Holland is excellent on telling detail... This is a notable account of an epic human experience, told with the informality and enthusiasm that distinguish Holland's work... If the story is familiar, Holland tells it with authority and exuberant panache

Holland is one of a new generation of historians who were born long after the war but who bring to the subject a freshness and proper spirit of enquiry. A great achievement

Excellent on all the technicalities of the conflict... full of lively pen portraits and unusual insights

Stuffed with personal accounts that drive the narrative along at a cracking pace

Ambitious and comprehensive... the pace never flags as the narrative ranges effortlessly from the cockpit of the Spitfire to the gallery of the House of Commons

Comprehensive and readable

Holland is superb at switching the focus of the action while maintaining the pace and drama of the story

A definitive record... The fact we won is remarkable, and Holland brings the events vividly to life *****

A full and fascinating account... Edge-of-the-seat exciting

Holland 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

Full of lively accounts of aerial contests and well-observed details

History told with panache and an excellent grasp of the technical details

Holland'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

A fitting, and beautifully illustrated, tribute to the Few, while not forgetting the unsung heroes of Bomber Command

There have been many books about the Battle of Britain but few as exhaustive - and readable - as this scholarly account

Facts 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

A 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

Innovative and most important

Compelling and engaging ... an excellent read

Edgerton's well-researched volume bursts with data that reveal Britain's true strength even when supposed to be in critical condition

Britain'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

Masterful 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