Summary of Blood and Ruins by Richard Overy

NOTE: This is an unofficial and independently written summary of "Blood and Ruins" by Richard Overy. David Overy wrote this summary out of great admiration for the author and this amazing piece to give readers an outstanding insight into what the main book is all about and should not be considered as a replacement for the main book. This summary aids a quick and comprehensive understanding of the book, some salient information in this guide includes: A...
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NOTE: This is an unofficial and independently written summary of "Blood and Ruins" by Richard Overy. David Overy wrote this summary out of great admiration for the author and this amazing piece to give readers an outstanding insight into what the main book is all about and should not be considered as a replacement for the main book.

This summary aids a quick and comprehensive understanding of the book, some salient information in this guide includes:
A thought-provoking and original reassessment of World War II, from Britain's leading military historian

Richard Overy sets out in Blood and Ruins to recast the way in which we view the Second World War and its origins and aftermath. As one of Britain's most decorated and respected World War II historians, he argues that this was the "last imperial war," with almost a century-long lead-up of global imperial expansion, which reached its peak in the territorial ambitions of Italy, Germany and Japan in the 1930s and early 1940s, before descending into the largest and costliest war in human history and the end, after 1945, of all territorial empires.

Overy also argues for a more global perspective on the war, one that looks broader than the typical focus on military conflict between the Allied and Axis states. Above all, Overy explains the bitter cost for those involved in fighting, and the exceptional level of crime and atrocity that marked the war and its protracted aftermath--which extended far beyond 1945.

Blood and Ruins is a masterpiece, a new and definitive look at the ultimate struggle over the future of the global order, which will compel us to view the war in novel and unfamiliar ways. Thought-provoking, original and challenging, Blood and Ruins sets out to understand the war anew.