One of the most important and original books to be published about the Third Reich in the past twenty years

A magnificent demonstration of the explanatory power of economic history... even those whose bookshelves groan under feet of Hitlerism will find their view of the period challenged, and perhaps altered radically

Virtually every page of his book contains something new and thought-provoking

Adam Tooze has rewritten the history of the Second World War

A powerful and provocative reassessment of the whole story

A deeply felt exploration of a part of history that to most of us is dark matter, and a thought-provoking portrait of a society where the dictator, instead of being ousted or defeated, died happy and old at the age of 82

Important, lively and appetisingly varied... No one who cares for the deep and dark truth about Spain can fail to admire and learn from what is to be found in the many-chambered depths of Franco's Crypt

One of the many pleasures of Franco's Crypt is that it draws our attention to a long list of Franco-era writers and film-makers whose work is unfamiliar or forgotten

As Bostridge shows in this beautifully written and detailed book, 1914 was a 'fateful year', England was truly never the same again

Vivid, finely drawn

As mesmerising as a great historical novel

Escaping the Nazis across the Pyrenean mountain trails became one of the most extraordinary acts of spontaneous resistance of World War Two. In Cruel Crossing, Ed Stourton straps on his backpack and takes to the escape lines himself, reflecting as he treks on the courage and self-sacrifice of the escapers and evaders who went before him - many of them young women, whose remarkable stories are told here often for the first time. Stourton has produced both a compelling history and a unique mountain guide, telling his story with his familiar humour and journalistic verve.

An important book packed with poignant stories, remarkable characters and uncomfortable truths.

Cruel Crossing is an accomplished account of an overlooked part of the Second World War. Using wide-ranging research and an impressive number of eye-witness accounts, Stourton tells the story of the escape lines across the Pyrenees, and of the wartime history of southwest France in all its muddied complexity. The gripping escape stories he narrates are sometimes harrowing, often moving, and above all, full of variety and surprises. There is suffering, extraordinary bravery, friendship and even humour; but there is also treachery, betrayal and villainy. A fitting memorial to how war brings out the best and worst in people.

Enthralling stories ... a moving retelling of some of the war's most heroic episodes

A vigorous book, full of energy as well as insight