The Hidden Victims

Civilian Casualties of the Two World Wars

Cormac Ó Gráda

$220.95 $176.85

Hardback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We then advise you accordingly. If the time taken to get any book is too long for you, you can let us know and we will cancel or adjust your order, and refund as required.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Princeton University Press
01 January 2025

First World War; Second World War; Political science & theory; Economic history; International law

Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World

A staggering new account of the civilian death toll of the world wars

and what it reveals about the true nature and cost of modern war.

Soldiers have never been the only casualties of wars. But the armies that fought World Wars I and II killed far more civilians than soldiers as they countenanced or deliberately inflicted civilian deaths on a mass scale. By one reputable estimate, 9.7 million civilians and 9 million combatants died in World War I, while World War II killed 25.5 million civilians and 15 million combatants. But in The Hidden Victims, Cormac

Grda argues that even these shocking numbers are almost certainly too low. Carefully evaluating all the evidence available, he estimates that the wars cost not 35 million but some 65 million civilian lives

nearly two-thirds of the 100 million total killed. Indeed, he shows that war-induced famines alone may have killed 30 million people, making them the single largest cause of death.

The Hidden Victims is the first book to attempt to measure and describe the full scale of civilian deaths during the world wars, from all causes, including genocide, starvation, aerial bombardment, and disease. While nations went to great lengths to record military casualties, they often didn't count or deliberately obscured civilian deaths. Getting the numbers right is important. It reveals much about the true human costs of the wars, the nature of modern warfare, and the failure of efforts to stop civilian casualties. It also makes it possible to argue with those who try to deny, minimize, or exaggerate wartime savagery.

By: Cormac Ó Gráda
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691258751
ISBN 10: 0691258759
Series: The Princeton Economic History of the Western World
Pages: 520
Publication Date: 01 January 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Cormac Grda is an Irish economic historian and professor emeritus at University College Dublin. His many books include Famine: A Short History and Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory (both Princeton).

Reviews for The Hidden Victims: Civilian Casualties of the Two World Wars

""First-rate. . . . This important book will make my best non-fiction of the year list.""---Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution ""A work of great moral as well as of historical importance. One of Ireland’s greatest historians scrupulously sifts the evidence from the first and second World Wars and their ‘collateral damage’ of genocide, famine, aerial bombing and disease. . . .The resonances for the present are profound: this book is a potent warning against amnesia and evasion.""---Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times ""A timely publication. . . . Ó Gráda’s formidable talent as an economic historian brings us an extremely valuable and accessible work which is about more than numbers for the sake of numbers.""---Laurence Marley, The Irish Times ""[The Hidden Victims] is a valuable book for scholars of the World Wars who take the time and effort to immerse themselves in this study. . . . Highly recommended."" * Choice *