Five Days in London

May 1940
John Lukacs

'It is a fascinating story, well told by an accessible writer, and micro-history at its best'

Tony Simpson, NZ Listener

'Unconventionally, yet with terrific strength, John Lukacs rebuilds the five haunted days when the Nazis were 'never closer to victory' and the West came perilously close to annihilation.'

Tony Maniaty, The Australian

View all reviews

'A compelling case for canonising Winston Churchill. This remarkably readable and informative account, both scholarly and accessible, is finally available in paperback thanks to Scribe.'

Chris Boyd, The Big Issue

'Lukacs's scholarship re-creates with great immediacy the chaotic few days during which, according to the author, Hitler came closest to winning the war.'

The New Yorker

'[A] riveting book … Lukacs weaves his account from a rich assembly of sources — excerpts from the diaries of Enoch Powell, Evelyn Waugh, George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, mystery writer Margery Allingham, all the official records and the opinion surveys that kept showing a stubborn determination of the ordinary British to carry on.'

Sandra Gwyn, Toronto Globe and Mail

'A wise and thrilling account by a masterly historian of one of the pivotal periods in modern history, the days when the West was saved.'

Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia

‘This book is a perceptive and thrilling account of a few dramatic days that really did change history.'

Robert Wilson, Canberra Times

The days from 24 May to 28 May 1940 altered the course of the twentieth century, as the members of the British War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue the war. The decisive importance of these five days is the focus of John Lukacs's magisterial book.

'It is a fascinating story, well told by an accessible writer, and micro-history at its best'

Tony Simpson, NZ Listener

'Unconventionally, yet with terrific strength, John Lukacs rebuilds the five haunted days when the Nazis were 'never closer to victory' and the West came perilously close to annihilation.'

Tony Maniaty, The Australian

View all reviews

'A compelling case for canonising Winston Churchill. This remarkably readable and informative account, both scholarly and accessible, is finally available in paperback thanks to Scribe.'

Chris Boyd, The Big Issue

'Lukacs's scholarship re-creates with great immediacy the chaotic few days during which, according to the author, Hitler came closest to winning the war.'

The New Yorker

Sandra Gwyn, Toronto Globe and Mail

'A wise and thrilling account by a masterly historian of one of the pivotal periods in modern history, the days when the West was saved.'

Paul Keating, former Prime Minister of Australia

Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 210mm × 135mm

Extent:256pp

ISBN (13):9780908011674

RRP:$26.99

Pub date:1 Aug 2001

Rights Held: ANZ

High-res cover:Download Image

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AUTHOR

John Lukacs

John Lukacs was professor of history at Chestnut College, Philadelphia, until his retirement. He is the author of more than 20 books, including The Hitler of History, The End of the Twentieth Century and the End of the Modern Age (which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize), The Last European War, 1939–1941, The Duel, and A Thread of Years.