Deb enjoyed The Glass Room by Simon Mawer (the audiobook)

Jefferson Mays narration of Simon Mawer's family epic begins in pre-WWII Czechoslovakia. As the Landauer's build their dream house, political events unfold which threaten their home and their lives.  Mays' voice reflects the tension of people whose homeland is about to be torn apart, whose fears include impending pogroms, work camps and Nazi occupation.  The house, built as a "modern house adapted to the future rather than the past, to the openness of modern living" remains standing in stark contrast to unfolding world events.

-DB

The Price of Peace

Yalta: The Price of Peace
by Serhii Plokhy

A major new history of the eight days in February 1945 when FDR, Churchill, and Stalin decided the fate of the world. Imagine you could eavesdrop on a dinner party with three of the most fascinating historical figures of all time. Much has been made of FDR's handling of the Depression; here we see him as wartime chief. Both Left and Right would blame Yalta for beginning the Cold War. Plokhy's conclusions, based on unprecedented archival research, are surprising. He goes against conventional wisdom-cemented during the Cold War- and argues that an ailing Roosevelt did better than we think.

TB

Sue Recommends Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

The author of Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand, pens another winner with Unbroken: a World War II story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. She has the ability to weave a story of facts into a spellbinding tale that the reader must constantly remind herself/himself that this is a real person, Louis Zamperini, who experienced the glory of being an Olympic runner in Germany in 1936 and in World War II fought to survive a plane crash and the Japanese POW camps.

Hillenbrand did her homework with interviews, diaries, memoirs, family letters, and government documents. Unbroken begins with the life of Louis Zamperini as a juvenile delinquent and transitions to his competitiveness as an athlete with a family who loves him dearly. The skills he learned in this part of his life allowed him to survive the degradations and inhumanity of the 3 years in the POW camps. The final part of his life reveals how difficult it was to continue with life after being finally rescued at the end of the war.

Mr Zamperini (see the video clips on his webpage), now 94, wrote his own memoir, Devil at my Heels, if you would like to read more about him. You might also enjoy the videos on You Tube. SH

Debra enjoyed Pictures at an Exhibition

AudioFile Magazine's Earphones Award Winner Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling is beautifully narrated by Mark Bramhall who has a unique ability to interpret each character's voice with unusual clarity. At times heartbreaking, fascinating and beyond our comprehension to imagine, Houghteling weaves a tale of prominent Parisian art dealer Daniel Berenzon whose fine collection has been looted while under German occupation in the early 1940's. The story continues after liberation when Daniel's son Max, in his attempt to recoup the vanished treasures, uncovers secrets that shake his already devastated world. Houghteling's descriptions of the Parisian landscape in the 1940's will capture your imagination and make you feel as though you are really there.

Why the Allies Won

Why the Allies Won
by
Richard Overy

In hindsight many feel that the Allies victory in World War II was inevitable. There is a commonly held assumption that the Axis states were beaten in World War II by the sheer weight of Allied material strength. Another assumption, that Germany, Japan and Italy, made fundamental mistakes in the war, not the least of which was biting off more than they could chew in fighting Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union together.

Overy disputes these assumptions about the war and shows readers how the Allied victory over Germany in 1945 was not inevitable. He recounts how the Allies managed to regain military superiority only after a series of extremely decisive military campaigns. Overy demonstrates that the outcome of the war had not just a material explanation but also important moral and political causes.

TB