Hodder Paperbacks
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton
The classic bestseller on the Battle of Britain, revised and updated.
Seventy years ago, as Hitler's army continued its relentless advance across Europe, Britain - a country ill-prepared for war - faced its darkest hour.
Acclaimed as 'Brilliant' by the Daily Mail and 'Compelling' by the Telegraph, Finest Hour recreates the terror, tragedy and triumph of the Battle of Britain through the testimony of the very men and women who were there. Taken from the diaries, letters and memoirs of those who survived it - and those who lost their lives - Finest Hour creates a powerful and incisive account of the events of 1940.
Containing individual accounts of love and loss by these witnesses of war, the book also contains a provocative analysis of the conflicts and the politics of the period, and questions some cherished national myths.
Cutting through the nostalgic haze, Finest Hour enables readers to experience a time when a nation's darkest hour became its finest.
Brilliant ... This highly informative, moving series should form part of the National Curriculum. - Daily Mail
Beautifully made ... Achingly vivid. - Guardian
Compelling ... Mesmerizing stuff. - Sunday Telegraph
Manages to construct the tale in such a way that it breaks free of the text-book approach to transfix the viewer completely; the archive footage, the witness testimonies ... of such superior quality and so beautifully shot that the whole is fresh and absorbing ... Compiled with a pace that could put a lot of thrillers to shame, the result is television at its very best. - Time Out
From fighter-pilots risking their lives in the skies above England, to squaddies stranded at Dunkirk, to schoolgirls sent abroad to Canada (the book is worth buying just for Bess Walder's account of horror and redemption aboard the City of Benares), this is riveting. - Sunday Express
Phil Craig is a best selling author and multiple-award-winning film-maker.
He studied history at Cambridge university, was a BBC graduate trainee and built his career working for iconic British TV series World in Action and Panorama. Later he held senior positions at the prestigious Brook Lapping production company, at Channel Four, at the Discovery Channel and at ABC Television in Australia where he ran the entire factual output including its high profile ANZAC centenary project. Throughout his TV and writing career Phil has spent many years researching and reinterpreting the story of Britain and its Empire during the Second World War, including his definitive and bestselling account of 1940 - Finest Hour.
He now runs The Scandal Mongers Podcast with his friend and fellow writer Andrew Lownie.