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Danzig: A Novel of Political Intrigue
October 25, 2023. Newly-edited corrected version. Danzig is a gripping historical novel in the grand tradition. It has generated rave reviews (90% 4 and 5 stars) for its authenticity and its realistic portrayal of high pressure diplomatic clashes between Hitler and Western nations in the 1930s. The story encompasses fast-paced events in Geneva, Berlin, Warsaw and London, as well as Danzig itself, capturing the drama of unfolding crisis that engulfed Europe on what we now know was the path to war. * "A smartly written, engrossing read. * “Channeling the best of Alan Furst, Danzig, is a must read for the any lover of well written historical fiction. * “Mr. Walker's descriptions made this reader feel as if she were in the middle of the historic drama. The novel builds in intensity until the dramatic ending. It's a terrific read.” * “Danzig is a must read for any lover of riveting historical fiction dealing with Hitler’s rise. Walker makes the saga of the city and the Polish Corridor come alive. The tensions of the time are vividly described in human terms, making for gripping reading.” * “Danzig is an amazing book, putting the reader in the middle of pre WW II in Europe. The time and scene were painted in detail and to perfection. The characters were presented in such a way I felt I knew them and worried for them throughout.” * “Superb historical fiction; good story, good atmospherics. Danzig is a sophisticated journey into European power politics during a time of high drama. I think it bears comparison to the best authors in the popular interwar historical fiction genre and I rate it a very successful effort.” * “The author does a great job of making the reader feel what it was like to be in the center of pre-WWII Europe, with Germany flouting the Treaty of Versailles, England following an ill-fated policy of appeasement and the League of Nations powerless and ineffective in dealing with Hitler and his aggression. For anyone interested in WWII history, especially the lead-up to the war and the dysfunction among the European Allies, this is a great read! The website www.authorwilliamwalker.com offers a link to Amazon Kindle as well as a synopsis, photos and more information.
415 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2016
525 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
September 25, 2017
This is a very interesting story, one that is not known to the majority of Americans, even those with a particular interest in WWII. Unfortunately however, the writing is poor. The style is quite pedestrian, and there are many asides and descriptions that are unnecessary and do not add to the story or background of the time. I persisted because much of it is based on real people in a very difficult and tragic time in fairly recent history. Also, I was on a long train ride to Gdansk, where the novel takes place. And despite the writing, I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Gdansk, or has an interest in the events leading up to WWII.
January 22, 2019
Wonderfully interesting history of pre WW2 Europe told through the lens of the Free City of Danzig. As a history lesson, it's compelling. As a novel, less so. The characters (some real and some fictional) were so rigidly tied to the actual events that occurred at that time as to make them inflexible and less human.
January 14, 2019
Interesting book marred by dreadful typos
Historical novels are a difficult genre. Some try very hard to appeal to a contemporary audience — hopefully a large one. In doing so they lose their historical context and authenticity. Bernard Shaw could get away with it but, alas, most “historical “ novelists can’t. The twentieth century is a transitional case. It’s close enough in time, and movies keep it warm. Furst manages it, though in every book there is some noticeable factual faux pas. Danzig is constructed along Furstian lines, though with with less dramatic derring-do. What grates is the endless typos: letters transposed, words got wrong. Scrum becomes scum. Etc etc. It may well be a spell check program gone mad.
Historical novels are a difficult genre. Some try very hard to appeal to a contemporary audience — hopefully a large one. In doing so they lose their historical context and authenticity. Bernard Shaw could get away with it but, alas, most “historical “ novelists can’t. The twentieth century is a transitional case. It’s close enough in time, and movies keep it warm. Furst manages it, though in every book there is some noticeable factual faux pas. Danzig is constructed along Furstian lines, though with with less dramatic derring-do. What grates is the endless typos: letters transposed, words got wrong. Scrum becomes scum. Etc etc. It may well be a spell check program gone mad.
June 22, 2017
It was a little slow going in the beginning, but I am glad I stuck with it. Turned out to be a fascinating journey through Danzig in the 1930s. What made it most interesting is one of the main characters was a real person. Exceptionally well researched, it was definitely one of the better historical fiction novels about that period in history.
