An edited volume of primary sources from the Second World War, The World in Flames: A World War II Sourcebook is the first of its kind to provide an ambitious and wide-ranging survey of the war in a convenient and comprehensive package. Conveying the sheer scale and reach of the conflict, the book's twelve chapters include sufficient narrative and analysis to enable students to grasp both the war's broad outlines and the context and significance of each particular source. Beginning with the growing disenchantment over the World War I peace settlements and the determination of German, Italian, and Japanese leaders to revise the situation, the book traces the descent into open, armed conflict. It covers the spectacular early successes of the Germans and Japanese, the pivotal campaigns of 1942, and the Allied effort during the remaining three years to destroy the Axis' capacity to wage war. Drawing examples from a wide range of documents, the text also includes visual sources: propaganda posters, photos, and cartoons.

Table of Contents

1. SEEDS OF TURMOIL ; MUSSOLINI AND THE MASSES ; ABYSSINIA'S PLIGHT ; SPAIN'S ANGUISH ; JAPAN'S OUTLOOK ; STATEMENT AT LUSHAN ; RAPE OF NANKING ; HOSSBACH MEMORANDUM ; APPEASEMENT ; FRANCE GOES TO WAR ; 2. "ONLY MOVEMENT BRINGS VICTORY": BLITZKRIEG ; SOVIET-FINNISH WAR ; RETHINKING ARMORED WARFARE ; ROTTERDAM IN FLAMES ; FRANCE'S COLLAPSE ; STRANGE DEFEAT ; A CERTAIN EVENTUALITY ; DE GAULLE'S APPEAL TO FRANCE ; FRENCH COLLABORATION ; OCCUPIED POLAND ; AIR RAID ON SOUTHAMPTON ; LONDON IS BURNING ; 3. THE WIDENING WAR ; A WAR FOR FREEDOM? ; WARNING SIGNS FROM JAPAN ; JAPAN'S DECISION FOR WAR ; AVENGING WESTERN IMPERIALISM ; YAMAMOTO'S STRATEGY ; ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR ; PLAN DOG ; FORGING ALLIED STRATEGY ; ALLIED GRAND STRATEGY ; DESERT WAR ; SURVIVAL IN NORTH AFRICA ; GERMANY STRIKES EAST ; "THE CRIMINAL ORDERS" ; SAVING MOSCOW ; COMBAT ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT ; HITLER'S OBSTINANCE ; 4. MOBILIZING FOR WAR ; ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY ; MEXICAN-AMERICAN DISCRIMINATION ; FACTORIES ON RAILS ; PRODUCING FOR VICTORY ; FORD'S WILLOW RUN ; GERMANY'S DELAYED MOBILIZATION ; GERMAN FORCED LABOR ; CHICANAS IN THE FACTORY ; NAVAJO CODE TALKERS ; AN ANTHROPOLOGIST GATHERS INTELLIGENCE ; PHOTO INTELLIGENCE ; THE ROLE OF SCIENCE ; 5. THE TIDE TURNS: JUNE-DECEMBER 1942 ; THE MOOD IN AMERICA ; ROMMEL REFLECTS ON THE DESERT WAR ; BREAKTHROUGH AT EL ALAMEIN ; EISENHOWER REFLECTS ON OPERATION TORCH ; STALINGRAD: THE RAT'S WAR ; ADMIRAL UGAKI REFLECTS ON MIDWAY ; THE STRAIN OF JUNGLE WARFARE ; WINNING THE SOLOMONS ; WHY JAPAN LOST GUADALCANAL ; 6. THE EUROPEAN THEATER ; BOMBING PLOESTI ; FLYING A B-17 ; AREA BOMBING ; MASSACRE BY BOMBING ; U-BOAT PERIL ; GERMANY'S U-BOAT STRATEGY ; THE FALL OF MUSSOLINI ; THE POLISH RESISTANCE ; GREECE AT WAR ; YUGOSLAVIA'S PARTISANS ; SIEGE OF LENINGRAD ; PANZER WARFARE IN THE EAST ; SOVIET TACTICAL DOCTRINE ; BATTLE