Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders:
Author and Former UNC Professor Gerhard Weinberg
Shares his Comparative Look at World War II's Leaders
On North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, November 13, at 5 PM

Gerhard Weinberg's Visions of Victory: The Hopes of Eight World War II Leaders explores the views of the eight leaders of the major powers during World War II- Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Chiang Kai-shek, Stalin, Churchill, de Gaulle, and Roosevelt-and compares their visions of the future.

On the final episode of this season's North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, November 13, at 5 PM only on UNC-TV, Weinberg shares with host DG Martin what each leader envisioned as a postwar world, including Hitler's intent for Germans to inhabit all of Eastern Europe, Mussolini's intent to have extensive colonies in Africa, Churchill's hope to see the re-emergence of the British and French empires, De Gaulle's desire to annex the northwest corner of Italy, Stalin's wish to control Eastern Europe and Roosevelt's realistic vision to establish the United Nations.

Astonishing in its synthesis and scope, Weinberg's comparison of the individual portraits of the wartime leaders culminates into a highly original and compelling study of history that might have been.

"One of the things that motivated me to write this book was that no one had done this before," admits Weinberg. "Nobody has looked at the eight World War II leaders in any kind of comparative basis; specifically at what they hoped to do and what they thought they were doing assuming they won the War."

This comparative study includes enlightening insights into the relationships between both the Allies and Axis powers during World War II, including the conflicting goals within the partnership between World War II compatriots, Hitler and Mussolini.

"In the short term, Hitler was quite prepared for Mussolini to have what he had dreamed of.but, Mussolini never understood that the long-term aims of Germany were incompatible with the independence and existence of what he hoped for," says Weinberg. "The second World War was fundamentally different from the first and was not a struggle for colonies, raw materials, and so on, but for domination of the globe, and that is something Mussolini never understood. While there is a great deal of literature on World War II with an emphasis on the arguments between the United States and Britain, Britain and Russia, and Russia and the United States, I think what we tend to overlook is that the relations between the Allies was harmony itself compared to the relations between the Axis powers."

Gerhard L. Weinberg, a former William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History at UNC-Chapel Hill, is one of the world's leading authorities on Adolf Hitler. Weinberg is also an expert on modern Germany, modern diplomatic history and World War II. His historical books have been awarded the George Louis Beer Prize of the American Historical Association, the Halverson Prize of the Western Association for German Studies, the 1995 Distinguished Book Award of the Society for Military History, and the 1994 Herbert Hoover Book Award. In 1996, Weinberg was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Don't miss DG Martin's exclusive interview with author Gerhard Weinberg on North Carolina Bookwatch, Sunday, November 13, at 5 PM, only on UNC-TV!

During this season of North Carolina Bookwatch, guests also include: Shannon Ravenel (New Stories from the South, 2005), Emily Herring Wilson (No One Gardens Alone), Randall Kenan (Walking On Water), Ann B. Ross (Miss Julia's School Of Beauty), Lawrence Earley (Looking for Longleaf), Peter Perret (A Well-Tempered Mind), Timothy Tyson (Blood Done Sign My Name), Moreton Neal (Remembering Bill Neal), Quinn Dalton (Bulletproof Girl), Henry Petroski (Pushing the Limits), Bill Morris (Saltwater Cowboys), Amy Tiemann (Mojo Mom), Robert Irwin (Robert Irwin 40 Years),  Tommy Hays (The Pleasure was Mine),  Mary Kay Andrews (Hissy Fit),  Jerry Shinn (Loonis: Celebrating a Lyrical Life ), (If You Want Me to Stay), Michael Parker (If You Want Me to Stay), Lawrence Naumoff (A Southern Tragedy in Crimson and Yellow) and Martha Witt (Broken As Things Are).

Funding for North Carolina Bookwatch is provided by UNC-TV members and by Quail Ridge Books and Music, Raleigh's independent, full service bookstore, bringing readers and writers together since 1984.

North Carolina Bookwatch is part of UNC-TV's ongoing commitment to produce programs for and about North Carolina. UNC-TV is the statewide 11-station broadcast network of the University of North Carolina. For more information, please visit www.unctv.org/ncbookwatch.

For more information about North Carolina Bookwatch and UNC-TV's other local productions, please visit our website at www.unctv.org.

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