February 9, 2017
It's a very slow read. I did not finish it. According to reviews I guess it picks up later on.
November 4, 2022
This is a novelized account of the history of the Free City of Danzig (current-day Gdańsk, Poland), and if you approach this book that way, you will not be disappointed. This book is not written for a lot of character depth or development. With that said, there were times I felt as if I were standing in Danzig in the 1930s as the Germans became more and more aggressive in the lead-up to World War II.
I had heard of the League of Nations and how it was the precursor to the United Nations, but I had no idea how ineffective the League became. It was increasingly difficult for the League to address issues in the Free City of Danzig after Germany left the group in 1933. After Hitler’s rise to power, Danzig was demoted to little more than a bargaining chip in the League’s overall attempts to maintain peace in Europe.
Many historical figures show up in the book, and I could feel the frustrations of the various competing factions within Danzig. In a city comprised of primarily German people, but set aside to give Poland access to a seaport, there were tensions as a normal part of daily life. This book describes the escalation of those tensions, the League’s attempts to keep them under control, and some of the effects on daily life in the city.
I came away from reading this book with a much better understanding of the League of Nations, the Free City of Danzig, and some of the increased tensions before World War II. I will be reading the next book in the series.
I had heard of the League of Nations and how it was the precursor to the United Nations, but I had no idea how ineffective the League became. It was increasingly difficult for the League to address issues in the Free City of Danzig after Germany left the group in 1933. After Hitler’s rise to power, Danzig was demoted to little more than a bargaining chip in the League’s overall attempts to maintain peace in Europe.
Many historical figures show up in the book, and I could feel the frustrations of the various competing factions within Danzig. In a city comprised of primarily German people, but set aside to give Poland access to a seaport, there were tensions as a normal part of daily life. This book describes the escalation of those tensions, the League’s attempts to keep them under control, and some of the effects on daily life in the city.
I came away from reading this book with a much better understanding of the League of Nations, the Free City of Danzig, and some of the increased tensions before World War II. I will be reading the next book in the series.
December 2, 2020
To call this a novel is really quite a stretch. The characters are completely wooden and without nuance, placed there only to move a description of the action along. And given that the action, if you can call it that, consists of just a bunch of bureaucratic infighting and memo writing, it is not very suspenseful. Especially since we know what the outcome was from the beginning. I thought this might be a bit like Robert Harris' "Munich", in which the outcome is preordained but the three-dimensionality of the characters, plus a bit of fictionalizing of events, gave the book suspense and emotional interest. But there was nothing like this. It actually is more like nonfiction, and it was interesting to plug up a hole in my knowledge of events between the two wars, but for the most part I found it tedious. And the so-called "love affair" was a complete joke – you know that when the writer pans phrases like "they made passionate love."
As I said, for those who really like to know the nuts and bolts of a particular event – namely what happened to the league of Nations in Danzig in the 30s, – it is worth reading. But for those who want to read a novel about those events, go elsewhere.
As I said, for those who really like to know the nuts and bolts of a particular event – namely what happened to the league of Nations in Danzig in the 30s, – it is worth reading. But for those who want to read a novel about those events, go elsewhere.
September 6, 2021
Danzig. William N Walker
This is a story based in the mid 1930's prior to the outbreak of World War II. It depicts the struggles and hardships of Danzig a small city located near the Baltic Sea. It has a large Polish population, German and a small Jewish population. The Germans treated the Polish badly and referred to them as Polish Jews. Danzig after World War I per the mandates of the Treaty of Versailles and enforced by the League of Nations was to be a free state to govern itself. The League of Nations installed a commissioner there to ensure compliance. The Germans with their stong political power base ignored all mandates. The League of Nations was powerless to insist on compliance. Germany was not a member of the League of Nations and Hilter ignored them. The primary or leading character Mueller is fictional but the German , Polish and League members are not. This is another excellent read in this series. It accurately depicts the state's of unrest and political instability in Europe prior to World War II. Enjoyed immensely!!
