Most Popular Books by Martin Gilbert

"Drawing on twenty-five years of original research, Gilbert takes us through Germany and every occupied country from Norway to Greece, from the Atlantic to the Baltic, where the Righteous, by their lifesaving actions, challenged Nazi barbarism.".

"Mr. Gilbert brings the strongest possible credentials to his history of World War II, and the result is a magisterial work" ( The New York Times). In the hands of master historian Martin Gilbert, the complex and compelling story of the Second World War comes to life. This narrative captures the perspectives of leading politicians and war commanders, journalists, civilians, and ordinary soldiers, offering gripping eyewitness accounts of heroism, defeat, suffering, and triumph. This is one of the first historical studies of World War II that describes the Holocaust as an integral part of the war. It also covers maneuvers, strategies, and leaders operating in European, Asian, and Pacific theatres. In addition, this book brings in survivor testimonies of occupation, survival behind enemy lines, and the experience of minority groups such as the Roma in Europe, to offer a comprehensive account of the war''s impact on individuals on both sides. This is a sweeping narrative of one of the most deadly wars in history, which took almost forty million lives, and irrevocably changed countless more. "Gilbert''s flowing narrative is spiced with anecdotal details culled from diaries, memoirs, and official documents. He is especially skillful at interweaving summaries of military strategy with vignettes of civilian suffering." — Newsweek "[A] masterful account of history''s most destructive conflict." — Publishers Weekly

"A richly textured and deeply moving portrait of greatness" ( Los Angeles Times). In this masterful book, prize-winning historian and authorized Churchill biographer Martin Gilbert weaves together the research from his eight-volume biography of the elder statesman into one single volume, and includes new information unavailable at the time of the original work''s publication. Spanning Churchill''s youth, education, and early military career, his journalistic work, and the arc of his political leadership, Churchill: A Life details the great man''s indelible contribution to Britain''s foreign policy and internal social reform. With eyewitness accounts and interviews with Churchill''s contemporaries, including friends, family members, and career adversaries, it provides a revealing picture of the personal life, character, ambition, and drive of one of the world''s most remarkable leaders. "A full and rounded examination of Churchill''s life, both in its personal and political aspects . . . Gilbert describes the painful decade of Churchill''s political exile (1929–1939) and shows how it strengthened him and prepared him for his role in the ''hour of supreme crisis'' as Britain''s wartime leader. A lucid, comprehensive and authoritative life of the man considered by many to have been the outstanding public figure of the 20th century." — Publishers Weekly "Mr. Gilbert''s job was to bring alive before his readers a man of extraordinary genius and scarcely less extraordinary destiny. He has done so triumphantly." — The New York Times Book Review

A chronological compilation of twentieth-century world events in one volume—from the acclaimed historian and biographer of Winston S. Churchill. The twentieth century has been one of the most unique in human history. It has seen the rise of some of humanity''s most important advances to date, as well as many of its most violent and terrifying wars. This is a condensed version of renowned historian Martin Gilbert''s masterful examination of the century''s history, offering the highlights of a three-volume work that covers more than three thousand pages. From the invention of aviation to the rise of the Internet, and from events and cataclysmic changes in Europe to those in Asia, Africa, and North America, Martin examines art, literature, war, religion, life and death, and celebration and renewal across the globe, and throughout this turbulent and astonishing century.

"The most comprehensive account of Israeli history yet published" (Efraim Karsh, The Sunday Telegraph). Fleeing persecution in Europe, thousands of Jewish immigrants settled in Palestine after World War II. Renowned historian Martin Gilbert crafts a riveting account of Israel''s turbulent history, from the birth of the Zionist movement under Theodor Herzl to the unexpected declaration of its statehood in 1948, and through the many wars, conflicts, treaties, negotiations, and events that have shaped its past six decades—including the Six Day War, the Intifada, Suez, and the Yom Kippur War. Drawing on a wealth of first-hand source materials, eyewitness accounts, and his own personal and intimate knowledge of the country, Gilbert weaves a complex narrative that''s both gripping and informative, and probes both the ideals and realities of modern statehood. "Martin Gilbert has left us in his debt, not only for a superlative history of Israel, but also for a restatement of the classic vision of Zion, in which a Middle East without guns is not a bedtime story but an imperative long overdue. This is the vision for which Yitzhak Rabin gave his life. This book is tribute to his memory." —Jonathan Sacks, The Times (London)

"In 1922, Churchill established on the bedrock of international law the right of Jews to emigrate to Palestine. Gilbert sheds new light on Churchill''s support of the Jewish people around the time of the Holocaust and World War II. As late as 1960, during his meeting with David Ben-Gurion, Churchill presented the Israeli prime minister with an article he had written praising Moses." "Drawing on a wide range of archives and private papers, speeches, newspaper coverage, and wartime correspondence, Gilbert opens a window on an underappreciated and heroic aspect of the brilliant politician''s life and career."--BOOK JACKET.

