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1942
When World War II Engulfed the Globe
Description
A penetrating history of the year World War II became a global conflict and humankind confronted both destruction and deliverance on a planetary scale, “offering an intriguing perspective on a world at war” (Richard Overy, New York Times–bestselling author of Blood and Ruins)
By the end of the Second World War, more than seventy million people across the globe had been killed, most of them civilians. Cities from Warsaw to Tokyo lay in ruins, and fully half of the world’s two billion people had been mobilized, enslaved, or displaced.
In 1942, historian Peter Fritzsche offers a gripping, ground-level portrait of the decisive year when World War II escalated to global catastrophe. With the United States joining the fight following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, all the world’s great powers were at war. The debris of ships sunk by Nazi submarines littered US beaches, Germans marauded in North Africa, and the Japanese swept through the Pacific. Military battles from Singapore to Stalingrad riveted the world. But so, too, did dramas on the war’s home fronts: battles against colonial overlords, assaults on internal “enemies,” massive labor migrations, endless columns of refugees.
With an eye for detail and an eye on the big story, Fritzsche takes us from shipyards on San Francisco Bay to townships in Johannesburg to street corners in Calcutta to reveal the moral and existential drama of a people’s war filled with promise and terror.
By the end of the Second World War, more than seventy million people across the globe had been killed, most of them civilians. Cities from Warsaw to Tokyo lay in ruins, and fully half of the world’s two billion people had been mobilized, enslaved, or displaced.
In 1942, historian Peter Fritzsche offers a gripping, ground-level portrait of the decisive year when World War II escalated to global catastrophe. With the United States joining the fight following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, all the world’s great powers were at war. The debris of ships sunk by Nazi submarines littered US beaches, Germans marauded in North Africa, and the Japanese swept through the Pacific. Military battles from Singapore to Stalingrad riveted the world. But so, too, did dramas on the war’s home fronts: battles against colonial overlords, assaults on internal “enemies,” massive labor migrations, endless columns of refugees.
With an eye for detail and an eye on the big story, Fritzsche takes us from shipyards on San Francisco Bay to townships in Johannesburg to street corners in Calcutta to reveal the moral and existential drama of a people’s war filled with promise and terror.
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Praise
“An admirable and useful addition to the history of World War II.”
—Kirkus
“Fritzsche’s rich commentary blends political narratives with discussions of popular culture, from Nazi propaganda to Dr. Seuss’s anti-Japanese political cartoons. The result is an elegant and expansive analysis of the cultural life of total war.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Simply magnificent. A remarkable rethinking of the upheavals across the planet in a key year of World War II, 1942 is bold in conception, rich in detail, and a riveting read.”
—Sheila Fitzpatrick, author of The Shortest History of the Soviet Union
“Most histories of World War II are written with an outcome that everyone knows. But what if the clock were stopped in the midst of a global war? Peter Fritzsche has done just that, offering an intriguing perspective on a world at war. This panoramic narrative reminds us that nothing in history is inevitable.”
—Richard Overy, New York Times–bestselling author of Blood and Ruins
“An unparalleled time of displacement and desolation, wartime 1942 literally transformed the human condition. Ranging across the globe, Fritzsche’s haunting panorama of expanding violence illuminates this convulsive year with characteristic erudition and analytical power.”
—Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself
“With his keen eye for lived experience and his expertise as a historian, Fritzsche has written a highly readable, sharply observed, and stunningly perceptive history of life and death in 1942.”
—Michael Geyer, University of Chicago
“1942 is the rare book that explores World War II as a really global war, significantly affecting countries remote from the theaters of action. The writing is crisp, elegant, and utterly gripping.”
—Prasenjit Duara, Duke University