1939

Overy's book is easily the best account of Europe's descent into...death and destruction. --Evening Standard (London)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.