'A masterpiece of history' DAILY TELEGRAPH Between 1917 and 1921 a devastating struggle took place in Russia following the collapse of the Tsarist empire. Many regard this savage civil war as the most influential event of the modern era. An incompatible White alliance of moderate socialists and reactionary monarchists stood little chance against Trotsky's Red Army and Lenin's single-minded Communist dictatorship. Terror begat terror, which in turn led to even greater cruelty with man's inhumanity to man, woman and child. The struggle became a world war by proxy as Churchill deployed weaponry and troops from the British empire, while armed forces from the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Poland and Czechoslovakia played rival parts. Using the most up to date scholarship and archival research, Antony Beevor, author of the acclaimed international bestseller Stalingrad, assembles the complete picture in a gripping narrative that conveys the conflict through the eyes of everyone from the worker on the streets of Petrograd to the cavalry officer on the battlefield and the woman doctor in an improvised hospital.
Antony Beevor Book order
Antony Beevor is a British historian whose work primarily focuses on military history, particularly the events of the 20th century. His writings are characterized by thorough research and compelling narratives that bring complex wartime events to life for the reader. Beevor delves into the human experience of conflict, analyzing the causes and consequences of historical occurrences. His books are valued for their meticulous detail and their ability to contextualize events within a broader historical landscape.







- 2022
- 2019
The Battle of Arnhem: The Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II
- 512 pages
- 18 hours of reading
Focusing on the airborne battle of Arnhem, this gripping account by a prizewinning historian and bestselling author delves into the complexities and challenges faced during this significant military operation. The narrative offers a detailed reconstruction of events, providing insights into the strategies, experiences, and consequences of the battle, making it an essential read for history enthusiasts and those interested in World War II.
- 2018
Arnhem
- 480 pages
- 17 hours of reading
Operation Market Garden, the plan in 1944 to end the war by capturing the bridges leading to the Lower Rhine and beyond, was a bold concept- the Americans thought it unusually bold for Field Marshal Montgomery. It was the greatest demonstration of paratroop power ever seen - but the cost of failure was horrendous, above all for the Dutch who risked everything to help. German reprisals were cruel and lasted until the end of the war. The British fascination for heroic failure has clouded the story of Arnhem in myths, not least that victory was even possible. Antony Beevor, using many overlooked and new sources from Dutch, British, American, Polish and German archives, has reconstructed the terrible reality of this epic clash. Yet this book, written in Beevor's inimitable and gripping narrative style, is about much more than a single dramatic battle. It looks into the very heart of war.
- 2018
Arnhem : The Battle for the Bridges, 1944
- 496 pages
- 18 hours of reading
In September 1944, having sped through France and Belgium, Montgomery sought to race into Germany and to end the war by Christmas. It wasn't, of course, that simple. Operation Market Garden would drop Allied troops into The Netherlands, held by Nazi Germany, to secure key bridges across the Rhine along the path of advance. But it was folly - in the Dutch staff college exams, any candidate who adopted this plan had been failed on the spot. Indeed, the campaign ended in a glorious defeat, and half of the 12,000 Allied troops taken prisoner. With his typical authority and skill in bringing a campaign to life, Britain's bestselling historian creates a gripping, vivid narrative that shows why the battle was fought, and lost. With masterful command of material from a vast range of sources, he also paints the human side of war, and its heroes and villains - "more like a prosperous dentist than the head of the Waffen-SS" - and moments of glory and humour too. This is classic Antony Beevor - on an iconic campaign.
- 2015
On 16 December 1944, Hitler launched his 'last gamble' in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes on the Belgian/German border. Although Hitler's generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. The Ardennes offensive, with more than a million men involved, became the greatest battle of the war in western Europe. In January 1945, when the Red Army launched its onslaught towards Berlin, the once-feared German war machine was revealed to be broken beyond repair. The Ardennes was the battle which finally broke the Wehrmacht.
- 2012
From critically acclaimed world historian Antony Beevor, this is the first major account in more than twenty years to cover the whole invasion from June 6, 1944, right up to the liberation of Paris on August 25. It is the first book to describe not only the experiences of the American, British, Canadian, and German soldiers, but also the terrible suffering of the French caught up in the fighting
- 2012
Second World War
- 880 pages
- 31 hours of reading
The Second World War began in August 1939 on the edge of Manchuria and ended there exactly six years later with the Soviet invasion of northern China. The war in Europe appeared completely divorced from the war in the Pacific and China, and yet events on opposite sides of the world had profound effects. Using the most up-to-date scholarship and research, Beevor assembles the whole picture in a gripping narrative that extends from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific and from the snowbound steppe to the North African Desert. Although filling the broadest canvas on a heroic scale, Beevor's THE SECOND WORLD WAR never loses sight of the fate of the ordinary soldiers and civilians whose lives were crushed by the titanic forces unleashed in this, the most terrible war in history.
- 2010
Making use of overlooked and new material from over 30 archives in half a dozen countries, 'D-Day' is a vivid and well-researched account yet of the battle of Normandy.
- 2008
Bruno, chief of police
- 342 pages
- 12 hours of reading
Captain Bruno Courreges goes by the grand title of Chief of Police, though in truth he's the only municipal policeman on staff in the small town of St Denis in the beautiful Perigord region of south west France. Bruno sees his job as protecting St Denis from its enemies, and these include the capital's bureaucrats and their EU counterparts in Brussels. Today is market day in the ancient town. Inspectors from Brussels have been swooping on France's markets, attempting to enforce EU hygiene rules. The locals call the Brussels' bureaucrats 'Gestapo' and Bruno supports their resistance. What's more, here in what was Vichy France, words like 'Gestapo' and 'resistance' still carry a profound resonance.When an old man, head of an immigrant North African family, is found murdered, suspicion falls on the son of the local doctor, found in flagrante playing sex games surrounded by Nazi paraphernalia. But Bruno isn't convinced, and suspects this crime may have its roots in that most tortured period of recent French history - the Second World War, a time of terror and betrayal that set brother against brother.
- 2006
A writer at war: Vasily Grossman with the Red Army 1941-1945
- 400 pages
- 14 hours of reading
Vasily Grossman's masterpiece "Life and Fate" is rated by many as the greatest Russian novel of the twentieth century. Among its admirers is Antony Beevor, the bestselling author of Stalingrad and Berlin. This book is based on the notebooks in which Grossman gathered his raw material.




