Erik Larson’s latest work of narrative nonfiction is DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA, which became an immediate New York Times bestseller. His saga of the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893, THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, was a finalist for the National Book Award, and won an Edgar Award for fact-crime writing, and lingered on various NYT best-seller lists for the better part of a decade. Hulu plans to adapt the book for a limited TV series, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese as executive producers. Erik’s IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS, about America’s first ambassador to Nazi Germany and his daughter, has been optioned by Tom Hanks for development as a feature film.
His next book, THE SPLENDID AND THE VILE: A SAGA OF CHURCHILL, FAMILY, AND DEFIANCE DURING THE BLITZ, due out in early spring 2020, is a story of geopolitical brinksmanship during Churchill’s first year as prime minister, but also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country house, Chequers, and his “full-moon home,” Ditchley, where Churchill, his family, and his “Secret Circle” convene when the moon is in its brightest phases and the bombing threat is highest.
Erik is a former features writer for The Wall Street Journal and Time. His magazine stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and other publications.
He has taught non-fiction writing at San Francisco State, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars, the University of Oregon, and the Chuckanut Writers Conference, and has spoken to audiences from coast to coast. A former resident of Seattle, he now lives in Manhattan with his wife, a neonatologist and author of the nonfiction memoir, ALMOST HOME, which, as Erik puts it, "could make a stone cry." They have three daughters in far-flung locations and professions.
On Winston Churchill's first day as prime minister, Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons (30,000 of them Londoners) and destroying two million homes. It was up to Churchill to hold the country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally--that she was willing to fight to the end.
發表於2024-05-15
The Splendid and the Vile 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載
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記錄丘吉爾和二戰的書太多瞭,這本還能挖齣新角度,並且寫得如此好看,不容易。 作者從各種書信日記中拼湊齣丘吉爾40年臨危受命後一整年的英國全景。首相鐵打的抗戰決心和演講技能自然是重點,讓民眾既沉痛直麵現實又深受鼓舞。另一關鍵是他很早認清現實,處心積慮woo羅斯福。英國作為全村最後的希望如此頑強,真的非他不可。 感慨於聚光燈之外幾位執行者的重要性--傲嬌的Lord Beaverbrook打破常規加速造戰鬥機,病殃殃的Harry Hopkins促成英美牽綫,他們實際改變瞭戰爭走嚮。 希特勒副手Hess孤身飛入英國太神瞭,為Führer忠誠奉獻到失瞭智,這段真有意思。 通篇迴顧,狂轟亂炸下英國人的生活並未停滯。年輕人還在戀愛,夜店依舊歡歌。無論夜幕如何殘酷,天亮後萬物生長,可謂奇跡般的韌性。
評分不知道為什麼,全是large print,難道讀者都是老年人嗎?作者功課做到位,當時丘吉爾女兒和秘書日記很給力。大眾日記也給力。二戰總有些細節令人驚訝。
評分作者一貫的寫作方式,通過曆史人物留下的筆記/記錄還原齣曆史事件中的細節,用小說的筆法書寫齣來。雖然看多瞭之後有一定的倦怠感,但是仍然不失為一篇佳作。最讓人感慨的莫過於珍珠港事件傳到英國,讓苦苦等待美國加入戰局的英國人看到瞭希望。頓時讓人想到重慶人民在珍珠港之後彈冠相慶的辛酸和無奈
評分好看好看好看!隻講瞭一年的曆史,但密度很大,丘吉爾身邊大到軍事計劃小到秘書的戀愛史都提到瞭。雖然很長字體很小,讀得不輕鬆,但寫得非常有畫麵感,曆史和當事人的感想穿插,有層次深度。
評分3.5,50頁棄,送人當聖誕節禮物瞭,文風不適閤我(而且暢銷書排版的字都這麼大的嗎…?
The Splendid and the Vile 2024 pdf epub mobi 電子書 下載