Second World War Books

Book Synopsis‘The best biography I’ve read recently’ – Colin Bateman, Sunday Independent An excellent examination of Mayne… Ross corrects many of the myths about him that have flourished over the years - History of War magazine ‘This welcome reassessment, officially backed and well-researched, sets the record straight’ – Soldier Magazine‘Paddy’ Mayne was one of the most outstanding special forces leaders of the Second World War. Hamish Ross’s authoritative study follows Mayne from solicitor and rugby international to troop commander in the Commandos and then the SAS, whose leader he later became and whose annals he graced, winning the DSO and three bars, the Croix de Guerre and the Légion d’Honneur.Mayne’s achievements attracted attention, and after his early death legends emerged, based largely on anecdote and assertion. Hamish Ross’s closely researched biography challenges much of the received version, using contemporary sources, the official war diaries, the chronicle of 1 SAS, Mayne’s papers and diaries, and a number of extended interviews with key contemporaries.Ross’s analysis shows Mayne to be a dynamic, yet principled and thoughtful man, committed to the unit’s original concepts. He was far from flawless, but his leadership and tactical brilliance in the field secured the reputation of the SAS, proving he was every bit a rogue hero.Trade ReviewThe best biography I’ve read recently -- Colin BatemanThis welcome reassessment, officially backed and well-researched, sets the record straightAn excellent examination of Mayne… Ross corrects many of the myths about him that have flourished over the years.” * History of War magazine *

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Book SynopsisNamed One of the 10 Best Books of 2023 by The Washington Post and Publishers Weekly ? One of Barack Obama''s Favorite Books of 2023 ? A National Bestseller ? A New York Times Editor''s Choice pick ? Nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction?Captivating and unclassifiable, at once a historical novel and a philosophical foray . . . Labatut is awriter of thrilling originality. The MANIAC is a work of dark, eerie and singular beauty.? ?The Washington Post ?Darkly absorbing . . . A brooding, heady narrative that is addictively interesting.? ?Wall Street Journal From one of contemporary literature?s most exciting new voices, a haunting story centered on the Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, tracing the impact of his singular legacy on the dreams and nightmares of the twentieth century and the nascent age of AIBenjamínLabatut?s When We Cease to Understand the World electrified a global readership. A Booker Prize and National Book Award finalist, and one of the New York Times? Ten Best Books of the Year, it explored the life and thought of a clutch of mathematicians and physicists who took science to strange and sometimes dangerous new realms. In The MANIAC, Labatut has created a tour de force on an even grander scale.A prodigy whose gifts terrified the people around him, John von Neumann transformed every field he touched, inventing game theory and the first programable computer, and pioneering AI, digital life, and cellular automata. Through a chorus of family members, friends, colleagues, and rivals, Labatut shows us the evolution of a mind unmatched and of a body of work that has unmoored the world in its wake.The MANIAC places von Neumann at the center of a literary triptych that begins with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who fell into despair when he saw science and technology become tyrannical forces; it ends a hundred years later, in the showdown between the South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, an encounter embodying the central question of von Neumann''s most ambitious unfinished project: the creation of a self-reproducing machine, an intelligence able to evolve beyond human understanding or control.A work of beauty and fabulous momentum, The MANIAC confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species.

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Book SynopsisSHUT UP & SIT DOWN RECOMMENDSBGG GOLDEN GEEK AWARD-WINNERThe critically acclaimed, multi-award-winning World War II deck-building game.June, 1944. Through the D-Day landings, the Allies have seized a foothold on the beaches of Normandy. Now you must lead your troops forward as you push deeper into France and drive the German forces back. You will face intense resistance, machine gun fire, and mortar bombardment, but a great commander can turn the situation to their advantage!Undaunted: Normandy is the best-selling World War II deck-building game, placing you and your opponent in command of American or German forces fighting through a series of missions critical to the outcome of the war. Use your cards to seize the initiative, bolster your forces, or control your troops on the battlefield. Strong leadership can turn the tide of battle in your favour, but reckless decisions could prove catastrophic, as every casualty you take re

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Book SynopsisAn expert visual history of military personnel, with 600 images of uniforms and contextual analysis.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA MAIL ON SUNDAY AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAR. The little-known true story of the woman who headed the largest spy network in Vichy France during World War II. In 1941, a thirty-one-year-old Frenchwoman, a young mother born to privilege and known for her beauty and glamour, became the leader of Alliance, a vast Resistance organisation — the only woman to hold such a role. Brave, independent, and a lifelong rebel against her country’s conservative, patriarchal society, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade was temperamentally made for the job. No other French spy network lasted as long or supplied as much crucial intelligence as Alliance — and as a result, the Gestapo pursued its members relentlessly, capturing, torturing, and executing hundreds of its three thousand agents, including Fourcade’s own lover and many of her key spies. Fourcade herself lived on the run and was captured twice by the Nazis. Both times she managed to escape. Though so many of her agents died defending their country, Fourcade survived the occupation to become active in post-war French politics. Now, in a dramatic account of the war that split France in two and forced its people to live side by side with their hated German occupiers, Lynne Olson tells the fascinating story of a woman who stood up for her nation, her fellow citizens, and herself.Trade Review‘In this deeply researched book, American journalist Lynne Olson tells the story of this extraordinary and overlooked heroine … a splendid biography.’ -- Kathryn Hughes * The Mail on Sunday *‘Fast-paced and impressively researched … Olson writes with verve and a historian’s authority … With this gripping tale, Lynne Olson pays [Marie-Madeleine Fourcade] what history has so far denied her. France, slow to confront the stain of Vichy, would do well to finally honor a fighter most of us want in our foxhole.’ * The New York Times Book Review *‘If Lynne Olson had set out to write a novel, she could not have come up with a more fascinating character than Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, the glamorous young woman who led the largest French spy network in World War II. This is a case where fact is far more riveting than fiction. Olson chronicles Fourcade’s extraordinary story with her customary eye for every revealing detail and every breathtakingly dangerous twist.’ -- Andrew Nagorski, author of Hitlerland, The Nazi Hunters, and The Year Germany Lost the War‘Within the pages of this thrilling narrative, Fourcade’s spirit shines through … Madame Fourcade’s Secret War stands out from a crowded field.’ * All About History *‘Brilliantly researched and stylishly written.’ * Military History Monthly *‘This is a stirring story of heroism, charisma, and determination.’ * History Revealed *‘A brilliant, cinematic biography of resistance leader Marie-Madeleine Fourcade ... Olson’s weaving of Fourcade’s diary artfully and liberally into her own writing and her heart-stopping descriptions of Paris, escapes, and internecine warring create a narrative that’s as dramatic as a novel or a film. Olson honours Fourcade’s fight for freedom and her ‘refusal to be silenced’ with a gripping narrative that will thrill WWII history buffs.’ STARRED REVIEW * Publishers Weekly *‘A hell of a yarn … Why the heck have we never heard of [Marie-Madeleine] Fourcade? The only woman to lead a major French resistance network. A woman who in later life was elected to the European Parliament. And who, upon her death in 1989 at the age of seventy-nine, became the first woman to be granted a funeral at Les Invalides, the complex in central Paris where Napoleon Bonaparte and other French military heroes are buried. Olson posits a few possible reasons for Fourcade’s relegation to the footnotes of history. The inescapable one, though, circles back to where we began: her gender.’ * The Washington Post *‘In Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Lynne Olson tells one of the great stories of the French Resistance, a story of one woman’s courage amid great danger, a story of heroism, defiance, and, ultimately, victory.’ -- Alan Furst, author of A Hero in France‘In Madame Fourcade’s Secret War, Lynne Olson is at the top of her game, giving us the renowned beauty and elite French socialite, Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who surprised everyone — including herself, perhaps — by becoming one of the most consequential players in the high-stakes spy game in Nazi-occupied France. Fourcade’s nerve, resolve, and extraordinary inner resources shine and inspire here. A fascinating portrait of uncommon audacity.’ -- Paula McLain, author of Love and Ruin and The Paris Wife‘In the real-life character of Madame Fourcade, Lynne Olson has found a heroine who seems to come tailor-made for the movie screen — she is beautiful, rich, effortlessly elegant, and an absolutely indomitable spy for the ages. Olson’s clear, unadorned writing style and her meticulous marshaling of facts will keep you on the edge of your seat as Fourcade endures psychological and physical hardship in service of her singular goal — to keep France free of fascism. For all of us who have wondered what we would do in a time of crisis, Olson holds up Madame Fourcade and her relentless fight for the French Resistance as a model of how to fight back when faced with unthinkable evil. Fascinating and timely.’ -- Elizabeth Letts, author of The Perfect Horse‘Incredibly absorbing and long-overdue ... This masterfully told true story reads like fiction and will appeal to readers who devour WWII thrillers à la Kristen Hannah’s The Nightingale (2015).’ -- Margaret Flanagan * Booklist *‘Lynne Olson has added yet another brilliant chapter to her vital historical project: documenting the extraordinary efforts of individuals, such as spymaster Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, who helped liberate 20th-century Europe from Nazi occupation. Much like Madame Fourcade herself, Olson goes to great lengths to unearth truth and preserve dignity for those who lived and died during Hitler’s reign of terror — and for that, both the author and her daring subject deserve high praise.’ * Former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright *‘Madame Fourcade’s war should never have been a secret, and it takes a historical sleuth like Lynne Olson to bring it, at last, into glorious light. I read this extraordinary book with wonder and admiration, seeing a movie on every page that was both true to life and somehow bigger than life. The canvas is vast, the characters vibrant, the history we thought we knew suddenly as fresh as tomorrow.’ -- Jay Cocks, screenwriter of The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, and Silence‘As well researched and engrossing as her previous books, showcasing her adroit ability to weave personal narratives, political intrigue, and wartime developments to tell a riveting story, Olson’s latest is highly recommended to readers interested in World War II, the history of espionage, women’s history, and European history.’ STARRED REVIEW * Library Journal *‘Lynne Olson is a gifted author and her books about the Allies in World War II are carefully researched and compulsively readable … Thankfully, a new generation of writers is expanding our knowledge of individuals whose roles in World War II deserve more attention.’ * The Christian Science Monitor *‘A comprehensive, often exciting narrative ... [Olson’s] solid descriptive passages help re-create the tension and anxiety Fourcade and her friends felt as they risked everything to save France ... The author brings into the spotlight a woman whose courage and endurance helped shape history yet whose full story had not yet been told. “For several decades following the war,” writes the author, “histories of the French resistance, which were written almost exclusively by men, largely ignored the contributions of women.” Olson rectifies that omission. An engaging, informative addition to World War II history.’ * Kirkus Reviews *‘Marie-Madeleine Fourcade has largely slipped from popular memory, but during World War II she led the largest spy network in Vichy France ... Olson’s very readable account charts Fourcade’s progress from socialite to leader of a vast resistance movement, and reflects on the irreparable divisions caused by the war.’ -- Jeff Popple * Canberra Weekly *‘This is very well written, it creates almost a fast-paced novel as her exploits get more and more strained … A splendid book indeed, which heartily proves that women are more than capable of maintaining a strong position in a male-dominated world and making it work extremely well at the same time.’ -- Reg Seward * NB Magazine *‘Olson has written a lively and compelling account of a woman who deserves to be remembered and honoured.’ * Military Book History *Praise for Citizens of London: ‘An excellent and revealing chronicle.’ * Booklist *Praise for Last Hope Island: ‘[A] pointed volume … [Olson] tells a great story and has a fine eye for character.’ * The Boston Globe *Praise for Last Hope Island: ‘Exhilarating and epic.’ * The Mail on Sunday *

