The Devils Will Get No Rest

FDR, Churchill, and the Plan That Won the War

By: James B. Conroy

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

Written with “a cinematic sense of urgency and realism” (Evan Osnos, National Book Award–winning author), this is the first full account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, the secret ten-day parlay in Morocco where FDR, Churchill, and their divided high command hammered out a winning strategy at the tipping point of World War II.

The Devils Will Get No Rest is a “vivid and engaging” (Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize­­–winning author) character-driven account of the Casablanca Conference of January 1943, an Anglo-American clash over military strategy that produced a winning plan when World War II could have gone either way. Churchill called it the most important Allied conclave of the war. Until now, it has never been explored in a full-length book.

In a secret, no-holds-barred, ten-day debate in a Moroccan warzone, protected by British marines and elite American troops, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, George C. Marshall, Dwight D. Eisenhower, George S. Patton Jr., Sir Alan Brooke, Lord Louis Mountbatten, Sir Harold Alexander, and their military peers questioned each other’s competence, doubted each other’s visions, and argued their way through choices that could win or lose the war. You will be treated to a master class in strategy by the legendary statesmen, generals, and admirals who overcame their differences, transformed their alliance from a necessity to a bond, forged a war-winning plan, and glimpsed the postwar world.

Critic reviews

"In re-creating the 1942 Casablanca Conference, narrator Fred Sanders effectively juggles a crowded cast of historical figures and issues. That heavily guarded meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill, and the recalcitrant French set the Allied course for WWII. Sanders positions himself midway between hindsight and the outlook at the time. It helps to have some background on the era, but author Conroy is an expert in providing the most important details while keeping the narrative in motion. The story is packed with arresting characters and anecdotes. The relationship between Roosevelt and Churchill, part “bromance,” part fencing match, is particularly rich, a tale of mutual affection, playfulness, and deadly consequence."