Oxford Companion to World War II - Hardcover

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59 ratings by Goodreads

9780192806703: Oxford Companion to World War II

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019280670X ISBN 13: 9780192806703

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2005

From blitzkrieg and blackout to ghettos and Guadalcanal, World War II was a conflict that touched all nations and penetrated all aspects of people's lives. Sixty years after it ended, it still shapes the world we live in today.
When Oxford first published this comprehensive guide to the Second World War, The Economist wrote "it will immediately take its place as the indispensable reference book for students of the Second World War." Now in its third printing, the Companion proves as essential as ever.
With over 1,750 A to Z entries written by more than 140 specialists from both Axis and Allied nations, the Companion provides uniquely worldwide coverage of the war. Every aspect is covered: in-depth surveys of the countries involved in the conflict; politics and strategy; domestic and economic issues; resistance and intelligence; campaigns and battles; warfare and weapons; wartime leaders and influential people; slogans and slang. Hundreds of easy-to-read maps, charts, and diagrams, plus a full chronology, support the Companion's comprehensive coverage. This is an essential reference for students, scholars, history buffs, or anyone seeking to learn more about the most tragic, momentous, and influential event in recent history.

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Review:

The definitive single-volume reference work for students of World War II, I. C. B. Dear's 1,400-page compendium provides a wealth of detail on matters that standard histories often gloss over or pass over altogether. For example, Dear covers the Night and Fog Decree, which called for the execution of any civilians committing crimes against German forces in occupied territories, as well as the Battle of the Courland Peninsula, in which Red Army soldiers overwhelmed the last German forces in the Baltic and seized Latvia and Lithuania for the Soviet Union. This is a fine book to browse through while watching Bataan or The Longest Day, or to have on hand to provide background material for other World War II-related reading.

About the Author:

I. C. B. Dear has written several books on maritime and military subjects. He is the compiler of Oxford English: A Guide to the Language (1986) and co-editor of the second edition of The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea (2005). M. R. D. Foot, CBE, is an author and historian. He was formerly a wartime intelligence officer and a Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester.

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