Extraordinarily powerful and mesmerising - there is a haunting intimacy and immediacy about these recovered letters, documents and images that opens a window directly into the past, vividly summoning the darkest days but also the greatest courage and endurance and the fascinating quirks and passions of human nature in war.

It is a remarkable treasure trove, beautifully assembled, and a snapshot testimony to the incredible breadth and extent over which the war was fought and experienced first-hand.

WORDS OF WAR is a unique collection of letters, diaries, newspaper reports and speeches that encapsulate both the ordinary and iconic moments and theatres of the Second World War. The head of the world-famous Imperial War Museum's archives, Anthony Richards, has chosen one hundred original pieces of history, each related to a key moment, battle, theme or person, covering all theatres from both sides: a letter from a soldier heading to France in 1940; a young BBC secretary writing home to her mother describing the Blitz; an American naval rating witnessing the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor; a soldier of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad sending one last note to his sweetheart in Germany; and the heart-wrenching letter of condolence by the pilot of a Lancaster bomber to the mother of his dead tail-gunner. While each entry within the book can be read and appreciated in its own right, the series of correspondence when taken together provides a first-hand narrative of the entire conflict across the globe. The IWM's documents collection is the largest of its kind in the world with regard to personal testimony, and combined with its curatorial expertise WORDS OF WAR is a true reflection of the course of the Second World War by those who actually witnessed, fought and survived it. Lavishly illustrated with primary-sourced material, it is a unique piece of history that anyone interested in this global conflict will want to read.