The Last European War: September 1939-December 1941

A must book for those who are interested in WW2 and particularly the early years of same.This book is an excellent source of information on the events that occurred and the effect they had in Europe and the world. This book is serious and yet it is written with humor and it is obvious the author did a great deal of research to make this book so interesting. I recommend this book very highly to anyone who is interested in history and the effects it has on future generations.

One day in 1982 when I was a grad student at Vandy this book caught my eye. I started reading it and kept doing so for the next few days, until I finished it. I never actually took it out of the library, I just read it instead of doing the work I was supposed to be doing. Its that kind of book. I recently purchased the book for a re-read, and it did not disappoint. John Lukacs is a treasure- he's a very special writer, of the generation that lived through WWII. He's one of those guys who just knows, everything. His books on historiography (like "The Hitler of History"), the writing of history, and conventionakl monographs, create a very notable body of work. When he passes away it will be a sad day. This book is a very, very well-written look at a world that is gone, literally the last European War (i.e. before the US got involved). If you are a WWII buff and don't like this book, well, Hell, I'LL buy it from you!! Its so good I am really not even taking a chance.

The Last European War by John Lukacs"The Last European War" by John Lukacs describes the formative stages of the WWII, times of 1939 before Hitler's invasion of Russia when the war was dominated by the struggle between Britain and Germany. Drawn from and partially re-hashing the material found in some of his earlier book, John Lukacs paints a picture of power struggle with some master strokes worthy of a pen of a historian and the canvas of a novelist.Lukacs book is comprised of 2 part. First, a short one, tells the historical events of the period starting just before September 1, 1939 and ending with the guns of Barbarossa in the East on June 22, 1941. His main emphasis is the description of the personalities of Hitler and Churchill, touching on Stalin and briefly on Roosevelt. Second part, which is the main body and emphasis of the text, is a study of how people coped during the war from economic, social, psychological and anthropological perspectives.Lukacs advances the main thesis of his career, retold in most of his 18 books on history, that the advance of nationalism not communism was the main event of the 20th century history; and that the main lesson of it is prevalence of mind over matter. Philosophy of neo-idealism, of belief in primary importance of spirit in the conduct of human affairs, the fruit of primarily German romanticism were horrible catastrophes of 20th century. John Lukacs has just a wonderful touch of novelistic flair, where he would briefly interrupt a technical description of the diplomatic struggles with the description of the beatifull night full of starts. His appreciation of oratory of the two main rivals (and both Hitler and Churchill were brilliant public speakers) leads to some of the best pages of this book.Better then any other historian I've read, John Lukacs is a master of a footnote. On average each page is supplemented by at least 3 footnotes; sometimes footnote text is twice as large as the main text on the page. Whether it is a fault of the editors whom Lukacs bullied into submission by this fame, or something else, I do not know. What I know is that it makes it for some fragmentary, oftern confused and difficult read. This is the only major criticism of style, and I am penalizing this book one star for it.