There have been a lot of books written about World War Two.
When I saw that Richard Overy was going to write yet another, I was a bit conflicted. Overy is a great author, but do we really need another single volume WW2 book?
Well, โBlood and Ruinsโ is extremely good.
When I saw that Richard Overy was going to write yet another, I was a bit conflicted. Overy is a great author, but do we really need another single volume WW2 book?
Well, โBlood and Ruinsโ is extremely good.
Overy starts his book in 1931, choosing (correctly in my view) to include Japanโs invasion of China and Italyโs invasion of Ethiopia in the scope of the war. He also gives attention to how the war set up the collapse of the British and French empires.
This is not only a very good book about the war itself, but it properly contextualizes WW2 as a conflict that destroyed some empires (UK, France), expanded others (USA, USSR), and marked a failed attempt to build yet another group (Germany, Italy, Japan).
In short, this is a very good (albeit also very long) book, and possibly my new favorite single volume WW2 history. Itโs better than Roberts โStorm of Warโ and I think I prefer it to โInfernoโ by Max Hastings.
Inferno is really good also, btw. But there can only be one king.
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