A World at Arms by Gerhard Weinberg

The author’s name suggests that he is of German descent, but he is one of the most anti-German WWII historians I have ever read. He does not accept that the Versailles treaty was an injustice to Germany, nor does he buy into the claim that Hitler admired the British and would have rather allied with them than fought them. He heaps ridicule on the Indian nationalist Chandra Bose for supposing that Germans and Japanese would be more benevolent colonial rulers than the British, and he tears to shreds A.J.P. Taylor’s argument that Hitler was not primarily responsible for starting the war. For him there is no question about where the war guilt lies. This was a lengthy work, full of tactical and diplomatic detail, but its thorough documentation serves as a healthy refutation of much of the revisionist accounts of the war that are becoming fashionable in some circles. This is not a book I would recommend as introduction to WWII, but it is a must-read for scholars, professional and amateur.