A concise study of one of the most fascinating and evil men in history . . . Essential for anyone interested in military history

A remarkable book. Fairweather’s account is often harrowing; but it is an important account of the suffering and tragedy in Nazi death camps, told using many previously unpublished sources - and from a new perspective.

Well-researched, well-written and searingly memorable, Jack Fairweather’s book reminds us of the capacity for nobility in the human soul in times of unimaginable peril

Few books have enthralled, incensed and haunted me as “The Volunteer” has done. There were times I felt compelled to set it aside. There were others when hours of reading passed in what felt like moments … This is a story that has long deserved a robust, faithful telling, and he has delivered it

An extraordinary story

Superbly written and breathtakingly researched … a story of incalculable value delivered in the most compelling prose I have read in a long time

What distinguishes The Volunteer is Fairweather’s meticulous attention to accuracy … if it sometimes seems as though there is nothing left to uncover about the Holocaust, Fairweather’s gripping book proves otherwise

Combines the verve of a thriller with the detailed evidence of the sober, hideous truth

A searing account … a fitting memorial to one of Poland’s greatest war heroes and a shaming indictment of the western allies’ failure to act

A forceful narrative with unstoppable reading momentum, Fairweather has created an insightful biography of a covert war hero and an extraordinary contribution to the history of the Holocaust.

Witold Pilecki is one of the great—perhaps the greatest—unsung heroes of the second world war ... Jack Fairweather's meticulous and insightful book is likely to be the definitive version of this extraordinary life

An outstanding achievement ... a harrowing tale, revealing the depths of human depravity, redeemed by the shining courage and nobility of one of humanity's heroes.

A riveting account of human heroism in the face of overwhelming odds … Fairweather’s storytelling is simply masterful

Impossible to believe if it were not so meticulously researched … a page-turner, a remarkable inside-view of the Holocaust, and also as a testament to all that is best in the human spirit

As riveting as any page-turner and as profound as any great work of literature as it reveals humanity’s capacity for both courage and savagery

Witold Pilecki is one of the unsung heroes of World War II. Jack Fairweather has brought Pilecki's story to life with a rich array of primary sources that reveal his role alerting the world to Auschwitz's horrors and its transformation from a concentration camp to the epicenter of the Holocaust. In doing so, Fairweather reminds us that the Nazi leadership didn't start the war with the idea of the Holocaust fully formed - its policy emerged through a series of experiments in mass murder, which Pilecki was able to witness and report on with remarkable courage and tenacity.

Full of vignettes and deftly drawn characters ... the story of Witold Pilecki has long been crying out for a sensitive, circumspect retelling, which would do just to the man and the to the trying times in which he lived. The Volunteer fulfils those criteria admirably

Jack Fairweather's remarkable book shows why [Pilecki's] courageous efforts to alert the world to what was happening in Auschwitz deserve to be remembered everywhere

Picked as one of the best books of 2019 so far

An inspiring story beautifully told

Fairweather tells this tragic tale in gripping fashion, bringing a new angle to the literature of the Holocaust

Brilliantly researched, Jack Fairweather's book is both gripping and powerfully written - a riveting and deeply moving tale of courage in the face of unimaginable horror