Product Description

After Fighter and Blitzkrieg, Len Deighton now sets a drama of war on a world stage, revealing the reality of global conflict in moving individual accounts by participants at every level. 'Remarkable and absorbing. . . an absolute landmark as regards the history of the Second World War.' Jack Higgins

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55507 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-01
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Synopsis
By 1942 the civilised world had been brought to the brink of ruin. It had taken the Axis powers less than three years to command the high seas in the North Atlantic and the South Pacific, to lay waste most of Europe and enslave millions in Asia, to drive deep into Stalin's Soviet empire and come within an ace of controlling the oilfields in the Middle East. At the height of their power the European dictators and the Japanese military autocracy ruled ruthlessly almost half the world. Standing alone, the British were bankrupt and the United States only driven from isolation by the humiliation at Pearl Harbour. Before the tide fully turned in 1943, millions had been put to death, the machinery of the holocaust was in place and nuclear devastation well on the way to become a reality. Yet, Deighton warns, fifty years on the lessons of the Second World War continue to reverberate unheeded. Racial hatred, ethnic cleansing, recession, trade wars and the widening gap between the world's rich and poor promise economic migration on a frightening scale. The dangers of today are seen all too clearly in this account of a recent time when humanity was consumed by violence and destruction.

About the Author
Len Deighton is the author of over thirty bestsellers of carefully researched fiction and non-fiction. His history writing was encouraged by A. J. P. Taylor and his books are noted for the picture they provide of the German side of the fighting as well as that of the Allies. His books include Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain and Blitzkrieg, both published by Pimlico.

Customer Reviews

The bumblers' crusade
A generation of self-congratulatory propaganda about the Crusade in Europe was rudely jolted by two books written by hard-minded historians. The first, A.J.P. Taylor's The Origins of the Second World War, scythed away the view that Hitler was solely responsible for western Europe's greatest political error. The second is this result of Len Deighton's extensive research on the politics, diplomacy and mechanics of that conflict.

Blood, Tears and Folly may be considered an off-shoot of his other works, both fiction and non-fiction, on the years prior to the war and of the actual fighting. He rightly subtitles this book "An Objective Look" in response to the many years of laudatory histories and memoirs deluging both the reading public and history classrooms. Deighton has a realistic view of history, dealing carefully and dispassionately with the issues at all levels. He knows that success in war is often due to chance decisions. He also knows, and tells us clearly, that the decision-makers must reach their conclusions from an informed and dispassionate foundation. This isn't a common feature among military "leaders" and probably even more rare among politicians dealing in foreign affairs.

This book is more than a journalist's account of an historical period. It's a clarion call to keep a watchful eye on your leaders. Too often, and certainly in the period of this book, long-term policies remain unconsidered while striving to accomplish immediate gains. Prejudices abound, guiding men into foolish decisions for which many will pay the ultimate price.

Deighton appears to be whacking the British here. However, keep in mind that the Empire of Victoria Regina remained the dominant force in the world and the British never tired of saying so. That attitude was the pivotal folly of British politicians, although America's buying into the idea was just as foolish. If anything made World War II inevitable instead of the aberration logic suggests it should be, it's this outlook. The world, particularly Western European nations, resented Britain's arrogance. It had led in large part to World War I. Unable to learn anything from the causes of that conflict, British policies simply repeated old mistakes in new ways, a misplaced pride leading to a new fall.

Deighton manages to carefully balance Britain's short sighted attitude about European affairs with various other elements that will impact the course of the war. He has an exceptional ability to make what ought to be the most mundane topics, machines and technologies, into fascinating elements of the story. Familiar to us now, things like radar and rockets were innovations then and their successes were due to the people working with them. Deighton's ability to delve into the personal viewpoint adds significantly to the enjoyment of this book. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Blood,Tears and Folly; an objective view of world war II
I have never read any of len deighton's previous work but this book gives the reader a real empathy of world leading upto and including the second world war.The narrative has the same effect as reading a fiction novel and so makes it easy to follow, this is what i have enjoyed about reading the book. I would recomend this book for any person who wants to read a good unbiased factual account of this time period, even if history is not a subject they would normally choose books about.

Excellent Read
Having only been aware of the author from his fictional work ( although I had not read any of these ) , I was intrigued at reading a fiction author's interpretation of the historical events around the first three years of WW II .

His writing is excellent , with an objective view of the mistakes and triumphs of both sides . The detail is extra-ordinary , but the book itself is not an onerous read .

Having read several books detailing this period of the twentieth century , I would say that if you are only to read one book on the beginning of World War II , then make it this one .