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Book SynopsisExtraordinary times. Extraordinary courage.Here, from the bestselling author of The Great Escape, are eight true and startling escape stories from the Second World War.The heroism of the servicemen who dared to defy their captors in this volume is matched only by that of the underground movements and ordinary civilians who helped the escapees in these stories of daring, invention and doggedness against the odds.From the account of the Spitfire pilot left for dead by an execution squad in Sicily to the story of the air gunner forced to blag his way across the Baltic, every one is an unputdownable classic.‘As long as there are prisons men will try to escape from them; and as long as there is an RAF it will bring to the problems of escape the qualities of high resource, pure cussedness and that indefinable, damnably annoying refusal to lie down when dead, of which all the stories in this book are such excellent - and, I think, such exciting - examples.’ H.E. Bates

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestsellerOne of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings' DAILY MAILIn August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs, the island fortress' must be saved. This was not merely a matter of strategy, but of national prestige, when Britain's fortunes and morale had fallen to their lowest ebb.The largest fleet the Royal Navy committed to any operation of the western war was assembled to escort fourteen fast merchantmen across a thousand of miles of sea defended by six hundred German and Italian aircraft, together with packs of U-boats and torpedo craft. The Mediterranean battles that ensued between 11 and 15 August were the most brutal of Britain's war at sea, embracing four aircraft-carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, scores of destroyers and smaller craft. The losses were aTrade Review The #1 Times bestseller and #3 Sunday Times bestseller (May 2021) ‘Over this past year of pandemic, we’ve lost so much. People have died, great institutions have gone under, life itself seems permanently altered. Yet one certainty remains: Max Hastings still churns out military histories, and they continue to be outstanding. This book like all the others … is a cracker. With his usual combination of sensitivity to human suffering and superb dramatic instinct, Hastings has given us a gripping tale …The immediacy of this book obliterates the cold detachment that time’s passage usually allows … We feel in our bones torpedoes hitting home … the four-day ordeal British sailors endured … is a drama superbly told …The delight lies in the detail, the percussive power of tiny facts …is what makes Hastings such a superb storyteller’The Times ‘Superb … as ever Hastings gives excellent pen portraits of the personalities involved … Hastings has written many wonderful books … but few combine so well his unique gifts as a historian: an understanding of human nature, a nose for a telling quotation, and the ability to write gripping prose’Sunday Telegraph ‘The white-knuckle ride of Hastings’s gripping narrative … is a high-octane adventure served up with torpedoes, Stuka dive bombers and catastrophic U-boat attacks … heart-stirring …memorable … and highly readable’Sunday Times ‘One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings’Daily Mail ‘Veteran military historian Hastings’ first full-length narrative of war at sea measures up to his usual high standards … Vividly chronicling the sinking of the aircraft carrier Eagle, Hastings initiates 250 pages of gripping fireworks and insights … Another enthralling Hastings must-read’Kirkus, starred review

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Book Synopsis''Meticulous... Probably the most disturbing portrait of Hitler I have ever read'' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday TimesBy the summer of 1939 Hitler was at the zenith of his power. Yet despite initial triumphs in the early stages of war, the Führer''s fortunes would turn dramatically as the conflict raged on. Realising that victory was lost, and with Soviet troops closing in on his Berlin bunker, Hitler committed suicide in April 1945; one week later, Nazi Germany surrendered. His murderous ambitions had not only annihilated his own country, but had cost the lives of millions across Europe. In the final volume of this landmark biography, Volker Ullrich argues that the very qualities - and the defects - that accounted for Hitler''s popularity and rise to power were what brought about his ruin. A keen strategist and meticulous military commander, he was also a deeply insecure gambler who could be shaken by the smallest setback, and was quick to blame subTrade ReviewSmoothly written and splendidly translated, Ullrich’s book gives us a Hitler we have not seen before, at once cold-blooded and idealistic, chillingly narcissistic and cloyingly sentimental. And precisely because he seems so much like the rest of us, it is probably the most disturbing portrait of Hitler I have ever read -- Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *Ullrich is a fine writer -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *The reader who plunges in is rewarded with insight, understanding, fine judgements and read-me narrative drive... [This] biography of Hitler makes essential reading, especially one as deeply researched, beautifully written and finely judged as this one -- Tony Rennell * Daily Mail, *Book of the Week* *Ullrich’s work is much more than just a biography. It is a work of synthesis, certainly, but a thorough and thoroughly readable one nonetheless, which stands muster alongside Hitler’s most significant earlier biographers: Bullock, Toland, Fest and Kershaw. Elegantly written, engaging and insightful, it is a new standard work on its subject -- Roger Moorhouse * BBC History *A fine and meticulous historian with a true command of archives and secondary sources… Ullrich has his own angle, and that is to recover the personality of the man… this is one of the most impressive Hitler biographies…you will find it compelling -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThe book covers the whole of Hitler''s life, from his obscure beginnings through his advance to supreme absolute power and then his final decline and suicide in the bunker as Russian shells fell around him. Bullock divides the narrative into three main sections. The first deals with Hitler''s early life, his rise to party leader in the years following the First World War, and his gaining of the Chancellorship in 1933. The second part describes how he consolidated his position and extended his power once he was in office. The third and final part is about his actions in the Second World War.

