In the longer perspective, even the most momentous events can appear to lose coherence and significance. However, such was the impact of World War Two that even more than sixty years after its end, interest in the origins, course and consequences of the war continues to increase and generate debate. In this essential introductory guide, John Plowright casts a critical eye over the mass of literature that surrounds the conflict, focusing on key topics such as: - Nazi foreign policy and appeasement - the Fall of France - Operation Barbarossa and the Allied strategic bombing offensive - the impact of the war on Britain's international position and on American society - the movement towards European integration. This timely book provides an approachable synthesis of the scholarship relating to the causes, course and outcomes of the Second World War. It is ideal for all those in danger of drowning in the ocean of print on the subject and who wish to gain an understanding of the central issues and debates.

This collection by leading British and American scholars on twentieth century international history covers the strategy, diplomacy and intelligence of the Anglo-American-Soviet alliance during the Second World War. It includes the evolution of allied war aims in both the European and Pacific theatres, the policies surrounding the development and use of the atomic bomb and the evolution of the international intelligence community. It also considers the origins and consequences of inter-allied economic relations as they emerged during the war and the personal relationship between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Death in war matters. It matters to the individual, threatened with their own death, or the death of loved ones. It matters to groups and communities who have to find ways to manage death, to support the bereaved and to dispose of bodies amidst the confusion of conflict. It matters to the state, which has to find ways of coping with mass death that convey a sense of gratitude and respect for the sacrifice of both the victims of war, and those that mourn in their wake. This social and cultural history of Britain in the Second World War places death at the heart of our understanding of the British experience of conflict. Drawing on a range of material, Dying for the nation demonstrates just how much death matters in wartime and examines the experience, management and memory of death. It will appeal to anyone with an interest in the social and cultural history of Britain in the Second World War. -- .

This book argues that American strategists in the Joint Chiefs of Staff were keenly aware of the inseparability of political and military aspects of strategy in the fight against Japan in World War II. They understood that war not only has political sources, it also has political purposes that establish the war's objectives and help to define the nature of the peace to follow. They understood that policy was the 'guiding intelligence' for war, in Clausewitzian terms, and that to attempt to approach strategic problems was nonsensical.

The suffering of the Jewish people during WWII has been well documented, but be have heard little about the lives of others during the war. Anna was an ordinary citizen growing up in prewar Poland. She graduated from a teaching seminary and was married shortly thereafter. The bliss of married life ended August 1939 when Polish troops requested that her husband report to the local armory immediately. She would not see him again for nine years. By early September bombs began dropping and food was scarce for her and her two-year-old son. Russian troops soon invaded and travel was restricted. Farmers were not allowed to bring their goods to market. Anna barely escaped getting sent to Siberia. Then the Germans became the occupiers and Anna for the first time became involved with the Polish Underground. She gets work at a German prison, but often cannot find bread to buy and she must live with the atrocities that are committed around her. The tide turns and the Russians pushed the Germans West and she must escape before they find out that she worked for the Germans. Finally the War ends but Poland is still not free.

David Kenyon Webster's memoir is a clear-eyed, emotionally charged chronicle of youth, camaraderie, and the chaos of war. Relying on his own letters home and recollections he penned just after his discharge, Webster gives a first hand account of life in "E Company, 101st Airborne Division," crafting a memoir that resonates with the immediacy of a gripping novel.
From the beaches of Normandy to the blood-dimmed battlefields of Holland, here are acts of courage and cowardice, moments of irritating boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror, and pitched urban warfare. Offering a remarkable snapshot of what it was like to enter Germany in the last days of World War II, Webster presents a vivid, varied cast of young paratroopers from all walks of life, and unforgettable glimpses of enemy soldiers and hapless civilians caught up in the melee. Parachute Infantry is at once harsh and moving, boisterous and tragic, and stands today as an unsurpassed chronicle of war--how men fight it, survive it, and remember it.

"From the Trade Paperback edition."

First published in 1941 to considerable acclaim, this is a classic account of the last days of peace in Europe before the outbreak of the Second World War. William Russell was a young American diplomat working at the US Embassy, in Hermann Goering Strasse, during the grim days of 1939 just prior to and after Germany's invasion of Poland. He had studied in Germany before joining his country's diplomatic corps, so both his knowledge of history and considerable linguistic skills would enable him to gain a unique experience of one of the most momentous periods in world history. And he does not miss any opportunity to write a totally absorbing account of both the horror and the farce which so often accompanies such epic times. This quite remarkable account deserves to find a whole new readership, revealing as it does, in intimate detail, a time when American diplomacy was forced to handle a Europe fast falling into an abyss of nightmares.

This extraordinary book tells the story of a remarkable family caught in Japan at the outbreak of the Second World War in the Pacific. With letters, journal extracts and notes from Hamish Brown's parents, as well as his own recollections, it brings the era to life: not only life in the dying days of the British Empire, but also the terrible reality of the invasion of Singapore into which they escaped.

First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book examines the plight of British and Allied civilians as their troops fought with the Japanese Army for the control of Singapore. This is the story of the desperate efforts made to escape, by ocean-going ships, small craft or on foot through the Malayan jungle.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy started a crash program, gathering information and educating personnel to deal with enemy bombs, land mines, and other explosive ordnance. Figuring lawyers make the best cannon fodder, recent law school graduate J. Frank Durham was among early volunteers for this dangerous and highly-classified work. Graduating with a perfect grade from the navy's new Bomb Disposal School, he was retained on staff to help the operation expand, then dispatched to Guadalcanal, where Americans were fighting the pivotal battle of World War Two. While learning how to handle explosive devices, Durham endured bombing, shelling, and an unexpected encounter with the enemy, but tales of suspense and danger are balanced by a humorous perspective on everyday life as an enlisted man. He describes unofficial enterprises, manufacturing souvenirs from brass shells in the captured Japanese ammo dump, and making moonshine from anything available, to sell to the troops. Eleanor Roosevelt's visit to the field hospital inspired a pithy comment about a painful loss from a wounded marine, and a classic riposte from the First Lady. side of the conflict.

