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Books > Humanities > History > World history > From 1900 > Second World War
Who was the enigmatic Jean Moulin, a man as skilled in deception as
he was in acts of heroism? The memory of this French Resistance
hero, who was betrayed to the Gestapo and tortured by Klaus Barbie,
the infamous 'Butcher of Lyon', is revered alongside that of other
national icons. But Moulin's story is full of unanswered questions
and the truth of his life is far more complicated than the legend.
Patrick Marnham, winner of the Marsh Prize for biography,
thrillingly tells the epic story of France's greatest war hero,
bringing to light the shadowy and often deceitful world of the
French Resistance, and offers a shocking conclusion to one of the
great unsolved mysteries of World War II.
'A vastly entertaining tale, bursting with astonishing stories and
extraordinary characters ... A fascinating read' Sunday Telegraph
'Brilliant ... An amazing story, one I hadn't heard too much about'
Dan Snow IT IS THE DEPTHS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR. The Germans like
to boast that there is 'no escape' from the infamous fortress that
is Colditz. The elite British officers imprisoned there are
determined to prove the Nazis wrong and get back into the war. As
the war heats up and the stakes are raised, the Gestapo plant a
double-agent inside the prison in a bid to uncover the secrets of
the British prisoners. Captain Julius Green of the Army Dental
Corps and Sergeant John 'Busty' Brown must risk their lives in a
bid to save the lives of hundreds of Allied servicemen and protect
the secrets of MI9. Drawn from unseen records, The Traitor of
Colditz brings to light an extraordinary, never-before-told story
from the Second World War, an epic tale of how MI9 took on the
Nazis and exposed the traitors in their midst.
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND "NEW YORK TIMES" BESTSELLER In the
first volume of his monumental trilogy about the liberation of
Europe in WW II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the
riveting story of the war in North Africa
The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is
a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and
miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy,
Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the
ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great
drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first
year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the
moment when the United States began to act like a great power.
Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An
Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight
the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and
Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and
sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting
force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible
commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower,
Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.
Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and vivid insights,
Atkinson's narrative provides the definitive history of the war in
North Africa.
When Julia Child arrived in Paris in 1948, 'a six-foot-two-inch,
thirty-six-year-old, rather loud and unserious Californian', she
barely spoke a word of French and didn't know the first thing about
cooking. As she fell in love with French culture - buying food at
local markets, sampling the local bistros, and taking classes at
the Cordon Bleu - her life began to change forever. We follow her
extraordinary transformation from kitchen ingenue to
internationally renowned (and internationally loved) expert in
French cuisine. Bursting with Child's adventurous and humorous
spirit, My Life in France captures post-war Paris with wonderful
vividness and charm.
On 19 February 1942 the Japanese air force bombed Darwin. Whilst
this fact is well known, very few people know exactly what
happened. Timothy Hall was the first writer to be given acess to
all the official reports of the time and as a result he has been
able to reveal exactly what happened on that dreadful day - a day
which Sir Paul Hasluck (17th Governor-General of Australia) later
described as 'a day of national shame'. The sequence of events in
Darwin that day certainly did not reflect the military honour that
the War Cabinet wanted people to believe. On the contrary, for what
really happened was a combination of chaos, panic and, in many
cases, cowardice on an unprecented scale.
'Outstanding. Heartstopping. Brilliant. A story that scorches the
page, searing in its honesty and profoundly moving in its emotional
impact. The characters reach out to you and challenge your
preconceptions in this testament to a tragic chapter of history
that moved me to tears. It holds up a dark and shocking mirror to
our world, yet ultimately it is a triumphant tale of light within
darkness. This is an important, powerful novel that everyone should
read' KATE FURNIVALL SHE CAN'T HAVE A FUTURE UNTIL SHE HAS A PAST.
