November 1942
An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War
Peter Englund author Peter Graves translator
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Published:2nd Nov '23
Should be back in stock very soon
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£12.99(9781529923698)
**A Telegraph Best History Book of 2023*
'An astonishing achievement' ANTONY BEEVOR
An intimate history of the most important month of the Second World War as experienced by those who lived through it, completely based on their diaries, letters and memoirs.
At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers could win the war; at the end of that month, it was obviously just a matter of time before they would lose.
In between came el-Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea, and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. In this innovatively kaleidoscopic and riveting historical marvel, Peter Englund reduces these epoch-making events to their basic component: the individual experience.
In thirty memorable days we meet characters including a Soviet infantryman at Stalingrad; an Italian truck driver in the North African desert; a partisan in the Belarussian forests; a machine gunner in a British bomber; a twelve-year-old girl in Shanghai; a university student in Paris; a housewife on Long Island; a prisoner in Treblinka; Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman, and Vera Brittain. We also witness the launch of SS James Oglethorpe; the fate of U-604, a German submarine; the building of the first nuclear reactor; and the making of Casablanca.
Not since Englund's own The Beauty and the Sorrow has a book given us one of the most dramatic periods of human history in all its immensity and emotional range.
'Thought-provoking' SUNDAY TIMES
'Thoroughly worth reading' TELEGRAPH
An astonishing achievement * Antony Beevor *
By interweaving the detailed experiences of 39 individuals from all parts of the conflict, Englund presents an extraordinary panorama of this pivotal moment. A haunting narrative imaginatively conceived, brilliantly told * Julia Boyd *
Absolutely revelatory. A stunning tour de force. So much in here that is truly fresh and new. Englund chronicles the gripping tale of one month that changed everything in WWII, and it is so beautifully written and timeless. Once read, you'll want to return to this again and again * Damien Lewis *
What makes Englund's work original and remarkable is his narrative technique, which could be called 'the mosaic method' ... A coherent and moving portrait of a world at war * BBC History Magazine *
Succeed[s] in giving a very human (and, inevitably sometimes, inhuman) snapshot of events ... Thoroughly worth reading * Telegraph *
Superb ... a stimulating read * New Statesman *
The stories of the individual people featured make the global personal in an astonishing way * Alan Parks, Daily Express *Books of the 2023* *
Extraordinary ... with a scrupulous and skilful hand [Englund] has created an original panorama of humankind's most destructive war * New York Times *
This vivid chronicle of descent towards the abyss ... offers many thought-provoking insights ... Englund’s book, and his cast of characters, deserve an audience, to increase knowledge not only of this particular war, but also of the stupendous sacrifices and tragedies of all human conflicts -- Max Hastings * Sunday Times *
Brilliant [and] arresting ... The style is vivid and novelistic ... [November 1942's] complex multitude of narrative lines and the intensity in which they're presented make for the most absorbing and harrowing reading. It is a remarkably moving and humane book * Times Literary Supplement *
This gripping and propulsive account, expertly translated by Graves in lyrical prose, recreates the daily uncertainty of war as experienced by regular people ... It's a monumental work of history * Publishers Weekly *
**PRAISE FOR THE BEAUTY AND THE SORROW**
In four decades of studying war, I've never read such a remarkable book
A literary as well as a historical achievement * Guardian *
Intense and bighearted. ... The accounts of [these] lives can be terrifying or stirring, but are most fully alive in Englund's accumulation of small moments, stray details * New York Times *
A wonderfully wide and rich mosaic of personal experience from the First World War * Antony Beevor *
ISBN: 9781847924803
Dimensions: 240mm x 160mm x 40mm
Weight: 774g
496 pages