To Hell and Back

Superb, likely to become a classic. In the summer of 1914, most of Europe plunged into a war so catastrophic that it unhinged the continent's politics and beliefs in a way that took generations to recover from. The disaster terrified its survivors, shocked that a civilization that had blandly assumed itself to be a model for the rest of the world had collapsed into a chaotic savagery beyond any comparison. In 1939, Europeans would initiate a second conflict that managed to be even worse—a war in which the killing of civilians was central and which culminated in the Holocaust. To Hell and Back tells this story with humanity, flair, and originality. Kershaw gives a compelling narrative of events, but he also wrestles with the most difficult issues that the events raise—what it meant for the Europeans who initiated and lived through such fearful times—and what this means.