The Shock of War: Civilian Experiences, 1937-1945

The Shock of War: Civilian Experiences, 1937-1945

Weight 0.00 lbs
By Sean Kennedy
International Themes and Issues
University of Toronto Press, Higher Education Division © 2011
World Rights
160 Pages
Paper
ISBN 9781442603707
Published Apr 2011
$22.95
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Contents
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In The Shock of War: Civilian Experiences, 1937-1945, Sean Kennedy shifts the reader's focus from the battlefields of World War II to the civilian experience. This short yet comprehensive text complements existing studies of World War II that document diplomatic and military operations. While many of these studies acknowledge the significance of the conflict for civilians, The Shock of War places civilians at the centre of events, drawing attention to the many different regions of the world affected by the conflict, and comparing various facets of the civilian experience. Kennedy's refreshing approach emphasizes the diverse and complex impact of the war which in some instances brought people together and which in others was profoundly destructive.

Each chapter of this highly readable text concludes with a "For Further Reading" section.

wSean Kennedy is Associate Professor in the History Department at the University of New Brunswick and the author of Reconciling France against Democracy: The Croix de Feu and the Parti Social Français 1927-1945 (2007).

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. The Strains of Mobilization
2. Living under Occupation
3. The Impact of Violence
4. A World Unsettled

Index

The Shock of War is an invaluable survey of a critically important subject. Kennedy adeptly synthesizes the wide sweep of history without losing sight of the personal stories—a very impressive achievement that will be appreciated by specialist and general reader alike.

Jonathan F. Vance, The University of Western Ontario

Sean Kennedy does a great service in this short book. He has included much new work on the experience of civilians in the Second World War, both in Asia and Europe, and crafted a series of judicious essays on popular mobilization, life under foreign occupation, the scale and scope of the war's genocidal atrocities, and the social impact of the war's destruction. The book will serve as an essential starting place for students of the human experience of the Second World War.

William I. Hitchcock, University of Virginia