22/09/2024
A GREAT WAY TO SPEND A WINTER SUNDAY AFTERNOON!
THE STALIN AFFAIR - GILES MILTON in conversation with BARNEY WHITE SPUNNER
Sunday 3 November 2pm
Bridport Electric Palace
TICKETS FROM Bridport Tourist Information Centre 01308 424901 or online https://www.electricpalace.org.uk/events/event/bridlit-2024-giles-milton/?
“Milton turns this true story of high politics into an addictive, gossipy, alcohol-fueled, action-packed thriller that sweeps the reader effortlessly through the ups ― and downs ― of the alliance.” ―Mark Piesing, The Spectator World
“Grippingly entertaining. Unlike most books about war, it is serious history, yet light as a feather.”
―Andrew Preston, The Times Literary Supplement
From internationally bestselling historian Giles Milton comes the remarkable true story of the motley group of Allied men and women who worked to manage Stalin’s mercurial, explosive approach to diplomacy during four turbulent years of World War II.
In the summer of 1941, Hi**er invaded the Soviet Union, shattering what Stalin had considered an ironclad partnership. There were real fears that Stalin’s forces would be defeated or that the Soviet leader would once again strike a deal with Hi**er. Either eventuality would spell catastrophe for both Britain and the United States.
Enter W. Averell Harriman: a railroad magnate and, at the start of the war, the fourth-richest man in America. At Roosevelt’s behest he traveled to Britain to serve as a liaison between the president and Churchill and to spearhead what became known as the Harriman Mission. Together with his fashionable young daughter Kathy, an unforgettable cast of British diplomats, and Churchill himself, he would eventually manage to wrangle Stalin into the partnership the Allies needed to defeat Hi**er.
Based on unpublished diaries, letters, and secret reports, The Stalin Affair reveals troves of new material about the path to Allied victory, full of vivid scenes between celebrated and infamous World War II figures.
