""At last we have a good survey of Europe's route to World War II. P.M.H. Bell's study in Longman's "Origins of Modern Wars "series is a worthy sequel to its distinguished predecessor, James Joll's "The Origins of the First World War. "It deals almost entirely with Europe, leaving Japan to Akira Iriye's companion volume, "The Origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific..."On the whole the accuracy, precision, and balance are outstanding. Bell's words are carefully chosen, and he has produced a remarkable synthesis, complete with concrete detail and intelligent but not excessive use of statistics. The resulting work is reliable and judicious, very erudite but never ponderous.""Sally Marks, AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW (of the First Edition) In this famous book Philip Bell examines the European Origins of the Second World War from three different angles: first, he sets out the various explanations which have been offered for the war, and discusses the historiographical debates to which they have given rise; he then analyses the major underlying forces - ideological, economic and strategic - that were at work in Europe during the 1930s; and in his final section he traces the course of events from 1932, when Europe was visibly at peace, via the inital outbreak of histoilities in 1939, right through to June 1941, when the German attack on the Soviet Union marked the climax f the acceleration into general conflict. The First Editioon appeared in 1986 to general acclaim. Since then it has been through twelve printings and sold 30,000 copies. Now, in this welcome Second Edition, Philip Bell has fully revised his text to take account of a decade of fresh scholarshio, of newly available sources, and of the opportunities for reconsideration that longer perspectives allow. his main changes are concentrated on the discussions of Hitler and German policy, on the role of France, and on Britain and 'appeasement'. The opportunity has also been take to erset the entire text in a less dense and more user-friendly format. ""Bell's new book transcends (A.J.P.) Taylor and can replace him. Bell has delved more thoroughly into the intricate problems they both treat. He scintillates less, but handles the evidence more fairly, and is less sure that he knows all the answers.""M.R.D. Foot, ALBION ""This is a vast topic, and all one can do, by way of brief review, is to commend the masterly equity, lucidity and inclusiveness of Philip Bell's survey of its bewildering complexities.""Martin Fagg, TIMES EDUCATIONAL SUPPLEMENT ""lucid, balanced and sane""Eric Summers, HISTORY TEACHING REVIEW P.M.H. Bell is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Liverpool. Longman recently published his two-volume study of Franco-British relations in the twentieth century, as "France and Britain 1900-1940: Entente and Estrangement "and "France and Britain 1940-1994: The Long Separation." Less