Books by Gavin Mortimer
The Longest Night: The Bombing of London on May 10, 1941
“An emotionally stirring account of the single most devastating attack on London during the Blitz… A captivating and important contribution… History that reads like a novel.”—Kirkus
The untold story of the massive bombing raid that almost brought Britain to military collapse, The Longest Night reveals just how close the Luftwaffe came to total victory. On the night of May 10, 1941, Nazi Germany sent some five hundred aircraft to drop more than seven hundred tons of explosives on London. This vivid, dramatically told account depicts how fate shifted based on Hitler's mistaken belief that he'd actually lost the air war over Britain, and portrays the unsurpassed, "we-can-take-it" bravery of the British people when they'd been pushed beyond all human endurance.
“An excellent book… Gavin Mortimer has interviewed scores of survivors for his gripping narrative.”—Andrew Roberts, The Wall Street Journal
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The Longest Night
by Marion Dane Bauer, Gavin Mortimer
Numerous eyewitness accounts, survivor testimony, and previously classified documents inform a close-up look at a devastating bombing raid by the Luftwaffe on London on May 10, 1941, revealing the near catastrophoic results of the raid in terms of the ultimate fate of the British during World War II.
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The Longest Night
by Marion Dane Bauer, Gavin Mortimer
It is the longest night of the year, and the snow lies deep. All through the forest, animals long for dawn's warmth. Strong and clever creatures boast that only they can bring back the sun. But the wind knows better. The wind calls Chickadee, whose simple song wakes the sun. In this lyrical story from Marion Dane Bauer with breathtaking watercolors by Ted Lewin, it will take a tiny and gentle creature to summon a new day.
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The Great Swim
The dramatic story of the four courageous female swimmers who captivated the world in the summer of 1926.
During the summer of 1926, the story that enthralled the public revolved around four young swimmers, Gertrude Ederle, Mille Gade, Lillian Cannon, and Clarabelle Barrette, who battled the weather, each other, and considerable odds to become the first woman to conquer the English Channel―and to become the latest darling of the American tabloid press. Gavin Mortimer paints an unforgettable portrait of a competition that changed the way the world looked at women, in both sport and society.
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Chasing Icarus: The Seventeen Days in 1910 That Forever Changed American Aviation
A dramatic chronicle of a pivotal moment in the history of aviation.
By 1910―seven years after the Wright brothers first lifted a plane off the ground at Kitty Hawk―America and the world were transfixed by the danger and challenge of mastering the air. Yet which form of flight would predominate was far from clear―dirigibles, balloons, and airplanes all had their passionate advocates. Emblematic of this uncertainty, the precursor of the U .S. Air Force owned one plane and two dirigibles.
During the seventeen days in October 1910 that Gavin Mortimer vividly recounts in Chasing Icarus, the question of primacy in the air was on full display, after which the future of aviation was never in doubt. The great dirigible America, captained by Walter Wellman, lifted off from New Jersey and for several turbulent days attempted to be the first flying machine to cross the Atlantic. From St. Louis, ballooning teams from around the world took off in pursuit of the Gordon Bennett I nternational Balloon Cup, given to the team that traveled the farthest distance, with a denouement featuring Americans Alan Hawley and Augustus Post that would stun the country. And at the famed racetrack at Belmont Park, New Y ork, huge crowds gathered to watch airplane pilots race above the oval and attempt to set speed, altitude, and distance records. Newspapers everywhere, even in the smallest of towns, made headlines of the results, and the public treated all aviators as matinee idols.
Interweaving the dramatic narratives of these three astonishing events, bringing to life powerful personalities (the ruthlessly competitive Wright brothers, the debonair Englishman Claude Grahame-White, the ultra-confident John Moisant), Gavin Mortimer reveals the pioneers of flight as fitting descendants of the legendary Icarus, risking all in pursuit of glory. Chasing Icarus captures both a pivotal moment in the history of aviation and the end of the gilded era that would soon descend into the devastation of World War I ; indeed, within four years dogfights over France had replaced air shows.
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Blitz - An Illustrated History (General Military)
The winter of 1940-41 was the season of the Blitz. From St Paul's Cathedral to the East End, from the very heart of the capital to the cities of the midlands, throughout the length and breadth of the land the bombs rained down as Germany attempted to bludgeon Britain into submission. As the civilian populations below cowered in their shelters or manned the fire services, there could be no doubt that this was an island under siege.
Drawing exclusively on the photo archive of the Mirror newspaper group this volume brings to life this extraordinary period in British history. Remarkably a number of these images have never seen the light of day before thanks to wartime censors and now, 70 years after the fact, they reveal for the first time the harsh realities of life and death during the Blitz.
Written by Gavin Mortimer, who has previously published The Longest Night: Voices from the London Blitz (Orion 2005), this book weaves together these incredible images with newspaper articles, diary entries and first-hand accounts to create a compelling chronological account of Britain's darkest and most difficult period in her long history.
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