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Michael Dobbs, Baron Dobbs

    November 14, 1948

    Michael Dobbs possesses a unique perspective, having been immersed in the Cold War's geopolitical landscape from childhood. His early life in Russia and subsequent career as a foreign correspondent exposed him to pivotal historical moments, from the Prague Spring to the Tiananmen Square protests and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. This intimate, firsthand experience fuels his narrative explorations of the era's complex dynamics and eventual conclusion. Dobbs’s work delves into the intricate machinations and ideological struggles that defined the Cold War, offering readers a deeply informed perspective.

    Michael Dobbs, Baron Dobbs
    The Lord's Day
    Churchill's Hour
    The Unwanted
    King Richard
    King Richard: Nixon and Watergate--An American Tragedy
    One Minute To Midnight
    • "In January 1973, Richard Nixon had just been inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. But by April 1973, his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasized into what White House counsel John Dean called "a full-blown cancer." King Richard is the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate burglars and their handlers in the administration turned on one another, revealing their direct connection ties to the White House. Drawing on thousands of hours of newly-released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the very heart of the conspiracy, recreating these dramatic events in unprecedentedly vivid detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players and their desperate attempts to deflect blame as the noose tightened around them and the daily pressures became increasingly unbearable. At the center of this spellbinding drama is Nixon himself, a man whose strengths, particularly his determination to win at all costs, were also his fatal flaws. Structured like a classical tragedy with a uniquely American twist, this is an epic and deeply human story of ambition, power, and betrayal"--

      King Richard: Nixon and Watergate: An American Tragedy2021
    • Focusing on the pivotal moments of the Watergate scandal, this account provides an insider's perspective from the White House during the crisis that led to a president's downfall. The narrative captures the tension and urgency of the events, detailing the conspiracy's unfolding and its impact on American politics. With sharp insights and riveting storytelling, it reveals the high stakes and the dramatic consequences of this historical episode.

      King Richard: Nixon and Watergate--An American Tragedy2021
      4.3
    • King Richard

      • 416 pages
      • 15 hours of reading

      From an acclaimed British author, a sharply focused, riveting account -- told from inside the White House -- of the crucial days, hours, and moments when the Watergate conspiracy consumed, and ultimately toppled, a president. In January 1973, Richard Nixon was inaugurated after winning re-election in a historic landslide. But by April his presidency had fallen apart as the Watergate scandal metastasised into what White House counsel John Dean called 'a full-blown cancer'. King Richardis the intimate, utterly absorbing narrative of the tension-packed hundred days when the Watergate burglars and their handlers in the administration turned on one another, revealing their direct connection to the White House. Drawing on thousands of hours of newly released taped recordings, Michael Dobbs takes us into the very heart of the conspiracy, recreating these dramatic events in unprecedentedly vivid detail. He captures the growing paranoia of the principal players, and their desperate attempts to deflect blame, as the noose tightened around them and the daily pressures became increasingly unbearable. At the centre of this spellbinding drama is Nixon himself, a man whose strengths -- particularly his determination to win at all costs -- were also his fatal flaws. Structured like a classical tragedy with a uniquely American twist, this is an epic and deeply human story of ambition, power, and betrayal.

      King Richard2021
      4.3
    • Published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a riveting story of Jewish families seeking to escape Nazi Germany. In 1938, on the eve of World War II, the American journalist Dorothy Thompson wrote that "a piece of paper with a stamp on it" was "the difference between life and death." The Unwanted is the intimate account of a small village on the edge of the Black Forest whose Jewish families desperately pursued American visas to flee the Nazis. Battling formidable bureaucratic obstacles, some make it to the United States while others are unable to obtain the necessary documents. Some are murdered in Auschwitz, their applications for American visas still "pending." Drawing on previously unpublished letters, diaries, interviews, and visa records, Michael Dobbs provides an illuminating account of America's response to the refugee crisis of the 1930s and 1940s. He describes the deportation of German Jews to France in October 1940, along with their continuing quest for American visas. And he re-creates the heated debates among U.S. officials over whether or not to admit refugees amid growing concerns about "fifth columnists," at a time when the American public was deeply isolationist, xenophobic, and antisemitic. A Holocaust story that is both German and American, The Unwanted vividly captures the experiences of a small community struggling to survive amid tumultuous world events.

      The Unwanted2020
      4.2
    • Къща от карти

      Бестселърът, който вдъхнови хитовия сериал на Netflix Къща от карти

      • 384 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      “Къща от карти” е политическа драма за властта и задкулисието, за амбициите и тръпката от играта за надмощие, за слабостите на човешката природа. Майкъл Добс - с детайл и дълбочина, присъщи на автор, преживял това, което разказва - ни въвежда зад кулисите на безскрупулни политически машинации и корумпирани медии във Великобритания в края на 80-те. Главният герой - Франсис Ъркарт, използва връзките си и огромното количество вътрешна информация, с която разполага, за да излезе от сянката на анонимния партиен пост, който заема, да свали премиера и да заеме мястото му. Задейства грандиозна подмолна машина за скандали и шантаж, която ще разклати всички в Уестминстър. Амбициозната млада журналистка Мати Сторин се натъква на историята на живота си, но тя ще й струва твърде скъпо. Мати успява умело да комбинира острия си ум и политически си нюх със съветите и подхвърлената информация от Ъркарт. Същите тези качества й помагат да усети заговора, който е предизвикал падането на премиера. Тя има всички факти, но не забелязва, че човекът, от когото иска помощ, е всъщност злодеят, когото търси...

