ARMAGEDDON: THE REALITY BEHIND THE DISTORTIONS, MYTHS, LIES, AND ILLUSIONS OF WORLD WAR II.

Random House, New York, (1995). 376 pp, large 8vo (9 1/2" H), hard cover in dust jacket. B&w maps. "...analyzes how and why World War II expanded from a limited European battleground to become the only universal war in history, why countries were dragged into the fighting, and how only a small number of neutral states escaped. Though Ponting does compare the military capacities of the Allies and the Axis, he avoids a conventional description of battlefield maneuvers, concentrating instead on the impact of the war on service personnel everywhere. He also details the fates of the hundreds of millions of civilians emeshed in the war - how they survived occupation, and what resistance, collaboration, and liberation really meant. A fascinating overview of the world's greatest conflagration, and an utterly original work, 'Armageddon' has a truly global sweep, revealing new facts, posing provocative questions, and, exactly fifty years after its conclusion, challenging many of our common assumptions about a war whose influence still reverberates today." Small light mark on free front endpaper, remainder dot on bottom of textblock, tiny dint on bottom edge of front board, minor wrinkling at bottom of spine. Dust jacket has very light edge wrinkling, minor rubbing, small faint sticker mark on inside of front flap. VG/VG.