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A Companion to the Second World War, 2 Volume Set

Thomas W. Zeiler (Edited by), TW Zeiler (Author), Daniel M. DuBois (Edited by)

9781394208692, Wiley

Hardback, published 23 April 2026

1072 pages
25.4 x 17.5 x 7.4 cm, 1.837 kg

Explores the evolving historiography of the Second World War across cultures and continents

A Companion to the Second World War, Second Edition is a foundational reference for understanding how scholars have interpreted, debated, and revised the history of the Second World War. Spanning two volumes and more than sixty essays, this extensively updated edition brings together leading voices in the field to examine the military, political, cultural, social, and economic dimensions of the war. The volume's expanded scope reflects the field's evolution, with new chapters dedicated to underrepresented areas of research, including Indigenous perspectives, gender and sexuality, religious responses, environmental dimensions, and digital cultural memory.

By combining rigorous historiographical analysis with global breadth, the second edition of the Companion enables readers to engage with both well-established topics and emerging areas that challenge conventional narratives. The second edition significantly expands and updates the original collection to reflect the latest developments in the field. New chapters introduce cutting-edge research on topics such as LGBTIQ+ communities during the war, Indigenous experiences across multiple continents, and the global religious responses to the conflict. The edition also breaks new ground with essays on the Tokyo War Crimes Trial, the historiography of the Marshall Plan, the role of video games in shaping popular memory, and the cultural significance of wartime cartoons and comics. Updated chapters revisit key subjects—including colonialism in Asia, European societies in wartime, and the environmental dimensions of the conflict—to incorporate new historiographical approaches and source material.

An essential resource for those seeking a critical guide to the field's historiography and its future directions, A Companion to the Second World War, Second Edition:

  • Offers a truly global perspective with chapters on Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, and the Pacific
  • Situates key issues and developments within the broader trajectory of Second World War studies
  • Provides updated analyses of key military strategies, campaigns, and international diplomacy
  • Engages with evolving debates around war crimes, historical memory, and revisionism
  • Highlights new historiographical approaches to economics, technology, and environmental impacts during the war
  • Analyzes topics such as neutrality, colonialism, wartime societies, and postwar memory through fresh methodological and thematic lenses

Underscoring the dynamic and interdisciplinary nature of current scholarship in the field, A Companion to the Second World War, Second Edition is ideal for graduate students, researchers, and instructors in areas including modern history, international relations, and memory studies. It is also an indispensable reference for academic libraries and professionals in historical research, publishing, and curriculum development.

