War of the World : Twentieth-Century Conflict and the Descent of the West

by Ferguson, Niall (Author)

• ISBN13: 9780143112396
• ISBN10: 0143112392
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-10-30
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)

Summary

What precisely was the Second World War? Was it a triumph of good over evil-a modern morality play running from 1939 to 1945? Or was it something much more ambiguous and protracted? In this brilliant and vivid book, Niall Ferguson redefines World War II as the central act of a fifty-year struggle between rival empires-a colossal confrontation born of economic crisis, ethnic conflict and the inexorable decline of the West. Drawing on a pioneering combination of history, economics, and evolutionary theory, The War of the World is a revolutionary work of reinterpretation from a truly great historian. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Niall Ferguson is Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University, a senior research fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University, and a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the bestselling author of The House of Rothschild and Colossus.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xiii
List of Maps	p. xvi
Introduction	p. xxxiii
The Great Train Crash
Empires and Races	p. 3
Orient Express	p. 43
Fault Lines	p. 72
The Contagion of War	p. 109
Graves of Nations	p. 141
Empire-States
The Plan	p. 189
Strange Folk	p. 221
An Incidental Empire	p. 277
Defending the Indefensible	p. 312
The Pity of Peace	p. 345
Killing space
Blitzkrieg	p. 385
Through the Looking Glass	p. 416
Killers and Collaborators	p. 439
The Gates of Hell	p. 466
A Tainted Triumph
The Osmosis of War	p. 505
Kaputt	p. 553
Epilogue: The Descent of the West	p. 596
The War of the World in Historical Perspective	p. 647
Endnotes	p. 655
Sources and Bibliography	p. 717
Acknowledgements	p. 765
Index	p. 769
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