It will probably just be easier and more effective and more efficient to add a nice radial shadow to an image sprite and change the location of the background image on hover.
The simplest solution would be to add an appropriate background-color, but that would only work when you need an offset of 0 0, like your example. The more general case would be to create a pseudo-element and apply the shadow and background color to that. I can describe this in more detail if the first idea doesn't apply to your case.
I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.