The Last European War: September 1939 - December 1941 [Paperback]

John Lukacs (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

This absorbing study of the first—and decisive—phase of World War II tells not only how events happened but why they happened as they did. Eminent historian John Lukacs presents an extraordinary narrative of these two years, followed by a detailed sequential analysis of the lives of the peoples and then of the political, military, and intellectual relations and events.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Lukacs is a familiar name in World War II studies. These two volumes, released in 1990 and 1976, respectively, follow the key players on the other side of the Atlantic. The duelists in the first title are Churchill and Hitler, and this book covers the pivotal 80-day period in 1940 when the Germans were poised to crush British forces and invade the empire. The second volume offers a precise time line of events and describes both what happened and why. Lukacs concentrates not only on the historical but on the sociological aspects of the war. For all collections.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Lukacs's book is consistently interesting, surprising, and provocative." -- James Joll, New York Times Book Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 576 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300089155
• ISBN-13: 978-0300089158
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #647,848 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Spirit over matter.., October 10, 2003

By 

Boris Aleksandrovsky (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last European War: September 1939 - December 1941 (Paperback)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, October 9, 2006

By 

S. M. Klauber "a history lover" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last European War: September 1939 - December 1941 (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Last European War, August 9, 2009

By 

Alexander F. Roca "eagle one" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Last European War: September 1939 - December 1941 (Paperback)

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.