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Book Synopsis70th Anniversary Edition with a New Foreword by Sunday Times Bestselling Author Simon Sebag Montefiore''A classic'' Observer ''A legend'' Washington Post ''The best book you will read this year'' Colonel Tim CollinsPosted to Moscow as a young diplomat before the Second World War, Fitzroy Maclean travelled widely, with or without permission, in some of the wildest and remotest parts of the Soviet Union, then virtually closed to foreigners. In 1942 he fought as a founder member of the SAS in North Africa. There Maclean specialised in hair-raising commando raids behind enemy lines, including the daring and outrageous kidnapping of the German Consul in Axis-controlled Iraq. In 1943 he parachuted into German-occupied Yugoslavia as Winston Churchill''s personal representative to Josip Broz Tito and remained there until 1945, all enemy attempts to capture him proving unsuccessful.Eastern Approaches is Maclean''s classic, grippingTrade ReviewOne of the bravest men in the British army, and one of the funniestAn absorbing mixture of military adventure, political judgement, urbane wit, cool humour and surprising incidentA man of daring character

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Book SynopsisTHE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERTHE BOOK BEHIND THE HIT BBC SERIES SAS: ROGUE HEROES, STARRING CONNOR SWINDELLS, JACK O''CONNELL, ALFIE ALLEN AND DOMINIC WESTFrom the secret SAS archives and bestselling author Ben Macintyre: The first ever authorized history of the SAS.''A master at setting the pulse racing'' Daily Mail________________In the summer of 1941, at the height of the war in the Western Desert, a bored and eccentric young officer, David Stirling, has a vision for a new kind of war: attacking the enemy where they least expect it - from behind their own lines.Despite the intense opposition of many in British High Command, Winston Churchill personally gives Stirling permission to recruit the toughest, brightest and most ruthless soldiers he can find. And so begins the most celebrated and mysterious military organisation in the world: the SAS.With unprecedented access to the SAS secret files, unseen footage and exclusive interviews with its founder members, SAS: Rogue Heroes tells the remarkable story behind an extraordinary fighting force, and the immense cost of making it a reality.________________''Thorough and highly entertaining. It would be nigh on impossible to praise it too highly'' Daily Express''Impeccably researched, superbly told - by far the best book on the SAS in World War II'' Antony Beevor''Told with deceptive brilliance . . . one the finest books of its kind'' Evening StandardSunday Times bestseller, April 2017Trade ReviewThis book has many strengths but perhaps its greatest is how thought-provoking it is -- Laurence Rees * Sunday Times *Macintyre provides a riveting history of a revolutionary fighting force . . . A ripping good read * Washington Post 10 Best Books of 2016 *The sharp style and sly wit reveal some pretty acute insights into the politics of the nation's favourite undercover boys * Evening Standard Books of the Year *So good and so much more than the boys own adventure you might think it will read like. Ben is a brilliant writer * Dermot O'Leary *

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Book Synopsis''Brilliant and disturbing'' Stephen Spender, New York Review of BooksThe classic work on ''the banality of evil'', and a journalistic masterpieceHannah Arendt''s stunning and unnverving report on the trial of Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann first appeared as a series of articles in the New Yorker in 1963. This edition includes material that came to light after the trial, as well as Arendt''s postscript directly addressing the controversy that arose over her account. A major journalistic triumph by an intellectual of singular influence, this classic portrayal of the banality of evil is as shocking as it is informative - an unflinching look at one of the most unsettling issues of the twentieth century.''Deals with the greatest problem of our time ... the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system'' Bruno BettelheimTrade ReviewA touchstone in the 20th century's thinking about morality and politics * The New York Times *Quite astonishing . . . her indictment of Eichmann reached beyond the man to the historical world in which true thinking was vanishing -- Judith ButlerDeals with the greatest problem of our time . . . the problem of the human being within a modern totalitarian system * The New Republic *

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Book SynopsisVolume one of Spike Milligan''s legendary memoirs is a hilarious, subversive first-hand account of WW2''The most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read'' Sunday Express''Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense'' Guardian______________''At Victoria station the R.T.O. gave me a travel warrant, a white feather and a picture of Hitler marked This is your enemy. I searched every compartment, but he wasn''t on the train . . .''In this, the first of Spike Milligan''s uproarious recollections of life in the army, our hero takes us from the outbreak of war in 1939 (''it must have been something we said''), through his attempts to avoid enlistment (''time for my appendicitis, I thought'') and his gunner training in Bexhill (''There was one drawback. No ammunition'') to the landing at Algiers in 1943 (''I closed my eyes andTrade ReviewThe most irreverent, hilarious book about the war that I have ever read * Sunday Express *Brilliant verbal pyrotechnics ... throwaway lines and marvelous anecdotes * Daily Mail *Desperately funny, vivid, vulgar * Sunday Times *Close in stature to Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear in his command of the profound art of nonsense * Guardian *Milligan is the Great God to all of us -- John CleeseThe Godfather of Alternative Comedy -- Eddie IzzardThat absolutely glorious way of looking at things differently. A great man -- Stephen FryManifestly a genius, a comic surrealist genius and had no equal -- Terry WoganA totally original comedy writer -- Michael Palin

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Book SynopsisWINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018WINNER OF THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2018A SUNDAY TIMES PAPERBACK OF THE YEAR 2019''A masterpiece of history and memoir'' Evening Standard''Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting'' The Times__________________________________________________Little Lien wasn''t taken from her Jewish parents in the Hague - she was given away in the hope that she might be saved. Hidden and raised by a foster family in the provinces during the Nazi occupation, she survived the war only to find that her real parents had not. Much later, she fell out with her foster family, and Bart van Es - the grandson of Lien''s foster parents - knew he needed to find out why.His account of tracing Lien and telling her story is a searing exploration of two lives and two families. It is a story about loTrade ReviewAstonishing. Van Es has created a masterpiece of history and memoir, concluding on a note of reconciliation, hope and great love * Evening Standard *An extraordinary, harrowing story of loss, survival and love * Guardian *Deeply moving, this is a remarkable memoir * Sunday Times *Powerful . . . extraordinary * Irish Times *Brought to life with family photographs and diary entries that add further impact to Lien's harrowing memories and testimony - this deeply affecting and fascinating story is guaranteed to haunt you * Sunday Mirror *Remarkable - the story of one traumatic childhood, deeply moving, and told with great dexterity, allowing the wisdoms of today to run parallel with the absorbing narrative of wartime events * Penelope Lively *Compassionate and thoughtfully rendered, the book is both a memorable portrait of a remarkable woman and a testament to the healing power of understanding. A complex and uplifting tale * Kirkus *A nuanced, moving, and unusual "hidden child" account * Publishers Weekly *Superb. This is a necessary book - painful, harrowing, tragic, but also uplifting * The Times Book of the Week *Fascinating, beautifully written. Van Es carefully salvages Lien's story and creates a deeply moving and complex book about war, atrocity and human suffering * The Oldie *Sensational and gripping . . . shedding light on some of the most urgent issues of our time * Judges of the Costa Book of the Year Prize 2018 *Luminous, elegant, haunting - I read it straight through * Philippe Sands, Author of East West Street *Deeply moving. Writes with an almost Sebaldian simplicity and understatement * Guardian *Harrowing and beautiful * Bookseller *An awe-inspiring account of the tragedies and triumphs within the world of the Holocaust's "hide-away" children, and of the families who sheltered them * Georgia Hunter, author of We Were the Lucky Ones *The Cut Out Girl is a reminder of the extraordinary richness of archives and the treasures released by scholarly research * TLS *An extraordinary story, harrowing, deeply affecting. This fascinating story is guaranteed to haunt you * People *A moving story of personal and family history, with a scholar's objective eye for the bigger picture. * Irish Times *Harrowing . . . profoundly moving * Daily Express *