This is a story based in the mid 1930's prior to the outbreak of World War II. It depicts the struggles and hardships of Danzig a small city located near the Baltic Sea. It has a large Polish population, German and a small Jewish population. The Germans treated the Polish badly and referred to them as Polish Jews. Danzig after World War I per the mandates of the Treaty of Versailles and enforced by the League of Nations was to be a free state to govern itself. The League of Nations installed a commissioner there to ensure compliance. The Germans with their stong political power base ignored all mandates. The League of Nations was powerless to insist on compliance. Germany was not a member of the League of Nations and Hilter ignored them. The primary or leading character Mueller is fictional but the German , Polish and League members are not. This is another excellent read in this series. It accurately depicts the state's of unrest and political instability in Europe prior to World War II. Enjoyed immensely!!
May 18, 2017
I'm not sure why this book surprised me so. I had never heard of the author, for one, and could find little in the way of reviews. But it turned out to be one of my favourite books so far this year - I read a lot. First off, I knew that the then Free City of Danzig was a breeding ground for Nazism and one of the the first acts of the Second World War. So just learning about that history was fascinating. William Walker cleverly uses two men representing the former League of Nations are supposed to keep Danzig from collapsing in on itself. I think anyone who loves this period of history will love this book.
August 1, 2019
A nice read. I was not familiar with the area history in the 1930s and my diplomatic service was not in Europe, but I was able to relate to several of the novelistic situations. The sex did not add to the story so it was gratuitous, but perhaps it fits into Mr. Walker's diplomatic experience or that of his colleagues. The idea of young diplomats pouring their hearts into immediate issues and not realizing how the big boys are playing on multiple levels, willing to give up ground in one insignificant area to get gains in others is a true picture of how diplomacy works, and illustrated why some diplomats become jaded if they do not adjust to power diplomacy realities.
January 12, 2017
William N. Walker clearly knows his stuff, but beware - "Danzig: A Novel of Political Intrigue," depicting the build up to World War II, is very slow in developing. One wonders if the characters, primarily diplomats and politicians, will ever personally experience the dangers that they talk about with each other. Will fear become real to them? But of course it does. So to the reader I say, just keep on reading. The plot becomes much more intriguing as you go. My only regret is that the author uses too much dialogue to my taste in moving it forward.
September 16, 2017
This book was a selection of our book club. Its subject is the political maneuvering between Germany, Poland, England, and the League of Nations during the period of time (1933-36) in the Free City of Danzig when the Nazi Party was attempting to solidify its control over the city by ousting the government of the League.
It is an interesting and important era. Author William Walker is to be commended for meticulous research and a thorough grasp of the political currents of the time.
The book, however, moves slowly, weighed down by its obligations to be faithful in all details to the historical record. The main character, Paul Muller, is a rather cardboard depiction of a young diplomat of the era; correct in particulars but generating no emotional attachment from the reader. And, a minor cavil, but one of those irritants that can't be ignored: we are supposed to believe that, after meeting Paul for just a short time at a party, an attractive woman is so overcome by his masculine appeal that she immediately goes to Paul's bedroom and throws herself naked into his arms - a scene that, while not atypical of a certain kind of spy thriller, will generate eyerolls from any woman who reads it.
Walker has built many real-life characters into his story, including Irish diplomat Sean Lester, and the unsavory Nazi politicians Albert Forster and Arthur Greiser. Perhaps the best segments of the book for me were the reconstructions of the the dialog between these men, Lester, and the fictional Muller. It was creepy to go to Wikipedia and read the after-story on Forster and Greiser, their loyalty to the nauseating tenets of Naziism and their unquestioning, even enthusiastic, participation in the atrocities of the Holocaust.
It is the first work I have read published through Amazon's CreateSpace self-publishing platform, so I have no basis for comparison, but for me the progress of the story was interrupted by far too many instances of incorrect grammar, punctuation and word syntax. If one ever needed to make the case for professional editing, this book would do it.
