Library Catalog
On the Shelf at CCBC Libraries
To Hell and Back by
"Chilling... To Hell and Back should be required reading in every chancellery, every editorial cockpit and every place where peevish Euroskeptics do their thinking.... Kershaw documents each and every 'ism' of his analysis with extraordinary detail and passionate humanism."--The New York Times Book Review The Penguin History of Europe series reaches the twentieth century with acclaimed scholar Ian Kershaw's long-anticipated analysis of the pivotal years of World War I and World War II. The European catastrophe, the long continuous period from 1914 to 1949, was unprecedented in human history--an extraordinarily dramatic, often traumatic, and endlessly fascinating period of upheaval and transformation. This new volume in the Penguin History of Europe series offers comprehensive coverage of this tumultuous era. Beginning with the outbreak of World War I through the rise of Hitler and the aftermath of the Second World War, award-winning British historian Ian Kershaw combines his characteristic original scholarship and gripping prose as he profiles the key decision makers and the violent shocks of war as they affected the entire European continent and radically altered the course of European history. Kershaw identifies four major causes for this catastrophe: an explosion of ethnic-racist nationalism, bitter and irreconcilable demands for territorial revisionism, acute class conflict given concrete focus through the Bolshevik Revolution, and a protracted crisis of capitalism. Incisive, brilliantly written, and filled with penetrating insights, To Hell and Back offers an indispensable study of a period in European history whose effects are still being felt today.
Call Number: D424 .K45 2015
The Bombers and the Bombed by
The ultimate history of the Allied bombing campaigns in World War II Technology shapes the nature of all wars, and the Second World War hinged on a most unpredictable weapon: the bomb. Day and night, Britain and the United States unleashed massive fleets of bombers to kill and terrorize occupied Europe, destroying its cities. The grisly consequences call into question how “moral” a war the Allies fought. The Bombers and the Bombed radically overhauls our understanding of World War II. It pairs the story of the civilian front line in the Allied air war alongside the political context that shaped their strategic bombing campaigns, examining the responses to bombing and being bombed with renewed clarity. The first book to examine seriously not only the well-known attacks on Dresden and Hamburg but also the significance of the firebombing on other fronts, including Italy, where the crisis was far more severe than anything experienced in Germany, this is Richard Overy’s finest work yet. It is a rich reminder of the terrible military, technological, and ethical issues that relentlessly drove all the war’s participants into an abyss.
Call Number: D785 .O92 2014ISBN: \
World War II in Europe : a Concise History by
WORLD WAR II IN EUROPE: A CONCISE HISTORY offers readers an engaging, clear, and comprehensive overview of the war that includes all of the key concepts, recent scholarship, and, where applicable, conflicting interpretations, while avoiding the complex data and schemata that tend to overwhelm non-specialists. Special attention is given to the human experience during the war, including extensive coverage of the Holocaust, and numerous quotations from relevant primary sources are integrated throughout the narrative, bringing the events to life. The text also covers the war's lasting effects on European history as well as population transfers, the treatment of collaborators and war criminals, the ordeal of Jewish survivors, changing German responses to the Nazi era, the emergence of the Cold War, and steps toward European integration.
Call Number: D756 .P477 2013
Competing Voices from World War II in Europe by
Obviously, there are many books written about World War II_but very few of them present 'competing voices'. Written for college-bound high-school students, first- and second-year undergraduates and general readers of military history, Competing Voices from World War II in Europe highlights the different perspectives and views of all belligerents in the military arena, as well as describing the impact of the war on daily life. The book begins in 1939 (with the invasion of Poland) and ends in 1945 (with Germany's surrender). However, an introductory chapter puts the war in perspective by examining key events preceding the invasion of Poland, and a concluding chapter looks at the controversy surrounding the Nuremberg Trials after the end of hostilities. Though well-known, the main events of the war often remain controversial, and minor events are still relatively unexplored. Though it is often assumed that Allied victory was inevitable, and that all the Allies worked together in a seamless fashion, this book provides evidence that contradicts these basic concepts. Presented with directly reported sources, together with all the contextual information, readers will be able to develop their own opinions about events such as the Munich Conference, the defeat of France, the debate over a second front, the D-Day events of 1944, the development of Soviet-American relations throughout the war and the origins of the Cold War.
Call Number: D735 .C59 2010
Streaming Video
- Battle of Europe
This short documentary in the World in Action series by the National Film Board of Canada shows air combat in Europe during World War II.
Databases
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new window
Articles on any subject. This is a good place to start.
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new window
Primary source articles covering the politics, society and events of the time period 1837 - 1992.
- History Research This link opens in a new window
Primary documents as well as essays about historical topics and people.
- World History This link opens in a new window
Articles, essays, and primary sources on the history of the world.
Online From CCBC Libraries
Liberating Europe by
Despatches in this volume include the Despatch on air operations by the Allied Expeditionary Air Force in North West Europe between November 1943 and September 1944, the despatch on the assault phase of the Normandy landings June 1944, despatch on operations of Coastal Command, Royal Air Force in Operation Overlord - the invasion of Europe 1944, the despatch on operations in North West Europe between 6 June 1944 and 5 May 1945, by Field Marshal the Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Commander 21st Army Group, the despatch on the final stages of the naval war in North West Europe, and, as an addition, the despatch on the Dieppe Raid in 1942. This unique collection of original documents will prove to be an invaluable resource for historians, students and all those interested in what was one of the most significant periods in British military history. Illustrated
Publication Date: 2014
The Battle of the Bulge by
By late 1944 the Allies were poised to smash the Siegfried Line and break into Germany. Supply lines were shorter thanks to the port of Antwerp. Arnhem aside, there had been a long run of victories and there was no intelligence even from ULTRA to suggest a German counteroffensive. So the major December attack through the mountainous Ardennes by massed Panzers and infantry took the Allies totally by surprise. Fog and low cloud negated the Allies' air supremacy, English-speaking German commandos in captured jeeps created panic and withdrawal of US forces became a near rout with morale all but broken. For ten days the situation worsened and Antwerp was seriously threatened and 21st Army Group in danger of being cut off. Clear skies for the Thunderbolts and coherent counterattacks by rapidly deployed reinforcements turned the tide in the nick of time, so preventing a catastrophic defeat for the Allies. All this and more is graphically narrated in this fine study of a pivotal battle, that so nearly changed the course of war.
Publication Date: 2014
From the Normandy Beaches to the Baltic Sea by Publication Date: 2000
Websites
- World War II in Europe
from the Holocaust Encyclopedia - World War II in Europe Interactive Timeline
from National Geographic - How Europe Went to War in 1939
from Imperial War Museums, London