Globalizing the History of the World Wars
Globalizing the History of the World Wars
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Positioned at the crossroads of global and military history, this volume makes a major contribution to the cultural and social history of war and its aftermath. Bruno Cabanes and Cameron Givens bring together a team of leading experts to reassess the two world wars, connecting time periods, topics, and spaces traditionally treated in isolation. They examine how these armed conflicts engendered new confrontations and encounters; forged and severed transnational networks and pathways; propelled people, ideas, knowledge, and practices across and within political boundaries; and triggered complex and contested memory-making. By rethinking the relationship between military and global history, the authors encourage readers to consider the broader impact of war on twentieth-century history, from international law and humanitarianism, to race and the environment. This ambitious reframing showcases the most innovative efforts to globalize the history of the world wars and provides fertile ground for future research.
- Connects global and military history, encouraging global historians to conceptualize the history of wa
- Rethinks the familiar geographical and chronological boundaries of the two world wars
- Explores the broader impact of the two world wars on histories of environment, race, international law, humanitarianism and memory
Reviews & endorsements
‘This book offers fresh insights into the many-layered entanglements and hidden connections of world war. It also shows how truly global they were, transforming lives and memories around the planet. These essays expand the meanings of world war and together create a model of a common history of a violently fractured world.’ Jeremy Adelman, author of Worldly Philosopher: The Odyssey of Albert O. Hirschman
‘Building on recent efforts to rethink the histories of the world wars, this timely volume brings together a stellar group of historians to challenge received frameworks and offer us a glimpse of what a truly global history of the era of world wars might look like.’ Erez Manela, author of The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism
‘It is now impossible to discuss either World War in geographical isolation. This timely volume explores the ways in which both wars can be refigured as global events, with ramifications and connections well beyond the battlefield and national war efforts. All historians of the wars now have the opportunity to rethink conventional methodologies and traditional national narratives.’ Richard Overy, author of Blood and Ruins
Product details
- Published: July 2026
- Format: Adobe eBook Reader
- ISBN: 9781009692922
- Length: 0 pages
- Availability: Not yet published - available from July 2026
Table of Contents
- Introduction Bruno Cabanes and Cameron Givens
- Part I. Total Wars: A Connected History:
- 1. Entwined Escalation: Total War and European Colonial Violence Erik Linstrum
- 2. Japan's Transnational Home Front Sheldon Garon
- 3. Total War in Republican China: Strategy and Politics Victor Louzon
- 4. 'Democracy, We Deliver': Bombing, Morale, and Total War in the Pacific Ran Zwigenberg
- Part II. Transnational Aid, International Law, and New Perspectives in Global Humanitarianism:
- 5. Hunger, Food Networks, and Global Empathy in the Shadow of the Great War Mary Cox
- 6. Neutral but not Uncaring: Argentina's Humanitarian Mobilization in the World Wars María Inés Tato
- 7. Internment, the First World War, and Empire-Building in the Pacific Mahon Murphy
- 8. Captivity and Wartime Encounters in Japan and Its Empire,1937–1947 Sarah Kovner
- Part III. The Self and the Other: Colonial and Racial Encounters in Modern Warfare:
- 9. The Rising Tide of Color: Race, Global War, and the Remaking of American White Supremacy, 1915–1924 Cameron Givens
- 10. 'I Wish All the Marmalade Ships Would Go Down': Global Foodways, Culinary Encounters, and Transnational Exchange in the First World War Bruce Scates
- 11. Globalizing the Two World Wars: Colonial Ruptures and Continuities Eric T. Jennings
- Part IV. Global Memories:
- 12. South Asia and the Centennial Commemoration: Devolution, Diversity, Decolonisation Santanu Das
- 13. Cultures of Victory: Globalizing Memories of War in East-Central Europe John Paul Newman
- 14. Exhibiting Wars and Genocides: Museum-Memorials in a Global World Annette Becker
- Conclusion John Horne.
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- Latest accessibility assessment date: 2026-04-13