Overall, in spite of some good qualities of the book, the slow pace of the narrative plus the lack of editing prompted my rating of 2. There's scope for a great book about Danzig, but this book isn't it.
It is an interesting and important era. Author William Walker is to be commended for meticulous research and a thorough grasp of the political currents of the time.
The book, however, moves slowly, weighed down by its obligations to be faithful in all details to the historical record. The main character, Paul Muller, is a rather cardboard depiction of a young diplomat of the era; correct in particulars but generating no emotional attachment from the reader. And, a minor cavil, but one of those irritants that can't be ignored: we are supposed to believe that, after meeting Paul for just a short time at a party, an attractive woman is so overcome by his masculine appeal that she immediately goes to Paul's bedroom and throws herself naked into his arms - a scene that, while not atypical of a certain kind of spy thriller, will generate eyerolls from any woman who reads it.
Walker has built many real-life characters into his story, including Irish diplomat Sean Lester, and the unsavory Nazi politicians Albert Forster and Arthur Greiser. Perhaps the best segments of the book for me were the reconstructions of the the dialog between these men, Lester, and the fictional Muller. It was creepy to go to Wikipedia and read the after-story on Forster and Greiser, their loyalty to the nauseating tenets of Naziism and their unquestioning, even enthusiastic, participation in the atrocities of the Holocaust.
It is the first work I have read published through Amazon's CreateSpace self-publishing platform, so I have no basis for comparison, but for me the progress of the story was interrupted by far too many instances of incorrect grammar, punctuation and word syntax. If one ever needed to make the case for professional editing, this book would do it.
Overall, in spite of some good qualities of the book, the slow pace of the narrative plus the lack of editing prompted my rating of 2. There's scope for a great book about Danzig, but this book isn't it.
December 6, 2021
Down in the weeds with the League of Nations
Although factionalized, this first in a series of novels depicts in deep detail the diplomatic wrangling over the fate of the Free City of Danzig in the 1930s.
While it’s easy to sneer at the cynicism and duplicity of the players, ranging from Anthony Eden to Arthur Greiser, it’s important to remember that the US never became a member of the League, and buried its head in the sand under the mantle of Isolationism. A possible force for good was thus absent from the field of play.
Although factionalized, this first in a series of novels depicts in deep detail the diplomatic wrangling over the fate of the Free City of Danzig in the 1930s.
While it’s easy to sneer at the cynicism and duplicity of the players, ranging from Anthony Eden to Arthur Greiser, it’s important to remember that the US never became a member of the League, and buried its head in the sand under the mantle of Isolationism. A possible force for good was thus absent from the field of play.
April 6, 2019
Interesting book
This was a very indepth book that one reading must play close attention to. So many things that played out in this period, if handled effectively may have prevented WW 2. It should have been possible to maybe neutralize Hitler. The world allowed for Hitler to do things that should not have been done. It is probably a great question. I really don't know many who would want to get into such a depth as this book. But, I know there are others like me.
This was a very indepth book that one reading must play close attention to. So many things that played out in this period, if handled effectively may have prevented WW 2. It should have been possible to maybe neutralize Hitler. The world allowed for Hitler to do things that should not have been done. It is probably a great question. I really don't know many who would want to get into such a depth as this book. But, I know there are others like me.
August 15, 2024
Gave it 4⭐️ because of its rich historical context and depth of research. Took me long time to read because I was constantly Googling references to foods, locations, customs, architectural styles. Learned a lot. Story itself was slow and a bit of a slog. If not for the obvious care and work that went into it and the value I took away, I’d probably have rated it 3⭐️. I enjoy WWII historical novels, so I’m going to check out the next books in his series.
September 23, 2017
Very Educational
This is a long read, but well worth it. The author had done an exceptional job of writing this historical work of fiction. Based on history with some teal and some fictional characters, the reader learns what happened to the free city of Danzig, Poland during years leading up to WWII.
This is a long read, but well worth it. The author had done an exceptional job of writing this historical work of fiction. Based on history with some teal and some fictional characters, the reader learns what happened to the free city of Danzig, Poland during years leading up to WWII.