1944 LEO STERN arrives at the Nazi camp at Borek with his wife
Irena and his two daughters. The Sterns are spared from the gas
chamber when they witness a murder. But in a place that humanity
has deserted, Leo is forced to make unimaginable choices to try to
keep his family alive. 1961 For seventeen years, Hanna has been
unable to remember her identity and how she was separated from her
family at the end of the war, until the discovery of a letter among
her late uncle's possessions reveals her real name - HANNA STERN -
and leads her to Berlin in search of her lost past. Helped by
former lover Peter, Hanna begins to piece together the shocking
final days of Borek. But Hanna isn't the only one with an interest
in the camp, and lurking in the shadows is someone who would prefer
Hanna's history to remain silent. Based on in-depth research and
beautifully written, this a novel of memory and identity, and the
long shadow of war. 'Taking the reader from the atmospheric
Fenlands of Cambridgeshire to the ghost-filled forests of wartime
Poland and finally into Cold War-era Berlin, The Silent Child is a
thought-provoking and compelling novel about the long-lasting
aftershocks of war. This is great storytelling, full of mysteries
and twists, epic in its sweep, but precise and respectful in its
historical details. J. G. Kelly's vividly evoked scenes will stay
with me for a long time' CAROLINE SCOTT 'This book was such a
beautifully written book that will stay with me for a long time.
The storyline was emotive and heart wrenching and the characters
were well developed and have a special place in my heart. I didn't
want this book to end. Nothing I could say would do this book
justice, I cannot recommend this book enough' Reader review 'It's
beautifully written with a story that draws you in so quickly, it's
very well researched and heartbreakingly realistic. A book I wanted
and needed to finish. The sort of book everyone should read. The
most compelling book I've read this year' Reader review 'Utterly
impossible for me to put down. A heartbreaking story... I found I
had devoured the entire book in just one sitting... I have loved
this book so much, I wish I could give it five hundred stars. All I
can say is "WOW - read it. You won't be disappointed' Reader review
'I was engrossed in the story. The author has done tremendous
research about the war and did a good job of drawing the reader
into the story' Reader review
The world of the 2020s is one where instability, war and societal
breakup seem close. But, surely, we have learnt the lessons of the
past? Surely, peace will continue? Are you sure? Do you even know
what causes wars? Mike Martin argues that we don't understand what
causes violence and conflict, let alone how to go about solving
these problems. But there is a way to make sense of war and
society: linking the evolution of our brains with our history of
social development, 'Why We Fight' shows how political dynamics,
violence between individuals and, above all, war between groups are
all caused by deep-seated, unconscious urges to seek status and
belonging. Weaving together evolution, personal experiences of war,
and more than a decade of studying conflicts around the world, 'Why
We Fight' will change the way you think about society, about war,
and about yourself. It is a blueprint for the turbulent 2020s.
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER One of NPR's "Books We Love" of 2021
Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography
Winner of the Christopher Award "Masterly. An epic story of four
Japanese-American families and their sons who volunteered for
military service and displayed uncommon heroism... Propulsive and
gripping, in part because of Mr. Brown's ability to make us care
deeply about the fates of these individual soldiers...a
page-turner." - Wall Street Journal From the #1 New York Times
bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat, a gripping World War II
saga of patriotism and resistance, focusing on four Japanese
American men and their families, and the contributions and
sacrifices that they made for the sake of the nation. In the days
and months after Pearl Harbor, the lives of Japanese Americans
across the continent and Hawaii were changed forever. In this
unforgettable chronicle of war-time America and the battlefields of
Europe, Daniel James Brown portrays the journey of Rudy Tokiwa,
Fred Shiosaki, and Kats Miho, who volunteered for the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team and were deployed to France, Germany, and
Italy, where they were asked to do the near impossible. Brown also
tells the story of these soldiers' parents, immigrants who were
forced to submit to life in concentration camps on U.S. soil. Woven
throughout is the chronicle of Gordon Hirabayashi, one of a cadre
of patriotic resisters who stood up against their government in
defense of their own rights. Whether fighting on battlefields or in
courtrooms, these were Americans under unprecedented strain, doing
what Americans do best-striving, resisting, pushing back, rising
up, standing on principle, laying down their lives, and enduring.
The most complete portrait ever drawn of the complex emotional connection between two of history’s towering leaders
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were the greatest leaders of “the Greatest Generation.” In Franklin and Winston, Jon Meacham explores the fascinating relationship between the two men who piloted the free world to victory in World War II. It was a crucial friendship, and a unique one—a president and a prime minister spending enormous amounts of time together (113 days during the war) and exchanging nearly two thousand messages. Amid cocktails, cigarettes, and cigars, they met, often secretly, in places as far-flung as Washington, Hyde Park, Casablanca, and Teheran, talking to each other of war, politics, the burden of command, their health, their wives, and their children.
