April 1945: The Hinge of History

by Craig Shirley

Acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author Craig Shirley delivers a compelling account of 1945, particularly the watershed events in the month of April, that details how America emerged from World War II as a leading superpower. In the long-awaited follow-up to the widely praised December 1941 ,Craig Shirley's April 1945 paints a vivid portrait of America--her people, faith, economy, government, and culture. The year of 1945 bought a series of watershed events that transformed the country into an arsenal of democracy, one that no longer armed the world by necessity but henceforth protected the world by need. At the start of 1945, America and the rest of the world were grieving millions of lives lost in the global conflict. As President Roosevelt was sworn into his fourth term, optimism over an end to the bloody war had grown--then, in April, several events collided that changed the face of the world the sudden death of President Roosevelt followed by Harry S. Truman's rise to office; Adolph Hitler's suicide; and the horrific discoveries of Dachau and Auschwitz. Americans doubled down on their completion of the atomic bomb and their plans to drop them on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the destruction ultimately leading the Japanese Empire to surrender on V-J day and ending World War II for good. Combining engaging anecdotes with deft research and details that are both diminutive and grand, April 1945 gives readers a front-row seat to the American stage at the birth of a brand-new world .

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military History, American History, Politics, War

528 pages, Hardcover

Published February 22, 2022

About the author

Craigan Paul Shirley is an American political consultant and author of several books on Ronald Reagan.

Reviews

[Bharath · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this was an interesting read, it was a little different from what I expected.

The year 1945 marked the end of World War II and is obviously the most important year in that period due to that. April 1945 was very eventful with the war practically closing in Europe, as the Allied forces and Russian army marched into Germany. The end of this month saw the suicide of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, and prior to that the tragic passing of FD Roosevelt. This period also saw more and more revelations of Nazi atrocities and the concentration camps. This book covers the period prior to and a little after as well with the nuclear bombing of Japan.

There is a level of relentless detail I had not expected – not all of it is interesting, and quite a bit of it is public. There are some details I did not know about though – Eleanor Roosevelt’s prolific writings, Hitler’s rants in the period Germany were losing the war, rumours of Hitler, Goebbel’s deaths prior to when it actually happened and a few other things. There are also some amusing titbits interspersed in the book, such as an incident of a German soldier in disguise attempting to surrender to an American soldier who was also a German in disguise. Finally, both are caught by real American soldiers. The book alludes to the general sense of passivity & fear among ordinary Germans, considering that much of what the Nazis were doing should have been apparent. As a result, apparently there was support in Russia & even the US for Stalin’s plan of taking a large number of Germans hostage to rebuild Russia. Also, with awareness of the technology around the nuclear bombs being low – there was awe, joy and excitement that it had been dropped on an obstinate Japan.

A large portion of the facts in the book is of course, likely to be known to many. To the author’s credit, the book does have sprinkling of more minor facts which should be relatively lesser known. Nevertheless, the level of detail is excessive and also makes for very dry reading in many parts of the book.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a free electronic review copy.

[Jill H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This will be a very short review as I could not get into this book at all after about three chapters. The author looks at the year of 1945 from January to April and not just April, as the title indicates.

Each chapter starts with headlines from newspapers, such as American Captives Starved by Nazis or Bataan Prisoners Freed In Jap Prison Raid and then proceeds to provide paragraph-long accounts of what cigarettes Americans were smoking; what George Bernard Shaw was thinking; why a man jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, ad nauseam. No flow, no continuity, repetitive, and just not for me. Disappointing.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this.
Craig Shirley Craig Shirley makes the argument that April 1945 was a critical time in history. I'll let others argue the point.

This book does not just cover April 1945. It starts with January and sort of wraps the entire year. Shirley dives into some detail for January through March as a set up for April. April is the biggest chapter, and it is where Shirley goes into the most detail. Post April, he moves more quickly through June, July, & August, as WWII comes to an end with the Japanese surrender, then there is a general wrap up of the rest of the year.

Major items that happened and are covered in April include, FDR's death, the Allies taking Berlin, Hitler's suicide, just to name a few.

The story had an interesting format. For most of the book, each paragraph was a separate story unrelated to the paragraphs before or after it. This format was only broken for some of the major items Shirley wanted to talk about, such as the death of FDR and the days and weeks that followed.

