Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Five Days in London, May 1940
- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 6 hrs and 25 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
Buy Now for £14.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Critic reviews
"[This book] is lucid and splendidly readable, and furthermore, commands a host of dramatic characters....[It] has the power and sweep of Shakespeare's chronicle plays." ( Boston Globe)
"Eminent historian Lukacs delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career with this account....It is the work of a man who lives and breathes history, whose knowledge is limitless and tuned to a pitch that rings true." ( Publishers Weekly)
What listeners say about Five Days in London, May 1940
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sceptical Sorcerer
- 07-01-23
Brilliant Analysis
A brilliant analysis of a pivotally crucial few days in early WWII.
A must read for WWII enthusiasts
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alice Davis
- 02-03-22
meticulous
this is history at its best, fact based and free of preconceptions. well done, Lukas.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- David
- 03-06-19
analysis of 5 of the most vital days in UK history
a fascinating analysis of five of the most important days in the long history of the UK.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 03-06-23
Superbly detailed account
I greatly enjoyed listening to this audiobook, which taught me many things I did not know about these critical days of the war. Thoroughly recommended to all scholars of the subject.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
- Pip
- 23-12-12
Not as I expected, in some ways better.
Do try this history of how Britain came to stand alone. The politics I expected, but of equal interest - and for me a little unexpected - was the recounting of the feelings and reactions of the Britsh people. The two threads combine to make compelling listening. Oh, and as well as not being able to win without the Americans, it was good to hear that without Britain the war would have been lost... and that from an American. Buy it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
- Maureen
- 01-04-13
Very enjoyable and informative
A fascinating record of five vital days in World War II and the events leading up to them. Excellently narrated by Geoffrey Howard.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- dr
- 21-03-14
Great history
If you could sum up Five Days in London, May 1940 in three words, what would they be?
I'm really not sure that I would have read this as a book. In the audio format it is just superb. I am not a historian but this work is of value to anyone with an interest in current affairs.
Well read, well written and an inspiring theme.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Richard S
- 08-12-22
You Have Found a Gem
The "included" catalogue is a bit hit and miss, isn't it? Rest assured, you have found a gem.
This is a really well researched history, with loads of primary source material from diaries, minutes of political meetings, newspapers and mass observation reports. Commentary from the people at the time is helpfully interspersed with hindsight context e.g. "this was so" or "this was not so, there was no such meeting between X and Y that day" etc.
There is quite sophisticated analysis here, e.g. discussions of the difference between public opinion and public sentiment; distinctions between perceptions and the underlying truth of a thing and how these can merge in the near term; how an individual's decisions can have multiple purposes and multiple motives before being retrospectively disguised as something else again. The applications of these kind of frameworks marks Lukacs as a superior historian.
Lukacs argues fairly convincingly that May 1940 was an absolutely crucial period of the war, when Europe almost fell to Hitler's vision for a German hegemony across the continent. This was before the USA and USSR entered the war, which changed the game for Hitler and reduced his achievable war aims to merely surviving to a stalemate. But before that, there was the briefest of periods where he might have won it all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jon
- 17-10-21
Exemplary
I came late to this work, written in 1999, and to this writer, but in this case definitely better late than never!
Firstly John Lukacs is clearly a gifted writer as well as an excellent historian. This is not as common as one might hope; notable exceptions include Robert Caro and Stephen Kotkin. This short book is as engaging as, in fact I would say as riveting as, any page turner thriller, helped no doubt by its focus on so short a timespan. It felt more like a contemporary account than an historical one, but with the benefit of the insights conferred by scrupulous analysis and judgement only made possible by the passage of time, and indeed the revelation of information some of which took decades to emerge. The narrator too deserves a most honourable mention for his perfect tone, faultless stresses and accuracy.
This really is how it should be done!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- paulen
- 10-01-23
Great historical narrative
Comprehensive analysis of this great historical period . Gives us a great understanding of the of the Events of the time and how maybe the full scale of World War II could’ve been avoided had all of the allies fought on at this time. John Lukacs His brilliant best I’m disappointed that he’s great book Duel is not available from audible.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!