Spirit over Steel: a chronology of the Second World War

Spirit over Steel is a chronology of the Second World War that moves beyond the usual accounts, by examining more events before and after the war, but which also weaves in hundreds of vignettes and accounts about individuals into the narrative of the war. The treatment is even-handed, fair and impartial, but more comprehensive than histories in the small details that make the war more human. Acts of squalor and violence are balanced with those of dignity and courage – like the Italian police officer who sacrificed his own life to spare 22 hostages with a false confession, the U-Boat commander who handed blankets and supplies to lifeboats, or the Japanese fighter ace who spared a plane full of wounded and refugees. Many of the celebrated winners of the Medal of Honor and the Victoria Cross are mentioned, but so too are people who were named to Virtuti Militari, the Order of the Golden Kite, or became later honoured as Righteous Among the Nations. At the same time, more episodes of great cruelty are explored than the conventional listing of signal events in the Holocaust.

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