Blood and Ruins: The Great Imperial War, 1931-1945

(Paperback)

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A bold new approach to the Second World War from one of its foremost historians Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. He argues that this was the 'great imperial war', a violent end to almost a century of global imperial expansion which reached its peak in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires. How war on a huge scale was fought, paid for and morally justified forms the heart of this new account. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked these imperial projects, the war and its aftermath. This war was as deadly for civilians as it was for the military, a war to the death over the future of the global order. Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece from of one of the most renowned historians of the Second World War, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.

Reviews

Majestic and original ... Overy has written many fine books, but Blood and Ruins is his masterpiece. At almost 1,000 pages, it puts all previous single-volume works of the conflict in the shade. -- Saul David * The Times *

This book is Richard Overy's magnum opus (in every sense of the phrase) ... It would be difficult to overstate the brilliance with which argument and insight are interwoven in a fast-paced narrative ... Extraordinarily compelling, and written with remarkable fluency.

-- John Darwin * Times Literary Supplement *
Monumental... [A] vast and detailed study that is surely the finest single-volume history of World War Two. * Wall Street Journal *
This is a magnificent book that reflects the deep scholarship and humane judgment of a magisterial historian. * The Economist *
Let's praise Overy's stupendous achievement. Anybody interested in the why and how of boundless violence in the 20th century should make space for Blood and Ruins on his or her shelf. It will help you to grasp and revisit the carnage of 1931-45 as the largest event in human history. This book is not Eurocentric, but truly geocentric ... it is history at its best. -- Josef Joffe * New York Times *
Richard Overy has produced one of the most stunning accounts of the Second World War and the events that led up to it. -- Simon Heffer * Daily Telegraph Books of the Year 2021 *
A magisterial new history ... remarkable in span, depth and scholarship, impressive in sweep and vision, that rightly sees WW2 as starting in China in 1931 and recasts the conflict as a distorted sequel to an earlier epoch. -- Simon Sebag Montefiore * Aspects of History *
A truly global view of World War II ... perhaps the single most comprehensive account of the Second World War yet to appear in one volume. You might think that by reading extensively, you could construct a book like this one. You could not ... Richard Overy has done a signal service with this compellingly written, impressively researched book. -- Rana Mitter * The Critic *
Recasting World War Two as the logical continuation of decades of imperial growth and territorial ambition, this new exploration of the conflict is expansive in its geographical and chronological scope. Yet it never loses sight of the very human cost of that ambition ... A weighty, important take from a leading author in the field. * History Revealed *

His masterly synthesis of the war's vast literature and sources has never been bettered. ... it is unflagging and consistently illuminating.

-- Geoffrey Roberts * Irish Times *
Dazzling ... Overy's reframing of WWII as the last gasp of imperialism is astute and incisive. WWII buffs should consider this a must-read. * Publishers Weekly *
A whopping, fact-packed grand overview. * The Times *
In this impressively detailed and innovative account of the 1930s and the Second World War, Overy frames the events leading up to the conflict as a last-ditch attempt to shore up or remake empires. * Daily Telegraph *

Author Bio

Richard Overy is Honorary Research Professor of History at the University of Exeter and one of Britain's most distinguished historians. His major works include The Dictators, winner of the 2005 Wolfson Prize, The Morbid Age and The Bombing War, which won a Cundill Award for Historical Excellence in 2014. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and a Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.