Alone: Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat into Victory - Rilegato

Korda, Michael

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1631491326 ISBN 13: 9781631491320

Casa editrice: Liveright Pub Corp, 2017

Riassunto

An epic of remarkable originality, Alone captures the heroism of World War II as movingly as any book in recent memory. Bringing to vivid life the world leaders, generals, and ordinary citizens who fought on both sides of the war, Michael Korda, the best-selling author of Clouds of Glory, chronicles the outbreak of hostilities, recalling as a prescient young boy the enveloping tension that defined pre-Blitz London, and then as a military historian the great events that would alter the course of the twentieth century.For indeed, May 1940 was a month like no other. The superior German war machine blazed into France, as the Maginot Line, supposedly "as firmly fixed in place as the Pyramids," crumbled in days. With the fall of Holland and Belgium, the imminent fall of Paris, the British Army stranded at Dunkirk, and Neville Chamberlain’s government in political freefall, Winston Churchill became prime minister on this historical nadir of May 10, 1941. Britain, diplomatically isolated, was suddenly the only nation with the courage and the resolve to defy Hitler.Against this vast historical canvas, Korda relates what happened and why. We first meet him at the age of six, surrounded by his glamorous movie family: his stage actress mother; his elegant father, Vincent, soon to receive an Academy Award; and his devoted Nanny Low, with whom he cites his evening prayers. Even the cheery BBC bulletins that Michael listened to every night could not mask the impending catastrophe, the German invasion so certain that the young boy, carrying his passport on a string around his neck, was evacuated to Canada on an ocean liner full of children.Such alarm was hardly exaggerated. No one, after all, could have ever imagined that the most unlikely flotilla of destroyers—Dutch barges, fishing boats, yachts, and even rowboats— would rescue over 300,000 men off the beach at Dunkirk and home to England. The miraculous return of the army was greeted with a renewed call for courage, and in the months that followed, the lives of tens of millions would be inexorably transformed, often tragically so, by these epochal weeks of May 1940.It is this pivotal turning point in world history that Korda captures with such immediacy in Alone, a work that triumphantly demonstrates that even the most calamitous defeats can become the most legendary victories.

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Recensione:

"Anyone wanting to explore the history behind Christopher Nolan's recent film could do a lot worse than start here."

--Times Literary Supplement

"[Alone] vividly brings to life events which saw Britain stand alone as the only nation with the resolve and courage to defy Hitler."

--iN10 Magazine, The Sunday Post

"Ultimately, this is a title which offers an absorbing and well-written tale of political intrigue and military campaign...set within, is the fascinating tale of a family, as well as armies, rescued from the brink of disaster."

--Britain at War Magazine

"A very compelling account of how calamitous defeat somehow became a celebrated victory."

--Soldier Magazine

"The story of the coming of World War Two, the fall of France, and the 'miracle' at Dunkirk has been told many times before, but Michael Korda injects this familiar tale with fresh poignancy and compelling drama as only the finest historians can do...[His] memories as a young boy, watching his famous film family deal with the onset of war, give his elegant narrative an added dimension that makes it compulsively readable." --Max Boot

L'autore:

Michael Korda is the best-selling author of Hero, Clouds of Glory, and Charmed Lives. The former editor-in-chief of Simon and Schuster, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for his participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, and makes his home in Dutchess County, New York.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Liveright Pub Corp
• Data di pubblicazione: 2017
• ISBN 10: 1631491326
• ISBN 13: 9781631491320
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 525