August 17, 2020
Live History
What an enjoyable read! Mr. Walker makes the tension of pre-WW II Europe come alive. The mix of idealism and realism set a stage for reading that is compelling and hard to put down. I foresee a lot of research forthcoming into the situation and historical characters.
What an enjoyable read! Mr. Walker makes the tension of pre-WW II Europe come alive. The mix of idealism and realism set a stage for reading that is compelling and hard to put down. I foresee a lot of research forthcoming into the situation and historical characters.
May 17, 2023
Amazon customer
Interesting read in how a treaty can be so ineffective. Danzig was the beginning of world war II. I am still amazed how people were blinded by Germany aggression and still the world did nothing to stop it or to perceive that this will lead to trouble. What good are peace treaties when they are disobey. Germany started two wars where was Europe leadership.
Interesting read in how a treaty can be so ineffective. Danzig was the beginning of world war II. I am still amazed how people were blinded by Germany aggression and still the world did nothing to stop it or to perceive that this will lead to trouble. What good are peace treaties when they are disobey. Germany started two wars where was Europe leadership.
April 19, 2018
A fantastic re-imagining of a terrible era in our history.
Mr. Walker's touch is deft and the atmosphere is spot on. I particularly like the pictures at the end. They serve to remind us that though the book is fiction, unhappily the events it describes aren't.
Mr. Walker's touch is deft and the atmosphere is spot on. I particularly like the pictures at the end. They serve to remind us that though the book is fiction, unhappily the events it describes aren't.
August 31, 2018
Excellent and. Intriguing novel regarding events leading up to World War II.
The book is very well written and will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys history and an exciting, interesting novel.
The book is very well written and will be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys history and an exciting, interesting novel.
September 24, 2018
When nationalist priorities override the international good
An entertaining and informative novel of European politics in the prelude to W.W.II. An eye opening expose into the limits and ultimate failure of the league of nations.
An entertaining and informative novel of European politics in the prelude to W.W.II. An eye opening expose into the limits and ultimate failure of the league of nations.
May 14, 2019
If you like Pre WWII historical novels, this is a good
one.
It is about the Free City of Danzig and the League of Nations.
Of course the Nazis are involved. The Night of the Long Knives is discussed.
one.
It is about the Free City of Danzig and the League of Nations.
Of course the Nazis are involved. The Night of the Long Knives is discussed.
August 11, 2021
Fascinating tale of a little known story of an important part of the beginnings of WWII.
Fictional story based on real events in the Free city of Danzig in the pree war years. It details the workings of the League of Nations and their eventual failures that lead to its demise.
Fictional story based on real events in the Free city of Danzig in the pree war years. It details the workings of the League of Nations and their eventual failures that lead to its demise.
February 7, 2022
Interesting and informative
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the history of Danzig and Poland in the years before WWII. This narrative is well written
and keeps up the riveting suspense throughout.
I enjoyed this book and learned a lot about the history of Danzig and Poland in the years before WWII. This narrative is well written
and keeps up the riveting suspense throughout.
March 31, 2024
Really enjoyed this book. Many of my relatives were from Danzig so it was particularly interesting. It really is eerily similar to the political climate here in the states right now.
I enjoyed it very much.
I enjoyed it very much.
March 7, 2018
One word: boring.
October 7, 2018
Unique style
I liked the telling of the political intrigue. Makes history relevant. I had no idea the importance of Danzig. Writing was a little dull.
I liked the telling of the political intrigue. Makes history relevant. I had no idea the importance of Danzig. Writing was a little dull.
May 27, 2020
Time to think about where we are now
Hard to think that this story is based on fact. Time to consider where we are in the 21st century and then consider our current politics
Hard to think that this story is based on fact. Time to consider where we are in the 21st century and then consider our current politics
August 2, 2023
I tried to give this book a chance, made it to 60%, but the story moved a bit too slow for me. I will come back to read this author's other books.
July 22, 2024
Too long and repetitive
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews