Max Hastings

La historia de la última gran campaña de la segunda guerra mundial: la batalla por la conquista de Alemania, «que comenzó como el mayor hecho militar del siglo XX y acabó como su mayor tragedia human

Los desembarcos del 6 de junio de 1944, el Día D, marcaron el comienzo de la Operación Overlord, la batalla inicial por la liberación de Europa. Max Hastings, uno de los principales y más aclamados historiadores del periodo, cuestiona y desmonta muchas leyendas en este magistral estudio que reune los relatos de los testigos presenciales y los supervivientes de ambos bandos, ademas de una gran cantidad de fuentes y documentos previamente sin explorar.Overlord proporciona al lector una perspectiva brillante y controvertida sobre la devastadora batalla por Normandia y nos lega una de las obras mas completas y alabadas sobre los acontecimientos. Un absoluto referente historiografico. Un libro magistral, perspicaz, astuto y reflexivo. Max Hastings ocupa el primer lugar entre los escritores sobre la guerra moderna.Financial Times Hastings combina una prosa dinamica y clara con un analisis provocativo y, a menudo, brillante. Sus conclusiones son claras y solidas, su investigacion completa y su historia incisiva. De los muchos libros que se han escrito sobre Normandia este es, simplemente, el mejor.Dallas Morning News Un relato brillante y conciso.The Washington Post Book World El relato de Max Hastings sobre la batalla no seria indigno de coincidir con el de los mejores periodistas y escritores que la presenciaron. Un homenaje a sus habilidades como historiador.John Keegan, The New York Times Book Review

Operación Biting arroja luz a uno de los momentos históricos más emocionantes y menos conocidos de la segunda guerra mundial.En su nuevo libro, Max Hastings narra la historia de la Operación Biting, uno de los asaltos de comandos paracaidistas britanicos mas emocionantes y probablemente el mas exitoso de la segunda guerra mundial.En febrero de 1942, la inteligencia de la RAF descubrio una nueva red de radar alemana en la costa de la Europa ocupada conocida como Wurzburg. Esta innovacion tecnologica ponia en jaque a las fuerzas aliadas, asi que la inteligencia britanica propuso un asalto para capturar componentes clave. La operacion se llevo a cabo la noche del 27 al 28 de febrero, cuando 120 hombres de las Fuerzas Aerotransportadas fueron lanzados en paracaidas sobre Bruneval, Normandia, en medio de una tormenta de nieve. A pesar de errores de calculo que dejaron a algunos soldados lejos de su objetivo, lograron desmontar el radar enemigo, enfrentarse a la Wehrmacht y escapar por mar en un audaz rescate hacia Portsmouth.Max Hastings relata este episodio historico lleno de suspense con detalles previamente no documentados, a la vez que retrata los personajes clave involucrados: desde el cientifico que diseño la operacion hasta el carismatico Lord Mountbatten, pasando por el ingeniero Charlie Cox, quien desmantelo el radar, los agentes secretos franceses que arriesgaron sus vidas en misiones de reconocimiento y el mayor John Frost, lider de los paracaidistas en accion. Operacion Biting arroja luz a uno de los momentos historicos mas emocionantes y menos conocidos de la segunda guerra mundial.

Un thriller histórico sobre la que pudo haber sido la mayor catástrofe global. En este nuevo libro, Max Hastings se centra en la crisis de los misiles de Cuba, los trece días de octubre de 1962 que m

En este libro Max Hastings ofrece un retrato de Winston Churchill como nunca antes se había visto. Max Hastings, el autor de Armagedón y Némesis, nos ofrece una sorprendente reinterpretación de lo qu

Vietnam fue el conflicto moderno más divisivo del mundo occidental. Max Hastings ha pasado los últimos tres años entrevistando a decenas de participantes de todos los bandos, investigando documentos y memorias estadounidenses y vietnamitas para crear una narrativa epica de una lucha epica. Retrata las escenas de Dien Bien Phu, el ataque aereo de Vietnam del Norte y batallas menos conocidas, como el baño de sangre en Daido. Aqui estan las realidades vividas de la lucha en medio de la selva y los arrozales que mataron a dos millones de personas. Muchos han tratado esta guerra como una tragedia para los Estados Unidos, sin embargo, Hastings no olvida a los vietnamitas: en esta obra hay testimonios de guerrilleros Vietcong, paracaidistas del sur, chicas de alterne de Saigon y estudiantes de Hanoi, junto con soldados de infanteria de Dakota del Sur, infantes de marina de Carolina del Norte y pilotos de Arkansas. No hay otra obra sobre la guerra de Vietnam que haya mezclado una narrativa politica y militar del conflicto con experiencias personales conmovedoras: el sello de Max Hastings que los lectores conocen tan bien.

