I was browsing the side-bar book list for antebellum WWII books but it seems like (at least from the title) they're all centered around events developing in Europe.
I've read John Keegan's WWI and WWII military histories and I'm trying to find an equally accessible (or thereabout) history that describes the global development of the climate that led to WWII and uses the end of WWI as a starting point. As for emphasis, I think I'd prefer political/economic/cultural, but honestly any suggestions are welcome.
Thanks!
The Age of Extremes by Eric Hobsbwam has a very good section on Interwar Years, though is a general 20th Century history book. The same is true for Europe After Napoleon by Davis Thompson and Europe in the 20th Century by Richard Vinen.
If you're looking for books on why WW2 started as explained in the context of the interwar years then you'd be better suited reading more specific books, such as Cry Havoc by Joseph Maiolo, which explains the buildup of WW2 from the perspective of the interwar arms buildup from 1931. The Third Reich in Power by Richard J. Evans is also good for a German perspective of rising tensions.
Many books about the build up to war will begin their narrative in the early 1930s, as countries recovered from the Great Depression and we're in a position to start arming themselves again. I'd recommend looking for ranges of specific books about countries and their situations, such as the Spanish Civil War, (for which both The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas and The Battle For Spain by Antony Beevor are good) the Second Sino-Japanese War (on which I personally am less knowledgeable, my apologies), and so on like for France's unpreparedness for war, as an in depth but spread out focus will provide a good overview as to the state of the world and their reasons for war/capitulation.