This is a great book, a very readable overview of the 1930s. It goes into some detail about countries that I knew little about, like France and Japan, and gives a good look at the Spanish Civil War.
It’s striking to see how the twin blows of World War I and the Great Depression dealt the liberal democracies a nearly fatal blow. It’s also sad to see how inevitable war seemed, even quite early on. Fascism, Nazism and Communism were generally untried, and seemed like valid alternatives to the “tired, degenerate” democracies.
And in truth, there was a lot of rot in the US, Great Britain, and maybe especially France. They were slow to react to the needs of their citizens, and understandably very loath to begin a new bloodletting in the same scale as WWI. France especially has been much maligned for its defeatism. But it’s unsure how the Third Republic’s institutions could have dealt with it.
Highly recommended!