OF KURSK ; EISENHOWER AND OVERLORD ; D-DAY ; ERNIE PYLE'S WAR ; 7. THE ASIAN THEATER ; BATAAN DEATH MARCH ; "VINEGAR JOE" AND CHINA ; THE BRITISH ARMY IN BURMA ; JAPANESE OPERATIONS IN BURMA ; MARXISM AND BURMESE RESISTANCE ; THE INDIAN SITUATION ; MARINES ON PELELIU ; KAMIKAZE ATTACK ; THE DECISION TO USE THE BOMB ; PREPARING TO INVADE JAPAN ; HIROSHIMA ; 8. THE WAR AT HOME IN AMERICA ; THE RABBIS MARCH ON WASHINGTON ; TO UNDO A MISTAKE ; THE INTERNMENT OF GERMAN-AMERICANS ; WHY SHOULD WE MARCH? ; NEW WORLD A-COMING ; THE ZOOT SUITERS ; DISCRIMINATION AGAINST MEXICAN-AMERICANS ; THE STOCKING PANIC ; PRAYER AT IWO JIMA ; READJUSTING TO FAMILY LIFE ; 9. THE CULTURE AND PSYCHOLOGY OF WAR ; THE NAZI NEW ORDER ; THE FOUR FREEDOMS ; THE ATLANTIC CHARTER ; THE GI'S PERSPECTIVE ; JAPAN AND GREATER EAST ASIA ; THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF JAPANESE CONDUCT ; SOLDIERS UNDER STRESS ; CIVILIANS UNDER STRESS ; RELIGION IN THE SKIES ; REVIVAL OF RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY ; CHRISTIAN MORALITY IN WARTIME ; 'MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY' ; GANDHI AND NON-VIOLENCE ; THE NEW IMPERATIVES OF EDUCATION ; RADIO ON THE HOME FRONT ; FILM AND PROPAGANDA ; WAR BONDS AND MASS PERSUASION ; THE WELFARE STATE ; 10. THE INHUMANITY OF MAN: THE HOLOCAUST ; DEFINING GENOCIDE ; EUTHANASIA ; ATROCITIES IN KAMENETS-PODOLSKY ; THE YOUNGEST VICTIMS ; WANNSEE CONFERENCE ; A POLISH WITNESS TO MASSACRE ; LIDICE ; THE WARSAW GHETTO ; HIMMLER AND THE FINAL SOLUTION ; THE HOLOCAUST IN GREECE ; VON MOLTKE'S THOUGHTS ON RESISTANCE ; TREBLINKA ; 11. OUT OF THE "DARK AND DEADLY VALLEY" ; NAZIS TO THE BITTER END? ; LIBERATING THE DEATH CAMPS ; A MOTHER PONDERS THE WAR'S END ; THE GERMAN PROBLEM ; AMERICA'S PLANS FOR POSTWAR GERMANY ; THE NUREMBERG TRIALS ; DISPLACED JEWS IN OCCUPIED GERMANY ; JAPANESE BIOLOGICAL WARFARE ; THE TOKYO WAR TRIALS ; AMERICAN POLICY FOR POSTWAR JAPAN ; JAPAN ADJUSTS TO OCCUPATION ; REVOLUTION AND LIBERATION IN INDO-CHINA ; HO CHI MINH APPEALS TO TRUMAN ; AFRICA SPEAKS ; "THE LONG TELEGRAM" AND CONTAINMENT ; THE IRON CURTAIN ; THE AMERICAN CENTURY ; 12. COMMEMORATING WWII: CONFRONTING THE PAST, WRITING THE FUTURE ; REMEMBERING D-DAY AND THE BOYS OF POINTE DU HOC ; GERMANY COMMEMORATES THE FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF DEFEAT ; THE SOVIET UNION AND THE USES OF VICTORY ; THE HOLOCAUST MUSEUM ; JAPAN AND THE WAR'S CONTESTED MEMORY ; JAPAN'S COMFORT WOMEN ; HIROSHIMA, CULTURE WARS, AND THE ENOLA GAY ; WORLD WAR II TIMELINE ; WORLD WAR II BIBLIOGRAPHY ; INDEX

Author Biography

Both Frans Coetzee and Marilyn Shevin-Coetzee have taught at Yale and George Washington Universities and earned fellowships from the ACLS, Alexander von Humboldt, Fulbright and Mellon Foundations, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the NEH. They are the authors or editors of five books and numerous articles and maintain a website on world history, www.history4everyone.com.