Finest Years
Page 81
Edward Young, who I met when he was assisting Douglas Hurd with his biography of Peel, has done important and extraordinarily energetic research for me in US archives. He is on the threshold of becoming a distinguished historian in his own right. As usual, I owe thanks to the peerless staff of the London Library, whose patience and goodwill are invaluable. Allen Packwood and his team at the Churchill Archive Centre in Cambridge have been tirelessly helpful, a great tribute when they contend with a column of Churchill scholars threading daily through their doors. Beyond generosity with his time while I was visiting Churchill College, Allen was generous enough to read my draft MS and make helpful comments and corrections.
William Spencer and his colleagues at the British National Archive, together with their American counterparts at the National Archive in Washington, Tim Nenninger most conspicuous among them, show how magnificently great collections function when staffed by men and women who really care. The Imperial War Museum’s library and manuscript archive become ever more important, now that most 1939-45 eye-witnesses are dead. The Liddell Hart Archive at King’s College, London holds many important papers, and I am especially grateful for access to Sir John Kennedy’s diary. I am indebted to copyright holders who have given permission for extracts from their material to be quoted in my text, including Antonia Yates for the papers of Captain Andrew Yates. Extracts from the writings and speeches of Winston Churchill are reproduced with permission of Curtis Brown Ltd, London, on behalf of The Estate of Winston Churchill, copyright © Winston S. Churchill.
Anyone who writes about Winston Churchill must pay tribute to Sir Martin Gilbert, his official biographer, whose work laid the foundations for all who follow. Gilbert’s massive Life, accompanied by the equally fascinating companion document collections, represents one of the great scholarly achievements of our time. Future writers and biographers will owe Sir Martin a further debt, when he completes his forthcoming volumes of War Papers for 1942-45.
Professor Sir Michael Howard OM, CH, MC and two other old friends, Godfrey Hodgson and Don Berry, have read my draft manuscript. Both made immensely helpful suggestions and proposed amendments, most of which I have acted upon. I am indebted to Antony Beevor for focusing my attention on Operation Unthinkable, and for the time and wisdom of Professor David Reynolds, Professor Robert Gildea, Professor Christopher Andrew and Chris Bellamy. Douglas Matthews’s index is a work of art, for which I am warmly grateful. In the United States, Dr Williamson Murray made many helpful suggestions about the text, based upon his own exhaustive knowledge of the period. Dr Tami Biddle of the US Army War College is extraordinarily generous with her own material, in this case pointing me to Harris’s and Slessor’s 1941 reports from Washington. The contribution of my secretary, Rachel Lawrence, is always indispensable, not least in collating notes and references. So too is that of my infinitely long-suffering wife, Penny, who feels doomed forever to share my spirit existence, focused upon 1939-45. She deserves to believe that some day we shall progress towards a real life in our own times.
By the Same Author
All Hell Let Loose: The World at War 1939–1945
A study of the greatest and most terrible event in history, vividly showing its impact on hundreds of millions of people around the world — soldiers, sailors and airmen; British housewives and Indian peasants; SS killers and the citizens of Leningrad. An ‘everyman’s story’, this is Hastings’ attempt to answer the question: ‘What was the Second World War like?’
‘Unquestionably the best single-volume history of the war ever written’ Sunday Times
Did You Really Shoot the Television?: A Family Fable
Hastings’ ‘tribe of eccentrics’ include his parents, a great-uncle African hunter who wrote poetry, family friends such as Joseph Conrad and Thomas Hardy, and one very unfortunate television. All figure in this heart-warming and funny tale of an extraordinary childhood.
‘A brilliantly entertaining book’ Evening Standard
Nemesis: The Battle for Japan, 1944–1945
From the battles of Imphal and Kohima to Leyte Gulf and Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the Soviet assault on Manchuria, Hastings explores both the grand strategy and human experience of soldiers and civilians on both sides of the Second World War’s epic Asian campaigns.
‘Absolutely excellent’ Observer
Warriors: Extraordinary Tales from the Battlefield
Exhilarating and illuminating, this is a study of the lives of sixteen fighters of five nations from the last two centuries, chosen for their courage, character and extraordinary battlefield experiences. In this ‘bedside book for military history buffs’, Hastings explores how heroes and our attitude to them have changed over the centuries.
‘Warriors will enthral everyone’ Daily Telegraph
REPORTAGE
America 1968: The Fire this Time
Ulster 1969: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland The Battle for the Falklands (with Simon Jenkins)
BIOGRAPHY
Montrose: The King’s Champion
Yoni: Hero of Entebbe
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Going to the Wars
Editor
MILITARY HISTORY
Bomber Command
The Battle of Britain (with Len Deighton)
Das Reich
Overlord
Victory in Europe
The Korean War
Armageddon: The Battle for Germany 1944-45
COUNTRYSIDE WRITING
Outside Days
Scattered Shots
Country Fair
ANTHOLOGY (EDITED)
The Oxford Book of Military Anecdotes
Copyright
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Published by HarperPress in 2009
Copyright © Max Hastings 2009
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