Kevin Osborn

I am rereading Blood and Ruins, not a definitive account of the Second World War but the culmination of the work of a great historian. He propounds a new thesis relating to the motives underlying the drive of the Axis powers to build their own empires and their need for ‘living space’ when they ran up against the existing empires, in particular the British Empire which Hitler himself admired for its enormous success. He is particularly good on the origins of the Japanese drive to militarism and their attempt to colonize China and the countries of South East Asia. At times the power of his writing is such that the reader needs to take a breath at the enormity of events and their consequences. There was one aspect of his account of the rise of Hitler which I noticed, namely any reference in the text or index to so - called Aryanization, a topic referred to by Richard Evans in his The Third Reich at War, pages 335, 336 etc and The Third Reich in Power, 378-388, 395-400. There may have been some reason why Overy chose not to refer to that topic but there is no indication in his book as to that. This is a great book which anyone with an interest in history and in the most destructive war ever fought will savior and relish rather than enjoy. It will hopefully lead readers to his other books such as The Bombing War, also a masterly piece of historical writing.