By Kevin Seabrooke

This first volume of a trilogy on WWII by a professor of the History of War and Society at King’s College London re-examines the origins and opening phase of global conflict from 1931 to 1941. Drawing on extensive archival research across 50 international repositories, Fennell rejects narrow traditional narratives to present the war through a global perspective, weaving grand geopolitical strategy with intimate personal accounts of soldiers, civilians, and political leaders. The result is a comprehensive re-evaluation of how international crises, societal strains, and military campaigns caused the collapse of global order.

Collapse: The World Goes to War 1931-1942 (Jonathan Fennell, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 752 pp., Nov. 24, 2026 $31 HC)