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Book Synopsis''Vivid, wholly convincing, compelling. One of the best memoirs for years about the experience of flying in war'' Max Hastings, Sunday TelegraphTwo months before the outbreak of WWII, seventeen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF . . .Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s. Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum, many never return.***''An intimate account . . . rich in detail'' James Holland, Wall Street Journal, ''Five Best World War II Memoirs''''An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone'' Independent''A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure'' Daily ExpressTrade ReviewVivid, wholly convincing, compelling. One of the best memoirs for years about the experience of flying in war -- Max Hastings * Sunday Telegraph *It took him 35 years to turn his notebooks into a narrative, and the result is a highly personal account of what it is like to face mortal combat, day and night, and what it does to a man who is barely more than a boy -- Ben MacintyreAn intimate account . . . rich in detail * Wall Street Journal, 'Five Best World War II Memoirs' *An extraordinarily deeply moving and astonishingly evocative story. Reading it, you feel you are in the Spitfire with him, at 20,000ft, chased by a German Heinkel, with your ammunition gone * Independent *A brilliantly fresh, achingly written memoir. Thrilling and frightening on virtually every page . . . Wellum takes you into battle with him. A book for all ages and generations, a treasure * Daily Express *Amazingly fresh and immediate . . . absolutely honest, it is an extraordinarily gripping and powerful story * Evening Standard *There have been countless books about the Battle of Britain. But the combination of immediacy - Geoffrey Wellum had jotted down notes in an exercise book at the time - and distance - another 35 years would pass before he expanded his notes into a narrative - gives this account extraordinary depth and resonance . . . First Light will rank among the finest of Second World War memoirs * Independent *One of the most gripping personal accounts of aerial warfare ever written * Guardian *Wellum's story is astonishing . . . moving yet startlingly clear-eyed * Telegraph *No other account of flying in the Battle of Britain has been articulated as well as Geoffrey's in First Light * Daily Express *

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Book SynopsisWritten by a mamber of the French resistance who became an important literary figure in postwar France, this memoir of life and death in Auschwitz and the post-war experiences of women survivors has become a key text for Holocaust studies classes.Trade Review"I find Rosette C. Lamont’s remarkable translation of Charlotte Delbo’s work perceptive, delicate, and poignant—in short: exceptional."—Elie Wiesel"For 75 years, Nazism’s victims have told their affliction. This will carry on. Meanwhile, no other “Auschwitz” writer than Charlotte Delbo has so clearly shown human detail and human depth."—John Felstiner, author of Can Poetry Save the Earth?: A Field Guide to Nature Poems"Delbo's exquisite and unflinching account of life and death under Nazi atrocity grows fiercer and richer with time. The superb new introduction by Lawrence L. Langer illuminates the subtlety and complexity of Delbo's meditation on memory, time, culpability, and survival, in the context of what Langer calls the 'afterdeath' of the Holocaust. Delbo's powerful trilogy belongs on every bookshelf."—Sara R. Horowitz, York University

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Book SynopsisConcentrating upon her family and their life in Holland before the war, this inspiring and revealing book describes in moving detail living above the family watch shop in Harlem and her memories of the family together before their lives changed for ever with the advent of war and persecution.Corrie believed that this life helped prepare them for carrying out God''s work later and gave her the strength to survive the war, brutal hardship and persecution and begin her worldwide ministry.This much loved book is being re-issued in B format with a contemporary cover.

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Book SynopsisDuring World War Two the Special Operation Executive''s French Section sent more than 400 agents into Occupied France -- at least 100 never returned and were reported ''Missing Believed Dead'' after the war. Twelve of these were women who died in German concentration camps -- some were tortured, some were shot, and some died in the gas chambers. Vera Atkins had helped prepare these women for their missions, and when the war was over she went out to Germany to find out what happened to them and the other agents lost behind enemy lines. But while the woman who carried out this extraordinary mission appeared quintessentially English, she was nothing of the sort. Vera Atkins, who never married, covered her life in mystery so that even her closest family knew almost nothing of her past. In A LIFE IN SECRETS Sarah Helm has stripped away Vera''s many veils and -- with unprecedented access to official and private papers, and the cooperation of Vera''s relatives -- vividly reconstructed an extraordinary life.Trade ReviewIt is a testament to Helm's detective skills that she has marshalled evidence to refute the various suppositions about Atkins, presenting a truth more surprising and more compelling than the numerous fictions constructed about this dedicated, if flawed, intelligence officer WATERSTONE'S BOOKS QUARTERLY What makes the book as fascinating as the best of thrillers is that at every stage we know as much as she does, tracking Vera down clue by clue, contact by contact ... It makes compulsive reading Peter Lewis, DAILY MAIL She has now written a truly stunning book - quite the best by a non-veteran of secret warfare ... If any young reader wonders 'why the bunting and the occasional tear this VE Day, I recommend this book' John Crossland, SUNDAY TIMES 'Carefully researched and engaging biography'

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir comes a thrilling new WWII story about a village busybody—the mighty Mrs. Braithwaite—who resolves to find, and then rescue, her missing daughter   Mrs. Braithwaite, self-appointed queen of her English village, finds herself dethroned, despised, and dismissed following her husband’s selfish divorce petition. Never deterred, the threat of a family secret being revealed sets her hot-foot to London to find the only person she has left—her clever daughter Betty, who took work there at the first rumbles of war.   But when she arrives, Betty’s landlord, the timid Mr. Norris, informs her that Betty hasn’t been home in days--with the chaos of the bombs, there’s no telling what might have befallen her. Aghast, Mrs. Braithwaite sets her bullish determination to the task of finding her only daughter.   Storming into the London B

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1944, Enemy Coast Ahead combines Guy Gibson''s RAF career, including the famous Dambuster raid which he himself led, with the inside story of life in RAF Bomber Command and is still a riveting read for the immediacy and vibrancy of its writing.And yet, what has not been widely known is that the published edition of Enemy Coast Ahead was carefully cut by wartime censors.Now, Gibson''s original manuscript, which was archived for almost 75 years, has been be brought to light. This uncut edition provides not only previously unpublished details of Gibson''s career, but also reveals his true view of the course of the war, of the wartime population, of his pilots and crews and of Bomber Command tactics. Combined with newly added photographs and diagrams Enemy Coast Ahead - Uncensored remains one of the outstanding accounts of WWII seen through the eyes of one of its most respected and controversial personalities, but now allows the reader to know Gibson''s own story in his

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewTotally gripping … A fascinating, revelatory and surreal WWII story of almost incredible courage and unspeakable horror – how a Polish resistance fighter helped reveal the secret of the final solution from inside Auschwitz * Simon Sebag Montefiore *A remarkable book. Fairweather’s account is often harrowing; but it is an important account of the suffering and tragedy in Nazi death camps, told using many previously unpublished sources - and from a new perspective. * Peter Frankopan *Well-researched, well-written and searingly memorable, Jack Fairweather’s book reminds us of the capacity for nobility in the human soul in times of unimaginable peril * Andrew Roberts, bestselling author of ‘Churchill: Walking with Destiny’ *Few books have enthralled, incensed and haunted me as “The Volunteer” has done. There were times I felt compelled to set it aside. There were others when hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it * Wall Street Journal *An extraordinary story * The Times *Superbly written and breathtakingly researched … a story of incalculable value delivered in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time * Sebastian Junger, #1 New York Times bestselling author and award-winning journalist *What distinguishes The Volunteer is Fairweather’s meticulous attention to accuracy … if it sometimes seems as though there is nothing left to uncover about the Holocaust, Fairweather’s gripping book proves otherwise * The Spectator *Combines the verve of a thriller with the detailed evidence of the sober, hideous truth -- Anne de Courcy * The Telegraph *A searing account … a fitting memorial to one of Poland’s greatest war heroes and a shaming indictment of the western allies’ failure to act * Sunday Times *A forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust. * Starred booklist review *Witold Pilecki is one of the great—perhaps the greatest—unsung heroes of the second world war ... Jack Fairweather's meticulous and insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life * Economist *An outstanding achievement ... a harrowing tale, revealing the depths of human depravity, redeemed by the shining courage and nobility of one of humanity's heroes. * Patrick Bishop, bestselling author FIGHTER BOYS *

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Book SynopsisNew B-format paperback - âWe werenât afraid of the Allies as soldiers, but we were afraid of their materiel â it was going to be men versus machines.â Written from the âother sideâ and told through the words of the veterans, this book is a revelation.Trade Review‘Fascinating’ -- Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisThe most comprehensive listing of Soviet warships of this era in English.