Historian Gilbert has researched and prepared 316 maps to trace each phase of the Holocaust, beginning with the anti-Semitic violence of prewar Germany to the expulsion of Jews from towns and villages, the establishment of ghettos, and the setting up of the death camps, and including acts of resistance and revolts, areas of Jewish partisan activity, killings of children and non-Jews, the flight of survivors. Explanatory text accompanies the maps, chronicling the details and explaining the sources--many of which are records the Nazis themselves kept. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

This graphic reference of American history summarizes important events using detailed full-page maps inset with facts, figures, and captions. Gilbert (a historian and fellow of Merton College, Oxford) begins with the migration of Mongoloid peoples to the American continent between 50,000 to 1,000 BC and proceeds to cover military events, political upheavals, social events (such as the abolition of slavery), transportation, and economics. First published in 1968; the fourth edition features 11 new maps. Distributed by Taylor & Francis. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

Narrative of the war which left fourteen million dead and changed the political, social, and cultural landscape of Europe.

''The public owes a great debt to Martin Gilbert for producing this book... This more concise account of Churchill''s long period out of office - 1929-39 - lacks nothing.'' - Contemporary Review In 1928, Winston Churchill was at the height of his career. Chancellor of the Exchequer and a powerful and popular orator, leadership of the Conservative Party seemed within his grasp. A year later, all had changed. The Conservatives were defeated and, when a National Government was formed in 1931, Churchill was not asked to join it. Though he was a lone figure from this point, his acute political sense, foresight and courage were undiminished. Fed with secret inside information, Churchill consistently warned of the Nazi danger, even before the rise of Hitler. The British government, led by Stanley Baldwin and later Neville Chamberlain, fought him at every turn, even refusing him the right to broadcast. But he never gave up. It was as a direct result of his dogged perseverance that the British public came to realise the truth of his warnings - and a bond was formed that would be so vital in the years to come.

A thorough analysis of Allied actions after learning about the horrors of Nazi concentration camps—includes survivors'' firsthand accounts. Why did they wait so long? Among the myriad questions of what the Allies could have done differently in World War II, understanding why it took them so long to respond to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps—specifically Auschwitz—remains vital today. In Auschwitz and the Allies, Martin Gilbert presents a comprehensive look into the series of decisions that helped shape this particular course of the war, and the fate of millions of people, through his eminent blend of exhaustive devotion to the facts and accessible, graceful writing. Featuring twenty maps prepared specifically for this history and thirty-four photographs, along with firsthand accounts by escaped Auschwitz prisoners, Gilbert reconstructs the span of time between Allied awareness and definitive action in the face of overwhelming evidence of Nazi atrocities. "An unforgettable contribution to the history of the last war." — Jewish Chronicle

In this stirring book, Martin Gilbert tells the intensely human story of Winston Churchill''s profound connection to America, a relationship that resulted in an Anglo-American alliance that has stood at the center of international relations for more than a century. Winston Churchill, whose mother, Jennie Jerome, the daughter of a leading American entrepreneur, was born in Brooklyn in 1854, spent much of his seventy adult years in close contact with the United States. In two world wars, his was the main British voice urging the closest possible cooperation with the United States. From before the First World War, he understood the power of the United States, the "gigantic boiler," which, once lit, would drive the great engine forward. Sir Martin Gilbert was appointed Churchill''s official biographer in 1968 and has ever since been collecting archival and personal documentation that explores every twist and turn of Churchill''s relationship with the United States, revealing the golden thread running through it of friendship and understanding despite many setbacks and disappointments. Drawing on this extensive store of Churchill''s own words -- in his private letters, his articles and speeches, and press conferences and interviews given to American journalists on his numerous journeys throughout the United States -- Gilbert paints a rich portrait of the Anglo-American relationship that began at the turn of the last century. Churchill first visited the United States in 1895, when he was twenty-one. During that first visit, he was invited to West Point and was fascinated by New York City. "What an extraordinary people the Americans are!" he wrote to his mother. "This is a very great country, my dear Jack," he told his brother. During three subsequent visits before the Second World War, he traveled widely and formed a clear understanding of both the physical and moral strength of Americans. During the First World War, Churchill was Britain''s Minister of Munitions, working closely with his American counterpart Bernard Baruch to secure the material needed for the joint war effort, and argued with his colleagues that it would be a grave mistake to launch a renewed assault before the Americans arrived. Churchill''s historic alliance with Franklin Roosevelt during the Second World War is brilliantly portrayed here with much new material, as are his subsequent ties with President Truman, which contributed to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. In his final words to his Cabinet in 1955, on the eve of his retirement as Prime Minister, Churchill gave his colleagues this advice: "Never be separated from the Americans." In Churchill and America, Gilbert explores how Churchill''s intense rapport with this country resulted in no less than the liberation of Europe and the preservation of European democracy and freedom. It also set the stage for the ongoing alliance that has survived into the twenty-first century.

