Reynolds M. Salerno works extensively from French and Italian archival material that has been relatively little used by historians who write primarily in English. The point of view expressed in Vital Crossroads is often different and sometimes provocative. -Paul G. Halpern, Florida State University Vital Crossroads is a remarkable piece of work, one that broadens and deepens our understanding of the origins of the Second World War in very significant ways. The subject Salerno tackles is complex and multifaceted. Drawing on an extraordinary range of source materials, he pulls the different elements of the story together effectively and elegantly. -Marc Trachtenberg, University of California Los Angeles This is the way international history should be written. Using a wide variety of multinational archives, Salerno throws a powerful and penetrating light on the way in which the Anglo-French-Italian rivalry in the Mediterranean led to the outbreak and spread of the Second World War. -Zara Steiner, Emeritus Fellow, New Hall, Cambridge University Salerno's study is a significant step forward in the effort to make works of international history just that-international. Perhaps his greatest success is to demonstrate just how much a truly international study can tell us about the international system. -Andrew Barros, University of Quebec, H-France Book Reviews, Sept. 2003 It is full of thoughtful asides and provocative conclusions, and offers the basis for an important debate about appeasement. . . Salerno's emphasis on the importance of the Mediterranean and of the ambiguities of policy towards Italy is salutary. -Jeremy Black, Journal of European Studies, XXXII (2003). Reynolds Salerno reminds us how, in the late 1930s, Benito Mussolini extended the theater of conflict from Europe to North Africa, notwithstanding the fact that Italy didn't enter the war till nine months later. -Tim Boxer, 16 Minutes Magazine, 6/20/03. This excellent book effectively counters those who seek to rehabilitate the reputation of Chamberlain or who attempt to raise Mussolini from a self-deluded thug to the level of European statesman. -Alexander De Grand, North Carolina State University. International History Review, June 2003. Reynolds Salerno has demonstrated that Anglo-French thinking regarding the European continent was always influenced by their assumptions concerning Italian aims in the Mediterranean and how Italy could affect their own interests in that region, on which a lengthy global war would depend. Vital Crossroads is based on an exhaustive reading of British, French, and Italian diplomatic, military, and naval records. It does not provide singular arguments so much as an enriched perspective, but as such, it is an important and welcome study. -Norman Goda, Ohio University, Athens. Military History Vol. 67:3, July 2003 Drawing on an impressive array of materials, Salerno argues that Mussolini's actions effectively drove a wedge between Britain and France, the former pushing relentlessly for appeasement of Italy at French expense, the latter, with some exceptions, urging a tough line toward the Duce. These are important arguments; more controversial will be Salerno's insistence that contradictory interpretations of the Italian threat paralyzed British and French efforts to resist Hitler. . . . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above. -Choice, April 2003, Vol. 40, No. 8