El eminente historiador militar sir Max Hastings escoge en este estimulante e inspirador relato las vidas de dieciséis «guerreros» de diferente extracción social y nacionalidad de los últimos tres si

No hubo una Segunda guerra mundial, nos dice Max Hastings, autor de Armagedón, sino dos, completamente distintas: la que se desarrolló en Europa y la que tuvo por escenario el oriente de Asia y el Pacifico, con mas de treinta millones de muertos. Este libro nos habla de esta otra guerra, no menos dramatica y trascendental, pero hasta hoy demasiado olvidada. Basandose en un gran trabajo de documentacion y en la recogida de testimonios de los supervivientes, Hastings recupera esta epopeya, en una sucesion de episodios que van desde la historia del ejercito olvidado de los britanicos en Birmania hasta la invasion sovietica de Manchuria, pasando por los sufrimientos del pueblo chino, las grandes batallas navales, la brutalidad de los campos de prisioneros y de los barcos de la muerte, la lucha por las Filipinas, la sangrienta conquista de Iwo Jima, la destruccion de las ciudades japonesas incendiadas por los bombardeos con napalm o el drama secreto que se desarrollo en torno al palacio imperial de Tokio en los dias de la capitulacion.

Finest years Churchill as Warlord. Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. Winston Churchill was the greatest war leader Britain ever had. In 1940, the nation rallied behind him in an extraordinary fashion. But thereafter, argues Max Hastings, there was a deep divide between what Churchill wanted from the British people and their army, and what they were capable of delivering. Himself a hero, he expected others to show themselves heroes also, and was often disappointed. It is little understood how low his popularity fell in 1942, amid an unbroken succession of battlefield defeats. Some of his closest colleagues joined a clamour for him to abandon his role directing the war machine. Hastings paints a wonderfully vivid image of the Prime Minister in triumph and tragedy. He describes the second Dunkirk in 1940, when Churchills impulsiveness threatened to lose Britain almost as many troops in north-west France as had been saved from the beaches; his wooing of the Americans, and struggles with the Russians. British wartime unity was increasingly tarnished by workers unrest, with many strikes in mines and key industries. By looking at Churchill from the outside in, through the eyes of British soldiers, civilians and newspapers - and also those of Russians and Americans - Hastings provides new perspectives on the greatest Englishman. He condemns as folly Churchills attempt to promote mass uprisings in occupied Europe, and details Unthinkable - his amazing 1945 plan for an Allied offensive against the Russians to liberate Poland. Here is an intimate and affectionate portrait of Churchill as Britains saviour, but also an unsparing examination of the wartime nation which he led and the performance of its armed forces.

From the best-selling author of All Hell Let Loose comes a masterly chronicle of one of the most devastating international conflicts of the 20th century and how its people were affected. `This is a comprehensive, spellbinding, surprisingly intimate, and altogether magnificent historical narrative.' Tim O'Brien Vietnam became the Western world's most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minh's warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed 2 million people. Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners' victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, Huey pilots from Arkansas. No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings' readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the 21st century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

A gripping new collection from Max Hastings that puts you at the heart of the battle Compelling Daily Mail An unmissable read Sunday Times

On 6 June 1944 when the allied armies landed on D Day the Second World War had already lasted almost five years

The seminal narrative history of the Second World War from one of our finest historians. A book which depicts what the war was like to live through -- whether you were a starving child in Leningrad, a soldier in North Africa, or a civilian in Dresden. With its battlefields dispersed across the globe, the vastness of the Second World War was unparalleled. This was a time when nearly everything which civilised people took for granted in peace time was destroyed. Between 1939 and 1945, around 27,000 people died, every single day -- most of them on the Eastern Front. Many men and women who lived through this catastrophe struggled to find the words to describe what they witnessed daily. Many turned to a phrase, which although a cliche, summed things up: "All Hell's Let Loose!" In this magisterial single-volume history of a war that continues to fascinate and horrify us in equal measure, Max Hastings brings together many different human stories, and touches on almost every country in the world. Hastings stresses that it is impossible to compare the suffering of people during WWII -- it would have seemed monstrous to a British soldier facing a mortar barrage, with his comrades dying around him, to be told that Russian casualties were many thousand times greater. However, there were some aspects of wartime experience that were universal: fear and grief; the conscription of young men and women sent to new lives remote from their choice, genocide and mass migration. All Hell Let Loose charts these experiences, along with the numerous battles on land, at sea and in the air, all over the world, that formed the greatest conflict in human history. Using a huge range of sources, including new material from Russia, Italy and Poland, All Hell Let Loose is not only a magnificent and movingly written book; it is arguably one of the most important books on the Second World War ever published

En 'La guerra secreta', Max Hastings presenta un yeso en todo el mundo de personajes y sagas extraordinarias de inteligencia y resistencia para crear una nueva perspectiva sobre el conflicto más grande en la historia. "Tan adictivo como cualquier thriller de espias, el logro de Hastings es especialmente impresionante, porque ha producido el mejor de volumen que se haya escrito sobre el tema" (Sunday Times)

