Powerfully portrayed in the words of novelists, poets, and the journalists who lived through, is the full sweep of the Second World War, as it was experienced around the world by combatants and civilians. The book is arranged chronologically by the years of the war.

.H. Auden -- William L. Shirer -- Wilfred Sheed -- K.S. Karol -- Jessica Mitford -- Chaim Kaplan -- Simone De Beauvoir -- Sir Harold George Nicolson -- Max Beerbohm -- Dan Vittorio Segre -- E.L. Doctorow -- George Orwell -- John Mortimer -- Barbara Pym -- Evelyn Waugh -- Marie Vassiltchikov -- Natalia Ginzburg -- Jean-Paul Sartre -- Richard Hillary -- Olivia Manning -- Andre Gide -- Elizabeth Bowen -- Kay Boyle -- Alun Lewis -- George Bernard Shaw -- Stephen Spender -- Julian Maclaren-Ross -- George Kennan -- Virginia Woolf -- George Macbeth -- Edith Sitwell -- Brian Moore -- David Brinkley -- V.S. Pritchett -- Lovat Dickson -- Ludovic Kennedy -- Julian Barnes -- Graham Greene -- Guvtav Herling -- Louis Macneice -- Shirley Hazzard -- Dylan Thomas -- Analtoli Kuznetsov -- Noel Coward -- James Jones -- I.F. Stone -- John Hersey -- Harrison E. Salisbury -- Clive James -- William Manchester -- Malcolm Muggeridge -- Philip Roth -- Ella Leffland -- Joy Kogawa -- J.G. Farrell -- David Malouf -- Russell Baker -- Josef Skvorecky -- Studs Terkel -- James A. Michener -- John Costello -- Peter Ustinov -- John Keegan -- K.S. Karol -- Cyril Connolly -- Germaine Greer -- Yaffa Eliach -- John Horne Burns -- Dan Davin -- Philip Larkin -- Janina Bauman -- Norman Mailer -- Thomas Bernhard -- Andre Schwarz-Bart -- William Styron -- Norman Lewis -- Alan Ross -- Nicholas Monsarrat -- Lothar-Gunther Buchheim -- John O'Hara -- Elie Wiesel -- Heinrich Boll -- David Russell Wagoner -- A.J. Leibling -- John Keegan -- Hiroyuki Agawa -- Genet -- Farley Mowat -- Doris Lessing -- Joseph Heller -- Rikihei Inoguchi, Tadashi Nakajima, Roger Pineau. 1939 -- 1st September 1939 / W.H. Auden -- from Berlin Diary / William L. Shirer -- from Transatlantic Blues / Wilfred Sheed -- from Between Two Worlds / K.S. Karol -- from Faces of Philip / Jessica Mitford -- from Scroll of Agony / Chaim Kaplan -- from The Prime of Life / Simone De Beauvoir -- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- XXVIII / W.H. Auden -- from Letters of Max Beerbohm, 1892--1956 / Max Beerbohm -- from Memoirs of a Fortunate Jew / Dan Vittorio Segre -- 1940 -- from World's Fair / E.L. Doctorow -- Review : Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler / George Orwell -- from Clinging to the Wreckage / John Mortimer -- from A Very Private Eye / Barbara Pym -- from Hons and Rebels / Jessica Mitford -- from The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh / Evelyn Waugh -- from Berlin Diaries / Marie Vassiltchikov -- from All Our Yesterdays / Natalia Ginzburg -- from The War Diaries / Jean -- Paul Sartre -- from The Last Enemy / Richard Hillary -- from The Great Fortune / Olivia Manning -- from The Journals of Andre Gide / Andre Gide -- from The Heat of the Day / Elizabeth Bowen -- Defeat / Kay Boyle -- from Troubled Sleep / Jean -- Paul Sartre -- Raiders' Dawn / Alun Lewis -- from Collected Letters, 1926 --1950 -- 1941 -- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- from Selected Letters, 1919--1964 / Edith Sitwell -- from Washington Goes to War / David Brinkley -- The Voice / V.S. Pritchett -- My Dear H.G. / George Bernard Shaw -- from The House of Words / Lovat Dickson -- from The Last Enemy / Richard Hillary ---- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- from Officers and Gentlemen / Evelyn Waugh -- from On My Way to the Club / Ludovic Kennedy ---- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson ---- from Staring at the Sun / Julian Barnes -- from The Heart of the Matter / Graham Greene -- from Berlin Diaries / Marie Vassiltchikov -- from A World Apart / Guvtav Herling -- from Washington Goes to War / David Brinkley -- Story Seven / Julia Voznesenskaya -- Swing--song / Louis Macneice -- from The Transit of Venus / Shirley Hazzard -- from All Our Yesterdays / Natalia Ginzburg ---- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson ---- A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London / Dylan Thomas -- from Babi Yar / Analtoli Kuznetsov -- from Diaries / Noel Coward -- from From Here to Eternity / James Jones -- from The War Years / I.F. Stone -- from The Call / John Hersey---- 1942 -- from The 900 Days / Harrison E. Salisbury -- The Conscript / Louis Macneice -- from Unreliable Memoirs / Clive James -- from Goodbye, Darkness / William Manchester -- from Chronicles of Wasted Time / Malcolm Muggeridge -- from The Facts: A Novelist's Autobiography / Philip Roth -- from Rumors of Peace / Ella Leffland -- from Obasan / Joy Kogawa -- from The Singapore Grip / J.G. Farrell -- from The Great World / David Malouf -- from Growing Up / Russell Baker -- from