<![CDATA[Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941]]>

false <![CDATA[Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941]]> 143614 5 In a mere nineteen months, from May 1940 to December 1941, the leaders of the world's six major powers made a series of related decisions that decided the course and outcome of World War II, cost the lives of millions, and profoundly shaped the course of human destiny from that point forward. How were these decisions made? What were the options facing these leaders as they saw them? What intelligence, right and wrong, did they have? What was the impact of personality, what that of larger forces? In a brilliant work with haunting contemporary relevance, Ian Kershaw tells the connected stories of these ten fateful decisions from the shifting perspectives of the protagonists, and in so doing rescues them from the sense of inevitability that now envelops them and restores to them a feeling of vivid drama and contingency-the feeling that things could have turned out very differently indeed. Each chapter follows the process of arriving at one decision, from the viewpoint of the leader who made it: Decision 1: May 1940. The British War Cabinet, driven by Churchill, agrees to fight on after the German blitzkrieg defeat of France, despite loud calls for negotiated settlement. Decision 2: Hitler decides to attack the Soviet Union. Decision 3: Japan decides to seize the "Golden Opportunity" and turn south, going after the colonial empires of the countries that have fallen to Hitler. Decision 4: Mussolini decides to join the war on Hitler's side to grab a share of the spoils. Decision 5: Roosevelt decides to lend a helping hand to England. Decision 6: Stalin decides he knows best and ignores all the clear signals that Germany is going to invade. Decision 7: Roosevelt decides to wage undeclared war. Decision 8: Japan decides to go to war against the United States. Decision 9: Hitler decides to declare war on the USA. Decision 10: Hitler decides to kill the Jews. Decision relates to subsequent decision, though never simply or necessarily as expected. The clash of personalities, the various weaknesses of the different political systems, the challenge of intelligence, the misdiagnosis of risk and possibility: all play their part. And after nineteen months, though much remained to be decided, the world's fate had been profoundly altered by these ten choices. 2420378 31 5 2007 Fateful Choices: Ten Decisions That Changed the World, 1940-1941 total:54|5:12|4:21|3:16|2:3|1:2| 54 200 128 19 3 1 false false Thu Dec 27 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Feb 20 17:49:21 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 20 17:50:15 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Thu Feb 05 10:01:51 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 10:01:51 -0800 2009 In Fateful Choices, Ian Kershaw, professor of history at England's University of Sheffield and author of multiple volumes on Hitler, including the acclaimed two-volume biography Hubris (1999) and Nemesis (2000), has done his research, and his arguments here possess the same reasoned analysis that he...

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In spring 1940, (1) the "bulldog" Churchill convinced his cohorts in the War Cabinet (Halifax and Chamberlain) that fighting on against the Naz...more...]]> 3 0 false false Fri Jan 30 13:52:34 -0800 2009 Fri Jan 30 13:54:25 -0800 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sat Sep 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu May 21 13:42:10 -0700 2009 Thu May 21 13:46:43 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Sun Jul 26 10:29:21 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 26 10:32:47 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Wed Jun 04 04:23:23 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 04:29:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Mar 05 11:09:16 -0800 2008 Wed Mar 05 11:16:41 -0800 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Feb 16 15:22:05 -0800 2009 Mon Feb 16 15:22:47 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Oct 27 15:27:03 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 27 15:29:26 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jan 01 15:18:28 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 01 15:21:53 -0800 2008
It's a frustrating book in that the editing is so poor. It's long-winded and repetitive. But the content is brilliant... a lot of it may be things you know (...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 12:13:22 -0700 2007 Thu Aug 30 12:15:16 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Mon Oct 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 05:10:46 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 05:18:09 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sat Jan 26 06:26:59 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 26 06:30:31 -0800 2008 5 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun May 11 11:53:38 -0700 2008 Sun May 11 11:54:54 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Dec 01 00:25:55 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 01 00:25:55 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=143614