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[John Keegan] has a remarkable capacity to appreciate both the political context of the war and its immediate meaning for those caught in the heat of battle... Lucid, informed and authoritative * Sunday Times * In this magnificently illustrated volume, our most original military historian gives the whys and wherefores of war as well as the blood and guts. * Mail on Sunday * John Keegan's history of World War II stands above the competition * Preview * A graceful writer as well as a knowledgeable student of martial history, [Keegan] enlivens his chronicle with wry wit... An informed and informative accounting of a horrific war * Kirkus Reviews *

The 50th anniversary of WW II's onset has triggered a spate of books from British and American authors. Few if any will be superior to Keegan's lengthy (592-page)but concise overview. The former Sandhurst lecturer (The Price of Admiralty, The Mask of Command, Soldiers, Six Armies in Normandy, et al.) begins his panoramic narrative deep in the past, i.e., with a coherent account of the socioeconomic advances that permitted global conflicts in the 20th century. Having provided stage-setting perspectives, he delivers insightful appreciations of the crucial battles and turning-point campaigns that - at no small cost in blood and treasure - enabled the allies to defeat the Axis powers. Covered as well are the strategic dilemmas that confronted Churchill, Hitler, Stalin, and Tojo as they deployed arms and men throughout the European and Pacific theaters, from the fall of 1939 through the late summer of 1945. Along the way, Keegan offers acute commentary on the major combatants' industrial capabilities, home-front morale, and espionage efforts, plus resistance movements in occupied countries. A graceful writer as well as a knowledgeable student of martial history, he enlivens his chronicle with wry wit, e.g., (Semyon) Budenny had a fine mustache but no military brain. An informed and informative accounting of a horrific war that, the author suggests in an affecting epilogue, might just have saved the world from wider-ranging hostilities. The text is profusely illustrated, with dramatic photographs and helpful maps throughout. (Kirkus Reviews)

[John Keegan] has a remarkable capacity to appreciate both the political context of the war and its immediate meaning for those caught in the heat of battle... Lucid, informed and authoritative Sunday Times In this magnificently illustrated volume, our most original military historian gives the whys and wherefores of war as well as the blood and guts. Mail on Sunday John Keegan's history of World War II stands above the competition Preview A graceful writer as well as a knowledgeable student of martial history, [Keegan] enlivens his chronicle with wry wit... An informed and informative accounting of a horrific war Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

John Keegan is the Defence Editor of the Daily Telegraph and Britain's foremost military historian. The Reith Lecturer in 1998, he is the author of many bestselling books including The Face of Battle, Six Armies in Normandy, Battle at Sea, The Second World War, A History of Warfare (awarded the Duff Cooper Prize), Warpaths, The Battle for History, The First World War, and most recently, Intelligence in War. For many years John Keegan was the Senior Lecturer in Military History at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, and he has been a Fellow of Princeton University and Delmas Distinguished Professor of History at Vassar. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He received the OBE in the Gulf War honours list, and was knighted in the Millennium honours list in 1999. John Keegan died in August 2012.

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