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Book SynopsisAn authentic account of this famous unit written by its wartime Intelligence Officer. Reconnaissance operations deep within enemy-held territory. The capture of the key desert oasis of Kufra. Combined raids with the SAS.

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Book SynopsisOperation Nordwind was the last major German offensive of World War II on the Western Front. It began on 31 December 1944 in Rhineland-Palatinate, Alsace and Lorraine in southwestern Germany and northeastern France, and ended on 25 January 1945. Normally overshadowed by the Battle of the Bulge, Nordwind battles were just as intense and the troops involved faced the same bitter weather conditions and battle conditions their fellow units did to the north. The goal of the offensive was to break through the lines of the U.S. Seventh Army and French 1st Army in the Upper Vosges mountains and the Alsatian Plain, and destroy them, as well as the seizure of Strasbourg, which Himmler, who had been placed in charge, had promised would be captured by 30 January. The campaign also showcased the difficulties of inter-Allied cooperation between the Americans and the French. The U.S. VI Corps which bore the brunt of the German attacks was fighting on three sides by 15 January. By 15 January at least 17 German divisions (including units in the Colmar Pocket) from Army Group G and Army Group Oberrhein, including the 6th SS Mountain, 17th SS Panzergrenadier, 21st Panzer, and 25th Panzergrenadier Divisions were engaged in the fighting. Another smaller attack was made against the French positions south of Strasbourg, but it was finally stopped. Vicious battles at Hatten and Rittershoffen, Gambsheim and Herrlisheim took place and while the Germans could not employ near the same amount as armor as they did in the Ardennes, the armor engagements were nonetheless ruthless. The American 12th Armored Division lost almost an entire tank battalion in the battles in and around Herrlisheim. Action would engulf the entire front and areas like Strasbourg, Wingen, the Colmar Pocket and Haguenau would be engrained in the minds of the troops that fought in these battles.

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Book Synopsis'I have always been fascinated by that charismatic hero of the Resistance, Josephine Baker, but it turns out I didn't know the half of it. Lewis' story-telling blew my mind. Again.' - Dan Snow'A story of incredible bravery in the face of tyrants who invaded a free and democratic nation, this will have powerful resonance today.' - Tim SpicerDuring WW2, Josephine Baker, the world's richest and most glamorous entertainer, was an Allied spy in Occupied France. This is the story of her heroic personal resistance to Nazi Germany.Prior to World War II, Josephine Baker was a music hall diva renowned for her singing and exotic dancing, her beauty and sexuality; she was the most highly-paid female performer in Europe. When the Nazis seized her adopted city, Paris, she was banned from the stage, along with all 'negroes and Jews'. Yet, instead of returning to America, she vowed to stay and to fight the Nazi evil. Overnight she went from performer to Resistance spy.In The Flame of Resistance best-selling author Damien Lewis uncovers this little known history of the famous singer's life. During the years of the war, as a member of the French Nurse paratroopers - a cover for her spying work-- she participated in numerous clandestine activities and emerged as formidable spy. In turn, she was a hero of the three countries in whose name she served: the US, the nation of her birth; France, the land that embraced her during her adult career; and Britain, the country from which she took her orders, as one of London's most closely-guarded special agents. Baker's secret war embodies a tale of unbounded courage, passion, devotion and sacrifice, and of deep and bitter tragedy, fueled by her own desire to combat the rise of Nazism, and to fight for all that is good and right in the world.Drawing on a plethora of new historical material and rigorous research, including previously undisclosed letters and journals, Lewis upends the conventional story of Josephine Baker, revealing that her mark on history went far beyond the confines of the stage.'An eye-opening, pulse-quickening history. Josephine Baker led a wartime double life of extraordinary jeopardy and Damien Lewis's needle-sharp narrative is jagged with suspense. Yet he also writes with great warmth and sensitivity, creating a powerfully moving portrait of a woman who fought prejudice and hate in all its forms.' - Sinclair McKay'A gripping true story of a remarkable heroine. The details of Josephine Baker's espionage for the Deuxieme Bureau, the French military intelligence agency during the war, make for a fascinating read in Damien Lewis's meticulously researched account' - Deborah CadburyTrade ReviewScrupulously detailed and honestly researched ... one can easily imagine this material moulded into a gripping Hollywood yarn starring Halle Berry or Thandiwe Newton ... Le Carre fans will be delighted; the intrigues are Byzantine -- Rupert Christiansen * Telegraph *A heroine, a fighter, an icon: Baker stands for everything we should aspire to - and Lewis shines a spotlight on every aspect of her difficult but glittering life * BBC History Magazine *Revealed: the daring wartime exploits of erotic cabaret star Josephine Baker who smuggled Nazi secret to Winston Churchill . . . * Mail on Sunday *Scrupulously detailed and honestly researched ... one can easily imagine this material moulded into a gripping Hollywood yarn starring Halle Berry or Thandiwe Newton ... Le Carre fans will be delighted; the intrigues are Byzantine * Telegraph *This scintillating biography ... draws on newly discovered letters and diaries to paint a vivid portrait of Baker as "a chameleon, a rebel, a warrior and a rule-breaker at heart . . . The result is a thrilling espionage story perfect for fans of Lynne Olson's Madame Fourcade's Secret War * Publishers Weekly, starred review *Rather than crafting a conventional biography, Lewis concentrates on the wartime years, creating a heroic portrait of the selfless, brave, somewhat reckless, pioneering, unswervingly patriotic spy for the Allies . . . A complex, entertaining story of intrigue and sangfroid involving a beloved, courageous hero * Kirkus Reviews *Reveals how the talented Josephine turned her fragility into a deadly weapon to defeat the greatest evil of her ageA great lady, a spy who suffered ... the French knew Ms Baker as "La femme sans peur et sans reproche". When you read The Flame of Resistance you will understand why.Fascinating and riveting. What a story! It has never been told properly, if ever, before now. I know Josephine would be very proud of how she is portrayed.Absolutely fantastic. You have completely captured the essence and nature of Commander Dunderdale's life and work.In 2021 Josephine Baker was inducted into The Pantheon, France's highest honour. This book tells you why. Damien Lewis has written a tremendous account of her life, not only as the most exotic star of 1920s Paris, but more importantly, her exceptionally brave work as an intelligence officer working for the British Secret Service and then the Free French, for which she was awarded The Resistance Medal, the Croix de Guerre and Légion D'Honneur. This is a story of courage and determination in the face of adversity told with great flair and excitement. A story of incredible bravery in the face of tyrants who invaded a free and democratic nation, this will have powerful resonance today.

