The Oxford Illustrated History of World War II

by Richard Overy (Editor)

Overview

World War Two was the most devastating conflict in recorded human history. It was both global in extent and total in character. It has understandably left a long and dark shadow across the decades. Yet it is three generations since hostilities formally ended in 1945 and the conflict is now a lived memory for only a few. And this growing distance in time has allowed historians to think differently about how to describe it, how to explain its course, and what subjects to focus on when considering the wartime experience.

For instance, as World War Two recedes ever further into the past, even a question as apparently basic as when it began and ended becomes less certain. Was it 1939, when the war in Europe began? Or the summer of 1941, with the beginning of Hitler's war against the Soviet Union? Or did it become truly global only when the Japanese brought the USA into the war at the end of 1941? And what of the long conflict in East Asia, beginning with the Japanese aggression in China in the early 1930s and only ending with the triumph of the Chinese Communists in 1949?

In The Oxford Illustrated History of World War Two a team of leading historians re-assesses the conflict for a new generation, exploring the course of the war not just in terms of the Allied response but also from the viewpoint of the Axis aggressor states. Under Richard Overy's expert editorial guidance, the contributions take us from the genesis of war, through the action in the major theatres of conflict by land, sea, and air, to assessments of fighting power and military and technical innovation, the economics of total war, the culture and propaganda of war, and the experience of war (and genocide) for both combatants and civilians, concluding with an account of the transition from World War to Cold War in the late 1940s. Together, they provide a stimulating and thought-provoking new interpretation of one of the most terrible and fascinating episodes in world history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199605828
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/01/2015
Series:	Oxford Illustrated History
Pages:	504
Product dimensions:	7.60(w) x 9.90(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Richard Overy is Professor of History at the University of Exeter. He is the author of more than twenty five books on the history of twentieth-century war and dictatorship, including the highly acclaimed Why the Allies Won (1995) and the prize-winning Dictators: Hitler's Germany and Stalin's Russia (2004). He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts. His most recent book is The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945 (2013), shortlisted for the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in military history.

Table of Contents

PrefaceAcknowledgementsEditor's Introduction1. The Genesis of World War, Patricia Clavin2. Japan's War in Asia, Steven Lee3. The Italian Wars, Nicola Labanca4. The German Wars, Richard Overy5. The West and the War at Sea, Eric Grove6. The Allies from Defeat to Victory, Evan Mawdsley7. Fighting Power: World War and Military Innovation, David French8. Economies in Total War, Richard Overy9. Front Line I: Armed Forces at War, Michael Snape10. Front Line II: Civilians at War, Richard Overy11. Unnatural Deaths, Richard Bessel12. War, Invention, and Experts, David Edgerton13. The Culture of War: Propaganda, Arts and Ideas, David Welch14. From World War to Cold War, Geoffrey RobertsEpilogueFurther ReadingIndex

Editorial Reviews

06/22/2015
Acclaimed British historian Overy (The Bombing War) gathers a dozen—mostly male, mostly British—fellow historians to produce a significant contribution to the general-audience literature on WWII. The contributors are a cross-section of the field's best, including familiar figures such as David French as well as lesser-known standouts Michael Snape and Patricia Clavin. They offer fingertip mastery of their specific subjects, balanced analyses, and reader-friendly presentations on topics ranging from the culture of war to military innovation. Overy's introduction establishes the work's integrating themes: the dissolution of old empires and political structures under the pressure of mass nationalism, and the ability to create and sustain mass armed forces. Particularly noteworthy are Clavin's analysis of the war as the "grim apotheosis" of an "endemic crisis of global security under way for 20 years"; Overy's interpretation of Germany's war as an ideology-based "product of the eternal war... against the phantom Jewish conspiracy in Europe"; and Richard Bessel's searing presentation of the war's "unnatural deaths... grisly catalogue of brutality, callousness, inhumanity, and murder... in a ubiquitous context of violence " implemented by states and individuals alike. The compendium's major shortcoming is its relative slighting of the Pacific theater. Nevertheless, this collection merits wide circulation and attentive reading. (June)

Publishers Weekly

"Compelling in its narrative, fascinating in its detail, magisterial in its analysis, global in its breadth, Richard Overy, one of our outstanding scholars of mid-20th Century history, here delivers a military, political and economic history of WW2, aided by a galaxy of distinguished scholars, that is essential, accessible reading for general readers as well as students." —Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar

"Do we really need another illustrated history of WW II? Yes, we do, especially this volume, which combines a breadth and depth not seen in much military history writing. The skillful analysis of each chapter does not sacrifice narrative ability to address topics ranging from the German, Italian, and Japanese conduct of the land, sea, and air wars to the political intricacies of the Grand Alliance, scientific innovation, and the cultural history of the war." —CHOICE

From the Publisher

2015-02-24
Distinguished historians explore developments in the study of World War II.To say that the contributors will change how we view the war might be overstating it, but their outlooks, with the benefit of new and broader information, will give many readers pause. Edited by European Academy of the Sciences and Arts member Overy (History/Univ. of Exeter; The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945, 2014, etc.), the book breaks apart facets of the war, first looking at the beginnings of the Italian, German, and Japanese aggressions. The Italian foray into Africa, the Second Sino-Japanese War, and Germany's use of President Woodrow Wilson's self-determination principle all show how early the signs of war appeared. The contributors examine the commonly held belief that air and naval powers dictated the results—the English discovered that they could mitigate the U-boat threat by using convoys, something it took some time for the Americans to accept, at great cost—and they explore the Lend-Lease program, through which the United States supplied desperately needed materiel to both England and Russia. They also delve into the varied aspects of life in wartime, including economic considerations, the politics of food (e.g., imposed famine), the use of civilians and prisoners in war and production, the broad proliferation of propaganda, and the vast cultural differences among the war's participants. Throughout, they bring out fascinating aspects of the war's tactics, such as the use of one theater, especially Italy, to subordinate action by tying up armies needed elsewhere. In addition to Overy, other contributors include David French, Patricia Clavin, and Geoffrey Roberts. A good choice for new insights into aspects of the war we never knew, such as the "other" D-Day in the Marianas and the great significance of the Eastern front in the final outcome.

Kirkus Reviews