American church-related liberal arts colleges are dedicated to two traditions: Christian thought and liberal learning. According to Haynes, the moral continuity of these traditions was severed by the Holocaust. Because so many representations of these traditions contributed to the Nazis' ideological and physical efforts to annihilate millions of men, women, and children, it is unclear whether these traditions can any longer be said to facilitate human flourishing. Haynes presents a convincing argument that the post-Holocaust church-related college can participate in the restoration of these ruptured traditions through a commitment to Holocaust Education. This book provides valuable information for teachers who already offer a Holocaust course or for those who are considering doing so. In addition, the author presents an accurate picture of Holocaust Education at church-related colleges through an analysis of his nationwide survey. This book will be an important resource for scholars, teachers, and administrators.

Contesting France reveals the untold role of intelligence in shaping American perceptions of and policy towards France between 1944-1947, a critical period of the early Cold War when many feared that French Communists were poised to seize power. In doing so, it exposes the prevailing narrative of French unreliability, weakness, and communist intrigue apparent in diplomatic despatches and intelligence reports sent to the White House as both overblown and deeply contested. Likewise, it shows that local political factions, French intelligence and government officials, colonial officers, and various transnational actors in imperial outposts and in the metropole sought access to US intelligence officials in a deliberate effort to shape US policy for their own political post-war agendas. Based on extensive archival research in the US and France, Susan Perlman sheds new light on the nexus between intelligence and policymaking in the immediate post-war era.

The surrender of Hong Kong to the Japanese in December 1941 started the collapse of British power in the Far East. Disproportionate to its small size, the colony became critical in Britain's battle to retain her Empire. Ironically, the larger threat to British sovereignty came not from the Japan, but from her own allies, America and China. Andrew Whitfield sheds new light on the multi-faceted Anglo-American relationship, the significance of Britain's "imperial mentality", and China's claim to the colony.

The events of 1939-1945 had such a dramatic impact on the world that it is easy to forget that Allied victory was far from certain, especially in the early part of the war when both the Nazis in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific were sweeping all before them. History of World War II chronicles the war as it happened, focusing on key battles and events that act as signposts in the slow change of fortunes of either side. Divided into two sections, one on each major theatre, the book describes such famous events as the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battle of Stalingrad, the Normandy landings, the fall of Berlin, and the struggle for Iwo Jima. Linking each famous event is an in-depth chronology detailing other events happening elsewhere, building into a snapshot of the war at that point. In each section are spreads comparing and contrasting the strengths of essential weapons in that battle: fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain, tanks at Kursk, landing aircraft at D- Day and in the Pacific. Each of these spreads is packed with colourful diagrams, graphs and charts to help you grasp the relative strengths of, for example, different aircraft carriers at the Battle of Midway, US versus Japanese small arms at Okinawa and anti- tank guns in the Normandy campaign, among many other engagements. The final part of the book provides a chronology of the war. Highly illustrated with colour maps and both colour and black-and-white photographs and colour artworks, History of World War II is a both a handy reference volume on the progress of the conflict and the weapons used to fight it.

This book is about how people behaved during the German occupation of France during the Second World War, and more specifically about how individuals from differeent social and political backgrounds recorded and reflected on their experiences during and after these tragic events. The book focuses in particular on the concepts of treason and sacrifice, as they affected the behaviour of individuals and groups and their relationship to the nation state. An introductory overview, discussing problems of representation, moral issues and the nature of collaboration and resistance, is followed by contextualised case-studies in the areas of politics, daily life, civil administration, paramilitary action, literature and film. The figures examined are chosen not only because of their representative or even iconic nature but also because most of them left a record expressing their own vision of the occupation. This is very much an interdisciplinary study, linking political, historical, moral and cultural ideas.

Chuck Knox developed a love of history, as a child, from his mother when she would relate stories of a rebel great grandmother and a great grandfather who served in the Union Army.

He is a retired Senior Purchasing Officer from the University of Illinois and since his retirement he has pursued his lifelong passion of preserving stories of everyday heroes that saved this country. He has known veterans from the Spanish-American War, World War I and II, Korea and Viet Nam. The Muted Trumpet's Call is the fourth in a series of books on veterans from the Heartland.

He was selected Outstanding Citizen of the Year by the Department of Illinois, Veterans of Foreign Wars for his work for veterans. He received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Naval Reserve as a Radioman 2 serving 8 years. During this time he served on several WWII destroyers and met many WWII veterans.

This book is dedicated to the young Americans of the 1940's.

These young people were thrust into situations that they or none of us could imagine. How they handled themselves and saved our country are stories worthy of legend and should not be forgotten. As they arrive at their final destination, I am sure they will hear the words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."

May God bless them and may God save the Republic."

We should not be sad that such men are dead but rather be thankful that such men lived. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr.

The soldiers of the Red Army identified the Reichstag as the victor's prize to be taken in Berlin. This account of the battle lays the many myths created by Soviet propaganda after the event to rest and details what exactly happened as the Red Army and the Allies raced to be the first at the Reichstag.

This is the first book to describe British wartime success in breaking Japanese codes of dazzling variety and great complexity which contributed to the victory in Burma three months before Hiroshima. Written for the general reader, this first-hand account describes the difficulty of decoding one of the most complex languages in the world in some of the most difficult conditions. The book was published in 1989 to avoid proposed legislation which would prohibit those in the security services from publishing secret information.