Born in the nineteenth century and molders of the twentieth and twenty-first, Roosevelt and Churchill had much in common. Sons of the elite, students of history, politicians of the first rank, they savored power. In their own time both men were underestimated, dismissed as arrogant, and faced skeptics and haters in their own nations—yet both magnificently rose to the central challenges of the twentieth century. Theirs was a kind of love story, with an emotional Churchill courting an elusive Roosevelt. The British prime minister, who rallied his nation in its darkest hour, standing alone against Adolf Hitler, was always somewhat insecure about his place in FDR’s affections—which was the way Roosevelt wanted it. A man of secrets, FDR liked to keep people off balance, including his wife, Eleanor, his White House aides—and Winston Churchill. Confronting tyranny and terror, Roosevelt and Churchill built a victorious alliance amid cataclysmic events and occasionally conflicting interests. Franklin and Winston is also the story of their marriages and their families, two clans caught up in the most sweeping global conflict in history.
Meacham’s new sources—including unpublished letters of FDR’s great secret love, Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd, the papers of Pamela Churchill Harriman, and interviews with the few surviving people who were in FDR and Churchill’s joint company—shed fresh light on the characters of both men as he engagingly chronicles the hours in which they decided the course of the struggle. Hitler brought them together; later in the war, they drifted apart, but even in the autumn of their alliance, the pull of affection was always there. Charting the personal drama behind the discussions of strategy and statecraft, Meacham has written the definitive account of the most remarkable friendship of the modern age.
A little girl is smuggled out of a Jewish ghetto. Two courageous
women. And an inspirational story of survival. In 1941 at the
height of World War II, in a Polish ghetto, a baby girl named
Rachel is born. Her parents, Jacob and Zippa, are willing to do
anything to keep her alive. They nickname her Lalechka. Just before
Lalechka's first birthday, the Nazis begin to systematically murder
everyone in the ghetto. Her father understands that staying in the
ghetto will mean certain death for his child. In both desperation
and hope, Lalechka's parents decide to save their daughter, no
matter the cost. Zippa smuggles her outside the boundaries of the
ghetto where her Polish friends, Irena and Sophia, are waiting. She
entrusts their beloved Lalechka to them and returns to the ghetto
to remain with her husband and parents - unaware of the fate that
awaits her. Irena and Sophia take on the burden of caring for
Lalechka during the war, pretending she is part of their family
despite the grave danger of being discovered and executed.
Holocaust Child is based on the unique journal written by Zippa
during the annihilation of the ghetto, as well as on interviews
with key figures in the story, rare documents, and authentic
letters. It is a story of hope in the face of terror.
Stephen Bungay' s magisterial history is acclaimed as the account
of the Battle of Britain. Unrivalled for its synthesis of all
previous historical accounts, for the quality of its strategic
analysis and its truly compulsive narrative, this is a book
ultimately distinguished by its conclusions - that it was the
British in the Battle who displayed all the virtues of efficiency,
organisation and even ruthlessness we habitually attribute to the
Germans, and they who fell short in their amateurism,
ill-preparedness, poor engineering and even in their old-fashioned
notions of gallantry. An engrossing read for the military scholar
and the general reader alike, this is a classic of military history
that looks beyond the mythology, to explore all the tragedy and
comedy; the brutality and compassion of war.
When Erwin Rommel died--by forced suicide at Hitler's command--he
left behind in various ingenious hiding places the papers that
recorded the story of his dramatic career and the exact details of
his masterly campaigns. It was his custom to dictate each evening a
running narrative of the day's events and, after each battle, to
summarize its course and the lessons to be learned from it. He
wrote, almost daily, intimate and outspoken letters to his wife in
which his private feelings and--after the tide had
turned--forebodings found expression. To this is added by Rommel's
son Manfred the story of the field marshall's last weeks and the
final day when he was given the choice of an honorable suicide or
an ignominious trial for treason. An engrossing human document and
a rare look at the mind of the "Desert Fox," "The Rommel Papers"
throws an interesting light on the Axis alliance and on the inner
workings of Hitler's high command.
