Celebrating the 80th anniversary of VE Day, bestselling historians James Holland and Al Murray tell the unflinching story of the eight surrenders that brought victory to the Allies and ended the Second World War.'Murray breaks the story into its constituent parts and, demonstrating a deep understanding of events... an original and insightful account' Telegraph
'Reinforces Holland's reputation as certainly the busiest and probably the most popular military historian of the second world war working today' Spectator
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From the Italian Alps to northern Germany, to London, New York, Washington and Tokyo, Victory '45 tells the story of the extraordinary summer when the greatest conflagration the world had ever known finally came to an end after eight surrenders that heralded the Allied victory.
Comprised of eight chapters based around each of those surrenders and the victory celebrations which followed, it will be rich in character and human drama with revealing stories and perspectives behind the end of the war not yet told before. Each chapter will follow the viewpoints of a number of key characters as they traverse these world-changing events - from ordinary servicemen and women and civilians to generals and political leaders.
What took place during the negotiations of those surrenders and the terms that were agreed there would determine the directions the participating countries would take in the years that followed and ultimately the shape of our current world.
About the AuthorsJames Holland is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning historian, writer, and broadcaster. The author of a number of best-selling histories including
Battle of Britain, Dam Busters, Burma ’44 and, most recently,
Big Week, he has also written nine works of historical fiction, including the Jack Tanner novels. He is currently writing an acclaimed three-volume new history of the Second World War,
The War in the West. He has presented – and written – many television programmes and series for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, History and Discovery Channels. He is also co-founder of the Chalke Valley History Festival and co-founder of WarGen.org, an online Second World War resource site, and presents the Chalk Valley History Hit podcast. A fellow of the Royal Historical Society, he also has a weekly podcast with Al Murray,
We Have Ways of Making You Talk: Al Murray and
James Holland Talk World War II.
Al Murray is one of the most successful and recognisable comedians in the UK and best known for his stand-up persona, The Pub Landlord. He has won the Perrier Award in 1999, the British Comedy Award for Al Murray's Happy Hour in 2007 and My Gaff, My Rules was short-listed for a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002.
