Promotional Information

A worldwide survey of the 1930s - popular history of breathtaking scho larship and scope.

About the Author

Piers Brendon is the author of more than a dozen books, including biographies of Churchill and Eisenhower, the best-selling Eminent Edwardians, the highly-acclaimed The Decline and Fall of the British Empire and, most recently, Eminent Elizabethans. He also writes for television and contributes frequently to the national press. Formerly Keeper of the Churchill Archives Centre, he is a Fellow of Churchill College, Cambridge. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviews

A fantastic, sweeping history of the 1930s… Brendon is a superb writer, taking an exceptionally complex, dense topic and building a compelling narrative.
*Money Week*

The best history book I've read since Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy... Wonderful and enthralling
*Daily Telegraph*

Brilliant, cinematic, utterly illuminating... No other historical account I know can rival this... Masterly
*Financial Times*

A delight to read, a literary triumph sparkling with moments of real humour and compassion
*Sunday Telegraph*

Piers Brendon's long book has such brilliance and narrative power, and contains so much fascinating detail, that reading it has all the excitement of novel
*Evening Standard*

Relying on a wide variety of secondary sources, Brendon (Churchill Archives and Churchill Coll., Cambridge) surveys the domestic and international scenes in Britain, France, the United States, Japan, and the Soviet Union during the tumultuous 1930s. Although primarily a narrative, the book presents useful analytical insights into the causes and consequences of governmental policy in both dictatorships and democracies. Brendon advances no radical reworking of the historiography, but he offers useful perspectives into Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. His chapters on the United States and Great Britain give readers insight into the rise of totalitarianism and the maintenance of democracy during crisis. One of the book's main strengths is in demonstrating the interdependence of international events throughout the decade. Although the author focuses primarily on political and economic issues, he gives some analysis of everyday life. This well-written book is recommended for most libraries.DFrederic Krome, Jacob Rader Marcus Ctr. of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

A fantastic, sweeping history of the 1930s... Brendon is a superb writer, taking an exceptionally complex, dense topic and building a compelling narrative. -- John Stepek * Money Week *
The best history book I've read since Orlando Figes' A People's Tragedy... Wonderful and enthralling -- Ruth Rendell * Daily Telegraph *
Brilliant, cinematic, utterly illuminating... No other historical account I know can rival this... Masterly -- Valentine Cunningham * Financial Times *
A delight to read, a literary triumph sparkling with moments of real humour and compassion -- Richard Overy * Sunday Telegraph *
Piers Brendon's long book has such brilliance and narrative power, and contains so much fascinating detail, that reading it has all the excitement of novel -- John Grigg * Evening Standard *