us that if Japan was invaded, all Europeans in Hong Kong would be killed. Although I have deep sympathy for those killed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pardon me for my selfishness in being grateful that an invasion of the Japanese mainland was not necessary... thanks to the dropping of two atomic bombs on those unfortunate cities. Had the invasion taken place, I probably would not be here now, writing you this letter.

I don't like to be a wet blanket, but the sentimentalizing, thus trivializing ,of that generation is dangerous and misleading. I was 15 when the War was over, so I share their background; 6 years later, I was in the Army in Korea (a War).

If we really want to honor them, we should do something to prevent a repetition; so far we have done nothing, outside of militarizing the World.

"We were forced into it"..tell me who wasn't.

All this whining about the A-bomb, genocide, atrocities, etc. is pathetic; isn't it obvious that none of these are "illegal"? If they were, Heads of State would not do this sort of thing. You don't think they are going to expose themselves to prosecutuon, do you?

The Concept is there; no Mayor is allowed to send the Police to kill the opposition, at least, not officially. Of course, there is usually political machinery and Law available to settle the kind of disputes that lead to War. Simple, but not easy. disigny

World War II is always an interesting subject, and the movie has been entertaining mostly. I think that Burn's take on the war is not terribly unique, but his effort to highlight the areas of the war which are not well known is admirable. Most memories seem to start at D-Day and go forward to the fall of Berlin. The war in the Pacific was bloody, hard fought, and mostly overlooked.

The part that bothers me, and the opportunity which is missed, is that I fear that the memories of the people in the documentary have been affected by time. Many of the memories seem very rosy, and there is little challenge or investigation as to what is said. One lady says that before the war, everyone knew that Hitler was bad and had to go. This is not true. There was strong pro-German sentiment in the U.S. That's why we declared war on Japan and not its allies. It was Germany who declared war on us, which helped Roosevelt out a great deal.

Thus far, I have thouroughly enjoyed the series. It is, at times, a bit asynchronous. But there is so much to say, and sticking to a single time-line would be very restrictive.

The Hispanic protest was repulsive, stupid and idiotic. My mother's family is Germanic, and thus far, there has been little about the German/Eastern European experience in the war. But that is not the point. The war united the US, and the Hispanic protest highlights exactly the wrong issue.

Many are plainly stupid. Many have some credence. The dimininshed concentration on foreign influences is certainly true. But so fucking what? Make your own series.

As far as "not telling us anything new" what a fucking stupid comment. This is a history of the personal war. This means that some truths told in this series (discrimination in the US) were true, are well known, but are included nonetheless for completedness sake. After all, when we who know everything are dead, there will be our children, and much if not all of this is new to my children (17, 17 and 20). This is who the series is aimed at.

If anyone doubts the justice and appropriateness of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs, I suggest that they consider carefully the following events, discussed in Episode 1:

1) The rape of Nanking, Dec 13, 1937

2) The Bataan death march

3) The incarceration and starvation of the European and American civilians in the Phillipines

4) The treatment of all POWs by the Japanese

I have no sympathy for the Japanese. They deserved the bombs. The bombs ended the war. So what if thousands of Japanese were killed? So what?

I concur with other posters that I've been left flat by the entire experience. Parts of Episode one feel recycled from "The Civil War," particularly the sun-set shots. Bleh.

And I would be delighted to have a few 20th Century historians to place the war into a broader, global context, since it was a global war (though I don't miss having a Shelby Foote--ptooey! What a poser).

Like other viewers, I find the entire enterprise pales when compared to the 1970s "The World at War," which is just devastating because it's so thorough. For example, the interview with Hitler's former secretary (Trudi ??) is memorable for how the lies slowly disolve and the viewer sees how monstrously surreal and deadly the Third Reich was.

With Burns, I feel like I'm getting the cliff-notes with Velveeta Cheese version of the 1970s classic.

But I'll make myself sit through the entire thing.

While it sounds like Ken Burns' WW2 is terrific, it is not truly about the core nature of WW2. For it not to meaningfully cover the Eastern front, where over 90% of military and civilians deaths took place, makes it a very partial review. Americans may not get from this series an understanding of the truly horrific nature of the war, despite America's terrible sacrifices.

As brutal as D-day was, in terms of Allied casualties it amounted to a few average hours for the Red Army, to be endured every day of every week for almost 4 years.

Maybe the horror is too great not to walk away from.

I didn't mind the one he did on Huey Long or the one on Earl Long (Was that Ken Burns or someone else?)

But The Civil War made me want to pull my teeth out with pliers! He relied upon entirely Shelby Foote, that old Southern liar and apologist and then glorified the battles.

Baseball was okay, but it felt like I was reading a coffee table book someone had bought at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And now The War, which is obviously aimed at being replayed for 10th grade world history classes everywhere. I tried the first night, really I did. The DH left about the part where they skewered McArthur ("Fair and Unbiased" he chuckled.) and I finally clicked off when I realized I was organizing coupons from the Sunday papers instead of watching this mess, which had lost my interest when it glossed over the Bataan Death March in about 3 minutes and didn't show signs of spending much more than a sentence on Japanese atrocities. (Husband prefers to study battles, I read about social history and war crimes. Go figure.)

I'll echo the masses: Why not just replay The World at War? Much better all around.