Other than that, you would be reading a paragraph about the progress of the war in the Philippines, then the next paragraph is talking about the current ads in the newspaper. I suppose this format provides a slice of life in 1945. The war would be front and center in peoples lives as news was reported, or shortages and rationing impacted life, but then the average citizen still went to work, students to school, people went to the movies, and went shopping. The non-linear approach of the story line sort of provides this feeling of what life was like.

Reading the story forced me to do many Google searches for more detail, or Google maps, to see where places were in relation to other places.

All in all I really enjoyed reading and learning this history. It does make me curious to read Craig Shirley's Craig Shirley other book, December, 1941. My hesitation is, am I ready to take on another long read so soon.

[Gary Pettis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible book! Don't bother if you're over 16! Might be O.K. for "Teen" category.
Apparently he didn't do any research: I didn't learn anything new, and almost all his references are contemporary newspaper headlines. Whoop-de-do! High-school students could do that.
He uses family members as references! A failure of intellectual integrity! He should give them credit as joint authors.
Apparently doesn't know how to use prepositions (confuses "at" with "on", etc.), rendering some material unintelligible, or at least mysterious.
Occasionally breaks out in a bug-eyed right-wing rant about issues which are completely irrelevant to the text, and/or that didn't even exist in 1945!

Only thing worth reading is the section on President Roosevelt (if you don't already know). I was surprised to see a right-winger say any complimentary about FDR. That earns the one star.
Never again Craig Shirley!

[T.J. Hoffpauir · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a really good, but different kind of book. The author goes from one thing to another, whether its grabbing headlines, or completely changing the subject. Either way, it just flows a lot easier than you would think. I'm sure there is a better word for it, but I haven't really read anything like this before. Enjoyed it tremendously.

[David Britten · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent history of the first four months of 1945. This is a different type of publication that has the reader feeling like he or she is browsing through newspapers and magazines, piecing together the story of the war’s ending. At first, it feels a little unsettling but moves along smoothly as the reader adapts to the style.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Book: April 1945: The Hinge of History
Author: Craig Shirley
Publisher: ‎ Thomas Nelson (22 February 2022)
Language: ‎ English
Paperback: 528 pages
Item Weight: ‎714 g
Dimensions: ‎23.11 x 3.56 x 15.49 cm
Price: 1650/-

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs…….

Let us begin with William Butler Yeats.

History is a maelstrom in “The Second Coming.”

The poem was written at a time when Europe was recovering from the cataclysm of World War I and when Yeats’s Ireland, torn by religious sectarianism, was in turmoil after a failed rebellion against Great Britain in 1916.

The poet imagines the eras of Western culture as spinning, overlapping vortices, which he calls gyres. It’s as if history is a brutal, mechanical force more vital than the human beings caught up in it.

This poem, which begins with the formality of a lament, speaks with special eloquence to anyone who has ever put faith in politics and then lost it.

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer”: floating on a column of air, a fierce raptor slowly spirals up and away from its earthbound master. Symbolically, the falcon (a royal hunting bird) represents events escaping human control. The falconer’s distant, fading voice stands for moral reasoning, the spiritual and intellectual faculties on which civilization depends.

Left to its own devices, the predatory bird embodies pure appetite and aggressive will, our most primitive instincts. “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold”: the collapsing center is stable government or solidarity among the citizenry; it’s also a shared ideal, common cause, or sustaining tradition.

Yeats’s metaphor of the weak or failing falconer recalls that of the false king as negligent gardener in Hamlet, where the usurped realm has fallen into crime and decay.

What is the unambiguous meaning and starting point of the idiom “watershed moment?”

One definition of “watershed” is “an event marking an exceptional or imperative historical alteration of course or one on which important developments depend.”

However, the term was originally a geographical term describing the area from which water sources drain into a single river or a ridge, like that formed by a chain of mountains, which sends water to two dissimilar rivers on either side.

From that, watershed came to mean a rotary point or dividing line in life.

Keeping the two above perceptions in mind, and going by the hype around this book, I was expecting something much more sublime and pin-pointed.

