Most Popular Books by Alex Kershaw

Raised in poverty as an illegitimate child, Jack London dropped out of school to support his mother, working in mind-deadening jobs that would foster a lifelong interest in socialism. Brilliant and self-taught, he haunted California''s waterside bars, brawling with drunken sailors and learning about love from prostitutes. His lust for adventure took him from the beaches of Hawaii to the gold fields of Alaska, where he experienced firsthand the struggles for survival he would later immortalize in classics like White Fang and The Call of the Wild. A hard-drinking womanizer with children to support, Jack London was no stranger to passion when he met and married Charmian Kittredge, the love of his life. Despite his adventurous past, London had never before met a woman like Charmian; she adored fornication and boxing, and willingly risked life and limb to sail and explore. She typed his manuscripts while he churned out novels, serving as his inspiration and his critic. Lover, fighter, and onetime hobo, Jack London lived large and died before he was forty. This is a rare biography, from bestselling historian Alex Kershaw, that proves the truth can be more fascinating--and a far greater adventure--than a fiction.

Friend of Hemingway, John Huston, and lover of beautiful women, Capa lived a life that was equal parts glamour and danger. He was the best of combat photographers, yet no one knew that Capa was not his real name, and that his greatest artistic achievement may well have been himself. Two 8-page photo inserts.

From the author of the bestselling "The Bedford Boys" comes the remarkable story of America''s most decorated platoon that miraculously halted Hitler''s massive offensive at the Battle of the Bulge.

Beginning in the pre-dawn darkness of June 6, 1944, The First Wave follows ten men attempting to carry out D-Day''s most critical missions. Their actions would determine the fate of the invasion of Hitler''s Fortress Europe. The ten make a charismatic, unforgettable cast. They include the first American paratrooper to touch down on Normandy soil; the only British soldier that day to earn a Victoria''s Cross; the Canadian brothers who led their decimated troops onto Juno Beach under withering fire; the colonel who faced the powerful 150mm guns of the Merville Battery; as well as a French commando who helped destroy German strongholds on Sword Beach.

June 6, 1944: Nineteen boys from Bedford, Virginia--population just 3,000 in 1944--died in the first bloody minutes of D-Day. They were part of Company A of the 116th Regiment of the 29th Division, and the first wave of American soldiers to hit the beaches in Normandy. Later in the campaign, three more boys from this small Virginia town died of gunshot wounds. Twenty-two sons of Bedford lost--it is a story one cannot easily forget and one that the families of Bedford will never forget. The Bedford Boys is the true and intimate story of these men and the friends and families they left behind. Based on extensive interviews with survivors and relatives, as well as diaries and letters, Kershaw''s book focuses on several remarkable individuals and families to tell one of the most poignant stories of World War II--the story of one small American town that went to war and died on Omaha Beach.

*The instant New York Times bestseller* The untold story of four of the most decorated soldiers of World War II—all Medal of Honor recipients—from the beaches of French Morocco to Hitler’s own mountaintop fortress, by the national bestselling author of The First Wave “Pitch-perfect.”—The Wall Street Journal • “Riveting.”—World War II magazine • “Alex Kershaw is the master of putting the reader in the heat of the action.”—Martin Dugard As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism. Maurice “Footsie” Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Michael Daly was a West Point dropout who risked his neck over and over to keep his men alive. Keith Ware would one day become the first and only draftee in history to attain the rank of general before serving in Vietnam. In WWII, Ware owed his life to the finest soldier he ever commanded, a baby-faced Texan named Audie Murphy. In the campaign to liberate Europe, each would gain the ultimate accolade, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Tapping into personal interviews and a wealth of primary source material, Alex Kershaw has delivered his most gripping account yet of American courage, spanning more than six hundred days of increasingly merciless combat, from the deserts of North Africa to the dark heart of Nazi Germany. Once the guns fell silent, these four exceptional warriors would discover just how heavy the Medal of Honor could be—and how great the expectations associated with it. Having survived against all odds, who among them would finally find peace?

