FIVE MORE BOOKS

I haven’t written on ecological matters for some time – so let me make amends with Roger Hallam’s recent, rather harrowing Suicide – the political and legal implications of creating endless mass death (2025) with an interview by Chris Hedges with Roger Hallam and a transcript here.

Then the 2nd World War with The Second World War – a Marxist history Chris 
Bambery (2014)

This book offers a Marxist explanation of why the Second World War happened, how it was fought, and what its outcome was. It starts by explaining why I believe it was a war fought primarily for global hegemony, but also why it differed from its 1914–18 predecessor, because popular opposition to fascism drove ordinary people to fight, and later to resist. It then examines each of the powers involved, starting with the Allied camp. In particular, it argues the Allies were a band of warring brothers.

This then allows us to examine the countdown to war and how dominant the

policy of appeasing Hitler was within Western ruling circles.

From the moment the Third Reich was at war it was moving towards genocide, the beginnings of which were apparent in 1939 with the conquest of Poland. In looking at the early war we also see why class division undermined France’s ability to fight Hitler, and how Britain survived the collapse of its ally but was in no position to defeat Germany alone. Hitler’s decision to invade Russia seemed to have secured the key victory he desired in late 1941, but Stalin’s regime survived and in 1942–43 the Russians would decisively turn the tables on the Third Reich. The war in Russia would be key to the defeat of Hitler. The events contributing to that defeat are charted in the next chapter, which also examines the return of British forces to Europe alongside the Americans. This was an alliance in which American power and wealth would see it establish a clear dominance. Meanwhile, as Germany faced defeat, the Nazis carried out the greatest crime in human history, the Holocaust.

The German occupation of much of Europe bred a resistance that, I will argue, had a revolutionary dynamic, but one which was deflected because the left, and in the main the Communist Parties, helped contain it. We then turn to the spread of the war into the Pacific and the failure of Japan to capitalise on its initial successes, while the Americans were able to fight a war on two fronts, and eventually secure victory in the Pacific. Less well known is the popular resistance which developed to Japanese imperialism and to the possibility of a return to colonial rule. It was during the war that the Communists would begin their march to power in China. Despite Churchill’s determination to protect and maintain the British Empire, it was a task beyond him. As the book moves towards a conclusion we look at the reasons for the passing of Empire. Finally, we consider how the war shaped today’s world, and how peace did not, tragically, bring an end to war and occupation.

Then a country which has long fascinated me – Turkey with two of 
Ece Temelkuran’s writings

• Turkey – the insane and the melancholy (2015) interviewed by Chris Hedges here and 

• Together – a manifesto against the heartless world Ece Temelkuran (2021)

And, finally, a great collection of essays

• To Show and To Tell – the craft of literary non-fiction Phillip Lopate (2011)