Indeed, in and around April 1945, life-altering events were taking place. The old order was dying, and a new world was being built. And many people died, including world leaders. April, they say, is the cruelest month.

In 1945, Americans were still reeling from the attack on Pearl Harbor, where many men remained unidentified four years later. Hawaii had once been a peaceful and idyllic island chain in the Pacific.

One resident, Gene Paterson Ames, wrote to her mother immediately after the attack of hearing the tinkling of Japanese shell casings falling from their planes as they flew overhead, looking for anything to shoot. “At first, I just went to pieces—all of us did,” she wrote frankly.1 She also wrote of the carnage there, of trenches being dug around houses, and of her husband being deployed to help guard the beach against a possible invasion.

She was before long evacuated to the mainland. Her husband, Major Alan Strock, later became a much-decorated soldier, fighting for four years in the Pacific.

In April, Adolf Hitler, half-crazed and trapped in his bunker, lastly committed suicide.

So did his longtime mistress, Eva Braun.

They left behind the many Germans and Europeans who participated in the so-called Final Solution as a means of exterminating millions of Jews, political opponents, Poles, Russians, homosexuals, and other human beings.

All told, he was responsible for the deaths of millions of people and had destroyed many countries. Hitler’s mission had also been to change the face of Europe by destroying the existing culture and replacing it with a Germanic culture.

Hitler may not have changed the face of Europe, but the war did change the face of the home front and the world.

Two of his last orders included “Clausewitz,” which was the final defense of Berlin, and the “Nero Decree,” which was an order to destroy as much matériel as possible to prevent it from falling into Allied hands. He was a monster right to the end.

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world”: chaos, unleashed like the rogue falcon, erupts from some obscure, malevolent, or even satanic source. “The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned”. The “tide” is the ebbing and flowing waters of life, reliable until a flood tide (produced by torrential rain or a storm surge under a full moon) overflows or crumbles the embankments.

Those obliterated borderlines signify the social contract, the codes that curb and channel impulse and emotion.

Plainly said, the author asserts that – ‘In this book, the reader will journey through the waning days of World War II and experience the everyday events of what Americans were thinking and feeling in those heady days, much like in my previous book December 1941…’

What are we to expect then? Merely this, that this tome is a companion book to that one, the alpha and the omega. Many were experiencing bittersweet feelings as they were happy with the victory yet devastated at the loss of a son in uniform.

The author further asserts that, ‘The reader cannot fully appreciate the significance of April 1945 without learning about the preceding months. These months were a horrible prelude to the horrors of April 1945…’

He has spoken half-truths, missed out multiple key-points and has tried to run his own agenda of history – a blatant American agenda.

He has written almost nothing new. Nothing contemporary. NO mention of atleast 37 key individuals.

One star.

Damn you for slaying my time.

[John Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book isn't actually focused on the title month; over half of it is about the first three months of the pivotal year.
But that's not the most disturbing aspect. Nearly every paragraph reads like a headline snippet. There are hundreds of random tidbits and little depth or continuity. This book is like reading a diary, and not a very interesting one. There is lots of information, but quickly Shirley is on to the next thought.
The book breaks little ground and spends a great deal on widely known facts about the era.
Shirley does bring home the point that most Germans turned a blind eye to the atrocities going on around them because of an egotistical fealty to Hitler. He also notes that Germans could be equally brutal in their treatment of Allied prisoners as the Japanese were.

[Joseph Mullan]

Great book if you are a WWII history buff

[Steven Beningo · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of interesting factoids in this book. However, the narrative was very disjointed, with topics often changing from paragraph to paragraph, like a paragraph on fashion followed by a paragraph on war crimes. Also, the prose in the section on Franklin Roosevelt's death was a bit ridiculous in its praise for the President.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Today's nonfiction post is on April 1945: The Hinge of History by Craig Shirley. It is 528 pages long and is published by Thomas Nelson. The cover is a picture of some American soldiers with flags waving to the camera. The intended reader is someone who is interested in World War II history and in-depth examinations of particular periods in time. There is some mild foul language, no sex, and no violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the back of the book- The New York Times bestseller December 1941 depicted the startling events that caused the United States to enter the Second World War. Four years later, the country transformed into a true global superpower in April 1945, historian Craig Shirley delivers his bookend account of the wars, rich with on-the-ground insights into the waning months of the war and the shifts in the American cultural mindset during those heady days.
From the diminutive to the grand, the famous to the unknown, the significant to the unreported, you'll explore how the events of 1945- in particular, the linchpin month of April- changed the world. This was a time when a hot war turned into an uneasy peace, and finally, into a Cold War; when an era of conventional warfare became an age of transcontinental bombers, rockets, and atomic weapons; when Russia allies became Soviet foes, and when the United States went from arming the world by necessity to protecting the world by need.
Each chapter explores how international and domestic news, drastically impacted the American people. from the average Joe to political titan. As Shirley expertly defines the pulse of a global battle, you'll gain a uniquely tangible picture of the events that led to the conclusion of the war- and the creation of a new world.

