Praise for Brothers in Arms:
“Mr. Holland sympathetically captures the chaos swirling inside the 30-ton beasts . . . [He] ably sets up his main characters: men he had the good fortune to interview, or those who left detailed diaries, letters and reminiscences behind . . . Brothers in Arms tells a superb story of World War II’s destruction with a breadth that small-unit narratives cannot match.”—Jonathan W. Jordan, Wall Street Journal
“Holland objects to the way the last year of the war has too often been presented as a seamless narrative of success, an inexorable advance from Normandy to Berlin. He concentrates instead on the forgotten little battles that crowded every day . . . The power of Holland’s book lies in the painful intimacy he creates. The reader gets to know these men as if they exist in the present . . . Impossible to put down. Seldom is war so vividly described . . . Caught up in the drama of battle, we sometimes forget the good men who died. Holland, to his credit, forces us to remember.”—Gerard DeGroot, Times (UK)
“James Holland’s greatest strength as a military historian is that he brings humanity to his work—a rare trait in a field of research that can sometimes feel dominated by those obsessed with numbers . . . He paints a remarkably vivid picture of what his subjects endured and achieved in the closing stages of the conflict. Like a fly on the white-painted interior wall of the Sherman tank, we observe the hot, fume-filled air that makes the crew choke as the extractor fan struggles to clear the smoke . . . A powerful and moving reminder that there is tragedy in statistics.”—Katja Hoyer, Spectator
“Holland brings this cramped universe vividly to life in his account of the long march of a single regiment, the Sherwood Rangers . . . Their story can be seen as a reflection of the British war as a whole and Holland tells it very well, using his trademark technique of immersive detail and focus on a cast of well-defined characters.”—Patrick Bishop, Telegraph
“James Holland accomplishes a major victory, a rarity, in bringing back to life unnerving tank battles . . . With his remarkable keen insights that provide riveting descriptions, the author transports the reader, day by day, hour by hour, to Victory in Europe (V-E Day). No narrative such as Holland’s, with such intimate details and carefully crafted fighting depictions, has ever been published before. Simply put, this book is of a great magnitude in the War Literature of the 20th Century.”—ARGunners
“The heroic exploits of the British Army’s Sherwood Rangers tank unit over the last 11 months of WWII are richly documented in this sweeping chronicle from historian Holland . . . Vivid eyewitness accounts, colorful character sketches, and lucid tactical discussions make this a must-read for military history buffs.”—Publishers Weekly
“A fine account of the brutal daily experiences of a celebrated British tank regiment . . . This book is the result of massive research in British and American archives, plus a few interviews with survivors, and the author includes a generous selection of maps and photos . . . One of the better recent blow-by-blow chronicles of a World War II unit.”—Kirkus Reviews
Praise for James Holland:
“Detail and scope are the twin strengths of Normandy ’44 . . . Mr. Holland effectively balances human drama with the science of war as the Allies knew it.”—Jonathan W. Jordan, Wall Street Journal
“Academic histories are all very well, but at times it is a pleasure to sit back and wallow in an old-school military tale of flinty-eyed men doing battle. That is what James Holland, a seasoned craftsman, offers in Sicily ’43.”—Thomas E. Ricks, New York Times Book Review
“This hefty, scrupulously balanced history of the Allied invasion of northern France goes beyond some of the well-known events of D-Day, thanks to Holland’s meticulous research and clear-eyed view of the big picture . . . An excellent and engrossing new look at the Normandy invasion.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Normandy ’44
“Holland’s great skill lies in bringing these warriors back to life with vivid prose. He’s an enormously prolific historian of the war, but each book he produces is constructed with great care and emotional commitment . . . Holland is obsessed with war, but fortunately does not seem to love it. He recognizes its beauty, but also its vileness.”—Gerard DeGroot, Times (UK) on Sicily ’43
“Highly detailed . . . The interplay of personal stories with the broader strategic picture makes this book especially illuminating . . . A fascinating must-read for World War II aficionados.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review), on Big Week
“James Holland’s The War in the West is set fair to become one of the truly great multivolume histories of the Second World War.”—Andrew Roberts, New York Times-bestselling author of The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War and Napoleon: A Life
“A fascinating story of how the fortunes of war changed in obvious—and particularly not so obvious—ways.”—Col. Eric M. Walters, Military Review on The Allies Strike Back
“Holland puts the case for Allied technological and military skills as a vital factor in turning the war’s tide . . . Ranks as a towering work of historical research and writing.”—BBC History Magazine on The Allies Strike Back
“This is narrative history as intimate, intricate tapestry . . . Mr. Holland’s success is built in part on an engaging writing style and in part on a genuinely fresh approach to events that have been so often—and apparently definitively—recounted . . . Exceptional . . . Epic.”—Wall Street Journal on The Rise of Germany
“Impeccably researched and superbly written . . . Holland’s fascinating saga offers a mixture of captivating new research and well-considered revisionism.”—Guardian on The Rise of Germany
★ 2023-10-04
The acclaimed World War II historian returns with an account of the first months of the Allies’ World War II campaign to free Italy from Nazi rule.
Holland, the author of Brothers in Arms and Big Week, draws on a number of on-the-ground accounts by participants from all sides of the conflict: diaries, personal letters, and other contemporaneous sources, many previously unpublished. Consequently, in addition to the perspectives of the generals and national leaders, readers experience the viewpoints of ordinary American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, along with a number of Italians. The author structures the narrative chronologically, which means it jumps from one part of the front to another in the same chapter. Even readers familiar with Italian geography are likely to consult maps to follow the action. In one sense, this emphasizes Holland’s overall point—that the campaign was inherently chaotic, due to the mountainous terrain over which it was fought as well as the faulty planning on both sides. For the Allies, invading Italy was meant to draw Axis forces from Normandy and fulfill Stalin’s demands for a second front. However, this strategy meant that, in preparation for D-Day, too many landing craft and supply ships were withdrawn to England, leaving the troops in Italy short of supplies and reinforcement. On the German side, rival generals Rommel and Kesselring had different ideas how to defend the peninsula, and Hitler changed his mind on which one to back in mid-stream. For soldiers and civilians on the ground, the result was often little short of a nightmare. Holland effectively conveys the drama on the front lines while giving a comprehensive account of what was going on at the strategic level.
A riveting, often appalling look at an under-recognized part of the fight against Hitler—a must for WWII buffs.
