*Blood and Ruins*

The author is Richard Overy and the subtitle is The Last Imperial War, 1931-1945.  There are two categories of Richard Overy books, the good and the tremendously good.  So far this book falls into the latter camp, noting that some of the introductory material (while fine) was excessively familiar to me.  The eventual focus is on North Africa, the Turkey-Persia region and the Caucasus, how Japan ran its new colonies, how the British empire started collapsing, and much more along those lines.  The history of the war is told through what are usually regarded as the peripheries, though Overy makes us rethink that as well. I am only on p.240, but so far this one is strongly recommended.

As a general rule you can never read enough good books about World War II, even after you feel you have read enough good books about World War II.  Its lessons never go stale, and the scope of the war itself has attracted remarkable talents to write about it.