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Churchill's Triumph

A Novel of Betrayal

ebook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

From Michael Dobbs, author of the book that inspired the smash hit Netflix series House of Cards, Churchill's Triumph transports us to the end of WWII as the three most powerful men on earth—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin—gather in what will later become known as the Yalta Conference to discuss the possibility of worldwide peace. Despite their shared goals, these supposed allies will lie, cheat, and deceive each other in order to secure their respective places in history.

Dobbs takes you behind the scenes and brings you into the minds and hearts of the big three leaders: the dominating and seemingly all-powerful Joseph Stalin, with the largest army, and the mission of expanding the Soviet Empire; an ailing and fragile Roosevelt, willing to make whatever compromises he felt he had to in order to bring Stalin and Russia into the final campaign against Japan; and Churchill, the least powerful of the three, but the most far-sighted, who could not count on Roosevelt as his ally, and could not tame the avaricious Russian bear, determined to gobble up the nations around and beyond it. Like a fly on the wall of history, the reader becomes a hidden witness to these monumental negotiations, witnessing negotiations that would betray the heroic struggle of millions who died and fought in the Great War.

Acclaimed author Michael Dobbs allows the reader to eavesdrop on the world's most powerful men at a crucial point in modern history.

Praise for Churchill's Triumph by Michael Dobbs, bestselling author of House of Cards, the book that inspired the Netflix series:

"His portrait of Churchill is as masterly as ever: a wonderful compound of bluster, sentimentality, grumpiness and indefatigable physical energy. There are the usual elegant metaphors... In the tragedy of Poland burning while statesmen fiddled, Dobbs has found a theme worthy of his powers."—Sunday Telegraph

"How do you delight the profit-maximising big retailers while at the same time writing something dark and moving? Michael Dobbs knows how...Dobbs knows his sources, but the dialogue is his own: good, clean, moving briskly and underpinned by the record, it conveys historical truth. As for Poland, it suffered all the horrors. Dobbs writes about the country with tight passion, transferring to his fictional village, Piorun, the rape, murder and savage enforcement by Germans and Russians which, so far away and so little regarded, actually happened. The old women weeping, the houses burned down, the bodies left promiscuously on the street are history set out for the attention of novel-readers, memorable instruction in human grief... Furiously told and compelling, Churchill's Triumph is a thinking man's bestseller."—The Guardian

"Dobbs astutely and dramatically portrays the real story of Yalta, the mighty tussle between the three men upon whose political skills and strength of character the rest of the world would depend... The novel is a triumph because of the author's fine appreciation of history and his meticulous eye for detail."—The Times

"Michael Dobbs brings the Second World War to a resounding close... Dobbs portrays Churchill as being all too human - oversensitive and easily hurt by friendship betrayed, and conjures up Roosevelt's stricken response beautifully... Dobbs is a fine writer and neatly sums up the appeal of historical novels. Not only can they fill in the gaps left by an inaccurate, incomplete or contradictory factual record, but they can capture the spirit of the thing. Dobbs has certainly done that here."—Daily Telegraph

"It's all too easy to forget that you're not reading an insider's account of ht real events that...

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 14, 2008
      Dobbs (Never Surrender
      ) extends his historical fiction series starring Winston Churchill with this title focusing on the Yalta Conference. As WWII winds down, Churchill, Joseph Stalin and FDR meet in Yalta to sort out postwar Europe. All in less than vigorous health (FDR is at death's door), the big three hammer out differences in their competing agendas, a process Dobbs fills with rich historical detail and dramatic flair as “Uncle Joe” Stalin extracts large concessions, particularly land reparations—such as in Russian-occupied Poland—from a deferential FDR and a scrappy Churchill. Meanwhile, Roosevelt lobbies for the formation of the United Nations and simultaneously keeps secret the atomic bomb. Minor characters, notably a Polish plumber trying to flee Yalta, point to the brutality behind what Churchill later dubbed the “Iron Curtain.” Perhaps the weakest negotiator of the trio, Churchill nevertheless maintains, with able assists from Dobbs, his famous eloquence, humor and shrewdness. History buffs and readers with at least a casual interest in Churchill will get the most out of this.

    • Library Journal

      February 15, 2008
      Dobbs's fourth Winston Churchill novel (after "Never Surrender"), and his 12th book, attempts to humanize the Yalta Conference of February 1945 by presenting the thoughts and feelings of Churchill with an occasional glimpse into the minds of President Roosevelt and Marshal Stalin. Interspersed with the historical events of the conference's eight days, Dobbs's novel tells the story of a Polish cavalryman who witnessed the massacre of Polish officers in the forest at Katyn and now, a plumber for the Soviets, wants Churchill to rescue him before he is unmasked. In Dobbs's reconstruction, Churchill is a drunken fighter; Roosevelt, a doddering fool interested only in creating the United Nations and in enlisting Soviet assistance against Japan; and Stalin, a ferocious bully but a shrewd negotiator. The betrayal of the novel's subtitle is that of "dull-witted" Roosevelt, who seems set on appeasing the Soviets at Poland's expense. Churchill's triumph, revealed only in the epilog, turns out to be saving France and Germany as a bulwark against further Soviet expansion. He is thus credited with the eventual fall of communism and the freedom of Poland! While the rape of Poland is graphically portrayed, Dobbs's three protagonists come across as unsympathetic caricatures. Roosevelt is so odious that one wonders if any American other than a die-hard Anglophile will enjoy this book. A marginal purchase. [The author of the best-selling "House of Cards", adapted into a popular PBS series, served as a chief adviser to prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major.Ed.]Ron Terpening, Univ. of Arizona, Tuscon

      Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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