Author:John Bierman,Colin Smith
'Excellent ... a remarkable achievement and ought to be recognised as one of the most successful histories of the Western Desert and North African fighting yet to have appeared' John Keegan, Daily Telegraph
For the British, the battle fought at El Alamein in October 1942 became the turning point of the Second World War. In this study of the desert war, John Bierman and Colin Smith show why it is remembered by its survivors as a 'war without hate'. Through extensive research the authors provide a compellingly fresh perspective on the see-saw campaign in which the two sides chased each other back and forth across the unforgiving North African landscape.
Graphic and chilling. This excellent book paints a little-known and frightening picture of a continent in the embrace of lawlessness and chaos
—— Ian KershawMoving, measured and provocative
—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday TimesSavage Continent is a powerful and disturbing book, painstakingly researched and written with both authority and an impressive historical sweep
—— James HollandGrimly absorbing, conveys the pity of war and its sorry aftermath with integrity and proper sympathy
—— Ian Thomson , Sunday TelegraphExtraordinary, disturbing and powerful ... it is to Lowe's great credit that he resists the temptation to sit in moral judgment ... it is time we acknowledged the hidden realities of perhaps the darkest chapter in all human history
—— Daily MailExtraordinary...exceptional...reveals a continent where moral values were often missing and basically lawlessness prevailed for several years
—— Trevor James , The HistorianImpressive and heart-rendering study...Lowe marshals all the elements of the story with cool even-handedness, especially where statistics are concerned, and explains how subsequent generations have manipulated the historical record to suit their own purposes, either to diminish their guilt or demonise others.
—— Christopher Silvester , Daily ExpressAn excellent account...Lowe's vivid descriptions of Europeans scrambling for scraps of food, rampant theft and 'destruction of morals' are a timely reminder that a certain humility is in order when we look at less fortunate continents today.
—— Brendan Simms , The IndependentA major new historical talent has arrived... a brilliantly organised and scrupulously objective survey of a continent on the floor
—— BBC History MagazineBrilliant
—— SunSavage Continent is a blood-soaked thing, charting the continued fanaticism and brutality that emerged from the ashes of war and wracked this sad continent long after Nazism was defeated
—— Telegraph, Christmas Round-upAn unforgettably gritty and blood-soaked book. Makes for deeply harrowing reading
—— Dominic Sandbrook , Sunday Times, Books of the Year 2012The chaotic interlude between the second world war and Europe's 'cold peace' in the 1950s receives brilliant treatment in Lowe's scrupulously objective book
—— Financial Times, "Books of the Year"An outstanding and important book, compelling and deeply troubling
—— Peter Eade , Country LifeA hybrid of history and multiple biography, movingly chronicles the women's ordeal... [it] bears eloquent witness to the moral and material ruin of collaborationist in France
—— Ian Thomson , SevenA remarkable achievement of biographical and oral research and with a brilliant narrative and description
—— History TodayA highly fractured tale intended to resemble the crumbling nature of Money’s existence post war. Nothing is over-laboured. Each word resounds with sultry, heat-oppressive Georgia.
—— SpectatorMorrison's writing is so deft that even barely sketched characters leap off the page
—— Sunday TelegraphHome is a powerful reminder of the impact the past plays on the present
—— The TimesMorrison can say more in one word than most novelists manage in an entire book. Superb
—— Glasgow Sunday HeraldBursting with poetic language and horrific events this is a penetrating insight to the African-American experience
—— The LadyIt is a powerful set-up, building suspense and a mounting sense of anxiety
—— GuardianToni Morrison’s mesmerising prose manages to be both elegiac and visceral at the same time
—— Mail on Sunday