The complex and often turbulent history of Russia over the course of 2,000 years is brought to life in a series of 176 maps by one of the most prolific and successful historian authors today. This fourth edition of The Routledge Atlas of Russian History covers not only the wars and expansion of Russia but also a wealth of less conspicuous details of its history, from famine and anarchism to the growth of naval strength and the strengths of the river systems. From 800 BC to the fall of the Soviet Union, this indispensable guide to Russian history covers: war and conflict: from the triumph of the Goths between 200 and 400 BC to the defeat of Germany at the end of the Second World War and the end of the Cold War politics: from the rise of Moscow in the Middle Ages to revolution, the fall of the monarchy and the collapse of communism industry, economics and transport: from the Trans-Siberian Railway between 1891 and 1917 to the Virgin Lands Campaign and the growth of heavy industry society, trade and culture: from the growth of monasticism to peasant discontent, Labour Camps and the geographical distribution of ethnic Russians. Now bringing new material to view, and including seven new maps, this popular atlas will more than readily gain a place on the bookshelves of anyone interested in the history of Russia.

A work forty years in the making—Sir Martin Gilbert''s illustrated survey of the pre- and post-war history of the Jewish people in Europe. Masterfully covering such topics as pre-war Jewish life, the Warsaw Ghetto revolt, and the reflections of Holocaust survivors, Gilbert interweaves firsthand accounts with unforgettable photographs and documents, which come together to form a three-dimensional portrait of the lives of the Jewish people during one of Europe''s darkest times. "This volume introduces the crime to a new generation, so that it knows of the atrocities and the seemingly futile acts of defiance taken, in the words of Judah Tenenbaum, ''for three lines in the history books.''" — Booklist

A portrayal of the prime minister and a look at "the Agatha Christie side of the historian''s art."

States; Jewish revolts and resistance-acts of armed resistance, fighting in the forests, individual acts of courage; Jews in hiding/escape routes, Christians who helped Jews; and the death marches - the advance of the Allies and the liberation of the camps, the survivors, and the final death toll." "This revised edition includes a new section which gives an insight into the layout and organization of some of the most significant places of the Holocaust, including Auschwitz, Treblinka and the Warsaw ghetto, maps that will be especially useful to those visiting the sites." --Book Jacket.

A thoughtful and rigorous examination of the Jewish experience under Hitler''s "Final Solution"—based on eyewitness accounts and contemporary evidence. Focusing on firsthand narratives from survivors and supported by contextual scholarship, Gilbert presents a masterful cross-section of the experiences of the millions of European Jews who lost their homes, careers, families, and lives at the hands of Hitler''s "Final Solution." The accounts of these journeys are at once unique and unified by both their tragedy and by their triumphs. Gilbert''s vast knowledge on the subject, coupled with his frank and readable style, makes Final Journey accessible to readers and scholars alike. The text is supported by eighty-four photographs—many of which were published for the first time in 1979—and twenty-four pages of maps prepared by the author, which help bring the stories of the men, women, and children back to life in unflinching detail.

This atlas offers a balanced and comprehensive visual history of the age-old Arab-Israeli conflict, spanning from the early history of the region (c. 1,000 B.C.) to the foundation of the state of Israel, the intifada, and the peace initiatives of the 1990s. Clear, informative, and accessible maps detail the course of major events, including the Six Day War, the October War, and the Arab world''s reaction to the Camp David agreements, and offer useful insight into the social, political, military, and diplomatic dimensions of the current situation. Powerful and telling quotations from those involved on both sides, and detailed annotations provide important historical background on this volatile conflict.