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Book SynopsisThis book is a rare first-hand account by a ruthlessly efficient German sniper of life and death during the bitter conflict that followed the Nazi invasion of Russia. Josef 'Sepp' Allerberger was an Austrian conscript who qualified as a Wehrmacht machine-gunner and was drafted to the Southern sector of the Front in July 1942.After being wounded at Voroshilovsk, he experimented successfully with a captured Russian sniper-rifle whileconvalescing and returned to his unit as his regiment's only sniper specialist. In the gruelling months that followed, as the German Army was forced to withdraw under almost constant pressure from the Russians, Allerberger became the second most successful German sniper and one of the very few private soldiers to be awarded the coveted Knights Cross.This harrowing and graphic memoir provides a vivid insight to the atrocious conditions and brutal cruelty of this campaign. There was, we learn, no place for chivalry and few prisoners survived long after capture. Allerberger relates the cunning, discipline and fieldcraft that not only saw him survive during the near constant action but made him such a relentless assassin.Trade Review"...a very unique story and experience worth telling of an Eastern Front Sniper."--Sniper Central

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Book SynopsisRichard Freiherr von Rosen was a highly-decorated Wehrmacht soldier and outstanding panzer commander. His memoirs, richly illustrated with contemporary photographs, including key confrontations of World War II. After serving as a gunlayer on a Pz.Mk.III during Barbarossa, he led a Company of Tigers at Kursk, later a company of King Tiger panzers at Normandy and in late 1944 commanded a battle group (12 King Tigers and a flak Company) against the Russians in Hungary in the rank of junior, later senior lieutenant (from November 1944, his final rank.) ?? Only 489 of these King Tiger tanks were ever built. They were the most powerful heavy tanks to see service, and only one kind of shell could penetrate their armour at a reasonable distance. Every effort had to be made to retrieve any of them bogged down or otherwise immobilized, which led to many towing adventures. The author has a fine memory and eye for detail, his account is easy to read and not technical, and adds very substantially to the knowledge of how the German Panzer Arm operated in the Second World War.

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Book SynopsisPraise for Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author Damien Lewis' SAS mission series:'One of the great untold stories of WWII' - Bear Grylls on SAS Ghost Patrol'The untold story' - Daily Mail on SAS Nazi Hunters'A tale of bravery against desperate odds' - Sunday Times on Churchill's Secret Warriors'True adventures laced with staggering bravery and sacrifice' - Sun on Hunting the Nazi BombAn impossible mission in wartime Italy: the next explosive bestseller from Damien Lewis.In the hard-fought winter of 1944 the Allies advanced northwards through Italy, but stalled on the fearsome mountainous defences of the Gothic Line. Two men were parachuted in, in an effort to break the deadlock. Their mission: to penetrate deep into enemy territory and lay waste to the Germans' impregnable headquarters.At the eleventh hour mission commanders radioed for David 'The Mad Piper' Kilpatrick to be flown in, resplendent in his tartan kilt. They wanted this fearless war hero to lead the assault, piping Highland Laddie as he went - so leaving an indelible British signature to deter Nazi reprisals.As the column of raiders formed up, there was shocking news. High command radioed through an order to stand down, having assessed the chances of success at little more than zero. But in defiance of orders, and come hell or high-water, they were going in.

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Book SynopsisJanuary, 1945. 14-year-old Moshe Kessler steps off the train at Buchenwald concentration camp. Having endured the horrors of Auschwitz-Birkenau, lost touch with his entire family, and survived the death march in the freezing European winter, he has seen more than his share of tragedy. Moshe knows only one thing about Buchenwald. Everyone knows it. If you want to survive, you have to get to Block 66. The Germans are cruel and determined – but they are not prepared for Buchenwald’s secret resistance, which rises up with one mission only: to protect the camp’s children from harm. This is the incredible true story of Moshe Kessler and Block 66 – the children’s block that was at the forefront of one of the most shocking and inspiring stories of Holocaust survival.Trade Review'An incredible and chilling story' -- Daily Express

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Book SynopsisThe impossibly moving story of how Judy, World War Two's only animal POW, brought hope in the midst of hell.Judy, a beautiful liver and white English pointer, and the only animal POW of WWII, truly was a dog in a million, cherished and adored by the British, Australian, American and other Allied servicemen who fought to survive alongside her. Viewed largely as human by those who shared her extraordinary life, Judy's uncanny ability to sense danger, matched with her quick-thinking and impossible daring saved countless lives. She was a close companion to men who became like a family to her, sharing in both the tragedies and joys they faced. It was in recognition of the extraordinary friendship and protection she offered amidst the unforgiving and savage environment of a Japanese prison camp in Indonesia that she gained her formal status as a POW. Judy's unique combination of courage, kindness and fun repaid that honour a thousand times over and her incredible story is one of the most heartwarming and inspiring tales you will ever read.Trade ReviewThe dog of war whose sixth sense saved hundreds of British lives * Mail on Sunday *One of the most famous animals of the Second World War * Daily Express *The extraordinary story of the only animal POW held during the Second World War * Sunday Times *

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Book SynopsisOne of the most remarkable stories in the history of Special Forces' operations - Daily ExpressIn the bleak moments after defeat on mainland Europe in winter 1939, Winston Churchill knew that Britain had to strike back hard. So Britain's wartime leader called for the lightning development of a completely new kind of warfare, recruiting a band of eccentric free-thinking warriors to become the first 'deniable' secret operatives to strike behind enemy lines, offering these volunteers nothing but the potential for glory and all-but-certain death. Churchill's Secret Warriors tells the story of the daring victories for this small force of 'freelance pirates', undertaking devastatingly effective missions against the Nazis, often dressed in enemy uniforms and with enemy kit, breaking all previously held rules of warfare. Master storyteller Damien Lewis brings the adventures of the secret unit to life, weaving together the stories of the soldiers' brotherhood in this compelling narrative, from the unit's earliest missions to the death of their leader just weeks before the end of the war.Trade ReviewOne of the most extraordinary stories of World War II is also one of the least commonly known ... compelling ... an eloquent and welcome tribute to their selfless, sometimes reckless courage - a howitzer of a tale that more people should know about -- Brian Viner * Daily Mail *

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Book Synopsis25 years after her passing, Audrey Hepburn remains the most beloved of all Hollywood stars. Several biographies have chronicled her stardom, but none has covered her intense experiences through five years of Nazi occupation in the Netherlands. According to her son, 'The war made my mother who she was.' Audrey Hepburn's war included participation in the Dutch Resistance, working as a doctor's assistant during the 'Bridge Too Far' battle of Arnhem, the brutal execution of her uncle, and the ordeal of the Hunger Winter of 1944. She also had to contend with the fact that her father was a Nazi agent and her mother was pro-Nazi for the first two years of the occupation. Audrey's own reminiscences, new interviews with people who knew her in the war, wartime diaries, and research in classified Dutch archives shed light on the riveting, untold story of Audrey Hepburn under fire in World War II.

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Book SynopsisIn the summer of 1940, the future of Britain and the free world depended on the morale and skill of the young men of Fighter Command. This is their story.The Battle of Britain is one of the most crucial battles ever fought, and the victory of Fighter Command over the Luftwaffe has always been celebrated as a classic feat of arms. But, as Patrick Bishop shows in this superb history, it was also a triumph of the spirit in which the attitudes of the pilots themselves played a crucial part. Reaching beyond the myths to convey the fear and exhilaration of life on this most perilous of frontlines, Patrick Bishop offers an intimate and compelling account that is a soaring tribute to the exceptional young men of Fighter Command.Trade Review‘I know of no more thoughtful nor yet more moving study of their achievement.’ Max Hastings, Sunday Telegraph ‘A living, breathing monument to the fighter boys.’ Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday ‘As a vivid chronicle of who the Battle of Britain pilots were, what motivated them, and why they were ultimately successful, “Fighter Boys” is unsurpassed.’ Daily Telegraph ‘No one reading this book can possibly doubt the heroism of those involved…there can’t be a finer history.’ James Holland, New Statesman ‘Powerful yet restrained, at times almost unbearably touching.’ T. J. Binyon, Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisFrom the bestselling author of Fortress Malta this is the second book in the Mediterranean war trilogy. This book looks afresh at the conflict in Northern Africa, focusing for the first time on the involvement of the US and the way this early collaboration to defeat shaped the whole Anglo-American axis for the rest of the war in Europe.By June 1942, Britain had reached her lowest ebb. Her military command was in tatters, her armies beaten, and in the Middle East it seemed all might be lost. Her new ally, America, had only fledgling armed forces and was severely under-trained, yet it was this alliance of the weary combatant and naïve newcomer, coming together for the first time in North Africa, that would eventually bring about the defeat of Nazi Germany.This crucial period from defeat at Gazala through to the victories of Alamein and, ultimately, Tunisia was a time of learning for the Allies. Yet by the end Britain and America had finally gained material and certain tactical advantagTrade Review'Anyone who wants to know how it felt to fight in the desert war should read Holland's book. It represents a remarkable collation of personal experience and sensible historical judgments.'Sunday Telegraph, Max Hastings 'Holland has produced a wonderful book whose pace…never seems to flag … he is a master at evoking time and place, with haunting descriptions of the desert landscape … If there is a better book on the North African campaign, I haven't read it.'Daily Telegraph, Saul David 'Using personal testimony and private memoirs as effectively as official archives, he recreates the hardships and challenges faced by ordinary soldiers and reassesses the tactical and strategic innovations that finally gave the allies the upper hand.'Sunday Times 'as Holland shows, this period saw the realisation of how the war might eventually be won'BBC History Magazine 'stands out from the crowd’Literary Review, Nigel Jones 'The book gives the individuals, be they commander-in-chiefs or infantry, space that attests to their bravery and sacrifices … a comprehensive appraisal of the war in North Africa.'Good Book Guide 'Holland tells the story brilliantly. He has delved into archives for letters and diaries and diligently tracked down survivors … Vividly, intelligently, movingly, Holland's monumental chronicle tells it like it was.'Patrick Bishop, Mail on Sunday

