The Triumph of the Dark

Piers Brendon, The Independent A terrifically good read...a definitive account, the distillation of a lifetime's dedicated scholarship... No short review can do justice to the book's riches.


Alex Danchev, Literary Review A gigantic work of synthesis ... a staggering achievement.


Richard J. Evans, The New Republic Magisterial...a magnificent work of scholarship, narrative, and authoritative historical judgment.


Richard Overy, Times Literary Supplement Magisterial...Anyone who works on the 1930s will be permanently in Steiner's debt...Zara Steiner's account of this troubled decade is fuller and richer than any yet published.


Vernon Bogdanor, New Statesman A remarkable achievement of conscientious scholarship.


Joe Maiolo, BBC History Magazine A modern classic...magnificent... Authoritative and absorbing, Steiners volume will stand the test of time.


Jonathan Sumption, The Spectator One of those masterpieces of exact scholarship, conceived on a vast scale, which will remain the standard work on the subject for many years.


Britain and the World A landmark event...Steiner's two volumes will undoubtedly become a standard work of reference for the two decades between the world wars...magisterial...a triumph...a magnificent achievement... A distillation of a lifetime of fine scholarship, this is an invaluable account of one dimension of these complex and fateful years.


Patrick Porter, History Today A superbly wrought history and a major contribution to the field. It is a mammoth work filled to the brim with prodigious scholarship


Richard Overy, Wall Street Journal Definitive...the most thorough, wide-ranging and carefully argued narrative available on the tumultuous decade that ended in world war. Every historian of the period will stand in Steiner's debt.


Harold James, International Affairs Zara Steiner has written a beautifully crafted and persistently intelligent survey of Europes descent in the 1930s into war and barbarism.


American Historical Review ... an impressive history of a still controversial subject. It is a prodigious work, reflecting great industry and mastery of Western scholarship on the 1930s.


Talbot Imlay, English Historical Review This book is monumental ... a remarkable achievement by Zara Steiner


Keith Neilson, War In History a truly magnificent achievement ... a triumph of historical writing and an exemplar for all historians.

<br>Zara Steiner is Emeritus Fellow, New Hall, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the British Academy.<br>

Prologue; PART I. RETREAT FROM INTERNATIONALISM, 1933-1938; 1. Brown Dawn: The Rise of Hitler and the Death of Disarmament, 1933-1934; 2. Uncertain Embraces: The European Powers and Nazi Germany, 1934-1935; 3. The Assault on Versailles and Locarno: Ethiopia and the occupation of the Rhineland; 4. The Remnants of Internationalism, 1936-1938; 5. The Spanish Cockpit, 1935-1938; 6. Rearmament and Appeasement 1936-1937; 7. Appeasement Advances, 1937-1938; 8. Illusions of Neutrality: Eastern Europe, 1936-1938; 9. Whither the Soviet Union? Moscow and the West, 1936-1938; 10. Thunder from the East: The Sino-Japanese Conflict and the European Powers, 1933-1938; 11. Hitler Moves: Austria and Czechoslovakia, 1938; 12. The Munich Settlement; PART II. THE ROAD TO HITLER'S WAR, 1938-1939; 13. The Fog of Peace: Strategic Choices after Munich; 14. Black Sun: Aggression and Deterrence; 15. Darkening Skies: Peace Talking and War Planning in Britain and France; 16. Unleashing the Dogs of War; 17. Red Clouds: The Soviet Union and the Nazi-Soviet Pact, 1939; 18. Escape from War or Persecution? The Smaller Powers and the Jews; 19. The Nightmare of the Dark: The Decisions for War; Conclusion