The best-selling author of The Liberator brings to life the incredible true story of an American doctor in Paris, and his heroic espionage efforts during World War II. The leafy Avenue Foch, one of the most exclusive residential streets in Nazi-occupied France, was Paris''s hotbed of daring spies, murderous secret police, amoral informers, and Vichy collaborators. So when American physician Sumner Jackson, who lived with his wife and young son Phillip at Number 11, found himself drawn into the Liberation network of the French resistance, he knew the stakes were impossibly high. Just down the road at Number 31 was the "mad sadist" Theodor Dannecker, an Eichmann protégé charged with deporting French Jews to concentration camps. And Number 84 housed the Parisian headquarters of the Gestapo, run by the most effective spy hunter in Nazi Germany. From his office at the American Hospital, itself an epicenter of Allied and Axis intrigue, Jackson smuggled fallen Allied fighter pilots safely out of France, a job complicated by the hospital director''s close ties to collaborationist Vichy. After witnessing the brutal round-up of his Jewish friends, Jackson invited Liberation to officially operate out of his home at Number 11—but the noose soon began to tighten. When his secret life was discovered by his Nazi neighbors, he and his family were forced to undertake a journey into the dark heart of the war-torn continent from which there was little chance of return. Drawing upon a wealth of primary source material and extensive interviews with Phillip Jackson, Alex Kershaw recreates the City of Light during its darkest days. The untold story of the Jackson family anchors the suspenseful narrative, and Kershaw dazzles readers with the vivid immediacy of the best spy thrillers. Awash with the tense atmosphere of World War II''s Europe, Avenue of Spies introduces us to the brave doctor who risked everything to defy Hitler.

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In the early days of World War Two when Britain stood alone against the terror of Hitler''s all-conquering Third Reich, her future hung in the balance; her defence in the hands of the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force''s Fighter Command. They were Churchill''s Few. In defiance of their own country''s strict neutrality laws, a handful of American adventurers flew with them. This is their story - and a fresh perspective on the greatest air battle the world has ever seen.

The untold story of the bloodiest and most dramatic march to victory of the Second World War—now a Netflix original series starring Jose Miguel Vasquez, Bryan Hibbard, and Bradley James “Exceptional . . . worthy addition to vibrant classics of small-unit history like Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers.”—Wall Street Journal Written with Alex Kershaw''s trademark narrative drive and vivid immediacy, The Liberator traces the remarkable battlefield journey of maverick U.S. Army officer Felix Sparks through the Allied liberation of Europe—from the first landing in Italy to the final death throes of the Third Reich. Over five hundred bloody days, Sparks and his infantry unit battled from the beaches of Sicily through the mountains of Italy and France, ultimately enduring bitter and desperate winter combat against the die-hard SS on the Fatherland''s borders. Having miraculously survived the long, bloody march across Europe, Sparks was selected to lead a final charge to Bavaria, where he and his men experienced some of the most intense street fighting suffered by Americans in World War II. And when he finally arrived at the gates of Dachau, Sparks confronted scenes that robbed the mind of reason—and put his humanity to the ultimate test.

From Alex Kershaw, author of the New York Times bestseller Against All Odds, comes an epic story of courage, resilience, and faith during the Second World War General George Patton needed a miracle. In December 1944, the Allies found themselves stuck. Rain had plagued the troops daily since September, turning roads into rivers of muck, slowing trucks and tanks to a crawl. A thick ceiling of clouds had grounded American warplanes, allowing the Germans to reinforce. The sprint to Berlin had become a muddy, bloody stalemate, costing thousands of American lives. Patton seethed, desperate for some change, any change, in the weather. A devout Christian, he telephoned his head chaplain. “Do you have a good prayer for the weather?” he asked. The resulting prayer was soon printed and distributed to the 250,000 men under Patton’s command. “Pray when driving,” the men were told. “Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day. Pray for the cessation of immoderate rains, for good weather for Battle. . . . Pray for victory. . . . Pray for Peace.” Then came the Battle of the Bulge. Amid frigid temperatures and heavy snow, 200,000 German troops overwhelmed the meager American lines in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest, massacring thousands of soldiers as the attack converged on a vital crossroads town called Bastogne. There, the 101st Airborne was dug in, but the enemy were lurking, hidden in the thick blanket of fog that seemed to never dissipate. A hundred miles of frozen roads to the south, Patton needed an answer to his prayer, fast, before it was too late.

