WWII Overview
Image: Stretcher bearers pass Sherman tanks in Portomaggiore, 19 April 1945. From Wikimedia Commons
A war whose origins lay in three different conflicts which merged after 1941: Hitler's desire for European expansion and perhaps even world domination; Japan's struggle against China; and a resulting (Sino-Japanese War) conflict between Japanese ambitions and US interests in the Pacific. The origins of the war in Europe lay in German unwillingness to accept the frontiers laid down in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles and the Nazi Party's hegemonial foreign policy.
Gale World History in Context
Selected Books
The Storm of War: a new history of the Second World War by
Offers a magisterial new history of World War II and the Axis strategy that led the Germans and Japanese to their eventual defeat. Perfect for readers hoping to gain new insight into WWII's pivotal battles and campaigns, from Dunkirk to D-Day, The Storm of War is a powerful, penetrating, and compulsively readable examination of the causes, currents, and consequences of the Second World War.
Call Number: D743.R59 2011ISBN: 9780061228599
The World War Two Reader by
From highly respected field academic Gordon Martel, The World War Two Reader is a rare;work that provides a complete and up-to-date overview of the recent historiography on World War Two. Huge in scope, both geographically and thematically, this excellent reader examines twenty-one articles by some of the best known and most innovative scholars in the field. Taking a global approach, Martel discusses all aspects of the war including: the military aspect the political and strategic backdrop ideology gender and women's roles the home front social aspects.
Call Number: D743.W674 2004ISBN: 0415224020
The Oxford Companion to World War II by
The Oxford Companion to the Second World War is the most wide-ranging and balanced work on the Second World War, the ultimate reference on the subject. Its 1,750 alphabetically-arranged entries vary from brief definitions and one-linesignposts to major pieces of description and analysis of several thousand words. They cover every aspect of the Second World War, from strategy, politics, tactics, and weaponry to logistics, political and military leaders, economics, and the effects on society. The Second World War often divides the views of historians today almost as much as it divided combatants at the time. To reflect the diversity of views about the war the Companion has been written by an international team of more than 140 distinguished contributors, and includes Japanese, German,and Italian perspectives. The huge volume of information is supported by a wealth of illustrative and weaponry to logistics, political and military leaders, economics, and the effects on society.
Call Number: REF D740.O94 1995ISBN: 0198662254
The Second World War by
In this searing narrative that takes us from Hitler's invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939 to V-J day on August 14th, 1945 and the war's aftermath, Beevor describes the conflict and its global reach--one that included every major power. The result is a dramatic and breathtaking single-volume history that provides a remarkably intimate account of the war that, more than any other, still commands attention and an audience.
Call Number: D743.B385 2012ISBN: 9780316023740
At the Edge of the Abyss : a concentration camp diary, 1943-1944 by
David Koker's diary is one of the most notable accounts of life in a German concentration camp written by a Jew during the years of the Holocaust. First brought to attention when the Dutch historian Jacob Presser-Koker's history teacher in high school-quoted from Koker's diary in his monumental history, published in English as The Destruction of the Dutch Jews (1968), the diary itself became a part of the Dutch literary canon when it was published in 1977 as Dagboek geschreven in Vught (Diary Written in Vught). It has remained in print ever since, and is notable for its literary qualities, weaving poetry and powerful observations of the emotional life of a camp prisoner, including reflections after an in-person visit by Heinrich Himmler.
Call Number: D811.K573513 2012ISBN: 9780810126367
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