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1939

Richard Overy

2009150 pagesabout 2–3 hours
2009
first published
  • 2009Penguin Books, Limited · 158 pages · ENGISBN 9781846142642
  • 2009SEUILISBN 9782020996617
  • 2010Penguin · ENGISBN 9780141041308
  • 2010Penguin Group UK · ENGISBN 9780141930923
  • 2010Viking · 158 pages · ENGISBN 9780670022090
  • 2011Contemporary French Fiction · 150 pagesISBN 9782757823842
  • 2011Penguin Books · 158 pagesISBN 9780143120063

A brilliantly concise narrative of the days leading to the outbreak of history’s greatest conflagration, 1939 takes readers hour by hour through the nail-biting decisions that determined the fate of millions. Richard Overy, a leading historian of the period, masterfully recreates the jockeying for advantage that set Europe’s greatest powers on a collision course. Would Stalin join Hitler in a bid to divide Poland and flout the West? Would Britain and France succeed in forcing Germany to reason? And how far would a defiant Poland push its claim to exist? In the summer of 1939, the course of events was anything but assured, as this exceptionally absorbing book drives home. (Source: The National WWII Museum)

Worth knowing

ViolenceFrequent

When and where

ThemesWarPower

Content notes

  • Warmoderateunreviewed
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