‘Superb … likely to become a classic’ Observer Few periods in human history can match the sheer devastation compressed into the years between 1914 and 1949. In the summer of 1914, most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it shattered the continent’s politics, beliefs and self-image for generations — a civilisation that had serenely assumed itself a model for the rest of the world suddenly revealed as capable of collapsing into chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. And yet, barely two decades later, Europeans would initiate a second conflict that proved even worse: a war in which the systematic killing of civilians was central, and which culminated in the Holocaust. Kershaw tells this story with humanity, flair and originality. He delivers a compelling narrative of events while wrestling unflinchingly with the most difficult questions they raise — what these fearful times meant for the people who initiated and endured them, and what their legacy continues to mean for us today.
ISBN 13: 9780141980430
Author: Ian Kershaw
