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The Second World War

Author John Keegan

Paperback

$35.00 US

Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books

7"W x 8.9"H x 1.55"D | 27 oz | 14 per carton

On sale May 03, 2005 | 608 Pages | 9780143035732

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Praised as “the best military historian of our generation” by Tom Clancy, John Keegan reconsiders his masterful study of World War II, The Second World War, with a new foreword

Keegan examines each theater of the war, focusing on five crucial battles and offering new insights into the distinctive methods and motivations of modern warfare. In eloquent, perceptive analyses of the airborne battle of Crete, the carrier battle of Midway, the tank battle of Falaise, the city battle of Berlin, and the amphibious battle of Okinawa, Keegan illuminates the strategic dilemmas faced by the leaders and the consequences of their decisions on the fighting men and the course of the war as a whole. An extraordinary, definitive history, The Second World War will be required reading for generations to come.

"The Second World War merits the acceptance as the standard work that it will surely recieve." -The Washington Post

"If you want to know how it happened, read Keegan's thoughtful and elegant prose." -Los Angeles Times

John Keegan’s books include The Iraq War, Intelligence in War, The First World War, The Battle for History, The Face of Battle, War and Our World, The Masks of Command, Fields of Battle, and A History of Warfare. He was the defense editor of The Daily Telegraph (London). He lived in Wiltshire, England, until his death in 2012. View titles by John Keegan

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The Second World WarPrologue
1. Every man a soldier
2. Fomenting world war

Part I: The War in the West 1940-1943
3. The Triumph of Blitzkrieg
4. Air battle: the Battle of Britain
5. War Supply and the Battle of the Atlantic

Part II: The War in the East 1941-1943
6. Hitler's strategic dilemma
7. Securing the eastern springboard
8. Airborne battle: Crete
9. Barbarossa
10. War production
11. Crimean summer, Stalingrad winter

Part III: The War in the Pacific 1941-1943
12. Tojo's strategic dilemma
13. From Pearl Harbor to Midway
14. Carrier battle: Midway
15. Occupation and repression
16. The war for the islands

Part IV: The War in the West 1943-1945
17. Churchill's strategic dilemma
18. Three wars in Africa
19. Italy and the Balkans
20. Overlord
21. Tank battle: Falaise
22. Strategic bombing
23. The Ardennes and the Rhine

Part V: The War in the East 1943-1945
24. Stalin's strategic dilemma
25. Kursk and the recapture of western Russia
26. Resistance and espionage
27. The Vistula and the Danube
28. City battle: the seige of Berlin

Part VI: The War in the Pacific 1943-1945
29. Roosevelt's strategic dillemma
30. Japan's defeat in the south
31. Amphibious battle: Okinawa
32. Super-weapons and the defeat of Japan
33. The legacy of the Second World War

Bibliography and Index

"Truly magnificent . . . The best military historian of our generation." -Tom Clancy

"The Second World War merits the acceptance as the standard work that it will surely recieve . . Features the eloquences we have come to expect of John Keegan." -The Washington Post

"Analytical, concise, and coherent . . . If you want to know how it happened, read Keegan's thoughtful and elegant prose." -Los Angeles Times

"To write history is to choose, and Mr. Keegan's choices and preferences are as interesting and stimulating as any I have seen . . . Boldy written and fair minded." -New York Times Book Review

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