The Last 100 Days, John Toland
The Last 100 Days, John Toland
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The Last 100 Days
The Tumultuous and Controversial Story of the Final Days of World War II in Europe

Author: John Toland

Narrator: Geoffrey Howard

Unabridged: 27 hr 31 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/15/2014


Synopsis

A dramatic countdown of the final months of World War II in Europe, The Last 100 Days brings to life the waning power and the ultimate submission of the Third Reich. To reconstruct the tumultuous hundred days between Yalta and the fall of Berlin, John Toland traveled more than 100,000 miles in twenty-one countries and interviewed more than six hundred people—from Hitler's personal chauffeur to Generals von Manteuffel, Wenck, and Heinrici; from underground leaders to diplomats; from top Allied field commanders to brave young GIs. Toland adeptly wove together these interviews using research from thousands of primary sources.When it was first published, The Last 100 Days made history, revealing after-action reports, staff journals, and top-secret messages and personal documents previously unavailable to historians. Since that time it has come to be regarded as one of the greatest historical narratives of the twentieth century.

About John Toland

John Toland (1912–2004) was an award-winning American author and one of the most widely read military historians of the twentieth century. His most well-known work is perhaps The Rising Sun, winner of the 1971 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction and the first book in English to tell the story of the Pacific War from the Japanese perspective. Although primarily an author of historical nonfiction, he also wrote novels, plays, and short stories. Among his published books were four New York Times bestsellers: But Not in Shame, The Last Hundred Days, Adolf Hitler, and Infamy.

About Geoffrey Howard

Geoffrey Howard was a stage actor and an award-winning narrator. He recorded more than 100 audiobooks in his lifetime, and won Audie, AudioFile magazine’s Earphones, and Library Journal awards for his narrations. He died in 2014.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Karl on July 04, 2021

Perfectly researched, crisply written retelling of the end of the war in Europe, spring 1945. Stalin and the Russians pressing west toward Berlin, suppressing dissidents and promoting communists in the 'liberated' countries, Eisenhower juggling Churchill and Montgomery with Bradley and Patton, tryin......more

Goodreads review by Ozymandias on February 21, 2020

This is a fairly standard account of the final 100 days of Nazi Germany. It does exactly what books written not long after events should do: it gathers evidence via interviews and personal examination and places it into a broader context. Like a lot of popular histories, the book is more about indiv......more

Goodreads review by Olethros on December 03, 2014

-En su momento, ejemplar y de referencia. Ahora no tanto.- Género. Historia. Lo que nos cuenta. Visión casi periodística, con momentos novelados, de los últimos cien días de Segunda Guerra Mundial en el frente europeo a través de un gran número de participantes en los hechos. Libro también conocido co......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on January 03, 2021

John Toland's The Last 100 Days reconstructs the end of World War II in Europe, as the Third Reich battled for survivals and the alliance between the United States, England and the Soviet Union began to crack under the pressure of eminent victory. Toland's book reads, essentially, as a massive work......more


Quotes

“Brilliant…The reader is in suspense throughout…Each scene is played out close-up and point-blank, as if one were there, listening to the dialogue, counting the stakes, feeling the emotions of the principals.” New York Times Book Review

“A hundred stories fill out these hundred days—portraits, battle plans, ironies, feats of espionage, mass brutalities, insanity, diplomats, generals, soldiers, snipers, the cool and the fanatic. Hitler’s horoscope, what General Eisenhower was reading on the morning of surrender, Quisling’s final auto ride, orders, counterorders, impatient statesmen, conflicting strategies, the stench of fire and death, telegrams to Moscow, plunging armies, straggling refugees…In fascinating and exhaustively researched detail—it is all here!” New York Times

“Fascinating…The narrative shifts from scene to intimate scene of every conference room…from liberated camp to Hitler’s underground bunker, to GIs storming the railroad bridge across the Rhine…Toland has woven the tapestry of history.” Chicago Tribune

“The late author wrote many books about WWII, but this one, first published in 2003, broke new ground because of its use of previously unreleased documents and personal interviews. The audiobook is now available, and the material is just as enlightening as it was on paper. Narrator Ralph Cosham brings an authoritative British accent to the work, and he’s suitably respectful of the awesome story he’s telling. His variations in pitch and his delivery of especially painful passages are effective and engrossing. He also has excellent diction and keeps to a lively pace.” AudioFile