The Experience of World War II

World War II was the most destructive and all-encompassing war the world has known. Fought by a total of 57 belligerent nations, it exacted a high toll in human life and civilization–killing millions and razing entire cities. It also served as a catalyst for many of the social and political upheavals that characterized the second half of the twentieth century. The Experience of World War II offers an absorbing account of this war, beginning with the early aggressions of Germany and Japan and continuing through to the post-war Nuremberg Trials. Written by a team of 16 scholars, the book not only charts the development of the war but provides a penetrating tnalysis of its political, military, and social dimensions. Among the early causes of the war, for instance, was Japans reaction against Western industrialism and democracy and its renewed faith in the military (with its Samurai tradition).