The Last Imperial War?

Reinterpreting World War II... and perhaps Ukraine

I’m not about a week into Bethel’s January term, for which I’m teaching a sophomore-level course on World War II that’s taken both by History/Social Studies Ed majors at Bethel and students from other programs looking to fulfill a general education requirement. I’ve taught WWII several times since developing that course in 2014, but it’s been a while since I offered it in the compressed, intensive format of our three-week “J-term,” during which students take just one class for three hours a day.

In the spirit of resetting the course… in addition to rearranging the schedule and rethinking some assignments, I thought this would be a good moment to read a revisionist account of the war. I’m glad I did. Not only did it advance a distinctive interpretation that I want my students to consider, but Richard Overy’s Blood and Ruins may even influence how we think about current events.