August '39: The Last Four Weeks of Peace

by Stephen Howarth

Uses interviews, diaries, letters, and public records to reconstruct the month prior to Britain's declaration of war against Germany

283 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

Stephen Howarth is an independent historian and the author of several books on corporate, maritime, and naval subjects.

Reviews

[Jill H.]

This informative book cover the last four week of peace (August 2-September 3, 1939) before the Nazis invaded Poland and started WWII. The approach the author took in telling this story is what appealed to me. He used a cross section of people from politicians to doctors to fishermen to housewives and looked at their lives during these eventful weeks. Since it takes place in the aftermath of Munich, it is not a "history" book in the general sense but instead a book about the daily lives of the British and Polish population. It certainly doesn't skimp on the historic details of the frenzied attempts by the leaders of England, France, and Poland to work with Hitler to stop the inevitable but also gives a broader perspective on how the common man was coping with the oncoming tide of war that could not be stopped. Very well done.

[Tadeusz Woroniecki]

Good basic idea and informative, but I found the technique of going between real characters and the historic facts a bit too formulaic after a while.