Is Adobe AIR a good engine as GUI to develop Windows application?

If you are windows only, something like WPF is probably a better option, since you will be able to leverge any old C/C++ libraries you have throuhg PInvoke.

Adobe AIR and most other new RIA platforms like JavaFX, Silverlight, and Flex, are meant to be cross-platform platforms. That is, they should run on Macs and Linux as well as Windows. ActiveX won't work on those platforms, so you won't be able to reuse them there.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.