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Book SynopsisA companion volume to his bestselling Armageddon', Max Hastings' account of the battle for Japan is a masterful military history.Featuring the most remarkable cast of commanders the world has ever seen, the dramatic battle for Japan of 194445 was acted out across the vast stage of Asia: Imphal and Kohima, Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Soviet assault on Manchuria.In this gripping narrative, Max Hastings weaves together the complex strands of an epic war, exploring the military tactics behind some of the most triumphant and most horrific scenes of the twentieth century. The result is a masterpiece that balances the story of command decisions, rivalries and follies with the experiences of soldiers, sailors and airmen of all sides as only Max Hastings can.Trade Review‘A monumental achievement…compassionate but unsparing in its judgements.’ Sunday Times ‘An outstandingly gripping and authoritative account of the battle for Japan, and a monument to human bravery and savagery.’ Daily Telegraph ‘Absolutely excellent.’ John Simpson, Observer ‘Magisterial…it is truly cathartic to reach the end of the Second World War in Hastings’s company.’ The Times ‘Brilliantly though Hastings lays out the strategic context, his real talent lies in his account of the “terrible human experience” that it involved…This is a book for anyone who wants to understand what happened in half the world during one of the bloodiest periods of the blood-soaked 20th century.’ Spectator ‘Spectacular…Hastings makes important points about the war in the East that have been all too rarely heard…excellent…compelling…searingly powerful.’ Sunday Telegraph ‘As Hastings brilliantly describes, conditions for fighting men on both sides were appalling…the fire-bombing of Tokyo and the decision to drop the atomic bombs were influenced by the urge to 'get this business over with', but the argument, as Hastings explains so well with his usual exemplary judgement, is far more complex.’ Financial Times

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Book SynopsisA magisterial history of the greatest and most terrible event in history, from one of the finest historians of the Second World War. A book which shows the impact of war upon hundreds of millions of people around the world- soldiers, sailors and airmen; housewives, farm workers and children..Reflecting Max Hastings's thirty-five years of research on World War II, All Hell Let Loose describes the course of events, but focuses chiefly upon human experience, which varied immensely from campaign to campaign, continent to continent.The author emphasises the Russian front, where more than 90% of all German soldiers who perished met their fate. He argues that, while Hitler's army often fought its battles brilliantly well, the Nazis conducted their war effort with stunning incompetence'. He suggests that the Royal Navy and US Navy were their countries' outstanding fighting services, while the industrial contribution of the United States was much more important to allied victory than that of thTrade Review“This is the book he was born to write: a work of staggering scope and erudition, narrated with supreme fluency and insight, it is unquestionably the best single-volume history of the war ever written….. he writes with a wonderfully clear, unsentimental eye……and has a terrific grasp of the grand sweep and military strategy……But what makes his book a compelling read are the human stories……at the end of this gruesome, chilling but quite magnificent book, you never doubt that the war was worth fighting”. Sunday Times “No other general history of the war amalgamates so successfully the gut-wrenching personal details and the essential strategic arguments. Melding the worm’s eye view and the big picture is a difficult trick to pull of – but Hastings has triumphed”. The Times “majestic…it is impossible to emerge without a sense of the sheer scale of human tragedy…..To gather all these anecdotes together is a task in itself, but to assemble them in a way that makes sense is something entirely different….Hastings shapes all these stories, almost miraculously, into a single coherent narrative”. Daily Telegraph “In this massive work, the crowning volume of the 10 impressive books he has written about the Second World War, Sir Max Hastings spares us nothing in portraying the sheer bloody savagery of the worst war that the world has yet seen….this magnificent book….is hypnotically readable from the first page to the last”. Sunday Telegraph “A fast-moving, highly readable survey of the entire war…Hastings combines a mastery of the military events with invariably sound judgment and a sharp eye for unusual telling detail….this is military history at its most gripping. Of all Max Hastings’s valuable books, this is possibly his best – a veritable tour de force”. Evening Standard

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Book SynopsisTHE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLEREvery time Churchill took to the airwaves it was as if he were injecting adrenaline-soaked courage directly into the British people Larson tells the story of how that feat was accomplished Fresh, fast and deeply moving.' New York TimesA STARTLING, GRIPPING PORTRAIT OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE ALIVE IN BRITAIN DURING THE BLITZ, AND WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE AROUND CHURCHILL.On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, the Nazis would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons and destroying two million homes.In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson gives a new and brilliantly cinematic account of how Britain's most iconic leader set about unifying the nation at its most vulnerable moment, and teaching the art of being fearless.'Drawing on once-secret intelligence reports and Trade Review THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER PICKED BY BARACK OBAMA AND BILL GATES AS A BEST BOOK OF 2020 ‘If you want to look back at a really important part of history with fresh eyes, this is the book for you … Gripping and wonderful’Alan Carr ‘An enthralling page-turner’O: The Oprah Magazine ‘Fresh, fast and deeply moving … Larson’s deft portraits show the essential connection that words created between the powerful and the powerless, capturing the moments that defined life for millions struggling to survive the decisions of a few’New York Times Book Review ‘There are countless books about World War II, but there’s only one Erik Larson … There are many things to admire about The Splendid and the Vile, but chief among them is Larson’s electric writing. The book reads like a novel, and even though everyone (hopefully) knows how the war ultimately ended, he keeps the reader turning the pages with his gripping prose.’NPR ‘A particularly gripping read, written with bounce and brio. Larson pulls together vivid vignettes – some moving, some amusing, a few grim … A fine writer of narrative nonfiction history.’Robbie Millen, Times ‘This book is peppered with eye-popping details … A deeply compelling work of history … Without resorting to heroism, it makes one long powerfully for real leadership’Lit Hub ‘I have an early copy of this book on my desk and idly began reading the first pages—and suddenly time disappeared.’Seattle Times ‘Larson’s skill at integrating vast research and talent for capturing compelling human dramas culminate in an inspirational portrait of one of history’s finest, most fearless leaders’Booklist (starred review) ‘A captivating history of Churchill’s heroic year, with more than the usual emphasis on his intimates.’Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

