The award-winning Joachim Kepner unfolds the chronicle of the true origin of World War II. Through archival sources and personal testimonies from the involved countries - including that of Alkis Zei for Greece - he analyzes the significant and irreversible decisions and choices of 1941, a pivotal year for the fate of millions of people.
Kepner speaks of war as a means of politics and of politics within the framework of a war where there was no inclination for reconciliation and compromise. He deals with the politicians who decided and directed it; with the soldiers who conducted it; with the people whom it destroyed like a blazing steamroller; he deals with the brutality and despair, with courage and resistance.

He also deals with the delayed, almost fateful realization of the free world, a world based on ethical foundations, which today we largely take for granted. However, it is not a given. It is a unique historical achievement, and 1941 marks the year in which it found its voice, its dignity, and its strength.

Kepner manages to reach the heart of the events, and even in half the pages that other writers need.
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