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1944 : FDR and the year that changed history / Jay Winik.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2015Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover editionDescription: xiii, 639 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781439114087 (hardcover)
  • 1439114080 (hardcover)
  • 9781501125362 (trade pbk.)
  • 1501125362 (trade pbk.)
Other title:
  • FDR and the year that changed history
Subject(s):
Contents:
Prelude: The sphinx -- pt. 1. Spring 1944 : everything all at once -- Tehran -- "I want to sleep and sleep twelve hours a day." -- Escape, part 1 -- Escape, part 2 -- "This is the year 1944" -- "Could we be granted victory this year, 1944?" -- pt. 2. The road to 1944 -- Beginnings -- Mills of the gods -- Giant cemeteries -- Riegner -- 1943 -- "The acquiescence of this government in the murder of Jews" -- pt. 3. The fateful decision -- Trapped between knowing and not knowing -- The wind and the silence -- pt. 4. 1945 -- Reckoning.
Summary: It was not inevitable that World War II would end as it did, or that it would even end well. 1944 was a year that could have stymied the Allies and cemented Hitler's waning power. Instead, it saved those democracies -- but with a fateful cost. 1944 witnessed a series of titanic events: FDR at the pinnacle of his wartime leadership as well as his reelection, the planning of Operation Overlord with Churchill and Stalin, the unprecedented D-Day invasion and the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and the tumultuous conferences that finally shaped the coming peace. But on the way, millions of more lives were still at stake as President Roosevelt was exposed to mounting evidence of the most grotesque crime in history, the Final Solution. Just as the Allies were landing in Normandy, the Nazis were accelerating the killing of European Jews. Winik shows how escalating pressures fell on Roosevelt, whose rapidly deteriorating health was a closely guarded secret. Was winning the war the best way to rescue the Jews? Was a rescue even possible? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? In a year when even the most audacious undertakings were within the world's reach, including the liberation of Europe, one challenge -- saving Europe's Jews -- seemed to remain beyond Roosevelt's grasp.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Notes Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 940.5373 W772 Available Coffee stain noted. 33111008107530
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

**New York Times Bestseller**

Jay Winik brings to life in "gripping" detail ( The New York Times Book Review ) the year 1944, which determined the outcome of World War II and put more pressure than any other on an ailing yet determined President Roosevelt.

1944 was a year that could have stymied the Allies and cemented Hitler's waning power. Instead, it saved those democracies--but with a fateful cost. Now, in a "complex history rendered with great color and sympathy" ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review), Jay Winik captures the epic images and extraordinary history "with cinematic force" ( Time) .

1944 witnessed a series of titanic events: FDR at the pinnacle of his wartime leadership as well as his reelection, the unprecedented D-Day invasion, the liberation of Paris, and the tumultuous conferences that finally shaped the coming peace. But millions of lives were at stake as President Roosevelt learned about Hitler's Final Solution. Just as the Allies were landing in Normandy, the Nazis were accelerating the killing of millions of European Jews. Winik shows how escalating pressures fell on an infirm Roosevelt, who faced a momentous decision. Was winning the war the best way to rescue the Jews? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? In a year when even the most audacious undertakings were within the world's reach, one challenge--saving Europe's Jews--seemed to remain beyond Roosevelt's grasp.

"Compelling....This dramatic account highlights what too often has been glossed over--that as nobly as the Greatest Generation fought under FDR's command, America could well have done more to thwart Nazi aggression" ( The Boston Globe ). Destined to take its place as one of the great works of World War II, 1944 is the first book to retell these events with moral clarity and a moving appreciation of the extraordinary actions of many extraordinary leaders.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prelude: The sphinx -- pt. 1. Spring 1944 : everything all at once -- Tehran -- "I want to sleep and sleep twelve hours a day." -- Escape, part 1 -- Escape, part 2 -- "This is the year 1944" -- "Could we be granted victory this year, 1944?" -- pt. 2. The road to 1944 -- Beginnings -- Mills of the gods -- Giant cemeteries -- Riegner -- 1943 -- "The acquiescence of this government in the murder of Jews" -- pt. 3. The fateful decision -- Trapped between knowing and not knowing -- The wind and the silence -- pt. 4. 1945 -- Reckoning.

It was not inevitable that World War II would end as it did, or that it would even end well. 1944 was a year that could have stymied the Allies and cemented Hitler's waning power. Instead, it saved those democracies -- but with a fateful cost. 1944 witnessed a series of titanic events: FDR at the pinnacle of his wartime leadership as well as his reelection, the planning of Operation Overlord with Churchill and Stalin, the unprecedented D-Day invasion and the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and the tumultuous conferences that finally shaped the coming peace. But on the way, millions of more lives were still at stake as President Roosevelt was exposed to mounting evidence of the most grotesque crime in history, the Final Solution. Just as the Allies were landing in Normandy, the Nazis were accelerating the killing of European Jews. Winik shows how escalating pressures fell on Roosevelt, whose rapidly deteriorating health was a closely guarded secret. Was winning the war the best way to rescue the Jews? Was a rescue even possible? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? In a year when even the most audacious undertakings were within the world's reach, including the liberation of Europe, one challenge -- saving Europe's Jews -- seemed to remain beyond Roosevelt's grasp.

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