Vietnam became the Western worlds most divisive modern conflict, precipitating a battlefield humiliation for France in 1954, then a vastly greater one for the United States in 1975. Max Hastings has spent the past three years interviewing scores of participants on both sides, as well as researching a multitude of American and Vietnamese documents and memoirs, to create an epic narrative of an epic struggle. He portrays the set pieces of Dienbienphu, the Tet offensive, the air blitz of North Vietnam, and less familiar battles such as the bloodbath at Daido, where a US Marine battalion was almost wiped out, together with extraordinary recollections of Ho Chi Minhs warriors. Here are the vivid realities of strife amid jungle and paddies that killed 2 million people.Many writers treat the war as a US tragedy, yet Hastings sees it as overwhelmingly that of the Vietnamese people, of whom forty died for every American. US blunders and atrocities were matched by those committed by their enemies. While all the world has seen the image of a screaming, naked girl seared by napalm, it forgets countless eviscerations, beheadings and murders carried out by the communists. The people of both former Vietnams paid a bitter price for the Northerners victory in privation and oppression. Here is testimony from Vietcong guerrillas, Southern paratroopers, Saigon bargirls and Hanoi students alongside that of infantrymen from South Dakota, Marines from North Carolina, Huey pilots from Arkansas.No past volume has blended a political and military narrative of the entire conflict with heart-stopping personal experiences, in the fashion that Max Hastings readers know so well. The author suggests that neither side deserved to win this struggle with so many lessons for the 21st century about the misuse of military might to confront intractable political and cultural challenges. He marshals testimony from warlords and peasants, statesmen and soldiers, to create an extraordinary record.

The Sunday Times bestseller'One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings' DAILY MAILIn August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs, the 'island fortress' must be saved. This was not merely a matter of strategy, but of national prestige, when Britain's fortunes and morale had fallen to their lowest ebb.

The period from 1939 to 1945 saw some of the most devastating events in living memory. Existing in the shadows of fear, sacrifice, deprivation and uncertainty, soldiers and civilians of all nationalities were driven to extremes of selfless loyalty, dogged determination or bitter cruelty by the demands of a world at war. Bringing the experience of war to life through a wealth of contemporary documentation, private writings and historical research, this book tells the stories of the men and women who lived and died during the Second World War. Also assessing the political, military and historical significance of the war this truly comprehensive volume covers every fighting front of this horrific war.

Max Hastingss exceptional (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) account of the famous World War II D-Day landings [will] stand with that of the best journalists and writers who witnessed it (The New York Times Book Review).On June 6, 1944, the American and British armies staged the greatest amphibious landing in historycalled Operation Overlordthe battle for the liberation of Europe. Despite the Allies absolute command of sea and air and vast firepower, it took ten weeks of fierce fighting for them to overpower the tenacious, superbly skilled German army. Forty years later, British war correspondent and military historian Max Hastings shares a dense, dramatic portrait of the Normandy invasion that overturns the traditional legends.First published in 1984, Overlord will shock those who regard the invasion of Normandy and the subsequent battles as triumphs of American, British, and Canadian military heroism (The New York Times). Instead, Hastings provides a brilliant, controversial perspective on the devastating battles, based on the eyewitness accounts of survivors from both sides, plus a wealth of previously untapped sources and documents. A masterly book, rich in insight, shrewd and weighty in judgementMax Hastings stands in the first rank of writers on modern war (Financial Times).

If anecdotes are marginal notes on the pages of history, these will delight any reader who has ever been moved or entertained by the condition of the soldier. Few fields of human endeavor have inspired so many memorable anecdotes as warfare, from the Bible and Livy through Gibbon and Froissart, to the imperial wars of the nineteenth century and the world conflicts of the twentieth. This collection of is principally concerned with American and British conflicts, with, as the author says, "occasional forays among the ranks of foreign armies"--notably the Greeks, the Romans, and Napoleon''s veterans. Hastings has sought stories that illustrate the military condition through the ages, both on the battlefield and in barracks: comic, eccentric, heroic, tragic. Here are Caesar at the Rubicon and the revolt of the Praetorian Guard; Alexander''s horse and Prince Rupert''s dog; the legendary Mother Ross enlisting in search of her lost husband in 1693; Evelyn Waugh as the least plausible of commandos; General George S. Patton''s good luck charm "Charlie," a lump of lava rock carved into a Hawaiian warrior; and much more. Some of the stories will be familiar to students of military history while others are less well known, but all provide fascinating sidelights to history. Great war stories by Max Hastings, a leading military historian and war correspondent About the Author: Max Hastings is a well-known author specializing in military history. His most recent books include Bomber Command, Battle for the Falklands, and Overlord.