1944, Jay Winik
1944, Jay Winik
4 Rating(s)
List: $34.99 | Sale: $24.50
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1944
FDR and the Year That Changed History

Bestseller

Author: Jay Winik

Narrator: Arthur Morey

Unabridged: 21 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/22/2015


Synopsis

The year 1944, which determined the outcome of World War II and put intense pressure on the ailing yet determined President Roosevelt, is brought to vivid life in “gripping” (The New York Times Book Review) detail in this New York Times bestseller.

1944 was a year that could have stymied the Allies and cemented Hitler’s waning power. Instead, it saved those democracies—but with a fateful cost. Now, in a “complex history rendered with great color and sympathy” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Jay Winik captures the epic images and extraordinary history “with cinematic force” (Time).

1944 witnessed a series of titanic events: FDR at the pinnacle of his wartime leadership as well as his reelection, the unprecedented D-Day invasion, the liberation of Paris, and the tumultuous conferences that finally shaped the coming peace. But millions of lives were at stake as President Roosevelt learned about Hitler’s Final Solution. Just as the Allies were landing in Normandy, the Nazis were accelerating the killing of millions of European Jews. Winik shows how escalating pressures fell on an infirm Roosevelt, who faced a momentous decision. Was winning the war the best way to rescue the Jews? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? In a year when even the most audacious undertakings were within the world’s reach, one challenge—saving Europe’s Jews—seemed to remain beyond Roosevelt’s grasp.

“This dramatic account highlights what too often has been glossed over—that as nobly as the Greatest Generation fought under FDR’s command, America could well have done more to thwart Nazi aggression” (The Boston Globe). Destined to take its place as one of the great works of World War II, 1944 is the first book to retell these events with moral clarity and a moving appreciation of the extraordinary actions of many extraordinary leaders.

About Jay Winik

The author of the #1 and New York Times bestselling April 1865 and the New York Times bestsellers 1944 and The Great Upheaval, Jay Winik is renowned for his creative approaches to history. The Baltimore Sun called him “one of our nation’s leading public historians.” He is a popular public speaker and a frequent television and radio guest. He has been a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal book review section, as well as to The New York Times. His many national media appearances include Today, Good Morning America, World News Tonight, NPR, and FOX News. He is a former board member of the National Endowment for the Humanities and was the historical advisor to National Geographic Networks.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Matt on August 26, 2015

As a habitual non-fiction reader, subject matter sells me on a book usually as much as the prose style or the writer. And therefore, one of my biggest pet peeves with any book is when it promises to be about a subject and then doesn't really deliver on that promise. Such is the case with Jay Winik's......more

Goodreads review by Steven on October 21, 2015

According to Jay Winik, the author of two bestselling works of history, APRIL, 1865 and THE GREAT UPHEAVAL, during World War II every three seconds someone died. This should not be surprising based on the myriad of books that have been written about the war that fostered mass killing on a scale that......more

Goodreads review by Robert2481 on November 27, 2019

This book, while interesting, would have one believe that the war in the Pacific was either a cake walk, or just not compelling enough to write about. At the very least the title is misleading.......more

Goodreads review by Mal on April 06, 2017

I thought I’d read enough about World War II and the Holocaust at least to understand what was most important about each of these interlocked, milestone events in the history of the human race. I hadn’t. In Jay Winik’s book, 1944, I learned a great deal, especially about the Nazis’ so-called Final S......more

Goodreads review by Jean on November 14, 2015

I believe that Jay Winik is attempting to claim that FDR failed the Jews or at least could have done more to save them from the Holocaust. Winik claims that FDR chose inaction time after time about stopping Hitler’s Final Solution. Winik thought that FDR could have rallied the country in his fire si......more