History

Nov 8, 2017 - Dr. Stephen Carls has coauthored a book with his wife Alice-Catherine titled Europe from War to War, 1914-1945 that Routledge Press in London officially released on November 8, 2017. The book is the culmination of a research and writing endeavor that began in earnest in 2009 and concluded on August 31, 2017.

The book has special features that establish its distinctiveness among twentieth-century European textbooks. For one thing, it gives considerable attention to the role of the League of Nations in the interwar years. It also highlights efforts undertaken in the post-World War I years to achieve an economically and politically integrated Europe. The countries of East Central Europe are prominently featured as are the states comprising Scandinavia and the Iberian Peninsula. The book emphasizes the economic mobilization of the belligerent states in both world wars, the hardships that war caused on the home fronts, and many of the wartime inhumanities that occurred. It underscores the role of women throughout the period and discusses at length the colonial policies of the European imperial powers, especially Britain and France. It also looks at war-created refugee problems, including the forced expulsion of Germans from East Central Europe at the end of World War II.

Of special note is the use of parallel chapters in the book’s four designated time periods: 1914-1919; 1919-1929; 1929-1939; and 1939-1945. Each period contains an initial chapter on international politics and a second about domestic issues. In every chapter on international questions, there are discussions of diplomatic peace initiatives, the formation of alliances, military actions, colonial policies, and international crises. All the domestically focused chapters deal with political, economic, and social history. A chapter devoted to the cultural history of Europe casts a broad net that covers such topics as literature, painting, religion, filmmaking, propaganda, recreational activities, and fashions. The book concludes with a brief discussion of efforts during World War II to create a framework for an integrated postwar Europe based on peace and cooperation. Almost 400 pages in length, the book contains nine maps and 31 black and white illustrations.

Carls, who holds the rank of university professor at Union, is the author of Louis Loucheur and the Shaping of Modern France that Louisiana State University Press published in 1993 and Louis Loucheur: Ingénieur, homme d’état, modernisateur de la France, 1872-1931 published by the Presses universitaires du Septentrion in France in 2000. He has taught at Union University since 1983 and has served as the history department chair since 1990.

Alice-Catherine Carls is Tom Elam Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Tennessee at Martin. She has authored a historical monograph titled La Ville libre de Dantzig en crise ouverte, 1938-1939 (1982), written a number of book chapters and journal articles, and done extensive translation work in literature and history.