A World at Total War

Roger Chickering is Professor of History at the BMW Center for German and European Studies at Georgetown University. His publications include Imperial Germany and the Great War (1998) and Karl Lambrecht (1856-1915): A German Academic Life (1993). Stig Forster is Professor of History at the University of Bern. His publications include Der doppelte Militarismus: Die deutsche Heeresrustungspolitik zwischen Status-quo-Sicherung und Aggression, 1890-1913 (1985) and Die machtigen Diener der East India Company: Ursachen und Hintergrunde der britischen Expansionspolitik in Sudasien, 1793-1819 (1992). Bernd Greiner leads the 'Theory and History of Violence' unit at the Hamburger Institut fur Sozialforschung and is Professor of History at the University of Hamburg. His publications include Die Morgenthau-Legende. Zur Geschichte eines umstrittenen Plans (1995) and, with Heinz Bude, Westbindungen. Amerik in der Bundesrepublik (1999).

• Introduction: are we there yet? World War II and a theory of total war Roger Chickering and Stig Förster; Part I. The Dimension of War: 1. Total war: the global dimensions of conflict Gerhard L. Weinberg; 2. Total war: the conduct of war, 1939–1945 Hew Strachan; 3. The ultimate horror: total war and genocide Stig Förster and Myriam Gressler; Part II. Combat: 4. Germany and the Battle of the Atlantic Holger Herwig; 5. From 'Blitzkrieg' to 'total war': Germany's war in Europe Jürgen Förster; 6. Global yet not total: the US war effort and its consequences Dennis Showalter; Part III. Mobilizing Economies: 7. The USSR and total war: why didn't the Soviet economy collapse? Mark Harrison; 8. Blood, sweat, and tears: British mobilization for World War II Stephen Broadberry and Peter Howlett; 9. The impact of compulsory labor on German society at war Hans Mommsen; Part IV. Mobilizing Societies: 10. Fantasy, reality, and modes of perception in Ludendorff's and Goebbels' concepts of 'total war' Martin Kutz; 11. The Home Front in 'total war': women in Germany and Britain in the Second World War Jill Stephenson; 12. Women in the Soviet war effort John Barber; 13. The spirit of St Louis: mobilizing American politics and society 1937–1945 Bernd Greiner; Part V. The War against non-Combatants: 14. Partisan war in the Belorussia, 1941–1944 Hans-Heinrich Nolte; 15. Allied bombing and the destruction of German cities Richard Overy; 16. 'Accidental judgments, casual slaughters': Hiroshima, Nagasaki and total war Robert Messer; Part VI. Criminal War: 17. Sexual violence and its prosecution: courts martial of the Wehrmacht Birgit Beck; 18. Ideologies of difference and the turn to atrocity: Japan's war on China Louise Young; 19. On the road to total retribution? The international debate on the punishment of war crimes, 1872–1945 Daniel Segesser; Conclusion: 20. Some concluding reflections Michael Howard.

Review of the hardback: 'Within the covers of this book is such a wealth of information that it makes it almost compulsory reading for any student of WW2.' Open History