Review- This was a fascinating read. The book starts at the beginning of 1945 giving basic information about what was going on in the world, not just the war. Shirley really does cover just about everything that was going on, from what movies were in theaters to the music and of course the war news. It is an incredible snapshot of this time. Shirley follows politicians and does give time to the war and everything that happened in it. But then he will take the reader to a different place and talk about what was going there. The writing is very good, the research is excellent, and the way that the book gives a picture of time is just wonderful. I want to read more books like this, I want to see more than just war news. I enjoyed reading about small towns and people just living their lives as best they could. I strongly recommend this book.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.

[Edward Warner · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not what many would expect from a WWII history, as so many of the books produced on the conflict are fine pieces of scholarship. In this case, though, the book seems to be a collection of news snippets culled from the pages of major US newspapers in the period January-April, 1945. That's something that could've been compiled by a group of students, taking notes from the front pages kept on microfiche in a major library.

Worse, many of the statements don't tell when the news occurred; you'll see reports of hundreds of enemy planes shot down, but not what day or even which week this happened, though surely the newspaper used was dated. In a history, even of so short a period, dates or at least some sense of time period is needed; for instance, to show the accumulation of destruction of the Allies' enemies.

What also rankles are the cheap shots taken by the author at the very newspapers providing him his easily gained information. (Many true historians spend months going thru documents, not just sitting in front of microfiche readers.) His cheap shots include calling the Washington Post, one of his sources, a "war profiteer," because war news presumably sold newspapers, and slamming the New York Times for being pro-Communist for having run a piece praising a program of the Soviets, then our ally, at least in name.

On the plus side, the author does include info on what movies and products were popular during the period -- again, info he likely easily gained from looking at the ads near the newspaper stories from which he was cribbing.

In sum, this is a book to move quickly through, skimming the info on bureaucratic machinations in DC -- and the huge section on FDR's death -- in favor of the newspapers' war reportage, reportage for which at least some people did some serious -- and dangerous -- work.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but …

Well let’s start with the Malmedy Massacre. Yes a cursory reading of history would seem to indicate that the Germans were Uber barbarians…but then again, we killed many POWS also.

Over and over again recently released ( last decade) first person accounts of the fighting in Europe tell of many such incidents. There is no glory in war and no side can claim the absolute high ground.

Second, much was made of the brutality of the POW situation in Europe. As Germany collapsed, so did food supply to the Stalags. No country was going to feed or worry about POWS ahead of their troops.

The Japanese on the other hand systematically, from the beginning, tortured and killed captives. Somewhere around 35% died after surrendering to the Japanese while in Europe that number was less than 5%.

Third, two GLARING historical inaccuracies that any competent editor should have caught. First was JFK …he did not earn the Navy Cross in the Pacific.
Second..von Stauffenberg, did not lose his arm and leg in WWI ( he was only 11 at wars end). Missing historical facts like that makes me believe that other “ facts” were wrong.

Numbers of planes destroyed and ships sunk relied too much on newspaper accounts according to the notes. Pilots routinely double and triple counted air victories or made huge estimates of planes destroyed on the ground. That was the result of the heat of battle in some part and the need by rear echelon troops to justify certain encounters.

When cross checked post war with actual casualty figures the errors are apparent. If we believed newspaper accounts we probably destroyed the entire Japanese air arm three times over.

