A Total History Of A Global War
The Second World War was the most destructive human conflict in history. Forty million people died during the 2,174 days from Germany's attack on Poland in September 1939 to the surrender of Japan in August 1945. Only one historian, Martin Gilbert, has the scholarship and breadth of vision to tell the story as it ought to be told. In this, the first total history of a global war, Martin Gilbert weaves together all its aspects - political, diplomatic, military and civilian. From week to week, month to month and year to year, the terrible progress of the juggernaut of death is charted. Martin Gilbert's purpose is to show what happened, not from the point of view of any one of the warring nations but from a global perspective. In this he is triumphantly successful. Whether Gilbert is telling of the magnificent defence of Stalingrad or the endurance of London in the Blitz, no reader can fail to discover a new vision of what the Second World War meant for those who fought and suffered, and its legacy for us today.
