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

by Michael Korda

Overview

A BBC History Best Book of the Year

One of the most miraculous military rescue missions in modern history comes alive in this “superb and panoramic” (Washington Post) account of Dunkirk.

No one can evince the drama of what actually happened at Dunkirk in the year 1940 with as “great narrative skill and superb delineation” (David McCullough) as Michael Korda, the historian and legendary book editor. As dramatized in Christopher Nolan’s film Dunkirk, May 1940 was a month like no other: Germany’s war machine blazed into France, the impregnable Maginot Line crumbled, and Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as prime minister as Britain, isolated and alone, faced a triumphant Nazi Germany. Against this vast canvas, best-selling author Michael Korda relates his own personal story, “by turns charming, powerful and poignant” (Minneapolis Star Tribune): that of a six-year-old boy from a glamorous movie family who would himself be evacuated. Weaving together “eyewitness detail and a fine sense of drama” (Boston Globe) to form an epic of remarkable originality, Alone movingly captures a moment of historic triumph—when an unlikely flotilla of destroyers brought 300,000 men home to safety.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781631491337
Publisher:	Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date:	09/19/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	544
Sales rank:	49,522
File size:	100 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Michael Korda participated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary. He is the author of major biographies of Ulysses S. Grant, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Robert E. Lee., as well as the best-selling memoir Charmed Lives.

Table of Contents

Prologue: "The Past Is a Foreign Country" xiii

Part 1 The Second Great War

1 To the Brink 3

2 The Failure of Diplomacy 27

5 "Speak for England!" 46

4 The Phoney War 55

5 Operation Pied Piper 75

6 Case Yellow 83

7 "Gad, Gentlemen, Here's to Our Greatest Victory of the War" 103

8 Hitler "Missed the Bus" 116

9 "In the Name of God, Go" 124

Part 2 The Battle of France

10 "The Top of the Greasy Pole" 149

11 Rommel Crosses the Meuse 164

12 "We Are Beaten; We Have Lost the Battle" 175

13 "The Mortal Gravity of the Hour" 187

14 May 20, 1940: "A Pretty Fair Pig of a Day" 197

15 "The Fatal Slope" 209

16 "Hard and Heavy Tidings" 218

17 The Sharp End of the Stick 228

18 The Battle of Arras: "We May Be foutu" 245

19 "Their Zest and Delight in Shooting Germans Was Most Entertaining" 259

Part 3 Dunkirk

20 The Burghers of Calais 277

21 "Fight It Out to the Bitter End" 290

22 Flag Officer, Dover 301

25 The Home Front 307

24 "Presume Troops Know They Are Cutting Their Way Home to Blighty" 322

25 Dynamo 338

26 "Fight It Out, Here or Elsewhere" 351

27 Holding the Line 368

28 "The Little Ships" 379

29 "The Best Mug of Tea I Have Ever Had in My Life" 397

30 "Arm in Arm" 412

31 "We Are Going to Beat Them" 425

32 The Dunkirk Spirit 439

33 At Sea 453

Acknowledgments 463

Notes 465

Bibliography 483

List of Illustrations 491

Index 499

Editorial Reviews

Many readers have been through all this material before…But here this crucial time is recounted by someone who witnessed those years as a child. Korda…is like a charming dinner party host offering his personal experience of history…Korda's breezy book makes a fine introduction for anyone new to this fulcrum point of the 20th century.

The New York Times Book Review - Thomas E. Ricks

"Michael Korda’s cool dissection of the battle of Dunkirk and its aftermath makes wonderful reading: he’s as able a historian as he was an editor."

Larry McMurtry

"Entertaining. . . This crucial time is recounted by someone who witnessed those years as a child. Korda, a longtime book editor before becoming a full-time author, is like a charming dinner party host offering his personal experience of history. . . A fine introduction for anyone new to this fulcrum point of the 20th century."

Thomas E. Ricks

"Michael Korda, who has often extended our understanding of so many diverse subjects, has accomplished another masterpiece in Alone. Dealing with Britain’s desperate situation as France fell, he shows how the evacuation from Dunkirk became the inspiration for eventual British victory. One of Korda’s best."

Henry Kissinger

"The incredible, almost miraculous story of what happened at Dunkirk in the year 1940—and why—is unfolded in Alone with great narrative skill and superb delineation of a highly interesting cast of characters, including, importantly, the author himself and his own remarkable family."

David McCullough

"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

"A fascinating mix of political history and personal reminiscence. I personally had almost the same experience, and was transported back seventy-five years."

John Julius Norwich

"Korda tells an exciting story laced with eyewitness detail and a fine sense of drama."

Globe - Matthew Price

"Where Korda's account differs from many similar Dunkirk histories is in a wide trawl of simultaneous social history alongside the military and political events. . . The book is also lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs—many of them unfamiliar. Anyone wanting to explore the history behind Christopher Nolan's recent film could do a lot worse than start here. "

Times Literary Supplement - Nigel Jones

"Entertaining. . . This crucial time is recounted by someone who witnessed those years as a child. Korda, a longtime book editor before becoming a full-time author, is like a charming dinner party host offering his personal experience of history. . . A fine introduction for anyone new to this fulcrum point of the 20th century."

Thomas E. Ricks - New York Times Book Review

"Where Korda's account differs from many similar Dunkirk histories is in a wide trawl of simultaneous social history alongside the military and political events. . . The book is also lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs—many of them unfamiliar. Anyone wanting to explore the history behind Christopher Nolan's recent film could do a lot worse than start here. "

Nigel Jones - Times Literary Supplement

"Korda tells an exciting story laced with eyewitness detail and a fine sense of drama."

Matthew Price - Globe