World War II: The Essential Reference Guide - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1610691016 ISBN 13: 9781610691017

Publisher: ABC-CLIO, 2012

Synopsis

In this book an internationally renowned team of historians provides comprehensive coverage of all major campaigns and theaters of World War II, synthesizing the tremendous breadth and depth of source materials on this global conflict. It includes primary-source documents created by both famous leaders and average citizens.

World War II: The Essential Reference Guide provides a comprehensive overview of the major events, campaigns, battles, personalities, and issues of World War II, supplemented by a selection of primary-source documents. Comprising essays written by leading international scholars that introduce non-specialist readers to all the major theaters of the war, this volume covers the entire span―both geographically and chronologically―of this far-reaching conflict.

A selection of official and personal documents conveys the emotionally charged tenor of the period and the tremendous psychological impact of the war on those involved in it, both directly and indirectly. The book includes scholarly essays on enduring dilemmas of World War II, such as whether the United States justified in dropping the atomic bomb on Japan, as well as comprehensive essays on the causes, course, and consequences of the war.

About this title

About the Author

Priscilla Roberts, PhD, is associate professor of business at the City University of Macau, China With Spencer C. Tucker and others, she has coedited and contributed documents to 11 ABC-CLIO encyclopedias.

Reviews

As the number of living WWII veterans dwindles each day, it is important to capture the record of that monumental conflict. This guide strives to do that for its essential events, leaders, military forces, campaigns, and combatant countries. It joins a crowded reference field that includes several multivolume encyclopedias of WWII, along with other reference works devoted to the war in Europe, on the seas, in the Pacific, quotations from the war, and statistical compendiums quantifying its scope. What reasons, then, to add this to reference collections? Conciseness, convenience, and clarity. Each signed A–Z entry—augmented by article-specific bibliographies and placed in fuller context through see also references—explains the history and significance of its subject. Explaining significance often involves interpretation. For example, no decision made in the war has been debated more than Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb; in this work, an appendix delves into this issue, offering three differing perspectives. A collection of primary documents offers the immediacy of first-person insights, including W. H. Auden’s poem on the start of the war, in Poland in 1939; excerpts from Churchill’s and Roosevelt’s wartime speeches; Hitler’s letter to Mussolini on his decision to invade the Soviet Union; a kamikaze pilot’s will; and notes from the Wannsee Protocol, which describes, in chilling bureaucratic prose, the meeting that crafted the “Final Solution.” A selective chronology—spanning from Hitler’s appointment as chancellor, in 1933, through adoption of the UN charter, in 1945—and a thorough index round out this useful resource. Those looking for an overview of major issues, events, and persons in WWII will appreciate this clear and succinct volume, which is recommended for most libraries. --James Rettig

Edition details

• Publisher: ABC-CLIO
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1610691016
• ISBN 13: 9781610691017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 440
• Editor: Roberts Priscilla