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A review by melissafulton
Blood and Ruins: The Great Imperial War, 1931-1945 by Richard Overy
challenging
informative
sad
4.0
Don't go into this one expecting a compelling read. It is informative and impressive, but it is dry and pushing 1000 pages. Still worth the read to me.
The first half (roughly) goes through the war more-or-less chronologically, with all the context and detail you could possibly need, in order to recontextualize the second world war as a war of empire, first and foremost. And I think it's successful in doing so.
The second half of the book covers the various ways in which the second world war was unique among wars: for example, there are sections on war economies, effect on civilians, technology (radar and radio advances), atrocity & war crimes.
The first half (roughly) goes through the war more-or-less chronologically, with all the context and detail you could possibly need, in order to recontextualize the second world war as a war of empire, first and foremost. And I think it's successful in doing so.
The second half of the book covers the various ways in which the second world war was unique among wars: for example, there are sections on war economies, effect on civilians, technology (radar and radio advances), atrocity & war crimes.