Book description
The Allied victory in 1945 - though comprehensive - was far from
inevitable. By 1942 almost the entire resource of continental Europe
were in German hands and Japan had wiped out the western colonial
presence in Asia. Democracy appeared to have had its day. In this
remarkable study, Richard Overy provides a reinterpretation of the war
through an account of the decisive military campaigns that created the
astonishing revival in Allied fortunes. He also explores the deeper
factors that determined success and failure: industrial stength,
fighting ability, the skills of leaders and the moral contrasts between
the two sides. Today the modern world is once more in the throes of
painful transformation. It is essential to establish why and how the
last great way was won. Richard Overy casts a brilliant light on the
most important turning-point of the modern age. Richard Overy is
Professor in History at the University of Exeter. Formerly Professor of
Modern History at King's College, London, his books include
William Morris, Viscount Nuffield
The Air War, 1939-1945
Dictators,
The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia,
The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932-1938,
Goering: The Iron Man
All Our Working Lives
(with Peter Pagnamenta), The Origins Of The Second World War,
The Road To War
(with Andrew Wheatcroft), War And Economy In The Third Reich, The
Inter-War Crisis, 1919-1939, Russia's War: A History of the Soviet
Effort: 1941-1945,
and The Battle: Summer 1940
