Martin Gilbert

How does he assess the information that is brought to him? How does his personal or political philosophy, or a moral sense, sustain him? How does he draw inspiration from those around him? How does he deal with setbacks and disasters? In this brilliant close-up look at Winston Churchill's leadership during the Second World War, Gilbert gets to the heart of the trials and struggles that have confronted the world's most powerful leaders, even up to current politicians such as George Bush and Tony Blair. Basing the book on his intimate knowledge of Churchill's private and official papers, Sir Martin Gilbert, Churchill's official biographer, looks at the public figure and wartime propaganda, to reveal a very human, sensitive, and often tormented man, who nevertheless found the strength to lead his nation forward from the darkest and most dangerous of times.

The acclaimed British historian offers a majestic, single-volume work incorporating all major fronts-domestic, diplomatic, military-for a stunning achievement of research and storytelling (Publishers Weekly) It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would end officially almost five years later. Unofficially, it has never ended: the horrors we live with today were born in the First World War. It left millions-civilians and soldiers-maimed or dead. And it left us with new technologies of death: tanks, planes, and submarines; reliable rapid-fire machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced us to U-boat packs and strategic bombing, to unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. Most of all, it changed our world. In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, whole populations lost their national identities as political systems, and geographic boundaries were realigned. Instabilities were institutionalized, enmities enshrined. And the social order shifted seismically. Manners, mores, codes of behavior; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions-all underwent a vast sea change. And in all these ways, the twentieth century can be said to have been born on the morning of June 28, 1914. One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century.-The New York Times Book Review (cover)

With The Righteous, an eminent historian presents the unsung heroes of the Holocaust. Drawing from twenty-five years of original research, Sir Martin Gilbert re-creates the remarkable stories of non-Jews who risked their lives to help Jews during the Holocaust. According to Jewish tradition, "Whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved the entire world." Non-Jews who helped save Jewish lives during World War II are designated Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust archive in Jerusalem. In The Righteous, distinguished historian Sir Martin Gilbert, through extensive interviews, explores the courage of those who-throughout Germany and in every occupied country from Norway to Greece, from the Atlantic to the Baltic-took incredible risks to help Jews whose fate would have been sealed without them. Indeed, many lost their lives for their efforts. Those who hid Jews included priests, nurses, teachers, neighbors and friends, employees and colleagues, soldiers and diplomats, and, above all, ordinary citizens. From Greek Orthodox Princess Alice of Greece, who hid Jews in her home in Athens, to the Ukrainian Uniate Archbishop of Lvov, who hid hundreds of Jews in his churches and monasteries, to Muslims in Bosnia and Albania, many risked, and lost, everything to help their fellow man.

Mit dem Leopold-Lucas Preis wurde in diesem Jahr Sir Martin Gilbert ausgezeichnet. Der Londoner Historiker wird damit für seine Verdienste als Chronist der Geschichte des jüdischen Volkes, seine umfassende historiographische Darstellung und unverwechselbare Dokumentation der Schicksale verfolgter Personen, Gruppen und Völker unter dem Nationalsozialismus, für seine Beiträge zur Sicherung und Erschließung von Zeitzeugnissen und authentischem Quellenmaterial zur Geschichte des gesamten ? Jüdischen Jahrhunderts' und für seinen Beitrag zur Verständigung zwischen dem Staat Israel und seinen Nachbarn geehrt. In seinem Vortrag anläßlich der Preisverleihung zeigt er die Bemühungen einzelner christlicher Geistlicher im Kampf gegen den Antisemitismus auf und regt eine Konkretisierung der historischen Darstellung des Holocaust an: Die im Vordergrund stehende Tatsache eines Triumphs des Bösen und der Zerstörung darf nicht dazu führen, die zur Geschichte des Holocaust ebenfalls zugehörige Manifestation menschlicher Freiheit und des Willens, Gutes zu tun, zu übersehen.

Martin Gilbert, author of the multivolume biography of Winston Churchill and other brilliant works of history, chronicles world events year by year, from the dawn of aviation to the flourishing technology age, taking us through World War I to the inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt as president of the United States and Hider as chancellor of Germany. He continues on to document wars in South Africa, China, Ethiopia, Spain, Korea, Vietnam, and Bosnia, as well as apartheid, the arms race, the moon landing, and the beginnings of the computer age, while interspersing the influence of art, literature, music, and religion throughout this vivid work. A rich, textured look at war, celebration, suffering, life, death, and renewal in the century gone by, this volume is nothing less than extraordinary.

In 1996 Martin Gilbert was asked by a group of his graduate students to lead them on a tour of the places in Europe that were the stage of one of history's greatest human tragedies. The two-week journey that resulted, with England's leading Holocaust and World War II scholar as its guide, culminated in the powerful travel narrative Holocaust Journey. Gilbert skillfully interweaves present-day experiences, personal memories, and historical accounts. More than fifty photographs taken over the course of this unique voyage are included, among them shots of Berlin, at the spot of the 1933 book burning; the railway line to Auschwitz; Oskar Schindler's factory in Crakow, Poland; and memorial stones from Treblinka. Together with fifty-five maps, these illustrations add an arresting visual dimension to this powerful story.

From one of the world's most revered historians, the first major history of contemporary Jerusalem""Gilbert is a first-rate storyteller."" --The Wall Street Journal""Fascinating and admirably readable . . . unmatched for sheer breadth of acutely observed historical detail."" --Christopher Walker, The Times (London)""Most noteworthy for its richness of letters, journals and anecdotes . . . the major events of this century come alive in eyewitness accounts."" --The New York Times Book Review""Extraordinarily vivid glimpses of Jerusalem life."" --Atlanta Journal Constitution

From one of the world's most revered historians, the first major history of contemporary Jerusalem""Gilbert is a first-rate storyteller."" --The Wall Street Journal""Fascinating and admirably readable . . . unmatched for sheer breadth of acutely observed historical detail."" --Christopher Walker, The Times (London)""Most noteworthy for its richness of letters, journals and anecdotes . . . the major events of this century come alive in eyewitness accounts."" --The New York Times Book Review""Extraordinarily vivid glimpses of Jerusalem life."" --Atlanta Journal Constitution

Martin Gilbert began work on Winston Churchill's biography, initially as Randolph Churchill's assistant, in 1962 on his 26th birthday. By 1992 he had himself written six of the total eight volumes and edited ten documentary volumes of a projected 15. This book is the story of Gilbert's 30-year quest for his subject. He reveals the extent of his historical labour, and shares with the reader some of the great moments in his pursuit. It is also the story of those who have helped Gilbert along his way, as they had earlier helped Churchill on his. Secretaries, assistants, diarists, correspondents, soldiers, politicians, civil servants, the eminent and the humble - all of them had tales to tell, many of them published for the first time. Martin Gilbert is the author of "The Holocaust".

-- The New Yorker