The Second World War in Color

From the Inside Flap All war is tragic and brutal, none more so than the Second World War. For those born after 1945, the war has appeared only in black and white in countless books, films, and grainy newsreels, even though much of it was shot in color by both military units and amateur filmmakers. Color photography was expensive to develop, and the media were reluctant to show all the horrors of battle in - what at the time was thought to be unbearable - color to the "home front." The Second World War in Color contains more than two hundred compelling color images, from the grueling conditions of the front lines, to aerial dogfights and blazing cities, to the utter devastation of Hiroshima following the dropping of the atomic bomb. Ten years of exhaustive research has enabled these largely unseen stills to be compiled for the first time into a remarkable record, removing the veil of time and chiaroscuro to forever change our view of the Second World War. In addition to the drama of the color images, there are harrowing testaments and recollections by hundreds of individuals of different nationalities who bring color to the record in a different way with their very personal experiences of what it was like to fight, mourn, suffer, and finally celebrate during those long six years when the world was at total war. Two generations have grown up since the Second World War to think of that war as a conflict fought in black and white. These color images bring home the horrors and stresses of that war for the first time with a vivid new clarity. This is war seen face-to-face, not through a glass darkly. Read more About the Author Stewart Binns is an acclaimed documentary filmmaker who has won more than a dozen international awards for his work. Adrian Wood's research in the world's film archives has spanned twenty-five years, unearthing in particular unique material from the Second World War. His credits include the Oscar-winning documentary Anne Frank Remembered and the BAFTA award-winning series The Nazis: A Lesson from History. Sir Ludovic Kennedy is a distinguished television and radio broadcaster in Great Britain as well as a writer and noted campaigner against miscarriages of justice. His first book, Sublieutenant, was published during the Second World War and was based on his experiences in Scapa Flow where he was involved in forays against the German battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz. He is also the maker of many successful documentaries including Battleship Bismarck. The Imperial War Museum, based in London, is one of the world's most impressive war museums and has given advice and supplied archive images for this book. It combines a huge range of wartime exhibits with interactive displays that take visitors beyond the military hardware to an understanding of the nature of war itself. Read more nsi-secondWWcolor