A People's History of World War II

A People's History of World War II

Author: Marc Favreau

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1595581669

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Presents interviews, photographs, letters, oral histories, stories, eyewitness accounts, and excerpts from historical writings from different perspectives on a wide variety of topics related to the Second World War.


The People's War

The People's War

Author: Robert W. Thurston

Publisher: University of Illinois Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 9780252026003

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The People's War lifts the Stalinist veil of secrecy to probe an almost untold side of World War II: the experiences of the Soviet people themselves. Going beyond dry and faceless military accounts of the eastern front of the "Great Patriotic War" and the Soviet state's one-dimensional "heroic People," this volume explores how ordinary citizens responded to the war, Stalinist leadership, and Nazi invasion. Drawing on a wealth of archival and recently published material, contributors detail the calculated destruction of a Jewish town by the Germans and present a chilling picture of life in occupied Minsk. They look at the cultural developments of the war as well as the wartime experience of intellectuals, for whom the period was a time of relative freedom. They discuss women's myriad roles in combat and other spheres of activity. They also reassess the behavior and morale of ordinary Red Army troops and offer new conclusions about early crushing defeats at the hands of the Germans--defeats that were officially explained as cowardice on the part of high officers. A frank investigation of civilian life behind the front lines, The People's War provides a detailed, balanced picture of the Stalinist USSR by describing not only the command structure and repressive power of the state but also how people reacted to them, cooperated with or opposed them, and adapted or ignored central policy in their own ways. By putting the Soviet people back in their war, this volume helps restore the range and complexity of human experience to one of history's most savage periods.


European Home Fronts 1939 - 1945

European Home Fronts 1939 - 1945

Author: Earl R. Beck

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Published: 1993-01-15

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In a book arranged in chapters which deal separately with the Home Fronts of each country, Beck is able to provide a comprehensive picture of the effects of the world's only 'total war' upon the civilians who often faced bewilderment, fear, death, and destruction all around them. Beck considers the effects of bombing and sometimes actual fighting in the streets and towns in which people lived, and the policies of individual governments that attempted to encourage and retain support for the war effort in varying ways.


Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War

Indigenous Peoples and the Second World War

Author: R. Scott Sheffield

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 1108424635

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A transnational history of how Indigenous peoples mobilised en masse to support the war effort on the battlefields and the home fronts.


The Great World War, 1914-45: The peoples' experience

The Great World War, 1914-45: The peoples' experience

Author: Peter Liddle

Publisher: HarperCollins (UK)

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The emphasis of this book is on the human experience that binds together the history of the two World Wars: v.2. The peoples' experience -- The cultural experience -- The moral experience -- Reflections.


The Beauty and the Sorrow

The Beauty and the Sorrow

Author: Peter Englund

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-11-08

Total Pages: 580

ISBN-13: 0307701387

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An intimate narrative history of World War I told through the stories of twenty men and women from around the globe--a powerful, illuminating, heart-rending picture of what the war was really like. In this masterful book, renowned historian Peter Englund describes this epoch-defining event by weaving together accounts of the average man or woman who experienced it. Drawing on the diaries, journals, and letters of twenty individuals from Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Venezuela, and the United States, Englund’s collection of these varied perspectives describes not a course of events but "a world of feeling." Composed in short chapters that move between the home front and the front lines, The Beauty and Sorrow brings to life these twenty particular people and lets them speak for all who were shaped in some way by the War, but whose voices have remained unheard.


Experience of a Lifetime

Experience of a Lifetime

Author: John Crawford

Publisher: Massey University Press

Published: 2016-04-01

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 0994132549

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The First World War is widely conceived as a pointless conflict that destroyed a generation. Petty squabbles between emperors pushed na&ïve young men into a nightmare of mud and blood that killed millions and left scarred and embittered survivors. However, the ongoing reinterpretation of the First World War reveals that matters were rather more nuanced and complex. Hardship and death were all too common, but there were positive experiences, too. Vast numbers of people, for example, travelled to new parts of the world and encountered new cultures, inspiring a sense of wonder and respect. Military tactics were improved, and great military commanders of the inter-war and Second World War periods came to prominence during the First World War. The conflict also had a formative influence on politicians, writers, artists, union leaders, businessmen and some ethnic minorities, who used their participation to press for equal rights and full citizenship. This book's 16 chapters, written by a range of leading New Zealand and international historians, explains how.


For King and Kanata

For King and Kanata

Author: Timothy Charles Winegard

Publisher: Univ. of Manitoba Press

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0887554180

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

"The first comprehensive history of the Aboriginal First World War experience on the battlefield and the home front. When the call to arms was heard at the outbreak of the First World War, Canada's First Nations pledged their men and money to the Crown to honour their long-standing tradition of forming military alliances with Europeans during times of war, and as a means of resisting cultural assimilation and attaining equality through shared service and sacrifice. Initially, the Canadian government rejected these offers based on the belief that status Indians were unsuited to modern, civilized warfare. But in 1915, Britain intervened and demanded Canada actively recruit Indian soldiers to meet the incessant need for manpower. Thus began the complicated relationships between the Imperial Colonial and War Offices, the Department of Indian Affairs, and the Ministry of Militia that would affect every aspect of the war experience for Canada's Aboriginal soldiers. In his groundbreaking new book, For King and Kanata, Timothy C. Winegard reveals how national and international forces directly influenced the more than 4,000 status Indians who voluntarily served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force between 1914 and 1919--a per capita percentage equal to that of Euro-Canadians--and how subsequent administrative policies profoundly affected their experiences at home, on the battlefield, and as returning veterans."--Publisher's website.


World War II

World War II

Author: Reader's Digest

Publisher:

Published: 2003-09-30

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13: 9780276428081

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

World War II, the most catastrophic conflict in history, was the first truly 'total war', and the first in which, in many countries, civilians faced dangers every bit as great as those endured by the combatants. When it ended, more than 70 million people across the globe were dead, among them some 400,000 Americans and more than half a million citizens of Great Britain or the British Commonwealth and Empire. It can be easy to forget that the war was fought and won by ordinary men and women whose experiences collectively form the truest recollection of these vast events. WWII: The People's Story combines text based largely on eyewitness accounts from major archives in the US and Britain, with audio CDs that use actual recordings from the same archives. Comprehensively illustrated in colour and monochrome, the narrative draws on the reminiscences of servicemen and civilians, men, women and children who lived through the most momentous years of the twentieth centry. The accompanying recordings feature the voices of veterans and survivors as they actually describe events, bringing to life the human experience of those years, fraught with danger, terror and grief, Before the light of me