Explaining Auschwitz and Hiroshima: Historians and the Second World War, 1945-1990

In this topical book, Bosworth explores the ways in which the main combatant societies of the Second World War have hitorized that experience. He argues that in Britain, France, Italy, the USSR and Japan, as well as Germany, the traumatic history of the 'long Second World War' has remained crucial to the culture and politics of their post-war societies. Bosworth examines when, why and with what effect interpretations of the war have shifted, and he analyzes major controversies in history writing. Combining a wide-ranging and flexible use of sources from history, documentary and feature film with a unique overview of the historiograhical controversies of sic countries, Bosworth provides a stimulating and thought provoking excursion into comparative history.

Introduction 1. The Second World War and the Historians 2. The Origins of World War III and the Making of English Social History 3. Germany and the Third, Second, and First World Wars 4. The Historikerstreit and the Relativisation of Auschwitz 5. The Sorrow and the Pity of the Fall of France, and the Rise of French Historiography 6. The Eclipse of Anti-Fascism in Italy 7. Glasnost reaches Soviet Historiography 8. Hiroshima, mon amour: Under Eastern Eyes