Book Review All Against All: The Long Winter of 1933 and the Origins of the Second World War by Paul Jankowski

I'll agree that this is "A narrative [ ], cinematic in scope, of a process." But a history it is not. A proper history is analytical - why and not just what happened. "Delusions of nationalism" is an assertion, not analysis. Overall, the text is merely descriptive, no more so than when he devotes a paragraph to actress Jeanette MacDonald's impression of the appearance of German delegate (and rabid nationalist) Alfred Hugenberg at the 1933 London World Economic Conference.

The narrative itself is crippled by the author's style, which employs a muddled grammar (notably far too many indefinite referents) and odd metaphors that leaves a turgid account, one that had me reading the same sentence or paragraph over and over again until I finally fished out his meaning - or, too often, gave up and moved on.

His discussions of diplomacy are ill-founded. He asserts that the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, a backdrop to the disarmament discussions a decade later in Geneva, resulted from an aspirational verging on delusional attachment to disarmament, and necessitated the concurrent agreement guaranteeing security in China. At no point does the author note that no naval power of the time could afford the fleets they had in being and far less the extravagant armadas being built, that naval disarmament was an economic imperative.

As with understanding of diplomatic motivations, his discussion of diplomatic process is lacking. On the World Economic Conference of 1933, Jankowski states that FDR “never sought authority” from Congress to discuss war debts and tariffs. That's not how it works: the US Executive does not need “Congressional Authority” to discuss an issue, or even enter into negotiations. Congress is involved if the resulting agreement requires legislation to implement, or takes the form of a treaty require Senate consent. Even here, the author later restates the obstacle as instructions to the US delegation to not “sign” agreements without "congressional scrutiny.” And indeed, the author turns to discussions led by the UK and US central banks, in which participated seven other countries, which did reach an agreement including from the US delegation for referral to capitals.

Not worthless, but not worth the time it took to read. It's certainly not The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914 by Christopher Clark.