December 1941 : twelve days that began a world war / Evan Mawdsley

Includes bibliographical references and index

1 December: Japan, Germany, and the coming world war. 1 December: the fight to the death in Russia. 1 December: London, Libya, and the dangers of the Far East. 1 December: Washington, magic, and the Japanese peril. 2 December: two doomed battleships in Singapore. 3 December: the president's secret promise. 4 December: Hitler and Japan's war of conquest. 5 December: the lull before two storms. 6 December: General Zhukov throws in his armies. 7 December: date of infamy: Japan's undeclared wars in Malaya and Hawaii. 8 December: the beginning of the end of the British empire. 9 December: FDR begins the American century. 10 December: Force 'Z' and the Malayan tragedy. 11 December: Hitler's war on America. 12 December: world war and the destruction of the Jews. Aftermath: the new war and a new world

1 December: Japan, Germany, and the coming world war -- 1 December: the fight to the death in Russia -- 1 December: London, Libya, and the dangers of the Far East -- 1 December: Washington, magic, and the Japanese peril -- 2 December: two doomed battleships in Singapore -- 3 December: the president's secret promise -- 4 December: Hitler and Japan's war of conquest -- 5 December: the lull before two storms -- 6 December: General Zhukov throws in his armies -- 7 December: date of infamy: Japan's undeclared wars in Malaya and Hawaii -- 8 December: the beginning of the end of the British empire -- 9 December: FDR begins the American century -- 10 December: Force 'Z' and the Malayan tragedy -- 11 December: Hitler's war on America -- 12 December: world war and the destruction of the Jews -- Aftermath: the new war and a new world.

Early December 1941, argues this book, saw a sequence of events that proved to be the turning point in World War II and a defining moment in the course of the century: the entry of Japan into the conflict, the end of US isolationism, the first great Red Army counterattack and the secret unleashing of the Holocaust