Synopsis
Witness the heroic Warsaw Uprising through the lens of a masterful historian in Norman Davies' Rising '44.
1944. As World War II tears Europe apart, Warsaw finds itself caught between the advancing Soviet Red Army and Hitler's resolute Wehrmacht. The people of Nazi-occupied Warsaw believe that liberation is at hand when the Soviets reach the river Vistula. Little do they know, they are in the eye of a storm.
Instead of liberating the city, the Soviets halt, allowing the Wehrmacht to regroup and Hitler to order the razing of Warsaw. For 63 days, the Polish Resistance fights on valiantly in the cellars and sewers while defenceless citizens are slaughtered in their tens of thousands. One by one, the city's monuments crumble to rubble, as Soviet troops watch from the other side of the river.
In this poignant narrative, renowned British historian Norman Davies vividly recounts one of the defining moments of the 20th century – the tragic tale of Warsaw's 63 days of heroism and devastation during the ill-fated Rising of 1944.
Details
04 September 2008
9780330475747Reviews
[His] knowledge and his passion are displayed in this notable book. His research among Polish and Soviet sources is exhaustiveMax Hastings, Sunday Telegraph
Davies reveals a comprehensive design, tremendous narrative power, a remarkable gift for compression, and a shrewd sense of overall balanceThe New York Review of Books
Davies has been widely recognised as the historian of that benighted country. Now he has used the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the uprising not only to provide a comprehensive account but to make us rethink the central trauma of the 20th century - the conflict between democracies and the totalitarian fantasies of fascism and communism.Guardian
Much more than the story of the Warsaw uprising. It is one of the most savage indictments of Allied malfeasance yet leveled by a historian. Unsparing in his depictions of the slaughter of the Polish fighters and the destruction of their capital, Davies challenges the popular assumption that World War II was entirely the triumph of good over evil.New York Times
