The Longest Night

Description

“An emotionally stirring account of the single most devastating attack on London during the Blitz… A captivating and important contribution… History that reads like a novel.”—Kirkus
 
The untold story of the massive bombing raid that almost brought Britain to military collapse, The Longest Night reveals just how close the Luftwaffe came to total victory. On the night of May 10, 1941, Nazi Germany sent some five hundred aircraft to drop more than seven hundred tons of explosives on London. This vivid, dramatically told account depicts how fate shifted based on Hitler’s mistaken belief that he’d actually lost the air war over Britain, and portrays the unsurpassed, “we-can-take-it” bravery of the British people when they’d been pushed beyond all human endurance.

“An excellent book… Gavin Mortimer has interviewed scores of survivors for his gripping narrative.”—Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal

 “Mortimer’s dramatic renderings of what Londoners and German and British military men experienced make for compelling nonfiction.”—Kirkus

“The careful scene-setting painlessly imparts forgotten information about the facets of wartime life…Gavin Mortimer’s book is a timely reminder that there are still many living survivors who remember and were scarred by the terrifying experiences.”—The Literary Review

“Mortimer deserves full credit for assembling a mountain of material and presenting it with lucidity and balance.”—Daily MailGavin Mortimer is a native Londoner. He began writing by freelancing for several publications, including the London Evening Standard, the Observer, and the Guardian. He has contributed articles to a richly diverse range of magazines from Esquire to BBC History to Rugby World. This is his fourth book, the first to be published in the U.S.US