Sign-In
Cart
The World on Edge: How 1938 Felt Before It All Fell Apart
Hardcover
General European HistoryInternational RelationsWorld War II
ISBN13: 9789347436833
Publisher: Vij Books
Published: Feb 20 2026
Pages: 274
Weight: 1.18
Height: 0.75 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
What if the most important year before global war was not 1939, but the forgotten twelve months just before it? This book takes readers back to 1938, when headlines screamed about Anschluss and the Sudetenland while cinemas, churches, and trading floors carried on as if normal life could still be protected.
Month by month, it reconstructs how societies experienced a mounting crisis in real time. Drawing on newspapers, diaries, market commentary, and diplomatic cables, it shows how the origins of World War 2 appeared to people who did not yet know a world war was coming. From the Anschluss and the Sudetenland to the anxious celebrations around appeasement and Munich, it traces the arguments in cabinet rooms, editorials, and church pulpits that persuaded many citizens that each concession would be the last.
The book places the violence of Kristallnacht within this wider pattern of denial, tracing how a flood of new reports and intelligence warnings in the 1930s collided with tight immigration controls and a cautious politics of delay. It uses vignettes from civilian life before the war alongside the decisions of Britain and France in 1938 to show how fear of another slaughter shaped every choice. Readers interested in interwar diplomacy, Europe, and 20th-century European history will find a close, unsentimental portrait of a world on edge. By the end of 1938, it had become a case study of how much a society can know about danger and still choose to look away.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
World War II
Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich
Metaxas, Eric
Paperback
Carrier Clash: The Invasion of Guadalcanal and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons August 1942 (Revised)
Eric M Hammel
Paperback
The Allies: Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin, and the Unlikely Alliance That Won World War II
Groom, Winston
Paperback
Ghosts of Sicily: The True Story of the Naval Intelligence Agents Who Courted the Mob to Fight Nazis in America and the Battlefields of Italy
Harmon, Mark
Carroll, Leon
Hardcover
The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII
El-Hai, Jack
Paperback
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Paperback
The Last Full Measure: An American Family and How the United States Brought Home the Dead of World War II
Clarke, Kim
Hardcover
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Paperback
They Shall Not See the Dawn: The Manhunt for the Third Reich's Most Wanted
Lachman, Charles
Hardcover
The Boys in the Light: An Extraordinary World War II Story of Survival, Faith, and Brotherhood
Willner, Nina
Hardcover
The Girl Bandits of the Warsaw Ghetto: The True Story of Five Courageous Young Women Who Sparked an Uprising
Hyman, Elizabeth R.
Paperback
The Wanderers: A Story of Exile, Survival, and Unexpected Love in the Shadow of World War II
Gerson, Daniela
Hardcover
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Paperback
The Remarkable Life of Reed Peggram: The Man Who Stared Down World War II in the Name of Love
Whitmire, Ethelene
Hardcover
Operation Sparrow: The Incredible True Story of the Spies Who Tricked Hitler and Won the War
Bell, Jason
Hardcover
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland
Browning, Christopher R.
Paperback
A Librarian's War: The Man Who Fought World War II with Books and Brought the Joy of Reading to Millions
Manning, Molly Guptill
Hardcover
The Nine: The True Story of a Band of Women Who Survived the Worst of Nazi Germany
Strauss, Gwen
Paperback
The Visionaries: Bretton Woods, the Marshall Plan, and the Making of the Post-World War II Order
Holland, James
Hardcover
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Purnell, Sonia
Paperback
The Nuremberg Women: The Untold Story of the Eight Women Who Brought the Nazis to Justice
Livingstone, Natalie
Hardcover
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
Aikman, Becky
Paperback
Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945
Slim, Field-Marshal Viscount William
Paperback
The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
Freeman, Gregory A.
Paperback
The Navigator's Letter: The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together
Dondi, Jan Cress
Hardcover
The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
Isserman, Maurice
Paperback
Spitfires: The American Women Who Flew in the Face of Danger During World War II
Aikman, Becky
Hardcover
The Distance Between Our Names: The Untold History of America's War on Japanese Immigrants
Richter, Paul
Hardcover
Killing the SS: The Hunt for the Worst War Criminals in History
Dugard, Martin
O'Reilly, Bill
Paperback
Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists to America
Jacobsen, Annie
Paperback
He Leadeth Me: An Extraordinary Testament of Faith
Ciszek, Walter J., S. J.
Flaherty, Daniel L., S. J.
