Introduction: are we there yet? World War II and a theory of total war Roger Chickering and Stig Förster; Part I. The Dimension of War: 1. Total war: the global dimensions of conflict Gerhard L. Weinberg; 2. Total war: the conduct of war, 1939-1945 Hew Strachan; 3. The ultimate horror: total war and genocide Stig Förster and Myriam Gressler; Part II. Combat: 4. Germany and the Battle of the Atlantic Holger Herwig; 5. From 'Blitzkrieg' to 'total war': Germany's war in Europe Jürgen Förster; 6. Global yet not total: the US war effort and its consequences Dennis Showalter; Part III. Mobilizing Economies: 7. The USSR and total war: why didn't the Soviet economy collapse? Mark Harrison; 8. Blood, sweat, and tears: British mobilization for World War II Stephen Broadberry and Peter Howlett; 9. The impact of compulsory labor on German society at war Hans Mommsen; Part IV. Mobilizing Societies: 10. Fantasy, reality, and modes of perception in Ludendorff's and Goebbels' concepts of 'total war' Martin Kutz; 11. The Home Front in 'total war': women in Germany and Britain in the Second World War Jill Stephenson; 12. Women in the Soviet war effort John Barber; 13. The spirit of St Louis: mobilizing American politics and society 1937-1945 Bernd Greiner; Part V. The War against non-Combatants: 14. Partisan war in the Belorussia, 1941-1944 Hans-Heinrich Nolte; 15. Allied bombing and the destruction of German cities Richard Overy; 16. 'Accidental judgments, casual slaughters': Hiroshima, Nagasaki and total war Robert Messer; Part VI. Criminal War: 17. Sexual violence and its prosecution: courts martial of the Wehrmacht Birgit Beck; 18. Ideologies of difference and the turn to atrocity: Japan's war on China Louise Young; 19. On the road to total retribution? The international debate on the punishment of war crimes, 1872-1945 Daniel Segesser; Conclusion: 20. Some concluding reflections Michael Howard.