History Book of the Year 2023 according to the Telegraph

“A remarkable achievement” - ANTONY BEEVOR

“A particularly moving and human book” - WILLIAM BOYD

An inside story of the most important month of World War II, as experienced by those who lived through it, based solely on their diaries, letters, and memories.

At the beginning of November 1942, it seemed that Axis powers could win the war; by the end of that month, it was apparent that it was just a matter of time before they lost.

Among them were the battles of El Alamein, Guadalcanal, the landings in French North Africa, the retreat of the Japanese in New Guinea, and the encirclement of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad. In this innovative historical achievement, Peter Englund records these events with its most fundamental characteristic: the individual experience.

In thirty unforgettable days, we meet characters such as a Soviet soldier in Stalingrad, an Italian truck driver in the North African desert, a partisan in the forests of Belarus, a gunner on a British bomber, a twelve-year-old girl in Shanghai, a student in Paris, a housewife in Long Island, a prisoner in Treblinka, Albert Camus, Vasily Grossman, and Vera Brittain.

We also watch the launch of the SS James Oglethorpe, the fate of U-604, a German submarine, the construction of the first nuclear reactor, and the production of Casablanca.

“Outstanding... a genuine panoramic view of humanity's most destructive war” - New York Times

“Masterly... a stimulating read” - New Statesman

Not since Englund’s book “The Beauty and the Pain” has given one of the most dramatic periods of human history in all its immensity and emotional breadth.

Pages: 496, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9cm