Alex Kershaw is de auteur van veelgeprezen bestsellers en biografieën. Zijn werk richt zich voornamelijk op thema's als oorlog en heldendom, waarbij hij de ervaringen van strijders en de cruciale figuren die historische conflicten vormden, onderzoekt. Kershaw staat bekend om zijn vermogen om geschiedenis tot leven te brengen, door deze te presenteren in meeslepende verhalen die lezers een diepgaand inzicht geven in menselijke veerkracht en moed tegen de achtergrond van tegenspoed.
New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw has written the first full biography of one of the most remarkable men to have outwitted Hitler - Raoul Wallenberg, the young Swedish diplomat who almost single-handedly saved the lives of countless Hungarian Jews, at unimaginable risk and great cost to himself.
Beginning in the predawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows the remarkable men who carried out D-Day's most perilous missions. The charismatic, unforgettable cast includes the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the glider pilot who braved antiaircraft fire to crash-land mere yards from the vital Pegasus Bridge; the brothers who led their troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; as well as a French commando, returning to his native land, who fought to destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach and beyond. Readers will experience the sheer grit of the Rangers who scaled Pointe du Hoc and the astonishing courage of the airborne soldiers who captured the Merville Gun Battery in the face of devastating enemy counterattacks. The first to fight when the stakes were highest and the odds longest, these men would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler's fortress Europe-and the very history of the twentieth century. The result is an epic of close combat and extraordinary heroism. It is the capstone Alex Kershaw's remarkable career, built on his close friendships with D-Day survivors and his intimate understanding of the Normandy battlefield. For the seventy-fifth anniversary, here is a fresh take on World War II's longest day
In July 1944, thirty-two-year-old Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg arrived in Budapest on a mission to rescue the last Jews of Europe.Over the next six months, he repeatedly risked his life to save tens of thousands of Jews, defying mass murderer Adolf Eichmann and crazed Hungarian fascists while enduring one of the bloodiest sieges of World War II. Tragically, when Budapest was finally liberated, the Holocaust's greatest hero had disappeared into the Soviet gulag to this day, his exact fate is unknown.
From the invasion of Italy to the gates of Dachau, no World War II infantry unit in Europe saw more action or endured worse than the one commanded by Felix Sparks. A maverick officer - and the only man to survive his company's wartime odyssey from bitter beginning to victorious end. This book tells his story.
The New York Times bestselling author of The Liberator and Avenue of Spies returns with a thrilling, action-heavy account of D-Day combat.
"A spellbinding portrait."--The Sunday Times Robert Capa (1913-1954), one of the finest photojournalists and combat photographers of the twentieth century, covered every major conflict from the Spanish Civil War to the early conflict in Vietnam. Always close to the action, he created some of the most enduring images ever made with a camera--perhaps none more memorable than the gritty photos taken on the morning of D-Day. But the drama of Capa's life wasn't limited to one side of the lens. Born in Budapest as Andre Freidman, Capa fled political repression and anti-Semitism as a teenager by escaping to Berlin, where he first picked up a Leica camera. He founded Magnum, which today remains the most prestigious photographic agency of its kind. He was a gambler and seducer of several of his era's most alluring icons, including Ingrid Bergman, and his friends included Irwin Shaw, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, and John Huston. From Budapest in the twenties to Paris in the thirties, from postwar Hollywood to Stalin's Russia, from New York to Indochina, Blood and Champagne is a wonderfully evocative account of Capa's life and times.
A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War II
Focusing on the remarkable journeys of four Medal of Honor recipients, this narrative unveils their extraordinary contributions during World War II, spanning from North Africa to the heights of Hitler's fortress. The book highlights their valor, camaraderie, and the challenges they faced, providing an in-depth look at the lives of these decorated soldiers and their pivotal roles in key battles. Through rich storytelling, it brings to light an often-overlooked chapter of military history.
Recounts events surrounding the 1944-45 Battle of the Bulge in Ardennes, France, during World War II, and the plight of eighteen men of a single platoon who were captured and survived in German POW camps through the end of the war.
The Few tells the dramatic and unforgettable story of eight young Americans who joined Britain's Royal Air Force, defying their country's neutrality laws and risking their U.S. citizenship to fight side-by-side with England's finest pilots in the summer of 1940-over a year before America entered the war. Flying the lethal and elegant Spitfire, they became "knights of the air" and with minimal training but plenty of guts, they dueled the skilled and fearsome pilots of Germany's Luftwaffe. By October 1940, they had helped England win the greatest air battle in the history of aviation. Winston Churchill once said of all those who fought in the Battle of Britain, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." These daring Americans were the few among the "few." Now, with the narrative drive and human drama that made The Bedford Boys and The Longest Winter national bestsellers, Alex Kershaw tells their story for the first time.