Lastly, the Title…April 1945, the Hinge of History….probably a third of the book talked about the events of April 1945, but no where does the author explain why it was the hinge of history

[Bruce Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this was an interesting read, I was disappointed. It didn't really have much to say as far as a reasoned analysis or factual support for the designation of this time to be a "Hinge in History". It almost read as a series of newspaper clippings for January through August of 1945. It was a timeline and vignettes of events, great and small, through the period. It mingles events from both war fronts as well as the home front including military, political, economic and social/cultural matters.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Subtitled "The Hinge of History," this book does little to support that argument. I was very disappointed with the style and the lack of a consistent narrative. I was hoping for a book that shed light on how the world had come through the war and was headed off in a new direction from this crucial pivot point Instead, it's World War II Lite. Snippets from the homefront and battlefront make it a great read for a young adult with a short attention span. It would be better as one of those fact-of-the-day calendars you can tear off and throw away.

[Patty Young · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointed in this book. Love WWII books- fiction and non-fiction so was excited to start reading.
He put together a bunch of Google articles with no context. Long chapters that had no rime nor reason to them other than the month in 1945 . Each paragraph was a new topic, poorly written. Would not recommend and didn't finish. I did not appreciate his right wing comments either. Save your money.

[David Ellena · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an enjoyable read. However, it was not what I expected. I was thinking that this going to be more about the Second World War itself. And there was some of that in there, but not as in depth as I thought it would be. But it was interesting to hear some of the things that were going on in the country during that time period. It is worth the read if you are more interested in the time period as opposed to in depth analysis of the war.

[Dave Hansen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of the war is interesting in that it jumps back and forth to battle scenes to homefront stories. It drove me nuts at first, but I got used to it as the book progressed. It really isn't very deep -- just a lot of "stuff." That said, I did enjoy it, but would be hesitant to recommend it a "must read" book, besides, Costco sells it at a discount.

[Patrick Macke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book should be right in the sweet spot for anyone who digs American history, military history or WWII history, but it's just not ... what this is is thousands of paragraphs pulled from newspapers, etc., there's no narrative here, it's oddly organized and frustrating ... any point in history can be viewed as a "hinge" this attempt hinges on money misspent

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish I had read the reviews before I purchased this book. The 2 & 3 star reviews are very accurate as one stated 'Nearly every paragraph reads like a headline snippet. There are hundreds of random tidbits and little depth or continuity'. That pretty much sums it up.
I didn't finish the book and I will not bother to try

[Ben D. · Rating 1 out of 5]

So many mistakes I couldn't believe it. One glaring mistake: Shirley thinks the United States' occupation of the Philippines was benevolent. Apparently, he is not aware that the US killed more than 200,000 civilians during a war that stretched a decade. (Some say up to one million civilians.)
Book should be sold with an errata sheet.

[Michael Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is simply sensational. Every paragraph has history covering all facets of American life. The title is a bit misleading since it covers the first six months of 1945. It was elegantly written, thoroughly researched, and easily readable. Anybody wanting to know what American life was like during the later years of the war will be well rewarded.

[Mickey Beliakoff · Rating 1 out of 5]

Obviously this is a non-fiction book, and the writing shouldn’t read like Stephen King, but it also shouldn’t be completely bland. This book gave me almost no motivation to keep reading, and the structure was all over the place.

[Brett Sorge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good read that was anecdotal of certain unknown facts on WW2. Only complaint is that it skipped over certain periods like FDR death. This is more a picture of what actually occurred in 1945. Well researched.

[Arthur Rohloff]

Awful. Call this history light, superficial history, or “People” history.
Offers nothing that can’t be read in many other great books or articles. Reminds me of an undergraduate research paper done by a lazy student going through his or hers library periodical section.

[Jessica Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

April 1945 painted a very vivid picture for me of what is was like to be there with these men on the battlefield. The struggles of the American people at the time of the war and what life was like at the time. Awesome story telling and great read for a history buff.

[Wanda Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent research that gives the reader a day-to-day report on what life was like during the final months of WWII. The reading gets a bit bogged down at times, but if you soldier through then you learn a lot of trivia.

[Donald Peschken · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read but a little hard to follow with all the bouncing around. Story didn't seem to have any flow to it

[Bill Whalen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not a book I would recommend about WWII.

[Gerry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just can't enjoy or get into books with this kind of organization or format.