The epic and heroic story of how Raoul Wallenberg saved more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews from the death camps

Based on recently released archives and extensive interviews with eyewitnesses and survivors The Envoy is the inspiring and unforgettable story of a lost hero, his greatest adversary, and the men and women who were saved by his courage and sacrifice. December 1944. Soviet and German troops fight from house to house in the shattered, corpse-strewn suburbs of Budapest. Crazed Hungarian fascists join with die-hard Nazis to slaughter Jews day and night, turning the Danube blood-red. In less than six months, thirty-eight-year-old SS Colonel Adolf Eichmann has sent over half a million Hungarians to the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Now all that prevents him from liquidating Europe''s last Jewish ghetto is an unarmed Swedish diplomatic envoy named Raoul Wallenberg. The Envoy is the stirring tale of how one man made the greatest difference in the face of untold evil. The legendary Oscar Schindler saved hundreds, but Raoul Wallenberg did what no other individual or nation managed to do: He saved more than 100,000 Jewish men, women, and children from extermination. Written with Alex Kershaw''s customary narrative verve, The Envoy is a fast-paced, nonfiction thriller that brings to life one of the darkest and yet most inspiring chapters of twentieth century history. It is an epic for the ages.

O livro reconstrói a vida e a época de Robert Capa, o mais famoso fotojornalista do século XX. Capa teve suas fotos mais emblemáticas publicadas nas principais revistas do mundo, fundou a legendária agência Magnum e foi o primeiro a conferir à própria profissão uma aura de glamour e fama. Kershaw narra uma jornada emocionante que conduz o leitor da Budapeste fascista à Indochina francesa, passando pela Berlim nazista e os horrores da Guerra Civil Espanhola e da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Baseada em longas entrevistas com amigos e contemporâneos do grande fotógrafo, além de arquivos secretos soviéticos e do FBI, e outros materiais até então inéditos, esta biografia é tão empolgante e atraente quanto o próprio biografado.

Una biografía absolutamente veraz que puede leerse como una novela histórica de aventuras. El extraordinario fotógrafo Robert Capa fue testigo de excepción de los grandes acontecimientos históricos y bélicos del siglo XX: la Guerra Civil española, el desembarco de Normandía o la fundación del Estado de Israel. Incansable viajero, jugador, bebedor y mujeriego, murió a los 41 años al pisar una mina en la guerra de Indochina, después de una vidaintensa y apasionante. A partir de entrevistas con personajes que le conocieron bien y de material de archivo, Alex Kershaw ha escrito una biografía absolutamente veraz que puede leerse como una novela histórica de aventuras.

Dalle coste della Sicilia all''inferno di Dachau: un''odissea di 500 giorni durante la Seconda guerra mondiale «Uno sguardo inedito sulla Seconda guerra mondiale e un tributo ai soldati che vi presero parte. » Kirkus Reviews «Eccezionale... Un classico della storia militare.» The Wall Street Journal «Il racconto avvincente, quasi epico, di un personaggio leggendario.» Publishers Weekly «La straordinaria storia di un soldato e degli uomini che lo avrebbero seguito all''inferno che descrive senza mezzi termini, battaglia dopo battaglia, quanto terrificante potesse essere quell''inferno. » Time 29 aprile 1945: la Germania nazista è ormai sconfitta, mancano soltanto 24 ore al suicidio di Adolf Hitler e pochi giorni alla fine del Terzo Reich. Due divisioni di fanteria dell''esercito statunitense, dirette a Monaco di Baviera, ricevono l''ordine di recarsi a Dachau per liberare un campo di concentramento. Il tenente colonello Felix Sparks ignora la natura del luogo dove sta conducendo i propri uomini e non è pronto – nessuno di loro lo è – all''orrore che lo attende oltre i famigerati cancelli del campo. Ma anche in questa occasione Sparks e i Thunderbird, il gruppo di indomiti soldati riuniti sotto l''effige dell''uccello del tuono, danno prova del coraggio e dell''umanità che hanno guidato gli ultimi 500 giorni della loro vita e liberano oltre 30.000 persone. Ma questo è soltanto l''ultimo atto della straordinaria storia vera di Felix Sparks. Sbarcato in Sicilia nel luglio del 1943 con il grado di capitano, il «liberatore» percorre migliaia di chilometri per risalire l''Italia e la Francia e raggiungere così la Germania. Combattendo numerose battaglie, nonostante alcune sconfitte e la perdita di molti suoi commilitoni, Sparks continuerà a lottare per liberare l''Europa, e il mondo intero, dalla minaccia nazista. Scritto dopo aver condotto intense ricerche e raccolto decine di interviste e testimonianze, Il liberatore è la celebrazione dell''eroismo di Felix Sparks e dei soldati della 45a divisione di fanteria, racconto che intreccia dettagli storici con emozionanti vicende personali e che dà vita a un libro appassionante e tragicamente attuale nel raccontare gli orrori della guerra e sottolineare l''importanza della memoria.

