Author:Caroline Moorehead
Discover the life of one of the twentieth century's most significant and notorious war correspondents, and the third wife of Ernest Hemingway.
Martha Gellhorn's journalism tracks many of the flashpoints of the twentieth century; as a young woman she witnessed the suffering of the American Depression and risked her life in the Spanish Civil War. Her dispatches from the front made her a legend, yet her private life was often messy and volcanic.
Her determination to be a war correspondent - and her conspicuous success - contributed to the breakdown of her infamously stormy marriage to Ernest Hemingway. In this mesmerising biography of a life that spanned the twentieth century, Moorehead reveals how passionately Martha fought against injustice, and how determined she was to catch the human story.
'A deeply sympathetic portrait... [it shows] an overwhelming sense of what it is to be human' Daily Telegraph
Gellhorn is a superb subject for biography. Caroline Moorehead has seized the opportunity with an elan that her subject would have admired. The result is an adventure story which, true to the genre, has moments of both triumph and tragedy
—— Independent on SundayAs one would expect from a writer of Caroline Moorehead's diligence and acuity, this is an extremely thorough, colourful and pacy biography
—— Sunday TelegraphAn enthralling biography - with an unflinching honesty Martha would have approved of
—— Daily MailSuperbly crafted, engaging and engaged... Martha Gellhorn leaps off the page-marvellous
—— Literary ReviewNot often does a biography make you against the odds fall headlong for its heroine...but Caroline Moorehead's exemplary and exciting account of the Hemingway wife who reported the war like it was sweeps you incisively into a broad-based history of the last century through the eyes of two women, author and subject, each as brilliant as the other but sharply differing in temperament
—— David Hughes , SpectatorComprehensive and readable
—— The EconomistHolland is superb at switching the focus of the action while maintaining the pace and drama of the story
—— SpectatorA definitive record... The fact we won is remarkable, and Holland brings the events vividly to life *****
—— News of the WorldA full and fascinating account... Edge-of-the-seat exciting
—— SagaHolland is a narrative historian par excellence who believes that people should eb at the heart of any story and brings the characters of the age to life... [an] excellent, highly-readable volume
—— Navy NewsFull of lively accounts of aerial contests and well-observed details
—— BBC History MagazineHistory told with panache and an excellent grasp of the technical details
—— The Sunday TimesHolland's narrative is impressively comprehensive and is a superb introduction to one of the great turning points of the last war. More importantly it is stirring, occasionally even exhilarating, as any history of this period is obliged to be
—— Literary ReviewA fitting, and beautifully illustrated, tribute to the Few, while not forgetting the unsung heroes of Bomber Command
—— Times Educational SupplementThere have been many books about the Battle of Britain but few as exhaustive - and readable - as this scholarly account
—— Choice MagazineFacts and figures say a great deal, but the most compelling accounts come from those who featured in the battle. Like any good author, Holland allows the participants to tell the story in their own words
—— The Good Book GuideA major new assessment of Britain's war effort from 1939 to 1945. Never again will some of the lazy assessments of how Britain performed over these years ... be acceptable. That's why this is such an important book
—— History TodayInnovative and most important
—— Contemporary ReviewCompelling and engaging ... an excellent read
—— SoldierEdgerton's well-researched volume bursts with data that reveal Britain's true strength even when supposed to be in critical condition
—— Peter Moreira , Military HistoryBritain's War Machine offers the boldest revisionist argument that seeks to overturn some of our most treasured assumptions about Britain's role in the war ... Edgerton [is] an economic historian with an army of marshalled facts and figures at his fingertips ... This is truly an eye-opening book that explodes the masochistic myth of poor little Britain, revealing the island as a proud power with the resources needed to fight and win a world war
—— Nigel Jones , SpectatorMasterful Britain's War Machine promotes the notion that the United Kingdom of the Forties was a superpower, with access to millions of men across the globe, and forming the heart of a global production network
—— Mail on Sunday