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Book SynopsisLucid and damning an absorbing and infuriating tale of complicity, coverup and denial' PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, author of EMPIRE OF PAINA groundbreaking investigation of how the Nazis helped German tycoons make billions from the horrors of the Third Reich and World War II and how the world allowed them to get away with it.In 1946, Günther Quandt patriarch of Germany's most iconic industrial empire, a dynasty that today controls BMW was arrested for suspected Nazi collaboration. Quandt claimed that he had been forced to join the party by his arch-rival, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, and the courts acquitted him. But Quandt lied. And his heirs, and those of other Nazi billionaires, have only grown wealthier in the generations since, while their reckoning with this dark past remains incomplete at best. Many of them continue to control swaths of the world economy, owning iconic brands whose products blanket the globe. The brutal legacy of the dynasties that dominated Daimler-Benz, cofounded Allianz and still control Porsche, Volkswagen and BMW has remained hidden in plain sight until now.In this landmark work, investigative journalist David de Jong reveals the true story of how Germany's wealthiest business dynasties amassed untold money and power by abetting the atrocities of the Third Reich. Using a wealth of untapped sources, de Jong shows how these tycoons seized Jewish businesses, procured slave labourers and ramped up weapons production to equip Hitler's army as Europe burnt around them. Most shocking of all, de Jong exposes how the wider world's political expediency enabled these billionaires to get away with their crimes, covering up a bloodstain that defiles the German and global economy to this day.Trade Review‘It is impossible to fault de Jong’s fierce indignation in his book. He must be right to urge that the descendants of Hitler’s tycoons should admit their ancestors’ criminality’Max Hastings, Sunday Times ‘Fascinating … de Jong tells the story with the brisk clarity of the good financial journalist he is and lets the fact speak for themselves. It leaves you awestruck at the power of greed’Daily Telegraph ‘The author cleverly weaves his astonishing facts and figures into human stories … Its fascinating detail and engaging style make Nazi Billionaires a forceful book, revealing to a wide audience a vital aspect of Germany’s ongoing discussion with itself’Spectator ‘Lucid, and damning, Nazi Billionaires unearths decades of family secrets and exposes the tainted origins of several of the world's most significant dynastic fortunes. As adept in the archive as he is on the page, de Jong draws on a vast wealth of historical evidence to tell an absorbing – and infuriating – tale of complicity, coverup, and denial, and to unearth the sordid war crimes behind some of today's most vaunted consumer brands’Patrick Radden Keefe, bestselling author of Empire of Pain ‘Eloquent, thorough, and profound, David de Jong’s brilliant debut illuminates a dark chapter of the past while also shining a stark and uncanny light onto our present, and, perhaps, our near future – showing how an insidious mix of capitalism and fascism can destroy democracy and countless lives. An absolute must-read’Norman Ohler, bestselling author of Blitzed ‘As riveting as it is disturbing. At times, it felt like reading the anti-Schindler's List: instead of secretly helping the Jews, Germany's most powerful tycoons brutally exploited their suffering for personal profit’Bradley Hope, bestselling co-author of Billion Dollar Whale

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Book SynopsisThe most iconic planes of WWII, the Supermarine Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane, DeHavilland Mosquito and the Avro Lancaster, were all powered by one engine, the Rolls-Royce Merlin. The story of the Merlin is one of British ingenuity at its height, of artistry and problem-solving that resulted in a war-winning design.Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day and the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain, Merlin is the extraordinary story of the development of the Rolls-Royce engine that would stop Hitler from invading Britain and carry the war to the very heart of Germany.The story of the Merlin engine encompasses the history of powered flight, from the ingenuity of the Wright Brothers to the horrors of World War I, and from the first crossing of the Atlantic to the heady days of flying in the 1920s. There is also the extraordinary story of the Schneider Trophy an international contest wherein nations poised on the precipice of war competed for engineering Trade ReviewPraise for Merlin ‘Merlin paints a finer, more detailed and complete portrait of the aero engine and the people who made it than almost any other single volume on the subject …Illuminating and entertaining’ Pilot magazine ‘To get deeper into the nuts and bolts of aviation, Graham Hoyland spent a year taking apart the story of the Merlin and putting it back together in a form that roars beautifully from the very start’ Simon Calder, Independent ‘A stirring account of how these hand-wrought machines, geared for speed and encased in elegant airframes … delivered us in 1940 … Merlin depicts a heroic age of smashed land, air and water speed records … and the extreme bravery of those pioneers, who incurred many fatalities. Hoyland marries the drama and excitement with a clear focus on the technical: he puts you in the cockpit and into the very guts of the machines … Anyone with a serious interest in engineering will find much to enjoy and appreciate.’ Colin Greenwood, The Spectator Praise for Graham Hoyland ‘Illuminating and entertaining’ The Times ‘A towering work full of twists and turns’ Independent ‘Richly enjoyable’ Daily Mail

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Book SynopsisBased on select writings from an exceptional Amsterdam archive containing more than two thousand Dutch diaries from World War II, The Diary Keepers illuminates a part of history we haven't seen in quite this way before. Nina Siegal, an accomplished journalist and novelist, weaves together excerpts from the daily journals of collaborators, resistors, and the persecuteda Dutch Nazi police detective, a Jewish journalist imprisoned at Westerbork transit camp, a grocery store owner who saved dozens of livesinto a braided nonfictional narrative of the Nazi occupation and the Dutch Holocaust, as individuals experienced it day by day.Siegal provides the context, both historical and personal, while she tries to make sense of her own relationship to this past. As a second-generation survivor born and raised in New York, she attempts to understand what it meant for her mother and maternal grandparents to live through the war in Europe in those times. When Siegal moved to Amsterdam, those questionTrade Review Praise for The Diary Keepers ‘A beautiful, poignant book about the darkest period in modern Dutch history…This book gives a powerful voice to forgotten witnesses’ David de Jong, author of Nazi Billionaires ‘Nina Siegal has accomplished a remarkable feat. She has given us a day-by-day narrative of the Holocaust in the Netherlands by splicing together excerpts from a few of the hundreds of diaries stored in an Amsterdam archive…With thoughtful and insightful observations of her own, Siegal helps us understand how 75 percent of the 140,000 Jews of Holland, a prosperous and cultivated Western European country, could have been murdered, posing a warning for our own deeply fractured country’ Joseph Berger, author of Elie Wiesel: Confronting the Silence ‘The Diary Keepers is an astonishing, essential book that asks us to bear witness to an unbearable history, even as it invites us to think hard about what history is—how it gets written, and what stories it tells. This book is powerfully moving and necessarily terrifying. By way of rigorous research and intimate storytelling, Nina Siegal brings us close to her diary keepers—making it impossible to turn away from the difficult, necessary questions their lives raise about survival, suffering, complicity, and memory’ Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams ‘Like an archaeologist excavating an ancient temple, Nina Siegal has dug up hundreds of stories of life under the unprecedented horror of Nazism, revealing the changing thoughts and shifting moods of heroes, villains, and victims. Until now, we only had a black-and-white image of these lives. Now, thanks to Siegal, we see them in living color’ Benjamin Moser, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Sontag ‘This moving and masterful book tells the history of those fateful war years, and their aftermath, in a wonderfully intimate way’ Margot Livesey, author of The Boy in the Field

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Book SynopsisThe bestselling autobiography of the legendary Louis Zamperini, hero of the blockbuster Unbroken.A modern classic by an American legend, Devil at My Heels is the riveting and deeply personal memoir by U.S. Olympian, World War II bombardier, and POW survivor Louis Zamperini.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA parable written for the age of technological disruption . . . brilliantly told -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *Remarkable . . . a work of art . . . one puts this book down shaking one's head at the folly and human cost of it all -- Paul Kennedy * Wall Street Journal *Gripping . . . in Gladwell's deft hands, the Air Force generals of World War II come back to life as the stirring 20th-century equivalent of Adm. Horatio Nelson and his band of audacious captains from the age of fighting sail . . . Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller -- Thomas E. Ricks * The New York Times *Impassioned . . . engagingly written -- Saul David * Telegraph *Riveting . . .The Bomber Mafia looks at one of the greatest moral challenges of the Second World War -- Michael Lewis * author of The Fifth Risk *Told with the muscular, driving narrative and fizzingly charismatic (real-life) characters of a movie -- Ed Grenby * Radio Times *A thought-provoking, accessible account of how people respond to difficult choices in difficult times . . . Gladwell's easy conversational style works well . . . his portraits of individuals are compelling -- Diana Preston * Washington Post *Unexpected empathy . . . fabulistic energy * Esquire *Lively, engaging . . . a fascinating story -- Gerard DeGroot * The Times *Important and characteristically readable . . . Gladwell is possibly the most confident storyteller in non-fiction. He always knows exactly where he is going, and he takes you with him in pleasure and comfort. -- Simon Kuper * New Statesman *Gladwell's eloquence and flair for lateral thinking make for a compelling read -- Simon Griffith * Mail on Sunday *

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