An engrossing and encyclopedic narrative of the year in which the outcome of World War Two hung in the balance
The year opened with the Axis powers inflicting a series of disasters on the newly formed Allies: Pearl Harbor, followed by Japan's conquest of the Philippines and Southeast Asia; Rommel running unchecked in North Africa; German U-boats transforming the East Coast of the United States into a shooting gallery; the
failure of Britain's strategic bombing campaign; and devastating defeats of the Red Army at Kharkov, Crimea, and southern Russia. By the summer of 1942, many of these theatres offered a grim global calculus. Any notion of
decisive victory seemed far-fetched.
Yet by the end of 1942 there had been a sea-change. Within just one 40-day timespan, the British had triumphed over Rommel at Alamein; British and American forces landed in North Africa to confront the Axis position there; the Americans won two naval battles at Guadalcanal, sealing the fate of that campaign and with it Japanese expansionism; the Red Army launched a massive counter-offensive at Stalingrad that would condemn six Axis
armies-and hundreds of thousands of German, Italian, Romanian and Hungarian soldiers-to eventual destruction. The Allies had somehow gained the upper hand, forcing the Axis powers into a defensive crouch
from which they would not rebound. The war, in short, had turned.
Jonathan Parshall's epic 1942: Crux of War offers a sweeping new narrative and visual history. Containing more than 150 maps and timelines, it looks at the year from all sides and from every front, revealing how military reform, economic mobilization, inspired improvisation, and growing professionalism coalesced quickly and decisively, paving the way toward final Allied victory. Parshall's book
examines and illuminates World War II's most crucial and consequential year: its crux.
Industry Reviews
"1942: Crux of War is a stunning book-vast in scope, granular in detail, concise in analysis, ground-breaking in research, enormously interesting, a joy to read, complete with fabulous maps and illustrations. This is a monumental achievement, a masterpiece, the best single-volume history about World War II that I've read." -- Alex Kershaw, author of Patton's Prayer, The Liberator, and Against All Odds
"Jon Parshall has crafted an exhaustively researched, engrossing, and epic account of the first full year of World War II, one that covers the players, strategies, economies, and campaigns of the fight. In doing so, he utterly demolishes many long-accepted beliefs about the conflict. Much like he did with his acclaimed and groundbreaking work on the Battle of Midway, Parshall will make you rethink everything you know about the war!" -- James M. Scott, Pulitzer
Prize finalist and author of Black Snow, Rampage, and Target Tokyo
"A marvel of style and compression of a vast amount of research." -- Rich Frank, author of Guadalcanal, Downfall, and Tower of Skulls
"Years in the making, based on impeccable scholarship, packed with insights, and enlivened by incisive wit, 1942: Crux of War is nothing short of a tour de force. Jon Parshall brings to bear his many skills as historian, mapmaker, commentator, and writer to produce what will become the seminal work on 1942, when the outcome of history's greatest conflict hung in the balance." -- John C. McManus, Curators' Distinguished Professor, Missouri
S&T, author of Fire and Fortitude: The U.S. Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943, recipient of the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Prize
"When a recognized expert on Midway can render that complex series of events in ten distilled but accurate pages, it is unsurprising. When he ties that battle to multiple other factors, ranging from logistical problems in the Pacific to the German siege artillery in Crimea, it is nothing less than impressive. Jon Parshall's new book offers a master key to understanding the Second World War." -- Jonathan House, Co-author of When Titans Clashed, and Stalingrad
"Any doubts that 1942 was absolutely the decisive year of the war are shattered by this explosive and game-changing new study. As Parshall whisks us across the globe and through the pivotal campaigns and battles, he skillfully illuminates the trials and tribulations faced by both sides. His book offers a masterclass in military history and will be rightly come to be regarded as a classic." -- Paul Woodadge, WW2TV
