A Book as Big as the War

World War II books have a habit of being as enormous as the conflict itself. The average war buff owns at least a couple of hefty tomes that could, in a pinch, stop a bullet or two, whether it’s Gerhard Weinberg’s classic A World at Arms (1,208 pages), Richard Overy’s Blood and Ruins (1,040 pages), or Antony Beevor’s The Second World War (880 pages). Even a relatively svelte volume like John Ellis’ One Day In a Very Long War runs over 400 pages. The third world war could be fought by using World War II books as artillery shells. Jonathan Parshall’s 1942: Crux of War is a 17-year labor of love—as well as dogged perseverance and inveterate curiosity—that, at 1,280 pages, can easily hold its own among the big boys. The book is a sprawling, blow-by-blow account of a single year, but one that w