This historical account re-examines the Allied attack on Dresden during World War II, revealing the justification behind the controversial aerial bombing."Passionately written and deeply affecting. . . . A bracing rebuke to the myths and propaganda that have painted over the memory of this tragedy." — PeopleFor decades it has been assumed that the Allied bombing of Dresden was militarily unjustifiable, an act of rage and retribution ...

"Tells the story of this strange piece of architecture—that is, how the Berlin Wall was built, and how it then suddenly, and strangely, ceased to exist."*Now with an Updated Epilogue thirty years after the fall of the WallOn the morning of August thirteen, 1961, the residents of East Berlin found themselves cut off from family, friends, and jobs in the West by a tangle of barbed wire that ruthlessly split a city of four million in two. With...

An economic horror story: The complete meltdown of a major modern country's financial system, and its disastrous effects on every aspect of society.A hundred years ago, many theorists believed-just as they did at the beginning of our twenty-first century-that the world had reached a state of economic perfection, a never before seen human interdependence that would lead to universal growth and prosperity. Then, as now, the German mark was one of the most trusted cur...

The astonishing drama of Cold War nuclear poker that divided humanity - reissued with a new Postscript to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the wall.During the night of 12–13 August 1961, a barbed-wire entanglement was hastily constructed through the heart of Berlin. It metamorphosed into a structure that would come to symbolise the insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall. Frederick Taylor tells the story of the post-war political conflict that...

Beinahe dreißig Jahre stand die Mauer – sie spaltete ein Land, sie zerriss Familien, viele starben beim Versuch, sie zu überwinden. Frederick Taylor erzählt die Geschichte dieses Bauwerks, das nicht nur ein Symbol für den verlorenen Krieg und die daraus resultierende Teilung Deutschlands, sondern auch ein Fanal der Unmenschlichkeit war. Ein eindringliches Buch über die Zeit des Kalten Kriegs und darüber, was der Eiserne Vorhang für das Leben der Menschen bedeutet hat."Ein kün...

The appearance of a hastily-constructed barbed wire entanglement through the heart of Berlin during the night of 12-13 August 1961 was both dramatic and unexpected. Within days, it had started to metamorphose into a structure that would come to symbolise the brutal insanity of the Cold War: the Berlin Wall.A city of almost four million was cut ruthlessly in two, unleashing a potentially catastrophic East-West crisis and plunging the entire world for the first time into the fear of ...

The collapse of the Third Reich in 1945 was an event nearlyunprecedented in history. Only the fall of the Roman Empire fifteenhundred years earlier compares to the destruction visited on Germany.The country's cities lay in ruins, its economic base devastated. TheGerman people stood at the brink of starvation, millions of them stillin POW camps. This was the starting point as the Allies set out to builda humane, democratic nation on the ruins of the...

THE change from mediaeval to modern methods in the art of war is closely related to the general transformation of European civilization which goes by the name of the Renaissance. The revival of interest in ancient history and literature had a distinct effect on military theory and practice. The new spirit of inquiry and experiment applied itself vigorously to military problems. Moreover the avowed national separatism which replaced the sham imperialism of the Middle Ages accentuated the ri...

A best-selling historian’s chronicle of the dramatic months from the Munich Agreement to Hitler’s invasion of Poland and the beginning of World War II.In the autumn of 1938, Europe believed in the promise of peace. But only a year later, the fateful decisions of just a few men had again led Europe to a massive world war. Drawing on contemporary diaries, memoirs, and newspapers, as well as recorded interviews, 1939 is a narrative account of what the coming ...

‘Taylor has done us a great service in making the personal stories of what it was actually like to live through the most crucial year of the twentieth century vivid, compelling and salutary.’ - Roland Philipps, author of A Spy Named Orphan: The Enigma of Donald MacleanIn the autumn of 1938, Europe believed in the promise of peace. Still reeling from the ravages of the Great War, its people were desperate to rebuild their lives in a newly s...

Zwei Völker am Abgrund: Die Geschichte des Sommers vor der KatastropheSommer 1939: Zwanzig Jahre nach dem Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs steht Europa erneut am Abgrund. Die Diplomatie hat versagt, die Militärs haben aufgerüstet, was aber denken und fühlen die Menschen in Deutschland und in England? Frederick Taylor hat unzählige Quellen ausgewertet, Zeitzeugen interviewt und private Dokumente erschlossen - und zeichnet so ein eindrückliches Bild der Gefühlslage in beid...

The definitive story of the shocking and controversial Allied bombing of Dresden'In narrative power and persuasion, he has paralleled in Dresden what Antony Beevor achieved in Stalingrad' Independent on Sunday'Well-researched and unpretentious ... fascinating ... Taylor skilfully interweaves various personal accounts of the impact of the raids' GuardianAt 9.51 p.m. on Tuesday 13 February 1945, Dres...