Search results for ""author nathan morley""

In The Man Who Built the Berlin Wall, Nathan Morley brings to life the story of the longtime leader of the German Democratic Republic. Drawing from a wealth of untapped archival sources - and firsthand interviews with Honecker's lawyers, journalists, and contemporary witnesses - Morley paints a vivid portrait of how an uneducated miner's son from the Saarland rose to the highest ranks of the German Communist Party. Having survived a decade of brutality in Nazi prisons, Honecker emerged as an ambitious political player and became the shadowy mastermind behind the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, a crucial moment in twentieth-century history. Although frequently on the verge of being relegated to obscurity, he managed to overthrow strongman Walter Ulbricht at the height of the Cold War and reigned supreme over the GDR between 1971-1989. However, by 1980, the Honecker honeymoon was on the wane as a decade of economic and social difficulties blighted the GDR. Then, as tumultuous changes swept through the Soviet bloc, everything in and around him collapsed in 1989. His health, his certainties, his ideology, his apparatus of power, and his beloved SED party. Terminally ill, he was literally kidnapped from Russia to answer for his crimes in a Berlin court. A controversial figure, Honecker's notorious philandering, his difficult relationship with his wife Margot, penchant for porn, addiction to hunting, and gilded lifestyle at a forest settlement north of Berlin are all brought into sharp focus. Although haunted by the fall of the Berlin Wall, Erich Honecker died in 1994, still believing the GDR was the envy of the world.

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‘A wonderful account of a life filled with far more ups and downs than its subject’s languid demeanour ever suggested.’ Miles Jupp.Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’d recognise David Tomlinson’s face – genial and continually perplexed, he was Mr Banks in Mary Poppins, Professor Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. To many, he’s the epitome of post-war British comedy.But at times his life was more tragedy than comedy. A distinguished RAF pilot in the Second World War, his first marriage was to end in horrific tragedy and his next romance ended with his lover marrying the founder of the American Nazi Party. He did find love and security in his second marriage, but drama still played its part in his life – from the uncovering of an earthshattering family secret to the fight for an autism diagnosis for his son, up against the titans of the British medical establishment.Tomlinson may have died over twenty years ago, but his star continues to shine. In Disney’s British Gentleman, Nathan Morley reveals the remarkable story of one of Disney’s most beloved icons for the very first time.

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‘A wonderful account of a life filled with far more ups and downs than its subject’s languid demeanour ever suggested.’ Miles Jupp.Even if the name doesn’t ring a bell, you’d recognise David Tomlinson’s face – genial and continually perplexed, he was Mr Banks in Mary Poppins, Professor Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Peter Thorndyke in The Love Bug. To many, he’s the epitome of post-war British comedy.But at times his life was more tragedy than comedy. A distinguished RAF pilot in the Second World War, his first marriage was to end in horrific tragedy and his next romance ended with his lover marrying the founder of the American Nazi Party. He did find love and security in his second marriage, but drama still played its part in his life – from the uncovering of an earthshattering family secret to the fight for an autism diagnosis for his son, up against the titans of the British medical establishment.Tomlinson may have died over twenty years ago, but his star continues to shine. In Disney’s British Gentleman, Nathan Morley reveals the remarkable story of one of Disney’s most beloved icons for the very first time.

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Holidays with Hitler tells the story of German leisure time and state-sponsored fun under the Nazi regime. Nathan Morley looks at consumerism, entertainment and travel in German society, and offers a vivid portrait of what it was like to visit as a foreign tourist seeking fun in a totalitarian state. An important part of Nazi policy was the vast Strength through Joy programme, headed by Dr Robert Ley – a brash and fanatical party member. Although Strength through Joy is best remembered for introducing the Volkswagen Beetle, it also allowed fourteen million people to enjoy annual vacations at bargain basement prices while improving the health of the population by encouraging running, hiking, swimming, and active family holidays. With millions of working people paying monthly dues, the organization amassed a hefty fortune. On the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea, a vast resort capable of accommodating 22,000 holidaymakers began construction in 1937 – the same year the Wilhelm Gustloff, the first Strength Through Joy vessel, was launched in Hamburg. With the arrival of the Second World War, the organisation adapted, the goal being the ‘cultural caretaking of the bomb-battered population and our soldiers’. Nathan Morley, employing meticulous research, tells the story not only of the Strength through Joy programme but also the efforts to organise the Olympics and disguise anti-Jewish sentiments from the thousands of visitors; the way millions of Germans spent their free time; and what it was like to be a foreign tourist as the thin veneer of a disintegrating Reich peeled away to reveal an ugly and evil interior.

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Radio Hitler follows the life of Deutschlandsender, the Nazi equivalent of BBC Radio 4, and its sister stations that transmitted to Germany and the world at large. Using first-hand interviews, archives, diaries, letters and memoirs, this book examines what Nazi radio was and what it stood for. Detailed here is the vast ‘fake news’ effort, which bombarded audiences in the Middle East, Africa, the United States and Great Britain. A light is also shone on the home service stations that, with their monumental announcements including Stalingrad, the assassination attempt on Hitler and the invasion of France, provided the soundtrack to everyday life in Nazi Germany. Details of entertainment shows and programmes designed to lift morale on the Home Front are abundant and offer a fresh insight into the psyche of the nation. The book also looks at Nazi attempts to develop television throughout Germany and in occupied France. A rich cast of characters is featured throughout, including Ernst Himmler, brother of Heinrich, who worked as technical chief at Deutschlandsender, and Lord Haw‑Haw, the infamous British mouthpiece of the Nazi propaganda machine. Nathan Morley had unlimited access to former Reich radio studios and transmitter sites in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as to a vast archive of recordings and transcripts. The result is a fascinating and revealing portrait of propaganda, communication and media in Nazi Germany.

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Radio Hitler follows the life of Deutschlandsender, the Nazi equivalent of BBC Radio 4, and its sister stations that transmitted to Germany and the world at large. Using first-hand interviews, archives, diaries, letters and memoirs, this book examines what Nazi radio was and what it stood for. Detailed here is the vast ‘fake news’ effort, which bombarded audiences in the Middle East, Africa, the United States and Great Britain. A light is also shone on the home service stations that, with their monumental announcements including Stalingrad, the assassination attempt on Hitler and the invasion of France, provided the soundtrack to everyday life in Nazi Germany. Details of entertainment shows and programmes designed to lift morale on the Home Front are abundant and offer a fresh insight into the psyche of the nation. The book also looks at Nazi attempts to develop television throughout Germany and in occupied France. A rich cast of characters is featured throughout, including Ernst Himmler, brother of Heinrich, who worked as technical chief at Deutschlandsender, and Lord Haw‑Haw, the infamous British mouthpiece of the Nazi propaganda machine. Nathan Morley had unlimited access to former Reich radio studios and transmitter sites in Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna, as well as to a vast archive of recordings and transcripts. The result is a fascinating and revealing portrait of propaganda, communication and media in Nazi Germany.

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