The Engineer of Human Sould / Josef Skvorecky -- from The Good War / Studs Terkel -- from Tales of the South Pacific / James A. Michener -- from Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell / George Orwell --from Virtue Under Fire / John Costello -- from Dear Me / Peter Ustinov -- from Scroll of Agony / Chaim Kaplan ---- from Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell / George Orwell ---- from Six Armies in Normandy / John Keegan -- from Virtue Under Fire / John Costello -- from Between Two Worlds / K.S. Karol -- from The Danger Tree / Olivia Manning -- from The Heat of the Day / Elizabeth Bowen -- from The Selected Essays of Cyril Connolly / Cyril Connolly -- from Daddy, We Hardly Knew You / Germaine Greer ---- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- Hovering above the Pit / Yaffa Eliach -- from The Gallery / John Horne Burns---- 1943 -- from East is West / Dan Davin -- from The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father / Geoffrey Wolff -- A Stone Church Damaged by a Bomb / Philip Larkin -- from The Journals of Andre Gide / Andre Gide -- from Selected Letters / James Jones -- from Goodbye, Darkness / William Manchester -- from Virtue Under Fire / John Costello -- from Washington Goes to War / David Brinkley -- from Memoirs of the Forties / Julian Maclaren-Ross -- from Winter in the Morning / Janina Bauman -- from The Naked and the Dead / Norman Mailer -- from Gathering Evidence / Thomas Bernhard -- from Berlin Diaries / Marie Vassiltchikov -- from The Last of the Just / Andre Schwarz-Bart -- London Letter / George Orwell -- from Sophie's Choice / William Styron -- from Naples '44 / Norman Lewis -- Night Patrol / Alan Ross -- from The Cruel Sea / Nicholas Monsarrat -- from the Boat / Lothar-Gunther Buchheim -- from Berlin Diaries / Marie did / Anonymous Vassiltchikov -- from World War II / James Jones -- 1944 -- Graven Image / John O'Hara -- from Night / Elie Wiesel -- frpm The End of the Battle / Evelyn Waugh -- from Night / Elie Wiesel -- The Casualty / Heinrich Boll -- from Naples '44 / Norman Lewis -- The Earth is a Syllable / Alun Lewis -- from All Our Yesterdays / Natalia Ginzburg -- from Naples '44 / Norman Lewis -- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- Two Capsules of Cyanide (I) / Jaffa Eliach -- from Virtue Under Fire / John Costello -- To the Last Man -- Victory / David Russell Wagoner -- from Naples '44 / Norman Lewis -- from Confessions of a mask / Yukio Mishima -- Cross-Channel Trip / A.J. Leibling -- from Six Armies in Normandy / John Keegan -- Survival / John Hersey -- from Citadel in Spring / Hiroyuki Agawa -- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- from Berlin Diaries / Marie Vassiltchikov -- from Force of Circumstance / Simone De Beauvoir -- from Paris Journal, 1944-1965 / Genet -- from Naples '44 / Norman Lewis -- from And No Birds Sang / Farley Mowat -- The Black Madonna / Doris Lessing -- from Catch-22 / Joseph Heller -- Blossoms in the Wind / Rikihei Inoguchi, Tadashi Nakajima, Roger Pineau -- from Survival in Auschwitz / Primo Levi -- from Gathering Evidence / Thomas Bernhard -- Losses / Randall Jarrell -- from The Diaries of Evelyn Waugh / Evelyn Waugh -- from Night / Elie Wiesel -- The Bombers and the Bombed / Studs Terkel -- 1945 -- from Moments of Reprieve / Primo Levi -- from The War Years / I.F. Stone -- from Paris Journal, 1944-1965 / Genet -- from Slaughterhouse-Five / Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. -- from The War: A Memoir / Marguerite Duras -- from Castle to Castle / Louis-Ferdinand Celine -- from The Last Waltz / George Clare -- from The Assault / Harry Mulisch -- Das Deutsches Volk / Martha Gellhorn -- from The Tin Drum / Gunter Grass -- from The Reawakening / Primo Levi -- For the Unknown Seamen of the 1939-45 War buried in Iona churchyard / Iain Crichton Smith -- from The Diaries and Letters of Harold Nicolson / Sir Harold George Nicolson -- from Letters on Literature and Politics, 192-1972 / Edmund Wilson -- from Crazy in Berlin / Thomas Berger -- Letter from Berlin / Joel Sayre -- from The Empire of the Sun / J.G. Ballard -- from Hiroshima / John Hersey -- The Soldier / Marc Kaminsky -- from Unreliable Memoirs / Clive James -- from Stained Glass Elegies / Shusaku Endo -- from The Letters of John Cheever / John Cheever -- Annotations of Auschwitz / Peter Porter -- Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy / Studs Terkel -- from American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 / William Manchester. Primo Levi -- Randall Jarrell -- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. -- Marguerite Duras -- Louis-Ferdinand Celine -- George Clare -- Harry Mulisch -- Martha Gellhorn -- Gunter Grass -- Iain Crichton Smith -- Edmund Wilson -- Thomas Berger -- Joel Sayre -- J.G. Ballard -- Marc Kaminsky -- Shusaku Endo -- John Cheever -- Peter Porter.