About this item
An intimate history of the most important month of World War II, completely based on the diaries, letters and memoirs of the people who lived through it. At the beginning of November 1942, it looked as if the Axis powers could still win the Second World War; at the end of that month, it was obviously just a matter of time before they would lose. In between were el-Alamein, Guadalcanal, the French North Africa landings, the Japanese retreat in New Guinea and the Soviet encirclement of the German 6th Army at Stalingrad. It may have been the most important thirty days of the twentieth century. In this hugely innovative and riveting history, Peter Englund has reduced an epoch-making event to its basic component: the individual experience.. Englund's narrative is based solely on what he learned from the writings of soldiers and ordinary citizens alike.
About the Author
Peter Englund (born April 4, 1957 in Boden) is a Swedish author and historian, and a member of the Swedish Academy since 2002. Englund was born into a military family in Boden and studied caretaking for two years and then humanistic subjects for another two years in secondary school. He was then conscripted and served 15 months in the Swedish Army at the Norrbotten Regiment located in Boden. He was politically active in his youth and supported the FNL. Englund studied archaeology, history, and theoretical philosophy at Uppsala University, completing a bachelor's degree in 1983, after which he began doctoral studies in History. He was awarded his Ph. D. in 1989 for his dissertation Det hotade huset (English title in the dissertation abstract: A House in Peril) (1989) , an investigation of the worldview of the 17th century Swedish nobility. During his period as a doctoral student, he had also worked for some time for the Swedish Military Intelligence and Security Service ("MUST") , and the year before receiving his doctorate he had published the bestselling Poltava, a detailed description of the Battle of Poltava, where the troops of Swedish king Charles XII were defeated by the Russian army of Tsar Peter I in 1709. Englund has received the August Prize (1993) and the Selma Lagerlof Prize for Literature (2002) . He was elected a member of the Swedish Academy in 2002. Englund writes non-fiction books and essays, mainly about history, and especially about the Rise of Sweden as a Great Power, but also about other historical events. He writes in a very accessible style, providing narrative details usually omitted in typical books about history. His books have gained popularity and are translated into several languages, such as German and Czech.
