Horizon Information Portal

HSPLS site

eBooks/Audiobooks

Reading Program

Last Hope Island : Britain, occupied Europe, and the brotherhood that helped turn the tide of war / Lynne Olson.

by Olson, Lynne, author.

View full image

New York : Random House, c2017.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Governments in exile.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Europe.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Great Britain.

Heads of state -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century.

Europeans -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century.

Exiles -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century.

Political refugees -- England -- London -- History -- 20th century.

Government, Resistance to -- Europe -- History -- 20th century.

Europe -- Politics and government -- 1918-1945.

9780812997354 (hardcover) :

0812997352 (hardcover)

xviii, 553 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Part one: Fighting on. "Majesty, we are at war!" : Hitler invades Norway ; "A bold and noble woman" : Holland falls but its Queen escapes ; "A complete and utter shambles" : the collapse of Belgium and France ; "We shall conquer together -- or we shall die together" : the European exodus to Britain ; "Something called heavy water" : the rescue mission that changed the course of the war ; "They are better than any of us" : Polish pilots triumph in the Battle of Britain ; "My God, this is a lovely place to be!" : the exhilaration of wartime London ; "This is London calling" : the BBC brings hope to occupied Europe ; "An avalanche of Vs" : the first spark of European resistance ; Spying on the Nazis : cracking Enigma and other European intelligence coups ; "Mad Hatter's tea party" : SOE and its struggle to set Europe ablaze ; Factions, feuds, and infighting : the shock of exile -- Part two: Rule of the titans. "Rich and poor relations" : the European Allies' fading importance ; "The ugly reality" : the Soviet threat to Poland and Czechoslovakia ; "The England game" : SOE's Dutch disaster ; "Be more careful next time" : SOE's debacle in France ; "Heroism beyond anything I can tell you" : rescuing Allied airmen ; A giant jigsaw puzzle : European spies prepare for D-Day ; "A formidable secret army" : the resurrection of SOE ; "The poor little English donkey" : Stalin and Roosevelt flex their muscles ; Settling the score : Europe's liberation begins ; "A tale of two cities" : Warsaw and Paris rise up ; "I was a stranger and you took me in" : defeat at Arnhem ; The hunger winter : the Netherlands' looming destruction ; "There was never a happier day" : coming home ; "Why are you crying, young man?" : the West turns its back on Poland and Czechoslovakia ; "A collective fault" : the shadow of collaboration ; "The world could not possibly be the same" : planning for the future ; "My counsel to Europe... : Unite!" : postwar Europe bands together.

"When the Nazi Blitzkrieg rolled over continental Europe in the early days of World War II, the city of London became a refuge for the governments and armed forces of seven occupied nations that escaped there to continue the fight. As the only European democracy still holding out against Hitler, Britain became known to occupied countries as 'Last Hope Island.' Getting there, one young emigré declared, was 'like getting to heaven.' In this epic, character-driven narrative, acclaimed historian Lynne Olson takes us back to those perilous days when the British and their European guests joined forces to combat the mightiest military force in history. Here we meet the courageous King Haakon of Norway, whose distinctive 'H7' monogram became a symbol of his country's resistance to Nazi rule, and his fiery Dutch counterpart, Queen Wilhelmina, whose antifascist radio broadcasts rallied the spirits of her defeated people. Here, too, is the Earl of Suffolk, a swashbuckling British aristocrat whose rescue of two nuclear physicists from France helped make the Manhattan Project possible. Last Hope Island also recounts some of the Europeans' heretofore unsung exploits that helped tilt the balance against the Axis: the crucial efforts of Polish pilots during the Battle of Britain; the vital role played by French and Polish code breakers in cracking the Germans' Enigma code; and the flood of top-secret intelligence about German operations--gathered by spies throughout occupied Europe--that helped ensure the success of the 1944 Allied invasion. A fascinating companion to Citizens of London, Olson's bestselling chronicle of the Anglo-American alliance, Last Hope Island recalls with vivid humanity that brief moment in time when the peoples of Europe stood together in their effort to roll back the tide of conquest and restore order to a broken continent."--Jacket.

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9884

Powered by Dynix

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal