THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

‘Epic, moving and important’ ROBERT HARRIS

‘A modern classic’ OBSERVER

‘An unforgettable epic of a book’DAILY MAIL

From longstanding political columnist and commentator Daniel Finkelstein, a powerful memoir exploring both his mother and his father’s devastating experiences of persecution, resistance and survival during the Second World War.

Daniel’s mother Mirjam Wiener was the youngest of three daughters born in Germany to Alfred and Margarete Wiener. Alfred, a decorated hero from the Great War, is now widely acknowledged to have been the first person to recognise the existential danger Hitler posed to the Jews and began, in 1933, to catalogue in detail Nazi crimes. After moving his family to Amsterdam, he relocated his library to London and was preparing to bring over his wife and children when Germany invaded the Netherlands. Before long, the family was rounded up, robbed and sent to starve in Bergen-Belsen.

Daniel’s father Ludwik was born in Lwów, the only child of a prosperous Jewish family. In 1939, after Hitler and Stalin carved up Poland, Ludwik’s father was arrested and sentenced to hard labour in the Gulag. Meanwhile, deported to Siberia and working as a slave labourer on a collective farm, Ludwik survived the freezing winters in a tiny house he built from cow dung.

Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad is a deeply moving, personal and at times horrifying memoir about Finkelstein’s parents’ experiences at the hands of the two genocidal dictators of the twentieth century. It is a story of persecution; survival; and the consequences of totalitarianism told with the almost unimaginable bravery of two ordinary families shining through.

‘Danny Finkelstein has written an elegant, moving account of the history of one family, and in doing so shines light on the history of the 20th century. If you want to understand Hitler and Stalin, read this book about people whose lives were upended by both of them’ ANNE APPLEBAUM, author of Gulag: A History, winner of the Pulitzer Prize

Daniel Finkelstein’s book ‘Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad’ was a Sunday Times bestseller w/c 26-06-2023.

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Japan at War in the Pacific recounts the dramatic story of Japan’s transformation from a Samurai-led feudal society to a modern military-industrial empire in the space of a few decades―and the many wars it fought along the way. These culminated in an attempt by Japan’s military leaders to create an Asia-Pacific empire which at its greatest extent rivaled the British Empire in scope and power.

The battle for supremacy in the Pacific brought the Japanese to great heights but led ultimately to the nation’s utter devastation at the end of World War II, culminating with the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki―the only time such weapons have been used in warfare.

In this book, author Jonathan Clements offers fascinating insights into:

• The wars that Japan fought during its rise to supremacy in the western Pacific, including the Russo-Japanese War, the seizure of Manchuria and war in China, and the Pacific theater of World War II.
• The many military actions undertaken by Imperial Japanese forces including the horrific “Rape of Nanjing,” the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the decisive defeat at the Battle of Midway, the savage Battles of Okinawa and Iwo Jima, and many more.
• The motivations and beliefs of Japan’s leaders, as well as the policy decisions of a government dedicated to expansion which ultimately led to a complete dismantling of the nation’s political and social order during the Allied Occupation.
• With over 75 photographs and maps, this book vividly recounts the amazing story of Japan’s military conquests. Clements charts the evolution of the Japanese empire in the Pacific and the influence of a ruthless military-led government on everything from culture and food to fashion and education―including the anthems and rallying calls of a martial nation which were silenced long ago but continue to echo in Asian politics.

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