World War II was the most intensively photographed conflict in history. Military and press photographers, propagandists, camera-wielding soldiers and civilians--all took the opportunity to record the tumultuous events of 1939-45. The scenes they captured of mass suffering and individual heroism, of atrocious cruelty and humanitarianism against the odds, of hate and comradership, misery and hope, remain undiminished in their intensity and constitute a vital record of an extra ordinary period.

World War II: A Photographic History features 900 clearly captioned images selected from a wide variety of sources, many of which are seen here for the first time. Every major theatre of conflict is covered, from the ice seas of the Arctic Circle to the jungles of the South Pacific, from the deserts of North Africa to the steppes of Russia. Throughout, proper historical grounding is given by an informative, indexed commentary summarizing the many complex events of the period.