      Къща от карти2014
    • House of Cards 2

      Scacco al Re

      • 380 pages
      • 14 hours of reading

      Dopo aver orchestrato la sua scalata al potere, il primo ministro Francis Urquhart, noto come FU, sfida il re e minaccia il ruolo della monarchia inglese. Il giovane sovrano contesta il programma di governo e la divergenza di pensiero si trasforma in ostilità aperta. La battaglia si combatte attraverso sondaggi d’opinione manipolati, prime pagine di quotidiani distorte, scandali sessuali e strategie di rischio calcolate: Urquhart intende distruggere l'immagine della Corona e del re. Per lui, l'interferenza della casa reale nella politica è inaccettabile, mentre dall'altra parte si criticano le politiche sociali che aggravano i problemi in alcune aree metropolitane. Il conflitto si intensifica e Urquhart decide di indire nuove elezioni. Durante la campagna elettorale, entra in scena un personaggio chiave: Sally Quine, un'affascinante e brillante consigliera politica, con cui inizia una relazione. Con il passare del tempo, le minacce alla casa reale diventano sempre più gravi e il primo ministro si avventura su un crinale pericoloso, da cui la discesa è altamente rischiosa. Esiste qualcosa o qualcuno al di fuori del controllo di Urquhart? Questo secondo volume della trilogia House of Cards offre un'avvincente trama di intrigo politico, firmata da Lord Michael Dobbs, maestro del genere e creatore di FU, il seduttore politico che nessuno vorrebbe avere come amico.

      House of Cards 22014
    • Six Months In 1945

      FDR, Stalin, Churchill, and Truman. From World War to Cold War

      • 448 pages
      • 16 hours of reading

      From the author of the best-selling One Minute to Midnight, a riveting account of the pivotal six month period spanning the end of World War II, the dawn of the atomic age, and the beginning of the Cold War. When Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Yalta in February 1945, Hitler's armies were on the run, and victory was imminent. The Big Three wanted to draft a blueprint for a lasting peace—but instead they set the stage for a forty-four year division of Europe into Soviet and Western spheres of influence. After fighting side by side for nearly four years, their political alliance was beginning to fracture. Although the most dramatic Cold War confrontations such as the Berlin airlift were still to come, a new struggle for global hegemony had got underway by August 1945 when Truman used the atomic bomb against Hiroshima. Six Months in 1945 brilliantly captures this momentous historical turning point, chronicling the geopolitical twists behind the fall of the Iron Curtain, while illuminating the aims and personalities of larger-than-life political giants. It is a vividly rendered story of individual and national interests in fierce competition at a seminal moment in history.

      Six Months In 19452012
    • A missile tears a passenger plane from the skies over London. Everyone on board is killed, including thirty-seven children. As terror turns to international chaos, can the government survive...? Who would have killed them? And why? When Harry Jones starts searching for answers, he stumbles into the middle of a plot that stretches from Russia to the Islamic revolution in Egypt, from the shores of the Caspian Sea to an ancient church in rural Wiltshire. Yet every lead he pursues finds its way back to the secret corners of Brussels and a British woman named Patricia Vaine. She and Harry are doomed to fight their battle to the death. Their own lives, and the future of an entire continent, are at stake in what develops into the greatest political power game since the end of the Second World War. For this is a plot not just to take over one country but the whole of Europe. And in this deadly game, the victors will claim total victory - unless Harry Jones can stop them...

      A Sentimental Traitor2012
      3.7
    • In the Swiss Alps a teenage girl is thrown from a helicopter and her boyfriend is brutally abducted to Trieste, a city filled with undercurrents of past hatreds. Ruari, son of Irish media owner J J Breslin, is in desperate danger, at the mercy of ruthless kidnappers making impossible demands. His terrified mother contacts the only person she knows can help her son: Harry Jones, her former lover, who she walked out on many years ago. Now memories of their passionate affair, the guilt, hurt, anger and humiliation, come flooding back. Time is running out for Ruari and Harry, torn between his loyalties, is quickly drawn into a political game played for high stakes. Far higher than he realizes...

      Old Enemies2011
      3.6
    • The Reluctant Hero

      • 468 pages
      • 17 hours of reading

      When Harry Jones discovers that former friend Zac Kravitz's life is in danger, a debt of honour sends him on a perilous rescue mission to Ta'argistan, a mountainous and landlocked former Soviet republic bordering Russia, China and Afghanistan. Muscling his way onto a delegation of MPs who happen to be paying the state a visit, Harry finds an unlikely ally in the stubbornly independent Martha, and together they devise a plan to break Zac out of the grim prison Bodima. But when the attempt backfires and he finds himself stuck in prison in Zac's place, little by little Harry realises that all is not as it seemed and that he has been lured into a web of international conspiracy.

      The Reluctant Hero2010
      3.6