Paperback
Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941
Olson, Lynne
Paperback
Operation Mincemeat: How a Dead Man and a Bizarre Plan Fooled the Nazis and Assured an Allied Victory
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Makos, Adam
Alexander, Larry
Paperback
The War They Won: The Story of World War II, as told by Those Who Were There
K. Kistler, Lt Hobart
Hardcover
The Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945, Revised Edition
Allen, William Sheridan
Paperback
Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II
Mundy, Liza
Paperback
The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II
Kiernan, Denise
Paperback
A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
Alexander, Larry
Makos, Adam
Hardcover
The History of World War II: A Graphic Novel Retelling of the 20th Century's Defining War
de la Croix, Arnaud
Hardcover
The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis
Letts, Elizabeth
Paperback
The Cloudbuster Nine: The Untold Story of Ted Williams and the Baseball Team That Helped Win World War II
Keene, Anne R.
Paperback
Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure
Kladstrup, Donald
Kladstrup, Petie
Paperback
Shot Down: The true story of pilot Howard Snyder and the crew of the B-17 Susan Ruth
Snyder, Steve
Paperback
Every Man a Hero: A Memoir of D-Day, the First Wave at Omaha Beach, and a World at War
Lambert, Ray
DeFelice, Jim
Paperback
Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany
Miller, Donald L.
Paperback
Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest
Ambrose, Stephen E.
Hardcover
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
Countdown Battle of the Bulge: The 40 Days of World War II That Crushed Hitler's Last Hope
Wallace, Chris
Hardcover
Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel
Seuss
Minear, Richard H.
Paperback
Моя Борьба - Майн Кампф: Mein Kampf
Гитлер, Ад&#
Hitler, Adolf
Paperback
Facing the Mountain: An Inspiring Story of Japanese American Patriots in World War II
Brown, Daniel James
Paperback
Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man
Vincent, Lynn
Vladic, Sara
Paperback
The Last Stand of Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Hornfischer, Estate Of James D.
Hardcover
Prisoners of the Castle: An Epic Story of Survival and Escape from Colditz, the Nazis' Fortress Prison
MacIntyre, Ben
Paperback
Book and Dagger: How Scholars and Librarians Became the Unlikely Spies of World War II
Graham, Elyse
Hardcover
Taking Midway: Naval Warfare, Secret Codes, and the Battle That Turned the Tide of World War II
Dugard, Martin
Hardcover
The Sisterhood of Ravensbrück: How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's All-Female Concentration Camp
Olson, Lynne
Hardcover
Reich of the Black Sun: Nazi Secret Weapons & the Cold War Allied Legend
Farrell, Joseph P.
Paperback
It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust
Bettina, Elizabeth
Paperback
The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill
Meltzer, Brad
Mensch, Josh
Paperback
The Forbidden Garden: The Botanists of Besieged Leningrad and Their Impossible Choice
Parkin, Simon
Paperback
Into the Storm: Inspired by the true story of the Half Moon and her only survivor
Palmer, Jamie Kay
Paperback
Allies at War: How the Struggles Between the Allied Powers Shaped the War and the World
Bouverie, Tim
Hardcover
W.E. Fairbairn's Complete Compendium of Lethal, Unarmed, Hand-to-Hand Combat Methods and Fighting
Fairbairn, W. E.
Hardcover
The Boys of Winter: Life and Death in the U.S. Ski Troops During the Second World War
Sanders, Charles J.
Paperback
Japan's Infamous Unit 731: First-Hand Accounts of Japan's Wartime Human Experimentation Program
Gold, Hal
Paperback
The Bulge and Beyond: The Things Our Fathers Saw-The Untold Stories of the World War II Generation-Volume VI
Rozell, Matthew
Hardcover
The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors: The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour
Hornfischer, James D.
Paperback
The Devil's Castle: Nazi Eugenics, Euthanasia, and How Psychiatry's Troubled History Reverberates Today
Antonetta, Susanne Paola
Hardcover
Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
Jacobsen, Annie
Hardcover
The World War 2 Trivia Book: Interesting Stories and Random Facts from the Second World War
Walker, Dwayne
O'Neill, Bill
Paperback
Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich
Webster, David
Paperback
Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy: Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961
Reynolds, Nicholas
Paperback
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb (Large Print Edition)
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
Fighting Fifteen: The Navy's Top Ace and the Deadliest Hellcat Squadron of the Pacific War
Moore, Stephen L.
Hardcover