Brendon P. The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s

New York: Vintage, 2002. — 848 p. — ISBN10: 0375708081; ISBN13: 978-0375708084.The 1930s were perhaps the seminal decade in twentieth-century history, a dark time of global depression that displaced millions, paralyzed the liberal democracies, gave rise to totalitarian regimes, and, ultimately, led to the Second World War. In this sweeping history, Piers Brendon brings the tragic, dismal days of the 1930s to life. From Stalinist pogroms to New Deal programs, Brendon re-creates the full scope of a slow international descent towards war. Offering perfect sketches of the players, riveting descriptions of major events and crises, and telling details from everyday life, he offers both a grand, rousing narrative and an intimate portrait of an era that make sense out of the fascinating, complicated, and profoundly influential years of the 1930s.ApproachThe harvest of Armageddon
The roots of fascism
The bane of capitalismInto the abyssDepression in America
The triumph of Hitler
The Duce and the Pope
The decadence of France
The slump in Britain
Japan’s imperial destiny
Stalin’s revolution
The New Deal
The Nazis in POWER
Mussolini’s Abyssinian adventure
Léon Blum and the Popular FrontCanyonThe coming of the Spanish Civil War
Franco’s victoryDeepening gloomBritain’s royal state
The rise of Japanese militarism
The Soviet purges
America in isolation
The Führer’s path to war
The fascist axis
France’s lean years
Churchill, Chamberlain and appeasement
Nippon in China
The making of the Nazi-Soviet pactChasm