SUMMARY: 'No individual British victory after Trafalgar was more decisive in challenging the course of a major war than was the Battle of Britain ...In his carefully argued, clearly explained and impressively documented book ...Richard Overy is at pains to dispose of the myths and expose the real history of what he does not doubt was a great British victory ...the best historical analysis in readable form which has yet appeared on this prime subject' Noble Frankland, The Times Literary Supplement

As Richard Overy makes clear, the Allied victory in 1945 - though comprehensive - was far from inevitable. By 1942 almost the entire resources of continental Europe were in German hands and Japan had wiped out the western colonial presence in Asia. Democracy appeared to have had its day.Overy provides a re-interpretation of the war through an account of the decisive military campaigns that created the astonishing revival in Allied fortunes. He also explores the deeper factors that determined success and failure: industrial strength, fighting ability, the skills of leaders and the moral contrasts between the two sides.Today the modern world is once more in the throes of painful transformation. It is essential to establish why and how the last great war was won. Richard Overy casts a brilliant light on the most important turning-point of the modern age.

RUSSIA'S WAR is the epic account of the greatest military encounter in human history. In a vivid, often shocking narrative, Richard Overy describes the astounding events of 1941-45 in which the Soviet Union, after initial catastrophes, destroyed Hitler's Third Reich and shaped European history for the next half Century.