The year is 1942, the month is November. The subject of Peter Englund's book is "An Intimate History of the Turning Point of World War II." Mr. Englund, who is based in his native Sweden, features close to 40 people from around the world and what they were doing during that month and year of the war. He writes that: "At the start of that [November] many people still believed that the Axis powers would be victorious. By the end of that month it had become clear that it was only a matter of time before [Germany, Japan, and Italy] would lose."

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices