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The Dark Summer: An Intimate History of the Events That Led to World War II
The Dark An Intimate History of the Events That Led to World War Gene The Dark An Intimate History of the Events That Led to World War Collier FIRST First Edition Thus, First Printing. Not price-clipped. Published by Collier Books, 1989. Octavo. Paperback. Book is very good with light shelf wear. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.Seller 318645 History We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!
- GenresHistory
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
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About the author
Gene Smith
38 books10 followersEugene Owen Smith was born in Manhattan on May 9, 1929, to Sara and Julius Smith. His father was a lawyer. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in history, he attended law school (at his father’s insistence) for six months.
After dropping out, he was drafted into the Army and served in Germany in the early 1950s. Returning to New York, Mr. Smith got a job as a clerk at Newsweek and by 1956 was a reporter at The Newark Star-Ledger
.
He joined The New York Post a year later and left in 1960 to write his first book, “The Life and Death of Serge Rubinstein” (1962), about the still-unsolved 1955 murder of an unscrupulous Wall Street millionaire.
Among Mr. Smith’s other books are “When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson,” (1964); “High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson” (1977); “Lee and Grant: A Dual Biography” (1984); and “Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing” (1998), a study of the commander of the American Expeditionary Force of World War I.
Shortly before his death, Mr. Smith wrote a brief obituary of himself, in third-person singular. It says, “He used to muse that if there was an afterlife — granted a long shot, he said — he’d love it for the opportunities offered to interview people he studied in life.”
Mr. Smith died from bone cancer; he was eighty-three at the time of his death.
After dropping out, he was drafted into the Army and served in Germany in the early 1950s. Returning to New York, Mr. Smith got a job as a clerk at Newsweek and by 1956 was a reporter at The Newark Star-Ledger
.
He joined The New York Post a year later and left in 1960 to write his first book, “The Life and Death of Serge Rubinstein” (1962), about the still-unsolved 1955 murder of an unscrupulous Wall Street millionaire.
Among Mr. Smith’s other books are “When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson,” (1964); “High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Impeachment and Trial of Andrew Johnson” (1977); “Lee and Grant: A Dual Biography” (1984); and “Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing” (1998), a study of the commander of the American Expeditionary Force of World War I.
Shortly before his death, Mr. Smith wrote a brief obituary of himself, in third-person singular. It says, “He used to muse that if there was an afterlife — granted a long shot, he said — he’d love it for the opportunities offered to interview people he studied in life.”
Mr. Smith died from bone cancer; he was eighty-three at the time of his death.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 24, 2024
A few years ago I had read and thoroughly enjoyed this author's fine dual biography,Lee and Grant and then found this book at a library sale. It is equally well written and I was not disappointed.
Although much of the information contained in this description of the summer leading up to the beginning of WWII is well known, the author's portraits of Chamberlain, Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler and their governments are very well drawn. He sets the stage with the fateful meeting at Munich when Chamberlain declared "peace in our time" and quickly moves to the continuing plans of aggression by Germany and Hitler's derision of the Munich Accord. The reader is privy to meetings in all the countries involved where plans, subplots, and double-crosses were in full swing. Particular attention is paid to Stalin who was as murderous and dishonest as Hitler and played the Allies like a fiddle. All the pieces were in place for a deadly chess game and when Poland was finally attacked, all bets were off.
A clear picture of a very troubling time which still makes historians shake their heads and wonder "what were they thinking".
Although much of the information contained in this description of the summer leading up to the beginning of WWII is well known, the author's portraits of Chamberlain, Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler and their governments are very well drawn. He sets the stage with the fateful meeting at Munich when Chamberlain declared "peace in our time" and quickly moves to the continuing plans of aggression by Germany and Hitler's derision of the Munich Accord. The reader is privy to meetings in all the countries involved where plans, subplots, and double-crosses were in full swing. Particular attention is paid to Stalin who was as murderous and dishonest as Hitler and played the Allies like a fiddle. All the pieces were in place for a deadly chess game and when Poland was finally attacked, all bets were off.
A clear picture of a very troubling time which still makes historians shake their heads and wonder "what were they thinking".
October 4, 2020
I don't remember exactly when I read it; my notes are from 2016-06-26, in a little snippet entitled "America's Dark Summer" in my notes on my phone.
The book recounts the events and moods in the capitals of Europe in the Summer of 1939. It is a good reminder that we cannot predict the future. Even those who saw war coming did not see the shocker plot twist--a pact of convenience between Hitler the Nazi and Stalin the Communist--and the scope of the war which came.
The book recounts the events and moods in the capitals of Europe in the Summer of 1939. It is a good reminder that we cannot predict the future. Even those who saw war coming did not see the shocker plot twist--a pact of convenience between Hitler the Nazi and Stalin the Communist--and the scope of the war which came.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews