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  • Alone

  • Britain, Churchill, and Dunkirk: Defeat into Victory
  • By: Michael Korda
  • Narrated by: John Lee
  • Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
  • 4.9 out of 5 stars (11 ratings)
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Alone

By: Michael Korda
Narrated by: John Lee
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Summary

Combining epic history with rich family stories, Michael Korda chronicles the outbreak of World War II and the great events that led to Dunkirk.

An epic of remarkable originality, Alone captures the heroism of World War II as movingly as any book in recent memory. Bringing to vivid life the world leaders, generals, and ordinary citizens who fought on both sides of the war, Michael Korda, the best-selling author of Clouds of Glory, chronicles the outbreak of hostilities, recalling as a prescient young boy the enveloping tension that defined pre-Blitz London, and then as a military historian the great events that would alter the course of the 20th century.

For indeed, May 1940 was a month like no other. The superior German war machine blazed into France, as the Maginot Line, supposedly "as firmly fixed in place as the Pyramids", crumbled in days. With the fall of Holland and Belgium, the imminent fall of Paris, the British army stranded at Dunkirk, and Neville Chamberlain's government in political freefall, Winston Churchill became prime minister on this historical nadir of May 10, 1941. Britain, diplomatically isolated, was suddenly the only nation with the courage and the resolve to defy Hitler.

Against this vast historical canvas, Korda relates what happened and why. We first meet him at the age of six, surrounded by his glamorous movie family: his stage actress mother; his elegant father, Vincent, soon to receive an Academy Award; and his devoted Nanny Low, with whom he recites his evening prayers. Even the cheery BBC bulletins that Michael listened to every night could not mask the impending catastrophe, the German invasion so certain that the young boy, carrying his passport on a string around his neck, was evacuated to Canada on an ocean liner full of children.

Such alarm was hardly exaggerated. No one, after all, could have ever imagined that the most unlikely flotilla of destroyers - Dutch barges, fishing boats, yachts, and even rowboats - would rescue over 300,000 men off the beach at Dunkirk and bring them home to England. The miraculous return of the army was greeted with a renewed call for courage, and in the months that followed, the lives of tens of millions would be inexorably transformed, often tragically so, by these epochal weeks of May 1940.

It is this pivotal turning point in world history that Korda captures with such immediacy in Alone, a work that triumphantly demonstrates that even the most calamitous defeats can become the most legendary victories.

©2017 Success Research Corporation (P)2017 Audible, Inc.
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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Fascinating

My Uncle's Cyril and Ron (Tabor), were in the BEF at Dunkirk one 18 and the other 16, I failed to get much information from them save for the fact that they had had a free holiday on the Isle of Mann a few months before Dunkirk, which had lead to them joining the Territorials. France and the BEF followed, however, I knew little about the political events and the events that ensued.

I found this book informative and fascinating on many levels. I was left wanting to know more about all sorts of things, such as the British film industry and the authors family, the Vichy government, the Free French and a host of other things.

I will certainly look out for more by this author whose Uncle Alex I am sure would be proud of his narrative.

Fascinating stuff

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A Fresh Take

Very enjoyable take on an important period of history. Liked the author's insertion of his own family history.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping, exciting and entertaining

Would you listen to Alone again? Why?

I loved the way Michael Korda wove the history of Dunkirk with his own personal and family reminiscences.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Alone?

Aspects of the Dunkirk story that tend to be forgotten, especially around those left behind.

What about John Lee’s performance did you like?

A ‘spot on’ performance by John Lee. Loved the variations in voice, accent and character as he told the story. Good balance between gravitas and levity. A very engaging and interesting ‘listen’.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

A book and a narration to savour over a length of time.

Any additional comments?

Such an interesting book and well performed.

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