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Britain at Bay

The Epic Story of the Second World War: 1938-1941

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Britain at Bay

By: Alan Allport
Narrated by: James Langton
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Summary

WINNER OF THE HWA NON-FICTION CROWN

A TIMES AND SPECTATOR BOOK OF THE YEAR

'Britain's wartime story has been told many times, but never as cleverly as this.' Dominic Sandbrook

In the bleak first half of the Second World War, Britain stood alone against the Axis forces. Isolated and outmanoeuvred, it seemed as though she might fall at any moment. Only an extraordinary effort of courage - by ordinary men and women - held the line. The Second World War is the defining experience of modern British history, a new Iliad for our own times. But, as Alan Allport reveals in this, the first part of a major new two-volume history, the real story was often very different from the myth that followed it. From the subtle moral calculus of appeasement to the febrile dusts of the Western Desert, Allport interrogates every aspect of the conflict - and exposes its echoes in our own age.

©2020 Alan Allport (P)2024 Penguin Random House LLC Military Military & War World War II War Imperialism Middle East Russia Interwar Period
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I have an ongoing interest in the early years of the second world war and it is easy to carry the received wisdom about what happened and why it happened. In this work, I am hearing a broader perspective about some of the key moments.
We all know that the French thought that the Ardennes was 'unpassable to tanks' and only put some weak cavalry divisions there.....
I am going to listen to it again as soon as I finish it as it deserves that.
Good narration, which I found added to my experience.

This is very Good

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Allport is a serious academic historian but unlike many of the others is also a superb writer. He challenges many of the myths and stereotypes of Britain in WW2. He does this by looking at contemporary records instead of memoirs written many years later. The best history book I’ve read this year. …and I read lots of them!

History writing at its best

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