»Viktig och läsvärd krigsbiografi.« Corren Den bästsäljande historikern Alex Kershaw har skrivit en enastående skildring av soldaten Felix Sparks ofattbara öde. Den amerikanske officeren Felix Sparks livsöde är exceptionellt. Under 500 dagar stred han sig genom Europa. Han kämpade mot tyskarna på Sicilien, deltog i de blodiga striderna i Italien samt i invasionen av Frankrike och vid Ardenneroffensiven. Men kampen tog inte slut där. På väg mot München, nazismens födelsestad, fick Sparks och hans förband order om att bege sig till koncentrationslägret Dachau. Han blev en av de första som upptäckte den mänskliga tragedin bakom lägrets grindar. Den bästsäljande historikern Alex Kershaw har skrivit en enastående skildring av soldaten Felix Sparks ofattbara öde. Hans 500 dagar i strid sammanfaller med den tid det tog att befria Europa från nazismen. Pressröster om boken: »Det har blivit en fascinerande och gripande skildring av en fattig ung mans uppväxt och hans liv i armén.« Dast Magazine »De målande beskrivningarna är realistiska, och som läsare känner man sig nästan närvarande på Siciliens stränder och längs vägen upp till koncentrationslägret Dachau. Militärhistoriskt intresserade har här en välskriven och fascinerande läsning, och det gäller även de som gillar biografier!« Bibliotekstjänst

W marcu 1944 stolica Węgier stała się areną niezwykłego pojedynku, którego stawką było ocalenie ponad 100 000 ludzi. Adolf Eichmann przybywa na Węgry, by tam zlikwidować ostatnich Żydów Europy. Nagrodą ma być pochwała od samego Führera. W Budapeszcie napotyka godnego siebie przeciwnika. Raoul Wallenberg - przedstawiciel szwedzkiej arystokracji i dyplomata - przygotowuje specjalne paszporty i za ich pomocą wydziera Żydów z rąk nazistów. Rozpoczyna się niezwykły pojedynek i wyścig z czasem. Książka Aleksa Kershawa pokazuje historię pełną paradoksów. Eichmann przeżył wojnę i uciekł do Argentyny. Natomiast Wallenberg trafił w ręce Armii Czerwonej. Został oskarżony o szpiegostwo i wywieziony do Moskwy. Największy bohater II wojny światowej zginął w niejasnych okolicznościach. Zaginięcie Wallenberga wiązane jest z mordem katyńskim. Dyplomata znał prawdopodobnie dokumenty sporządzone przez węgierskich biegłych, które za zgładzenie polskich oficerów obarczały Sowietów.

New York Times best-selling author of the Liberator Alex Kershaw and 20-year veteran Newsweek reporter and editor Richard Ernsberger, Jr. trace the life of Major General Levine from D-day t othe Cold War and into postwar America.

From the author of the bestselling "The Bedford Boys" comes the remarkable story of America''s most decorated platoon that miraculously halted Hitler''s massive offensive at the Battle of the Bulge.

" Il me semble vraiment que Capa a prouvé sans le moindre doute que l''appareil photo n''est pas forcément un ustensile froid et mécanique. Comme le stylo, il vaut ce que vaut son utilisateur. Il peut être le prolongement de l''esprit et du cœur " (John Steinbeck) Robert Capa est l''un des plus grands photographes du XXe siècle, dont il aura couvert les grands conflits : de la guerre d''Espagne aux prémices de celle du Vietnam. Il est le seul reporter à avoir débarqué sur Omaha Beach, le 6 juin 1944. Sa mort, à l''âge de quarante et un ans, met un terme à une carrière remarquable et à une existence de Casanova moderne : à la fois élégant et brouillon, charmeur et culotté, Capa pouvait se vanter (et il ne s''en privait pas) d''avoir collectionné les plus belles femmes de son temps - parmi lesquelles Ingrid Bergman - et de compter Ernest Hemingway, Henri Cartier-Bresson ou encore John Huston comme amis. Ce juif hongrois, nomade par choix, reste la figure légendaire du photo-journalisme. Il est l''un des cofondateurs de l''agence Magnum. Capa a traversé la vie en funambule, multipliant les risques pour respecter sa règle n° 1 : approcher l''événement d''aussi près que possible. La biographie d''Alex Kershaw respecte, elle aussi, cette règle.