From an acclaimed military historian, the interlocking lives of
three of the most important and consequential generals in World War
II Born in the two decades prior to World War I, George Patton,
Bernard Montgomery, and Erwin Rommel became among the most
recognized and successful military leaders of the 20th century.
However, as acclaimed military historian Lloyd Clark reveals in his
penetrating and insightful braided chronicle of their lives, they
charted very different, often interrupted, paths to their ultimate
leadership positions commanding hundreds of thousands of troops
during World War II and celebrated as heroes in the United States,
Britain, and Germany.Patton was born into a military family and
from an early age felt he was destined for glory; following a
disjointed childhood, Montgomery found purpose and direction in a
military academy; Rommel's father was a former officer, so his
pursuit of a military career was logical. Having ascended to the
middle ranks, each faced battle for the first time in World War I,
a searing experience that greatly influenced their future approach
to war and leadership. When war broke out again in 1939, Montgomery
and Rommel were immediately engaged, while Patton chafed until the
U.S. joined the Allies in 1942 and the three men, by then generals,
collided in North Africa in 1943, and then again, climactically, in
France after D-Day in 1944.Weaving letters, diary extracts,
official reports, and other documents into his original narrative,
recounting dramatic battles as they developed on the ground and at
headquarters, Clark also explores the controversies that swirled
around Patton, Montgomery, and Rommel throughout their careers,
sometimes threatening to derail them. Ultimately, however, their
unique abilities to bridge the space between leader and led
cemented their legendary reputations.
An astonishing tale of romance, resistance and bravery 'A sad and
beautiful book, shining a light on quiet heroism in dark times.'
Lucy Adlington, New York Times bestselling author of The
Dressmakers of Auschwitz Sabine's War is the previously untold
story of a remarkable resistance fighter and her incredible story
of survival against the odds. When Germany invaded Holland in May
1940, Sabine Zuur joined the resistance movement without a moment's
hesitation aged just 22. Helping to hide those avoiding the German
authorities, she was soon betrayed and subjected to repeated
violent interrogations. Many of her friends were executed but
Sabine was instead sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp, via
the Amersfoort and Ravensbruck camps. Enduring gruelling conditions
and backbreaking forced manual labour, she survived through a
combination of guile and good fortune. But it was only after
Sabine's death that her daughter Eva discovered an archive of
letters detailing her extraordinary life, revealing a rich inner
world and a past she had discussed little. Amongst them were
declarations of love from pilot Taro, shot down in his Spitfire
over northern France aged just 26; notes from Sabine's second love
Gerard, executed by the Germans; letters to her mother smuggled out
in her prison laundry; and passionate, creepy missives from a
German professional criminal named Gebele who would ultimately save
Sabine's life. She emerges from this correspondence as a woman with
an indefinable aura, somehow in control of her own destiny even
when to all intents and purposes she was not. A transfixing story
of survival, Sabine's War captures a remarkable life in the words
of the young woman who lived it.
Al Murray's passion for military history and the Second World War
in particular has always run parallel with his comedy and was
brought to the fore with several acclaimed and award-winning
television shows and the recent huge success of his podcast We Have
Ways of Making You Talk which he hosts with fellow bestselling
military author James Holland. In his first serious narrative book,
Command showcases Al Murray's passion for this pivotal period in
the twentieth century, as he writes an engaging, entertaining and
sharp analysis of the key allied military leaders in the conflict.
Command highlights the performance and careers of some of the
leading protagonists who commanded armies, as well as the
lesser-known officers who led divisions, regiments and even
battalions for the British, Commonwealth and United States of
American armies. By showcasing each combat commander across every
major theatre of operations the allies fought in, Murray tells the
story of how the Western Allies rebounded from early shocking
defeats (Dunkirk and Pearl Harbor) to then victories (El Alamein
and D-Day) in its efforts to defeat the Axis forces of Nazi Germany
and Japan, and what that tells us about the characters and the
challenges that faced them. Command is the book for all fans of
Second World War History who appreciate a true enthusiast of the
genre with something new and compelling to say.
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