The Duel

By: John Lukacs

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

One is poised on the edge of victory, the other threatened by invasion and defeat yet holding on, his own life in the balance and also that of the free world.

In his reconstruction of the 80 days from May 10 to July 31, 1940, the author shows just how close England came to losing the war. He paints Churchill as resolute, threatened from within and without, yet unshakably determined. And Hitler flushed with victory, yet fatally undecided about how to close with Britain.

"Lukacs’s is a rigorous intelligence making strong arguments in clear language. . . . I wish other writers on the right would ponder Mr. Lukacs’s insight."—New York Times Book Review

“An outstanding historian.”—Financial Times©1992 John Lukacs; (P)1992 Books on Tape

Insightful

Other books handle the host of details surrounding these events, so John Lukacs decided to focus only on the two key personalities driving them, their differences, similarities, and the fine points within their characters that lead them to make the decisions that would decide the state of world's affairs in those days. It is these fine insights provided by Lukacs that makes this book a rewarding experience. Having both read the text and listened to this audio version, I can highly recommend this book to those that are interested in a thorough, intelligent analysis of these two indomitable mindsets.

Hard to understand

This book was obviously written by a historian and not a writer. There were many references to people and events that the average reader should not be expected to know. For example, he mentions Munich, and the reader is clear that something happened there, some kind of conference or meeting, but we are never told what it was. Other obscure people are mentioned in passing and then never brought up again. The author bounces around time so much that one would need to plot out all the events on a time-line to track which event came before which. There was lots of good information in here, but it was buried in a morass of mud and fog.

a great review of a well documented period

the author does a remarkable job of using primary sources to intricately explain this very important 80 day stretch. I highly recommend.

Extremely interesting

A fascinating analysis of the opening chapters of WW2, with Churchill and Hitler facing off.

Analysis maybe too scholarly a term. Very approachable for the both the enthusiast of the period and the novice.

The most aggravating history lecture ever

Funny, my wife asked me what a pedant was the other day. I let her listen to this book and she understood completely. The author feels free to recite quotes in German and French without translation. Who is he trying to impress? He puts down people who "actually think that a picture is worth a thousand words." Why does he need to put readers down, not that any readers really believe that. His insights are undefended (and I think often wrong). I was eager to learn the facts of this period in history, so I listened on. But I desperately wanted to quit several times, and I had to ignore his analysis in order to continue. Recently I have listened to "Einstein" and to "Franklin and Winston." These books were warm and intelligent. "The Duel" was neither.