The Guns at Last Light
The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945
Published on 6. February 2014
Book
Paperback/Softback
896 pages
978-0-349-14009-4 (ISBN)
Description
In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how the American-led coalition fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all - the titanic battle for Western Europe.
D-Day marked the commencement of the European war's final campaign, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich - all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters.
With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Rick Atkinson's remarkable accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West.
D-Day marked the commencement of the European war's final campaign, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich - all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters.
With the stirring final volume of this monumental trilogy, Rick Atkinson's remarkable accomplishment is manifest. He has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West.
Reviews / Votes
As one might expect from a Pulitzer Prize winning author, it is written with verve and panache . . . highly recommended * Military History * Easily the best history of the Second World War in western Europe that I have ever read * History Today * The Guns at Last Light tells [the story from D-Day to VE-Day] brilliantly . . . fascinating * Choice Magazine * A stirring final volume of a monumental trilogy, this book completes a definitive chronicle of the Second World War * Military History * I was hooked from the first page . . . a gripping account * BBC History * [Atkinson's] storytelling verve and infectious, boyish enthusiasm swept me up and carried me along from D-Day in June 1944, all the way through Normandy, Paris, Arnhem and the Bulge to the final apocalyptic reckoning ... gripping and harrowing ... for sheer relentless readability, Atkinson is hard to beat. * Telegraph * For history buffs or anyone interested in how men react in extremis ... top storytelling -- Antony Beevor * Mail on Sunday * as fast and furious as the conflict it describes * The Times * Superbly researched . . . an epic tale in Atkinson's expert hands. He never stoops to breathless prose in this perfectly paced account, and he always comes up with fresh and revealing details -- Antony Beevor * Sunday Times *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Little, Brown Book Group
Product notice
Paperback (UK-trade)
Illustrations
Section: 16, b/w
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 158 mm
Thickness: 45 mm
Weight
1168 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-349-14009-4 (9780349140094)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Book
06/2013
Little, Brown & Company
€63.33
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Rick Atkinson is the bestselling author of An Army at Dawn (winner of the Pulitzer Prize for history), The Day of Battle, The Long Gray Line, In the Company of Soldiers, and Crusade. His many other awards include two Pulitzer Prizes for journalism, the George Polk award, and the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. He is a former staff writer and senior editor at the Washington Post.