Volume I

Notes on Contributors x

Introduction 1

Part I Roots of War 9

1 How a Second World War Happened 11
Gerhard L. Weinberg

2 The Versailles Peace Settlement and the Collective Security System 26
Frédéric Dessberg

3 The Great Depression 45
John E. Moser

4 Colonialism in Asia 60
Christopher D. O’Sullivan

5 The Global Response to Fascism 72
Michael Ortiz

6 Visionaries of Expansion 87
R. J. B. Bosworth

7 Soviet Planning for War, 1928– June 1941 100
Alexander Hill

Part II Fighting the War 111

8 Japanese Early Attack 113
Brian P. Farrell

9 CBI: A Historiographical Review 132
Maochun Yu

10 The German Assault, 1939– 1941 144
Robert M. Citino

11 Militaries Compared: Wehrmacht and Red Army, 1941– 1945 158
Mark Edele

12 The Bombers: The Strategic Bombing of Germany and Japan 174
Mike Bechthold and Randall Wakelam

13 Scandinavian Campaigns 195
Olli Vehviläinen

14 The Naval War in the Mediterranean 208
Barbara Brooks Tomblin

15 Maritime War: Combat, Management, and Memory 227
Kevin Smith

16 The Middle East and the Second World War 242
Simon Davis

17 The Western Front, 1944– 1945 263
Christopher R. Gabel

18 Battle Fronts and Home Fronts: The War in the East from Stalingrad to Berlin 278
Kenneth Slepyan

19 The Southwest Pacific Theater in the Second World War 299
Mark Roehrs

20 Ending the Pacific War: The New History 316
Richard B. Frank

Part III Multinational and Transnational Zones of Combat: Strategy 331

21 Axis Coalition Building 333
Richard L. Dinardo

22 Strategies, Commands, and Tactics, 1939– 1941 342
Talbot C. Imlay

23 Wartime Conferences 360
Mark A. Stoler

24 The US War Against Japan: A Transnational Perspective 373
Akira Iriye

25 The Second World War and Communication Technologies 387
Sarah Nelson and James Schwoch

26 Of Spies and Stratagems 396
John Prados

27 French African Soldiers in the Second World War 414
Raffael Scheck

28 Scientists and Nuclear Weapons in the Second World War: The Background, the Experience, and the Sometimes Contested Meanings and Analyses 428
Barton J. Bernstein

29 Civilians in the Combat Zone: Anglo- American Strategic Bombing 458
Sean L. Malloy

Volume II

Notes on Contributors x

Introduction 475

Part IV Multinational and Transnational Zones of Combat: Society 483

30 European Societies in Wartime 485
Isabelle Davion and Étienne Boisserie

31 Ireland During the Second World War 508
Karen Garner

32 Life in Plato’s Cave: Neutral Europe in the Second World War 521
Marta García Cabrera and Neville Wylie

33 Resistance in Eastern Europe 536
Stephan Lehnstaedt

34 Boomerang Resistance: German Émigrés in the US Army during the Second World War 555
Patricia Kollander

35 Beyond Impact: Toward a New Historiography of Africa and the Second World War 569
Judith A. Byfield

36 Race, Genocide, and Holocaust 583
Jochen Böhler

37 Environmental Dimensions of the Second World War 600
Jacob Darwin Hamblin

38 The Women of the Second World War 621
D’Ann Campbell

39 Transnational Civil Rights During the Second World War 641
Travis J. Hardy

40 LGBTIQ+ Communities During the Second World War 655
Noah Riseman

41 Global Culture and the Second World War 669
M. Todd Bennett

42 Sport History of the Second World War Era 687
Daniel DuBois

43 Global Religious Responses to the Second World War 699
Paul Harvey

Part V Homelands 713

44 The Balkans in the Origins of the Second World War 715
Marietta Stankova

45 Resistance Inside Nazi Germany 731
Frank McDonough

46 Occupied France: The Vichy Regime, Collaboration, and Resistance 742
Julian Jackson

47 The Italian Campaign 757
Elena Agarossi

48 Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War: Historiographical Patterns and Possibilities in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand 775
R. Scott Sheffield

49 Resistance in the Philippines 790
James A. Villanueva

50 Africa and the Caribbean 808
Leslie James

51 Japanese American Second World War Incarceration 822
Julia Shizuyo Popham

52 “P” Was for Plenty 835
William H. Miller

53 Generating American Combat Power in the Second World War 851
Edward G. Miller

Part VI Aftermath and Consequences 867

54 War Crimes in Europe 869
Christoph J. M. Safferling

55 The Tokyo War Crimes Trial 884
Yuma Totani

56 Bretton Woods 894
Francine McKenzie

57 The “Breakout” and Beyond: A Historiography of The Marshall Plan 908
Keith Aksel

58 Memory Under Siege: Holocaust Memorials and the Battle Against Historical Revisionism in Germany 921
Karen Hannel

59 The Second World War in Video Games 935
Robert Whitaker

60 Cartoons and Comics During the Second World War 946
Jean- Paul Gabilliet

61 The Cultural Legacy of the Second World War in Germany 957
Susanne Vees- Gulani

62 Morality and the Second World War 972
Andrew O. Pace

63 The Second World War in Historical Memory 987
Marc Gallicchio

Index 1007

Subject Areas: History [HB]
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